Brooklyn Kids Guide

My father-in-law is a model train lover and my kids have inherited his enthusiasm. My oldest was still in diapers when his Grandpa first took him to the annual Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden, and it didn't take him long to learn that in New York City area, you can be a railfan (yes, that's actually a word) year-round. We've rounded up our favorite places to take aspiring engineers in or near NYC.

There are street fairs and then there are street fairs. We don't mean those random ones that sell irregular socks and fried Oreos; we're talking about true community festivals. Each one is unique and reflects the character of its neighborhood, and many feature rides, performances, activities and food.

The hard part, of course, is knowing which ones are which, 'cause while we all love to stock up on cheap socks, we're not going to drag our family across town to do so. We've gone through the city's list of street fairs for the month of May and picked out the most promising ones, adding a few of our own favorites from years past and some new events that sound particularly cool. Best of all most of these festivals are FREE or are just a couple of bucks.

Figuring out where to eat on Mother's Day always gives me heartburn. Trying to find a place that will please me, my husband, my six-year-old and my own mother (since she lives in NYC, too) is quite a challenge.

So this year, instead of stressing out about where I'll end up on Sunday, May 13, I decided to turn to the experts: my fellow NYC moms. In addition to updating our list of fancy Mother's Day brunch spots in New York City, we asked our always knowledgeable Mommy Poppins readers to recommend their favorite restaurants for the holiday—or any day.