Welcome to one of our favorite weekends of the year when summer officially arrives! There are lots of FREE ways to celebrate the new season. Throw on your best sea-themed costumes for the annual Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, board a vintage vessel and hit the water at Tribeca's North River Historic Ship Festival or head to Central Park for some athletic outdoor Adventures NYC.

There's also some great culture on tap for the weekend, like a pair of art fests in Queens—the QAX Block Party in Astoria and the Jackson Heights Arts Festival—plus the kickoff of the Carroll Park Kids' Concert Series with the ukelele stylings of Mil's Trills.

Speaking of cool music, Friday brings Make Music NYC, a one-day festival featuring hundreds of FREE public concerts throughout the five boroughs, including kids' bands and local schools. Browse the full schedule or just keep your eyes and ears open.

And don't forget to book your tickets to Mommy Poppins' special family event next Saturday: Ships, Sails and Tales of the Sea with Bill Gordh & Manhattan by Sail. Join us on a fun-filled 90-minute cruise on New York Harbor with master storyteller Bill Gordh and his banjo, an eye-spy scavenger hunt with the New-York Historical Society's DiMenna Children's History Museum and other enriching fun.

All of our best bets for this weekend are below. You can find additional options in our Event Calendar and our Summer Fun Guide.

Being a diva must run in my DNA: My seven-year-old daughter and I simply cannot pass a face painter without asking to be done up. During the summer, this can become an expensive habit. We seem to run into face painters everywhere, especially at street fairs and festivals and in Central Park.

Sometimes we end up looking pretty fabulous! And sometimes, well, let's just say Bozo the Clown would probably laugh at us. After years of shelling out cash to a wide variety of face painters, I've come across a handful who are truly exceptional. They don't just turn kids into standard superheroes and princesses, they transform them into unique works of art.

Although these face painters aren't the types who set up shop on random city corners, all of them are available for birthday parties. You may also run into a few of them at NYC's top family events, like SummerStage Global Family Day in Central Park. So get ready to be wowed: Here are four phenomenal face painters for NYC kids and adults!

Taking a cruise on New York Harbor is one of our favorite summer activities in NYC. That's why we here at Mommy Poppins are excited to invite you and your kids to a very special event we're planning: Ships, Sails and Tales of the Sea with Bill Gordh & Manhattan by Sail. On Saturday, June 29 join us as we set sail back in time aboard the historic Clipper City Tall Ship on an activity-packed 90-minute excursion your entire family will enjoy.

During this fun outing, families will board Manhattan by Sail's historical Civil War-era cargo schooner Clipper City for an exciting voyage out of South Street Seaport. As we sail through New York Harbor, we'll enjoy amazing views of the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and other beloved NYC landmarks, plus there will be a stellar lineup of entertainment and enriching activities sponsored by top NYC institutions.

Read on to find out how you can snag tickets to Ships, Sails and Tales of the Sea with Bill Gordh & Manhattan by Sail—a day out on the water Mommy Poppins-style that you won't want to miss.

From a kid's point of view, most merry-go-rounds are created equal. There are horses (or other animals) to sit on, and they all go round and round. But some carousels are more eye-catching than others. Just look at Dumbo's glass-encased Jane's Carousel, Harlem's kid-designed Totally Kid Carousel and the Flushing Meadows Carousel, the centerpiece of Queens' brand-new mini-amusement park Fantasy Forest.

Now there's a new merry-go-round in town: the B&B Carousell in Coney Island. To be accurate, the merry-go-round isn't really new at all—parts of it date back to 1906 and it was turning in Coney Island up until 2005, when the owners planned to take it apart and sell the scraps. Happily, the city bought it intact and over the past eight years, the B&B Carousell was meticulously restored in Ohio before being returned to its Brooklyn home.

We recently took a few spins on the historic merry-go-round, which debuted over Memorial Day weekend. Check out our pics and find out why It should definitely be on your to-do list the next time you hit Coney Island.

Summer camp is more than just a fun and enriching experience for young children. It also marks an important step in their development as they get to test out their independence and, in the case of commuter camps, travel outside the city to enjoy outdoor activities in nature.

As exciting as that first-time camp experience is, it can also be scary (perhaps more so for parents than kids) since it's outside everyone's comfort zone. Even if you find a program that offers a safe and stimulating environment for younger kids, parents may worry than their preschoolers aren't yet ready for full days or weeks of camp.

Every summer, readers email us asking if we know about summer programs that offer short days or sessions where tots can try out day camp and see how they like it. We asked our friends at the American Camp Association of New York and New Jersey to recommend some camps that fit the bill and still have openings for summer 2013. If you need more information, the ACA of NY and NJ also offers free camp consultations with their experts.

You can find out about other awesome summer programs in our Camp Guide.