Aaaaah the weekend is almost here, I can’t wait.  My family and I love to explore the city together and this weekend there are just so many activities to choose from, rock and roll kiddie concerts, cool new book release parties, nature activities and crafts, the opening of the children’s room at Poet House, fun and free Healthy Kids Day at all the city YMCAs, plus the really excellent sounding StreetGames 2010 – and this is just the regular stuff.  New York City is going all out in planning fun events for Earth Day with concerts, readings, creative projects and a lot more planned for the weekend.

If you are Jersey bound, check out the 33rd Annual Cherry Blossom Festival taking place in Newark. Yes, Newark, who knew, but their are more Cherry Trees in Newark than they are in DC.  Essex County has a Bloomfest scheduled for Sunday with lot of Japanese cultural activities and fun for kids. 

Plus, there are a lot more fun Earth Day activities and events on Long Island and New Jersey.  

Here are our picks for the weekend and we hope you have a great one:

Note: This show returns to NYC in July 2017 at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, and to Long Island in August 2017.

Typically, this site is all about how you can enjoy the riches of the city without being rich. There are so many things to do that are inexpensive, yet amazing. But there are also some things that are worth dropping some dough on, cause they're just that fabulous. In my opinion, Cirque du Soleil is one of those experiences.

With the coming of Spring comes the start of the Major League Baseball season.  I decided to celebrate both events by taking my 1-year old son Henry and his grandfather to Henry’s first baseball game at Citi Field for the Mets opening day.

Murray Hill is famously and rightfully known as the after work hangout for the post-college crowd, but if you visit during the afternoon (or live here for more than a decade like I have.) you will find a real neighborhood with tons of families.  It is not a bad place to live or even visit just for the day.  The tiny enclave boasts nice parks, wide sidewalks for bike and scooter riding, family friendly eateries and even its own museum. 

Technically, Murray Hill is the hill north of 34th street on Lexington Avenue.  If you’ve ever walked from Park Avenue to Third Avenue on a cross town block above 34th Street you walked a pretty steep hill. Back in the day when the area was bucolic and 36th street had a stream running on it instead of lots of tunnel traffic, this is where the Murray’s had their family farm.  Today the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood has been granted its own historic district and is full of pre-war buildings on tree lined streets, historic churches and alleyways with cool carriage houses that have been converted into homes.  FDR, J.P. Morgan and the descendants of Honest Abe have all lived here.

Here are some family friendly highlights for a day of fun in Murray Hill:

Before there was American Idol there was Amateur Night at the Apollo, right here in NYC. So instead of watching Simon Cowell in the judge's seat on TV, all you need is $20 and a ride on the A train to become a judge yourself at Harlem's historic talent competition on 125th Street.

Amateur Night at the Apollo is a highly entertaining show that's actually pretty kid-friendly if you want to plan a family night out, or it's also a fun choice for a kid-free parents night out with friends. Every Wednesday night at 7:30 the Apollo theater becomes a showcase for wanna-be stars. Singers, dancers, comedians, poets and more put on their best acts and the audience decides who the winner is by applauding for their favorites and booing the others off the stage.

What's new this week? Last chance to register for the Big Swim, sell your stuff at a great kids consignment event, and see photos of some awesome Easter Bonnets from the parade last weekend. Find out what else opened this week for kids in NYC and read about some cool and useful apps for your phone or to use online.

We just updated our NYC Kids Birthday Party Guide. Now you can conveniently find tons of party ideas and the best places to have a kids birthday party in NYC all on one page.

Also we have chosen all our winners for the Split Rock contest. Find out who won below.

Photograph of the week: Easter is pretty.

This week we went to the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens and had a blast. We also checked out Socialsklz, a manners class that teaches modern-day social skills. And, found out that Birthday party places on Staten Island are just as fun at a fraction of the cost.

Meanwhile, just two days after we posted photos of the new playground at Brooklyn Bridge Park, predicting that the metal orb features of this park were going to get very hot on summer days, the NY Daily News ran an article saying the metal orbs are already burning hot and the Brooklyn Paper followed up to say that tents have been put in place to keep the burning orbs out of the sun.

There's so much going on this weekend I could barely pick what to feature. You can try your hands at medieval artistry, learn how to use a compass, catch live music, theater or some short films.  Plus, the Center for Fiction and "Read This" are offering a great celebration of books and reading that directly benefits NYC public schools in need.

You can take in a parade, there are two this weekend: The Annual Tartan Day parade marches up Sixth Avenue and the Little Leaguers of Brooklyn will parade into Prospect Park to celebrate opening day.  This weekend is also Brooklyn's monthly Deedle Deedle Dees Family Variety Show that we reviewed last week. And if you are leaving town for the weekend, don’t forget to check out what is going on in neighboring New Jersey and Long Island.

And the best part of all, most of these events are free.  I hope your decision on what to do this weekend isn’t as hard as ours is, but check our calendar for even more family activity ideas.

Here are our event picks for this weekend: