Mommy Poppins is growing, but before I tell you where we are going, I want to take a moment to look back.

I started Mommy Poppins almost five years ago as a New Year's resolution. As I began to write about raising my children and things to do with kids in NYC, I realized that I was quite passionate about the amazing opportunities for families in this city. And for the past four and a half years, I have worked on the site feverishly, with a burning energy I cannot really explain—trying to provide the very best, most unique information for parents on a well-organized and easy-to-use site that doesn't waste your time with a lot of nonsense.

I know that some people come to the site and probably think there is some big corporation behind it, but for a long time I was actually doing everything myself. Then I started having other moms write posts and run the sites. I have been fortunate to find amazing people who are now helping to make the site better than I could have all by myself. (You can read about our team on our About Page).

Getting haircuts, shopping for clothes and supplies, menu planning, and picking out classes and after-school programs—these are my fall rituals. And I suspect many of you are going through the same thing right about now. 

We can help you plan your back-to-school season with our updated Classes Guide, which is filled with myriad options for NYC kids. And we can help you save money, too, with our Big Deal Fall Classes Sale. Read on for all of the details.

For a long time, New York City seemed to forget that it was made up of islands. But over the past few years, we've been remedying this situation by reclaiming our waterfronts with riverside parks, and creating new opportunities to get out on the water, whether for transportation or pleasure.

The newest addition to NYC's waterfront culture is the East River Ferry, operated by NY Waterway. With stops in Midtown, Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Dumbo, the Financial District and Governors Island (and Atlantic Avenue and Red Hook on summer Fridays), the East River Ferry is a great way to visit lots of fun spots for a full day out with the kids.

With an all-day pass ($12 for anyone over age 5), you can hop on and off the ferry at any of the stops throughout the day, so you can hit different attractions in multiple boroughs. My family and I tried it, and we discovered 20 great things to do with kids along the East River Ferry route.

Exactly a decade ago this month, a friend told my family about a new band for kids that was playing at Chelsea restaurant The Park on Sundays. We went the following weekend with our then two-year-old Emma, and instantly became fans of Dan Zanes & Friends, which soon became a children’s music juggernaut.

The Grammy winning group plays many different genres of music (rock, folk, world, blues, even show tunes) and the songs espouse positive values like having fun, making music and caring about others. The fact that Zanes—who played in the adult rock outfit The Del Fuegos in the '80s—and his collaborators are as popular as ever after releasing 10 albums over the past 10 years speaks (sings?) volumes about their talent, tenacity and creativity.

Emma was too young to remember those early concerts (that's a photo of her at age two with Zanes!), but she grew up listening to all of the band's CDs. So she was thrilled to get the opportunity to chat with him about his career, his favorite things to do in NYC with kids and how he plans to get ready for his big free Celebrate Brooklyn concert this Saturday, July 16 in Prospect Park, where he'll play tunes from his upcoming album Little Nut Tree.

What does a 12-year-old want to know from her first musical favorite? Read on to find out.—Sara, mom to Emma the interviewer.

The long, slow days of summer are when we finally get a chance to do all of those fun things we just couldn't get to during the school year. We start every summer by making a bucket list of places we want to check out, and then my family and I work through them.

This year we're sharing our Hot List with you. There's a wide range of activities: playing indoors, getting active outside, exploring nature, eating summer foods, and, of course, getting wet. There are even a few day and weekend trips.

As we were planning this Hot List of the best things to do in and near NYC this summer, we thought it would be super-cool if we could get some of these places to offer discounts to our readers. And many agreed!

These deals are too good to make available to everyone on the Internet. So for the first time, we're offering a downloadable, printable version of this blog post.

What will you find in our printable Hot List book?

• Extended listings with addresses, contact info and hours for every venue, so you have all of the info you need to plan right at your fingertips.
   
• Coupons that can save you more than $1,000 in total. These discounts are only available in our Hot List book.

We're selling the Hot List book via Poppins Perks and giving 100% of the profits to NYC public schools. You can buy the Hot List now for the special price of just $4.99, or read on to see what's on our list.

Sometimes rain is the best thing that can happen to your weekend plans. There's nothing like a storm to keep the teeming masses away from an excellent event. The Figment Festival on Governors Island is one of the most fun things to do in the city every June, but it's usually jam-packed. This year, we braved a few drizzles (and one downpour) and almost had Figment completely to ourselves.

This free festival continues through Sunday, June 12, so there's still time to enjoy all of the wacky, artsy fun. What's the fest like? Check out our slide show and our list of highlights of the 2011 Figment Festival, then head to Governors Island tomorrow to see for yourself.