Mommy Poppins Boston and Nantucket Bucket are pleased to offer a new series of guest blog posts about things for families to do on Nantucket. Nantucket Bucket is the premier online resource for all things child-friendly on Nantucket - events, activities, camps, classes and more. Happy travels!

With award winning beaches, world-class fishing and a quaint downtown where you can easily mill about the cobblestone streets for hours (yes, with children – they’ll enjoy stops at the Nantucket Toy Company, Indian Summer and the Sunken Ship), picturesque Nantucket offers the traveling family an opportunity to both play and relax into the summer.  

My daughters are fascinated with princesses, so showing them a “real” castle was such a treat and, thankfully, not far from where we live. First opened in 1881, Glen Island in New Rochelle is situated on 105 acres of land. Dubbed “the first theme park,” today it is the second most widely used county park in Westchester, after Rye Playland. Read on for info on those castles and other things to do on Glen Island. 

Growing up in Queens, I remember visiting Ridgewood with my grandmother, mainly to buy specialty items from butchers. As a kid, I always assumed Ridgewood was actually in Brooklyn, probably because of the architecture. The quiet residential neighborhood is known for its rows of early 20th-century brick and stone townhouses and has the highest concentration of landmarked structures in all of Queens in its huge National Historic District.

In fact, I wasn't far off. Ridgewood was part of the early Dutch settlement of Boswijk (Bushwick) and didn't have a Queens zip code until 1978! Though Ridgewood's population was once primarily Italian and German, these days you'll find many Eastern European and Latin American families plus a smattering of young artsy types moving in from the hipster enclaves of Williamsburg and Bushwick.

It's easy to see why the nabe appeals to parents: The side streets have a suburban feel but the shops on Myrtle Avenue, Fresh Pond Road and Forest Avenue are just a stroll away. Plus there are multiple public parks, and local listservs like Ridgewood Queens Moms Meetup are starting to pop up. Ridgewood is also a pretty easy commute to midtown Manhattan via the M train, and abuts Brooklyn's Bushwick and Queens' Maspeth/Middle Village.

Throughout June, we'll be exploring everything Ridgewood has to offer families including the best places to play, eat and experience with kids. For the purposes of our posts, our boundaries are Flushing to Jamaica Avenues, between Cypress and Wyckoff Avenues and 69th Street, which we realize includes a bit of neighboring Glendale so we can highlight some cool family attractions there, too, like the Shops at Atlas Park and Highland Park. We kick off our series with the top 20 things to do with kids in and around Ridgewood, Queens.

The Alice Austen House Museum is a lovely Victorian cottage, but what makes this historic house particularly interesting is the story of its namesake. Alice Austen (1866-1952) was a self-taught photographer who spent most her life in this home, also known as Clear Comfort. It sits atop a hill in the 15-acre Alice Austen Park, which boasts amazing panoramic views of New York Bay and the city beyond.

In addition to preserving many of her belongings and furnishings, the Alice Austen House Museum displays many of her vintage photographs. Austen was known for her documentary style, quite rare in her day, and she snapped photos of high society, immigrant life, new inventions like the bicycle and historic events. At the museum, families can explore the house, parts of which date back to the 17th century, see her pictures and even try hands-on workshops where kids can learn photo techniques of the past and present. Since my nine-year-old son is into photography, it's been on my bucket list for a while now, and we recently found time to check it out.