Bromley Adventure Park: Summer Fun in Southern Vermont

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A vacation in southern Vermont can be bucolic and serene, filled with lazy days swimming in a lake, hiking, and visiting farm animals. But, when travelling with kids, sometimes adding a day of raucous fun can be a great addition to your Vermont family vacation. Luckily, there’s one spot in the midst of the farms, lakes and woods that provides amusement park style fun with Vermont style adventure.

The Bromley Adventure Park is the only place in Southern Vermont where families will find rides that fling you in the air and swoosh you down the mountain, wet or dry, fast or slow.  In addition to a water slide, an alpine slide, bumper boats, a bungee jumper, a climbing wall, a ziprider and other fun attractions, Bromley Mountain Adventure Park has recently added a Aerial Adventure Park where you can take to the trees on a challenge course in the treetops.

Diary of a Camp Mommy Director

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What do you do when your kids run from the room screaming in protest when you merely mention the idea of camp? Sign them up and hope they get over their bizarre aversion? Send them to counseling instead? What if neither camp nor counseling are in the budget?

That’s where I found myself this summer. As a result, I ended up with a new job: Director of “Camp Mommy”. We’ve had a lot of fun this summer, bopping around the city, spending lots of active green time at the park, and having a steady stream of kids over for playdates. But coming up with a plan for each day – and successfully executing the plan – has presented some challenges. I have been tweeting “Diary of a Camp Mommy Director” entries about the pleasures and tribulations of my summer job. Read on for an expanded version of those entries, complete with links and ideas for anyone who has the job of entertaining  kids for a day, a week, or – like me – an entire summer.

Mostly Free & Fun Things To Do With NJ Kids This Weekend Aug 11-12: Butterfly Festival, Corn Festival, Vintage Baseball & More!

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It sure can be tricky to stay in the summer mode when back-to-school planning is all around (those darn school supply lists!). Thankfully this weekend has tons of family fun to savor those carefree summer days and nights. There's a Butterfly Festival, Frog Festival, Corn Festival, Nature Scavenger Hunt and some Vintage Baseball to get you and your family outside. Read on for all our top picks and remember, you can find a listing of all NJ activities for kids in our Event Calendar.

Best New York City Views: 11 Spots to See and Photograph NYC

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Visitors come to New York City from the world over to eat our pizza, feel our energy and marvel at our spectacular views. But even for us locals, NYC is an awe-inspiring sight (we just need to remember to slow down and take it in every once in a while).

While tourists routinely flock to the Empire State Building or the Top of the Rock to literally look down on the city, there are less well known vantage points that also offer incredible views of NYC, including parks, promenades, museums and a tram. So grab your camera and get ready to fall in love with New York City for the first time—or all over again.

News: $81 Million Wasted on NYC Student Database, High Line to Get a Playground, Awesome Lego Olympic Videos

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This week brings its share of bummer news, like millions of dollars wasted on a failed student progress tracking system, the closing of Manhattan's cheapest bowling alley and an increased admission fee at one of our favorite NYC children's museums (although it's certainly worth the extra dough!).

But we've got cool news, too, like exciting additions to the High Line, a kid-narrated audio tour of MoMA and great Olympic moments as retold by Lego.

The Retreat Farm: A Petting Farm in Brattleboro, Vermont

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Chances are, if you have a kid, you’ve been to a petting zoo. But have you ever been to a petting farm? Did you even know such a thing existed? I didn’t before we stumbled upon the perfectly charming Retreat Petting Farm in Brattleboro, Vermont.

The Retreat Farm is a unique place. Once a private mental health facility, the farm provided food as well as a therapeutic and vocational outlet for the patients. Today the farm provides a therapeutic outlet to the public who need a dose of adorable and furry.

NYC Kids' Eyeglasses: Where to Find Children's Eyewear in New York City

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[UPDATED: December 1, 2012]

Shopping for kids' eyeglasses isn't like shopping for clothes or shoes. With prescription glasses, the fit and the style have to be perfect—after all, your child will be wearing them every day. So while there are many excellent eyewear stores in New York City, it's best to go to one that has experience fitting glasses for kids, especially since your child may not realize if a prescription is slightly off or if the frames are pinching the nose. It's also important to find a shop with an onsite optometrist and a wide selection of children's eyeglasses so your kid can find a pair that makes him feel comfortable, confident and even cool.

We contacted a number of well regarded local pediatric ophthalmology offices and asked where they send their clients for kids' glasses in NYC.

Long Island City with Kids: 35 Things to Do for NYC Families

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The boundaries of many NYC neighborhoods are frequently contested, perhaps none more so than Long Island City, Queens. This sprawling area along Queens' western edge is in fact made up of multiple smaller neighborhoods like Hunters Point, Ravenswood and Dutch Kills, with a bit of spillover into Astoria and Sunnyside. Formerly its own bucolic city, LIC became an industrial hub in the 20th century, filled with factories and commercial bakeries. Over the past 15 years, the area has undergone another major transformation into a thriving arts community and now many of those old buildings serve as TV and movie studios, galleries, restaurants and, of course, fancy condos.

While kid-specific businesses are still sparse here, many families are making their home in LIC (just check out the area's lively family Meetup Group Little in the City), and there are plenty of family-friendly attractions worth making a special trip for, including cultural institutions like Socrates Sculpture Park, the Noguchi Museum and MoMA PS1, cool children's classes at Circus Warehouse and LIC Kids, and indoor ice-skating rink City Ice Pavilion. And since the neighborhood is located along the East River, there are several waterfront green spaces, notably Gantry Plaza State Park.

Throughout August we'll be spotlighting our favorite places to eat, play and visit in Long Island City. For the purposes of our posts, our boundaries are the East River to Jackson Avenue from East to West, and 36th to 54th Avenues from North to South, with a few exceptions further North and East (see, we told you no one could agree on LIC's borders!). Yes, everything is a little spread out, but don’t let that stop you from tackling our list of the top 35 things to do with kids in Long Island City, Queens.

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