Happy New Year! New Year's is always a special time for Mommy Poppins because I started the site as a New Year's resolution five years ago (happy fifth birthday, MP!), and I wrote our popular list of 100 Things to Do in NYC with Kids the following New Year's. (Apparently I'm highly motivated by New Year's, who knew?). Unfortunately, I don't have anything that exciting up my sleeve today, but couldn't let January 1 go by without acknowledging some of the amazing new destinations we wrote about in 2011.

As we all know, NYC is constantly evolving with new attractions opening (and closing) all the time. While the pace of new kid biz openings seems to have slowed from its heyday a few years ago, there are still incredible places popping up in New York City. If you follow the site religiously, you will know about all of these, but for those of you who may have missed one or two of the approximately 500 posts we wrote this year, here's a rundown of our favorite new NYC attractions for families that opened in 2011.

We've had a quiet week here at Mommy Poppins, post-wise at least. Since the kids are off from school, we've been running around making the most of NYC during the holidays.

Over Christmas weekend, we went caroling in Washington Square Park, caught the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, bought and decorated our tree, and went to see the famed Christmas House in the Bronx. This weekend, we're looking forward to family fun on New Year's Eve, and a resolution-filled New Year's Day. We hope that your family is enjoying the break as much as we are!

And that's just a bit of what's going on. Here's what we covered this week on Mommy Poppins in NYC, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, as well as selected stories from our sites in Boston and Los Angeles.

Happy New Year!

Boston offers families plenty of opportunities to ring out 2011 and welcome in the new year. Families can choose from the first-in-the-nation First Night celebration to kid-friendly celebrations at area museums, plus ice skating at outdoor rinks, New Year’s Day hikes and historic walks to start the New Year out on the right foot. Most of the holiday events of 2011 wrap up this weekend, and, if the New England weather cooperates, local ski areas will be making snow and grooming their trails.

Read on for details, and enjoy!

It's the last weekend of 2011, so why not do it up right? We already gave you ideas for celebrating New Year's Eve with the kiddies, but there is some daytime to fill up as well. Why not make a noisemaker for the big night or go to the last holiday movie night of the year or have a big First Night celebration? We hope you have a happy 2012, NJ!

     It's New Year's weekend! 

New Year's Eve celebrations dominate this weekend, so you'll find lots of NYE celebratory events for your family (see our New Year's Eve events roundup). For New Year's Day, it's time to get out and get in touch with nature with a New Year's Day hike and and a seal cruise.

Happy New Year!

I must confess—I have a soft spot for “Disney On Ice”. Generally, we don’t cotton to the expensive, big-name events here at Mommy Poppins, but I’ve seen the icy Disney twice now and even without being much of a figure-skatin’ fan, I’m sold. Read on for more information on how to win a family four-pack of tickets to “Disney On Ice presents Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey” at either the Nassau Coliseum, Prudential Center or Izod Center, all in NJ!

Disney on Ice is coming back to Nassau Coliseum. This time Mickey and Minnie are visiting Lilo and Stitch, Simba and Nala, Ariel and Sebastian, and Peter Pan and Tinker Bell. And you and your family can be there on opening night. One lucky winner will receive a family four-pack to the Thursday, January 5, 2012 show at 7pm.

As you can tell from the photo, we were foolhardy enough to venture over to Rockefeller Center last weekend. We saw the tree—for about two seconds before the crowd pushed us on. We also hit the Lego Store—and then had to flee due to claustrophobia. Dealing with the massive crowds just reinforced how much we love being New Yorkers: Other people just visit, we live here. We can see Rock Center anytime! (But never again around the holidays. Yikes).

This week we expanded our already chock-full Holiday Guide with posts about cool things to do over holiday break, and family fun on Christmas Eve and Day. We also included an inspiring video about our wonderful world in our final 2011 biweekly news roundup.

And that's just a bit of what's going on. Here's what we covered this week on Mommy Poppins in NYC, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, as well as selected stories from our sites in Boston and Los Angeles. Wishing you a very happy holiday season from all of us at Mommy Poppins.