School schedules, sports practices, predictable sleeping patterns... I am longing for normalcy to return to my home. To be clear, I love celebrating with family and friends while taking a break from our regular lives. But, I notice that my kids thrive when there is order and routine.

To settle back into the familiar, Philly families can count on our event calendar which features a variety of fun. Take your little ones to the library for storytime. Appreciate art at a local museum. Or, explore the outdoors during wintertime.

Read on for our top picks for the week. But, don't forget to browse our January GO List to help plan out fun for the entire month. Enjoy the week ahead. As for me, I'm looking forward to getting back to normal this week!

As far as aquariums go, my family is a pretty tough audience to impress. We’ve been there, done that, from the huge Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta to the Miami Seaquarium in our hometown. But since moving to NJ last summer, we’d heard some great things about  Adventure Aquarium, so with (happily!) no big plans for the holiday weekend, we piled into the SUV and made the hour and a half drive from our Jersey City apartment to Camden along the Philadelphia waterfront. Having a 2 1/2 year old, we were mostly excited about the new interactive hands-on exhibit called KidZone, geared towards kids 6 and under.

I spend the winter telling my children to hold their horses about going to playgrounds: “Soon it will be warm and we’ll be able to play outside all day long.” Spring comes, we hit a few local parks and then before you know it, the temperature soars and I hear myself saying: “It’s too hot out!  Let’s play inside!” Well, I’ve found a happy medium that makes everyone happy—playground for kiddies and air conditioning for Mommy and baby.

Check out this list of must-visit free indoor play spaces in Fairfield County.  Be warned, although these spaces are free to use, you and your children will be surrounded by lots of shiny stores offering everything from cute sandals that would pair oh-so-nicely with that darling sundress you saw in the last window to the biggest and brightest Thomas the Train and Cars II paraphernalia. For even more indoor fun check out our Connecticut Indoor Play Guide.

The holidays are behind us but there are still a couple of months before spring is sprung, and it can be a challenge to fill up these lazy, winter days. As a mom to three young kids, I'm all for cozy afternoons watching movies, play-doh sessions in our pjs and finger painting to pass the hours. But sometimes, we need a change of scenery! A chance to get out of the house, explore, learn and fill another gray and chilly day. Fortunately, New Jersey offers up some awesome indoor activities. Bundle up, pile the gang into the car and check out our top 10 fun and educational picks.

Tiny Brooklynites who are into tunes take note: There are certainly a lot of children’s music classes in the borough from Brooklyn Heights to DUMBO, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill and beyond. Read on for our top eight picks for budding musicians.

Find more NYC classes in our Classes Guide and Directory Listings.

If you live in SoCal, you probably know someone who has camped out all night in Pasadena to be on the spot New Year's Day for the Rose Parade. And if you have kids, you're probably not willing to do that yourself. But there are all sorts of ways to enjoy the Rose Parade without pitching a tent on the sidewalk. Some of these ways may even more fun than the parade itself, which many of us feel is best watched in PJs under a blanket on the sofa.

Love watching the horses? Check out Equestfest. Have a soft spot for marching bands? Bandfest is for you. And if you are intrigued by all of these enormous masterpieces made entirely out of flowers, seeds, and leaves, then the Post Parade Showcase of Floats could be a more satisfying experience than the parade itself. One thing is for sure: any of these belongs on a bucket list of things to do before your Angeleno kid grows up.

Susan Izatt is an Early Childhood, Infant and Toddler Development expert and the Director and Co-founder of now-closed MoonSoup Early Childhood Studio. With years of experience playing with and teaching babies, Susan certainly knows how to get babies moving and make it fun. She agreed to share some activity ideas that parents can easily do at home with their babies excerpted from her upcoming book New Moms & First Time Dads. Thanks, Susan!

Keeping tabs on the changing landscape of Westchester businesses is no small task, with all the openings, closings and relocations. We've kept our ear to the ground to help you stay in the know for your start to 2016. Read on to learn about new sweet spots, a new location for maternity clothes, a new facility where you can fly(!) and more.

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