There's nothing like being outside on a crisp fall day, and Connecticut provides plenty of opportunities with apple picking, pumpkin patching, and corn mazes. But what happens when you've done all that and you still feel that icy breath of the approaching winter urging you to get outside while you still can?

Sometimes you need a little extra structure to get you outdoors, and we've uncovered some terrific programs designed to make it just a little bit easier to get the whole family to put their iEverythings aside and enjoy the day. Here are some of our favorites in Fairfield County:

Orange County has some great and well-known museums for kids, including the Discovery Cube in Santa Ana and the La Habra Children's Museum. But OC also has a number of small and low-cost museums that are also great for kids, and more manageable for parents. Just as we offered 8 Small and Low Cost LA Museums, here are 8 Small and Low Cost Museums in the OC.

In between hayrides to pumpkin patches, Halloween-themed events, and other fun, fall activities, this is my favorite time of year to bike -- warm enough so that you don’t need gloves, cool enough not to melt into a sweaty mess. A bonus is the beautiful foliage you will take in on most of these rides. Now that my oldest daughter has shed her training wheels and mastered her two-wheeler, we are ready to venture out of the neighborhood and try an adventure on a scenic bike path. Listed below are some options for a family friendly bike ride in the Hartford area, depending on how skilled your child is. 

There’s been lots going on here at Mommy Poppins. This month, we completely upgraded our back end, and moved to a server that can better handle our growing site traffic. While we're still working out some bugs (thanks to those of you who alerted us to any issues you noticed), that didn't stop us from launching our newest site: Mommy Poppins Philadelphia. So tell all your Philly friends!

If you’ve been reading this site for any length of time during the last eight years we’ve been around, you know how hard we work to share carefully curated activity ideas with local families. Although we are a technology-based publication, we are not a start-up. Our goal is not to grow big fast and sell out. We love what we do and want to keep doing it. Over the past few years, we’ve added New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, Boston and Los Angeles to our original NYC home base. We also started a Family Travel site a few years back featuring city guides and destination reviews all over the world.

The launch of Mommy Poppins Philadelphia is unique for us in that it marks the first time we are expanding by teaming up with an existing site. The family activity site, Playground Buzz, is joining the Mommy Poppins family to become Mommy Poppins Philadelphia. This partnership means we start off with a full directory of businesses and activities, a jam-packed calendar and an experienced team to run the site. We are thrilled to have Lori, Kristen and Amy from Playground Buzz with us now.

Mommy Poppins Philly will be just like all of our other sites with an Event Calendar, a Directory and editorial coverage. We will add our regular guides as we create more content (the Halloween Guide is already up and running). You can also sign up for the Mommy Poppins Philadelphia weekly activities newsletter.

If you're looking to shop local this Halloween season, there are some stores around Long Island that offer costumes, props, accessories, make up and much more. From glitter to gore, these shops will have what you're searching for this season.

For more holiday fun, check out our Long Island Halloween Guide.

The countdown to trick-or-treat is on! If you’re not ready to send your little goblins door-to-door, bring them store-to-store at one of New Jersey’s thrilling downtown trick-or-treat events. Collecting goodies from your favorite local retailers is a safe, organized alternative to traditional trick-or-treating and a great way to support local businesses. Take a stroll downtown for these free, family-friendly Halloween festivities. Maybe you can sneak in a little shopping while you’re there. And if you’re heading to the shore, pile on the treats at a boardwalk Halloween event. For more Halloween fun, visit Mommy Poppins New Jersey Halloween Guide.

Doh! This is the month to celebrate all things Homer at a myriad of Odyssey themed events sponsored by the Los Angeles Public Library. And while our picks primarily focus on things to do with kids, this week also offers a few worthwhile opportunities for parents.

If you live in Pasadena and have a little one headed for school soon, Kindergarten Elementary Nights is not to be missed. On the Westside, Digital Domain in Santa Monica is hosting a Minecraft Workshop for parents who want to connect with their children’s latest obsession. Meanwhile, we've got our five picks for fun things to do with the offspring this Monday through Friday:

Sometimes the drive to school and after-school can feel like an Odyssey - that is until you remember that the The Odyssey journey actually took ten years and that we should therefore be grateful that the Sepulveda Pass can be traversed in under an hour. The Los Angeles Public Library offers an homage to Homer’s heroic poem The Odyssey throughout the month of October, honoring the original epic journey at several events sponsored by The Library Foundation of Los Angeles. This month-long literary quest to determine the significance of the ancient epic to present day Angelenos goes deeper than commuting time, of course, and finds fun ways to introduce the classic to another generation.