With the city constantly texting me about heat and air quality advisories, I'm starting to feel like I have a second overbearing mother. (For the record, my mom still calls me on an almost daily basis to ask if my daughter and I are dressed appropriately for the weather.) My family and I have been attempting to keep cool by trying some of the picks in our Water Fun Guide like great public pools and popular water-filled playgrounds. If you just can't bear to be outside, our Inside Activity Guide has many fun indoor options including drop-in play spaces, and there are lots of kid-friendly exhibits in our Museum Guide.

For the most part though, we haven't let the high temperatures slow us down. This week we explored a couple of new must-experience summer attractions: the Bronx Zoo's awesome Dinosaur Safari and the absolutely magical Fête Paradiso on Governors Island. Meanwhile our Long Island peeps put together a list of the top 25 things to do on the North Fork with kids, our Connecticut bloggers shared the best places to go blueberry picking in New Haven County and New Jersey highlighted the state's best water parks and offbeat summer festivals, including next weekend's Hot Air Balloon Festival at the Warren County Farmers' Fair.

And don't forget to enter our current giveaway, which is aimed at kids and parents: a pair of OnBroadway Performing Arts Training Program master classes for four (two children and two adults). We think moms and dads deserve to win something, too.

Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week:

We will, we will rock you, singing, we will we will… oh, I’m sorry.  Was I supposed to be writing about this weekend’s events? There are quite a few I promise you: the circus, the OC Fair, events celebrating underwater explorers and Nelson Mandela - even Comic Con is going on this weekend. It’s just that dang earworm I got going; the Wee Rock festival is this Saturday at the Americana at Brand, and every time I think of it I get that song going in my head: we will, wee will, rock you (at the Americana)…

They say the best way to knock out one of those pesky fellows is to replace it with another song. So what else do we have here? Free Lollipops at See's this weekend (on the good ship lollipop, it’s a sweet trip to my See's shop…) and  Baby Loves Disco in Long Beach (I’m hearing some Saturday Night Fever action - you should be dancing, yeah!).

We have some big names performing in free concerts this weekend: A Flock of Seagulls (and I ran, I ran so far away),  Billy Ocean  (get outta my dreams, get into my car… Hey, you, get into my car!)... The movie Big is showing at Oscars Outdoors (totally seeing that scene where they play Heart & Soul by jumping on the giant keyboard…).

Awesome, that did the trick. Earworm gone. Keep reading for some of our favorite picks for this weekend, because we will, we will rock you!

Boston families have plenty of options for fun and free things to do in and around town this weekend. Take advantage of the great outdoors and head to the Revere Beach Sand Sculpting Festival, Festival Betances in Boston or Artbeat 2013 in Somerville. Indoor events include North Shore Music Theatre’s Wizard of Oz, Mural Madness at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Cambridge, and Birds of Prey at the EcoTarium.

And while there seems to finally be an end in sight to our third heatwave of the summer, we have ideas aplenty for beating the scorching heat and staying cool with the kids. Rachel shows us how to get the most out of a visit to the MFA, and our partners at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Kids Outdoors Boston have found five Boston-area playgrounds that have shade. Thinking of a weekend getaway? Peaks Island in Maine may just be the perfect place.

Read on for highlights of the weekend activities, and please visit our Events Calendar for more ideas.

Enjoy!

Despite the mid-July heat wave, there's plenty of indoor and outdoor fun on Long Island this weekend. An all teen production of Disney's The Little Mermaid Jr. hits the stage at the CM Performing Arts Center. Have a daughter at home who needs to channel her inner diva? The Summer Princess Tea is the perfect setting for an afternoon of manicures and makeup application. Feeling more nostalgic? Head over to the Huntington Village Green and The Arsenal and discover what life on Long Island was like during the 18th century. The Knights Of Columbus Classic And Custom Car Show benefits The Sunrise Fund at Stony Brook for Children with Cancer. Also on tap: Summer Healthy Food Fair at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, and the Annual Hope For Warriors Pancake Breakfast at the North Babylon Volunteer Fire Company. As always, check our events calendar every day for fun activities for the family. Also check out 15 Free Things To Do On Long Island With Kids This Summer.

The weekend is almost here and there are lots of great things to do in Westchester. The Hudson River Days Festival kicks off on Saturday with tons of events happening all along the Hudson Valley. Mamaroneck Shares summer block party is Friday and Sunday is the Hispanic Heritage Festival in Valhalla.

Looking to escape the heat for a bit? Check out a show! Once Upon This Island, a Caribbean adaptation to The Little Mermaid is showing this weekend at the White Plains Performing Arts Center. The Wiz is also showing at Rosenthal JCC. 

Expect boy band mania at Rye Playland on Saturday with The Pop Explosion Tour featuring Midnight Red, an up-and-coming American boy band that recently opened for and toured with New Kids on the Block. 

On Sunday, head to the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art and let your history inspire art at Family Art Day Workshop: 'Portraying Your Personal History'.  

If you see an event you like, be sure to click through to the event for full details. Also, check out our event calendar for even more happening this weekend and beyond! 

Looks like the heat wave is going to break just in time for the weekend. And even if it rains that will be a relief! Regardless of what the weather brings, my family and I are excited to go on a FREE boat tour on Saturday as part of the City of Water Day festivities on Governors Island, and we plan to stick around to hit the rides at the awesome Fête Paradiso.

Other fabulous FREE fun this weekend includes the art-filled New Museum Block Party on the Lower East Side, top-notch entertainment at SummerStage Kids Queens Family Day in Long Island City and TheatreworksUSA's brand-new educational show The Civil War in the West Village.

All of our best bets for the weekend are below. You can find additional options in our Event Calendar and our Summer Fun Guide, including our favorite FREE places to cool off like public pools, beaches and water playgrounds. And if you're craving air conditioning, check out our Indoor Activity Guide for great ways to beat the heat.

We’re about at the halfway point of summer, so we’ve had some time to (hopefully) relax but there’s also a stretch of hot, lazy weekends ahead. What to do? Keep cool at the 11th Annual NJ Ice Cream Festival in Toms River or the City of Water Day at Liberty State Park. For outdoor fun, check out Buzz Into Action at the Essex County Environmental Center or the Burlington County Farm Fair in Springfield Township. And remember, you can find a full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar.