A few years ago, we made it to the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival for a hilarious production of The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), a show that condensed all of the Bard's major plays into a 90-minute farce that even had my six-year-old quoting Shakespeare for a week. In a similar vein, Potted Potter, now playing at the Little Shubert Theatre on 42nd Street, compresses the entire Harry Potter saga into a 70-minute romp that's fun for fans young and old.

Grab your Quackers, folks, because it's time to root, root, root for our very own home team--the Long Island Ducks. On my mom's side, my family's got a long line of Yankee fan-atics, while my dad grew up in Brooklyn when the borough was having its love affair with the Dodgers. Needless to say, I grew up with a love of baseball. I have every intention of sharing the passion for the sport with my kids, but with Yankee Stadium's pricing out of the ballpark, it can be difficult to take a whole family out to the ballgame. The Ducks, on the other hand have family-friendly pricing and so much activity going on throughout the game that you and the kids may not even care if you ever get back.

(Photo courtesy of Hamptons Greek Festival)

If you're looking to fill your summer weekends with some good old-fashioned family fun (and your belly with some tasty food!) then have a look at some of the fun, family-friendly festivals being held on Long Island this summer. Thrill-seekers can soar through the sky on carnival rides offered at most festivals, animal lovers can bond with animals at the petting zoos and with a pony on a pony ride, music lovers can dance and sing along to music from all over the world and foodies of all ages can enjoy all the delicious food offered at nearly all of these festivals.

(Photo: The Cole Brothers Circus)

The circus is coming to town! The 128th Cole Brothers Circus of the Stars will be traveling across Long Island this July, pitching its big-top tent in fields and malls; amazing audiences with its colorful, classic acts. There will be acrobats, daredevils, elephants, tigers, and of course clowns. It's a classic three-ring traveling circus that began life in 1884 as W.W. Cole’s New Colossal Shows. It is exciting, inexpensive, and very intimate. Every summer since I was a child the circus has come to my town in Greenport. This summer will be no exception.

[UPDATED: December 1, 2012]

As a busy mom, I do a lot of my shopping online. But when it comes to tricky things like making sure there’s that ideal half-inch of space between the tip of my son’s wiggling toes and the front of his shoes, I skip the websites and seek out the services of patient pros and their Brannock Devices (now you know what those foot measuring thingies are called).

Happily for Brooklyn families like mine, there are many wonderful stores in our borough that carry a wide selection of shoes for children, with staff that know how to coax squirming tots into trying them on. While you might be able to pick up a cheaper pair of sneakers, boots or sandals at a big chain store, you won't get the benefit of expert assistance and advice about which shoes truly fit. Here are some of our favorite children's shoe stores in Brooklyn, including two that just opened this year.

It's a few weeks into summer and so far we've lost the sunscreen, wept about a snorkel, inspected bug bites visible only to the child's eye, and made a mean succotash. Basically, same as most summers. (Last year it was a mean cole slaw and weeping about a lost flip flop. We like to keep it interesting.) We're also cooking as usual. There's much to love about summer food, so I've rounded up my favorites, some for you, and some for the little people sitting in front of the TV in their swimsuits.

Having been, ahem…unwise enough…to have three children with birthdays only 5 weeks apart, I have become a veritable expert a throwing parties that are low stress and low maintenance - it's the only way for me to survive "birthday season"!

Of course, the parties also have to be a hit with the kids...no problem. One of my favorite low-stress party strategies is to go for an animal themed party.  Truly, you can’t go wrong here – there are a lot of different ways to make an animal party memorable, fun, educational…and EASY!!!

If one more person asks, "Is it hot enough for you?" we just may snap. (Lucky for them we're too tired to fight back.) If the heat's getting to you too, there are plenty of ways to cool off in the city, like pools, beaches and sprinklers, plus we just put together a list of playgrounds with lots of shade, which we added to our brand-new NYC Parks & Playgrounds Guide.

The Urban Park Rangers are currently holding lotteries for their free family campouts in NYC parks. If your family is lucky enough to snag a spot, our L.A. site has a great post with tips for camping with kids. Our New Jersey site shared an awesome list of mostly free apps to prevent "summer slide." Meanwhile on Long Island, we've got a roundup of 62 things to do on the East End this summer, in case you're heading that way.

If you missed Macy's spectacular sparklers on Wednesday night, don't fret: There are plenty of fireworks coming up, both in the 'burbs and right here in NYC. For example, next Wednesday the New York Philharmonic kicks off its series of free concerts in every borough, and there will be fireworks after all of the outdoor shows. There are also a couple of free family movie series starting up next week, including RiverFlicks for Kids in the West Village and Williamsburg's SummerStarz, plus Clearview Cinemas will be showing free kids' movies on Wednesday and Thursday mornings through the end of August.

You can find more info about all of these cool programs in our Summer Fun Guide. Here's what else we shared this week on our NYC site.