I really enjoy spring cooking. It beats spring cleaning, and the fresh flavors of ramps, asparagus, tiny potatoes and tangy rhubarb offer a nice light palate after the heavy, robust dishes that dominate winter. New Jersey has hundreds of Farmers' Markets offering everything from honey to local crafts, and loads of veggies and fruit. Now if your kids are anything like mine, the beauty of a local farmer's market is as much about the cookie selection as it is about the 'what's this' when examining the kohlrabi. These mixed feelings extend to dinners during which they laboriously extract every speck of green from their plates, but the following recipes for homemade pizzas, simple chicken dishes, and salads often help temper the finicky-ness. Of course, there's always the option of putting them to bed and making your own beautiful dinner, eaten in peace, with no dropped forks or ketchup. Now, that's a blissful spring meal!

As we continue featuring some of our favorite Long Island towns to visit, this month we're spotlighting Cold Spring Harbor. Located on the North Shore, just across the Suffolk border, CSH is about as charming and delightful as any small town can be. Don't be fooled by its size, though; this town, famous for its rich whaling past, has an equally rich present. With its diversity of shops, magnificent coastline and world-class science exhibits, there's more than enough here to keep an inquisitive family busy for days. We've got you covered with all the best ways to take it all in for a fantastic spring outing.   

Now in its fifth year, the Cambridge Science Festival is bigger than ever before.

Navigating the complex schedule of over 200 events over a nine-day period, April 20-29, can be a little overwhelming, especially if you’re trying to figure out which activities are best for your kids. I’ve picked a few great events for kids and families – read on for details about a few family-friendly highlights of this year’s festival.

Spring Break is gone and it's time to be dreaming about summer vacation plans and long Spring weekends. Perhaps a special Mother's Day trip, hint, hint? This week's round up of family travel deals features some big dream vacations to places like Thailand, China, Mexico and a sweet road trip package to the Southwest US. Because some of these deals are so good, these vacations might become more than just a dream.

If you’re living in the central Connecticut area then Massachusetts is a great place to visit for a day trip. Being our neighboring state it’s only a quick car ride away and offers plenty of fun locations to check out with your family. Filled with an array of historic sites and entertaining tourist attractions you will have no trouble finding a choice for your one day getaway.

It's been a relatively quiet week in terms of posts at Mommy Poppins as we've been spending quality time with our kids over spring break. If you follow our Facebook page, then you know we've been on lots of fun NYC adventures, like strutting our bonnets in last Sunday's Easter Parade, checking out the cool cars at the New York International Auto Show and getting our hands dirty (literally) at the New York Botanical Garden.

Our sister sites have also been enjoying some well-earned downtime over break but there are still plenty of great posts, especially if you're looking for a last-minute day trip. We've rounded up great things to do with kids in Connecticut's Litchfield County and Long Island's Oyster Bay, or you can check out Adventure Aquarium's brand-new KidZone in Camden, New Jersey.

Here's what else we shared this week on our NYC site.

With the spring weather warming up, we are all searching for outdoor activities that the whole family can enjoy. Who doesn’t love to find hidden treasure? I was excited to bring my son along and go on our first geocaching adventure together as research for this post! Check out some information about geocaching in New Jersey and join the NJ kids and families that are already out there treasure hunting!