Is your family ready to blossom? Are you ready for adventure? Let's do it together through my beautiful state of New Jersey...

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Let's Pretend!



Let's pretend a place exists for under ten dollars per child that is clean, organized, fabulously decorated, full of interesting toys and interactive rooms. It does! (I'm sorry I couldn't help myself. Hehehe)

Let's Pretend has a series of rooms that my sons' devoured. Every space is created with a child's creativity. It is not a huge place, and we got super lucky - we were the ONLY family at the place. Monday 10am - sweet! Its not easy to find, my GPS was taking me to all funky places. But it is simply at its address in the strip mall. http://letspretendkids.com/index.html
2541 Route 516 (Old Bridge/Matawan Rd) Bilow Park Shopping Center, Old Bridge, NJ 08857
And there is ample FREE parking. And a few places to grab a quick bite.

The above pictures give you a glimpse of the place. It truly is beautiful. Even the rest room is covered in murals. The school room was fun, but my kids have yet to figure out what "school" is so, on to the hair room - OH MY GOD! If your hubbies are male sensitive to traditionally "female" careers they may freak out. But my sons' know what a salon is and they were ready. Cut, color and creative. They even have one of those roller containers filled with all sized rollers...oh they had fun. The rock star room was our favorite. I could live in that room. Every single piece of musical instrument you can imagine and a TV screen recording your performance. Its like MTV! The drums, the guitars, pianos - ROCKED!

The other rooms include an aloha market, which is a combo of pirate, beach, Hawaii, sand and groceries. A little too much for my imagination, but the sandbox had my boys at hello. There is also a rock climbing area, a post office and a bouncy thingy. Yes I said thingy.

As a mother of twins who cannot always be looking in one direction at all times, I give this place a super thumbs up for safety. All items are secure, sturdy, include safety products and are super hygienic. A worker was there and honestly I felt like I was home. No worries at all.

I would recommend the place for walkers on up, even a five or six year old could enjoy this place. There are some "pit traps" for older kids, like the few (under 10) toys/snacks/arcade machines that older kids may beg for. But I get it - they need to make a living too.

We last about an hour, hour and fifteen. You can eat lunch at the picnic benches on site, indoors. The also host birthday parties (I am thinking about having ours there.) - which I feel is why they probably created the place - BUT they are open for open play M-F 10am-3pm, for just $7 - and you CAN stay ALL day! That's a bargain!

I was just looking over their website, which is also clean and clear - they have a summer camp too. Hmmm....

Let's Pretend makes me wish I was two again....so much too see, do, and pretend.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Liberty State Park





I am a Jersey City local by birth. I have lived no further than 25 miles from the Statue of Liberty since birth. I have not been to the park in over ten years. Sad. So today I went twice, and it inspired me to start blogging. Yes, this is my first blog, my first post.

I guess what inspired me is that I felt like I found a secret. A secret (FREE) place to see some of the most important places in American history - The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. And honestly the birds, the wind, the flags - had me at their first swoosh. I figured I would start blogging to help other Moms get a glimpse of some places they can take their kids.

Liberty State Park is breathtaking. Mother's take your cameras!

I went there with my two boys around 10am on a Wednesday. Five cars in the parking lot. Parking is free. The park is free. It is located at 1 Audrey Zapp Drive Jersey City, NJ 07305 You are going to either get their from the NJ Turnpike or drive through Jersey City. Neither are glamorous.
It was sunny but brisk day. And it felt like the park belonged to the three of us.

The highlight of the day had to be the wildlife. All three of us were head over heels in love with the Red winged Blackbird. Its song filed the park. The whipping of the flags and the seagulls flying over the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were so peaceful. I am no bird watcher, and with two fleeting toddlers - impossible. But the Park Office was able to give me the scoop on this beautiful bird that was skipping from tree to tree. Above is my son viewing the birds, shooing the birds, and invading their space! The sight of the birds grazing was beautiful. We could feel the flap of their wings as the hundreds of them flew away. My sons were tweeting all day! BIRD is the word in our house.

So we stayed for about an hour. We saw flags, the Statue (my kids had no clue), boats, went down the slide (ONCE), and the birds. The mini playground is great. However in the shadow of all the wildlife, boats, statue, fishermen, dogs, oh and the helicopters - the playground was the least of their interest. You can bike, blade, skate, play ball, run....just go outside!

I also let them lead me. This trip and all our adventures will be through their eyes.

During their nap I printed out some coloring sheets to work on after lunch:
Bird
http://www.dltk-teach.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/brownbear/clips/bbird.gif

Statue of Liberty
https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/statue-of-liberty-coloring-page/

I let them color one set of birds and the other set I let them work on their fine motor skills by cutting out the bird. We played with the cutout ALL day. Tweet!

I had to run an extra errand, and Daddy wanted to see what got me all excited - so we went back. 4pm on a Wednesday - maybe 20 cars in the lot. I still parked at the entrance. There was another family eating dinner at one of the many tables. There are concession stands, but I am not sure of their hours. At the two times I was there, none of them were open. I highly suggest bringing your own food. There are no places nearby to get food. You will eat at a table - otherwise the Seagulls will eat your meal. The bathrooms are at the entrance - so pee before you start your adventure!

Liberty State Park
http://www.njparksandforests.org/parks/liberty.html