We are having a wonderful vacation.  We are at our weekend house enjoying the weather, the beach, the pool, our friends and each other.  We are also trying to take advantage of local “culture.”

Last Wednesday, we went to a performance at Guild Hall in East Hampton (a wonderful theater and museum).  This August, Guild Hall offered several performances for children as part of their KidFest programming.  “Kidfest is a celebration of family programming offered by Guild Hall throughout the year. The mission is to present affordable, relevant and quality arts and cultural programming to a diverse audience of young children and their parents by providing live theater, music, puppetry, spoken word, film, dance, readings, art and educational events that engage, enlighten and educate throughout the year. The wide variety of performances and art projects provide many different art forms, perspectives, and themes that are educational as well as entertaining.” 

The performance we attended was called BAM! Percussion.  The simplest way to describe the show is that it’s like Stomp for kids.  This adorable French Canadian trio, who call themselves the BamBoys, play drums, sing, and make you laugh out loud…all in their own language, Bamspeach.  Benjamin was riveted and enthralled…laughing out loud for the entire hour.  He insisted we buy him a BAM! t-shirt (we happily obliged as the proceeds fully benefit this not for profit group…as they said, they need the money to drive the 9 hours back home to Canada).  He immediately took off the shirt he had on and joyfully wore the BAM! shirt the rest of the night.

BAM! performs all around the world.  Benjamin and I highly recommend you check them out!  Also, if you plan to be out on the East End of LI, I highly recommend you check out Guild Hall and KidFest (and their adult programming is incredible as well…lots of celebrity talent).

We just got in three great games that make terrific birthday gifts for 8-10 year olds. My personal favorite is the Totally Gross! Science Game. Kids think it is silly and fun, but we parents love it because it is educational. Personally, my nearly 8 year old son Josh thinks the actual “jar of slime” is the best part. Yes, the slime plays a role in the game – the kids stretch the slime on the score card to track their progress – talk about an incentive to answer correctly!

Another wonderful game for this age group is Who? What? Where? Jr., which can be played with as few as 2 players but really  is better for 4 or more. It actually makes a great game for a sleepover.

Additionally, boys this age will love Sports Challenge for Kids – a game that lets them play tabletop versions of their favorite sports, all while learning sports trivia. It’s my son Josh’s dream in a box!

It’s hard to believe it’s August 20th.  We had such a cool, rainy summer and now that it’s finally hot and humid, we are prepping for back to school.  Lisa and my sister-in-law were both telling me about their multi-page back to school shopping lists (that set them back almost $200 a child!).  In some parts of the country, school has already started.  Benjamin starts kindergarten in a few weeks.

With back to school on my mind, I just sent the Pretend & Play School Set from Learning Resources to my cousin’s daughter who turns 4 next week.  She’s going into her second year of nursery school and she is a precocious little girl.  I know she will love to “play” school with this wonderful pop-up classroom set.  This gift is recommended for boys and girls 3 and up but I find it ideal for 4 and up.  Even older children will have fun teaching each other using the gradebook, stickers, hall passes, clock, bell, dry erase board, handpointer, crayons, double-sided calendar, double-sided USA map and much more.

This past Sunday, August 16th was my birthday.  I had a great day – the weather cooperated, I ate great food (at two of my favorite restaurants – the Fish Farm and Nick & Toni’s) and enjoyed a perfect day at the beach with my family. 

I just discovered that there are a number of famous people who share my birthday.  They range from the sublime to the ridiculous: Madonna, Steve Carrell, Menachim Begin, Timothy Hutton, Angela Bassett…both Kathy Lee and Frank Gifford and a whole host of others whose names I didn’t recognize.

You too can find out who shares your birthday at www.FamousBirthdays.com.

My cousin Chris is a volunteer firefighter in Waldwick, New Jersey. He is pictured here on the right with my son Josh (behind him), cousin Adian (left of Josh) and Chris’ sister Heather. Just a few years out of high school, Chris has already seen his fair share of fires, and the soot on his fire suit shows it. Volunteerism runs in Chris’ family – his father is also a volunteer firefighter, his mother is a volunteer EMT, and both parents have been long time volunteer coaches for the Special Olympics.

Chris and Heather recently  took Josh and Adian on their very own personal tour of the fire house.  He spent a long time teaching them about the trucks and equipment – even let them try on his gear!  It was a very memorable day, and I know that both children came away feeling a sense of awe at all of the work that goes into maintaining the fire house, trucks and other equipment so the firemen can do their jobs.

Kids love to pretend that they are firefighters or police officers for good reason -they like to emulate those people in our society who keep us safe from harm, our heroes.  At GIFT HERO, we sell FDNY and NYPD playsets that make perfect birthday gifts for kids.  What small child doesn’t wave at the passing fire truck, and smile at the firefighters?

Thanks to our heroes, from  GIFT HERO!

I’ve been waiting for TOMY Constructables to arrive at GIFT HERO.  It had been on backorder for months.  It was one of my “must carry” toys, for boys ages 3 and up, when Lisa and I were selecting inventory.  Benjamin received it as a gift at that age and both he and I thought it was so much fun.

Constructables is a motorized building playset.  Kids can build a race car, a train, a helicopter, a plane or any other vehicle they dream up.  The core component of any vehicle is the motorized powerpack (that takes just one AA battery – which is a common size most of us usually have around the house) and all the child needs to do it turn it on and watch it go!  The propellers will twirl, the wheels will turn and the smokestack will spin.  There are 18 pieces to work with so children can really make some complicated contraptions.

I gave this to several of Benjamin’s buddies when they turned 3.  I recently ran into one of the Moms…and unsolicited, she mentioned that her son still enjoys this toy and now her younger one (who I cannot believe is 3 1/2 already) loves it too.  She said the quality is great and it still works perfectly.  I told her it was coming very soon to GIFT HERO and I’m sure it will be on her giving list for her little guy’s buddies this birthday season!

My sister is in town visiting and we decided to do some back to school shopping for the kids. We went to a bunch of places, but my favorite was the brand new Crewcuts on Madison Ave. and 87th Street.  I have always admired the J. Crew children’s clothing line; however, until recently there wasn’t one near where I live so I rarely shopped there.

I couldn’t believe how crowded the store was! Maybe it was the rain today, but the store was packed with moms and kids. And for good reason – this Fall collection is delightful for both boys and girls alike. The staff are very friendly, and have a great sense of style but are not pushy.

My sister and I bought some things for our kids, but my favorite is this dress I bought for Maya – the combination of retro stylying with a funky print is right up her alley!

The boys side of the store was truly wonderful.  I love their rugged, preppy style.  I found some awesome corduroy pants, and a really cool sleeveless football sweatshirt which he really loves (see photo, right).

So , welcome to the neighborhood Crewcuts.  Judging by the crowd today, you will be very successful here!

While this blog is primarily meant to share our favorite gifts, experiences and products related to kids and family, sometimes it’s fun to post about something entirely adult – or maybe a “break” from the kids…

We share a beach house with my brother.  He has become quite the mixologist and has introduced us and our guests to some really delicious drinks.  Some of our favorites are Dark & Stormy, Pimm’s Cup, and a great Mojito.

Most recently, he dramatically improved the classic iced tea/lemonade combo.  He “brewed” tea using vodka…kind of like sun tea.  He filled a mason jar with vodka, added a black teabag and steeped it in the sun for a while (the longer you do it, the stronger the tea).  Then he mixed it with lemonade (our preference is the Simply Lemonade brand).  Truly delicious and incredibly refreshing.  Enjoy!

Every weekend we drive to and from the eastern end of Long Island.  The trip takes anywhere from 2:15 with no traffic to 4 hours of bumper to bumper, even with backroad detours.  It can be torture but, once we get there, I get amnesia and forget how annoying the drive was.

When I’m driving by myself, I often think of one of Benjamin’s favorite games
Rush Hour Jr. from Thinkfun.  In this single-player game, children steer their ice cream truck through a jumble of blocking cars, trucks and buses.  The objective is to slide the blocking cars and trucks out of the way to create a path of escape through the congestion.  The game has 40 age-appropriate challenges, for boys and girls ages 6 and up, to set-up and solve.  We love so many things about this gift…the challenges get more difficult as you go through them and really make a child feel like he’s mastering something, it is small and portable and is great for travel (or to play in the car in a real traffic jam), and it’s won tons of awards.  Thinkfun also makes Rush Hour for ages 8 and up.

Now, wouldn’t it be great if I could play a real-live game of Rush Hour and slide the trucks, SUVs, vans and other cars out of my way on the LIE or Rte 27 to make my own escape!

August is my favorite food month of the year. I relish going to the Union Square Farmers Market and buying all of the locally grown produce. I especially look forward to the sweet Jersey corn and plump, ripe tomatoes. Plums and nectarines are my favorite summer fruits, and my kids can’t get enough strawberries.

Just in time for the peak summer harvests, GIFT HERO just got in the Garden Fruits & Veggies. This pretend play set is a perfect kids’ birthday gift for ages 3 and 4. Kids will love using the pretend knife to “cut and peel” these fruits and veggies. The pieces are held together with velcro to make it easy to take apart and put back together. Kids will enjoy shucking corn, shelling peas, peeling a banana, and even sectioning an orange. It all comes in an adorable storage tote for portable fun. Great for outdoor or indoor play. Fun even to tote along to the local farmers market!