UPDATE: Zoo New England, Franklin Park

We have a family plus 2 membership that allows us 2 named adults, 4 children, and two guests each time we go to the zoo.  The best part of this membership is that we can always bring friends with us! It's good at both the Stone Zoo, as well as the Franklin Park Zoo.  The Franklin Park Zoo has been one of my favorite places to go.  In comparison to the Stone Zoo, the Franklin Park Zoo is easier to navigate with multiple kids. It's generally more open, and I can keep a closer eye on the children. There are more things to keep the kids occupied.  I also think there are better animal exhibits.  (Christopher the Lion, a baby gorilla names Kiki, Giraffes, and my middle daughter's favorite Tapirs -Milton and Abby)

This past summer the Franklin Park Zoo completed construction on it's new playground and other play structures throughout the park.  My kids just LOVE it.  On the other hand, given the ages and abilities of my kids I have some reservations.  I'll go through the playstructure and their locations.  We typically start at the back entrance of the zoo. (usually more parking, and it's less crowded)  Right when we come in there is a small playstructure.  It's quite odd when you see it.  It's got about 6 jacks shaped things on a metal frame.  My kids love climbing it!  It's a bit too big for my (very tiny) 2-year old.  Over by the lion and tigers are some play structures as well.  On the backside of the lion exhibit is a new climbing structure.  I'm not sure what the intended age is on this one.
My son loves it, and it's a bit too big for my girls.  

Also by the Lion is a food stand that's open during the summer, as well as a 'crate' and sitting area.  We somehow manage to spend quite a bit of time playing in and around the box.  Walking back around the Lion's Den, there's a Jeep that's 'crashed' into the exhibit.  Lots of fun for the kids.

By the Food Court and Children's Farm there is a tractor for the kids to play on, some coin operated rides, and a twisty slide.

Now, onto the BIG, new and exciting playground!  Here are some pictures we took at our last visit.
   I wish I was able to take more pictures, but with three kids 4 and under it just wasn't meant to be!  This is quite the playground.  There is a large section towards the back dedicated to the 2-5 age group.  My personal opinion is this is a great area, but might be a little advanced for the 2 year olds.  There's just so much to explore in this area.  There are baby swings, and also a pretty cool "Merry Go Round".  (I didn't know they still existed!)  The other side of the playground is just gigantic!  It is intended for older children, and I imagine kids could spend hours upon hours here.  I am not a nervous mom, and usually let my kids explore everything.  However, this playground is just too much for me to manage alone with my 2, 3, and 4 year old.  I can not wait to explore it when they are 5, 6, and 7!  Kudos to the Franklin Park Zoo, but I'm just too outnumbered and the big side is just too big for us right now!

This summer the Franklin Park Zoo also added a Dinosaur exhibit, which is now closed for the season.  I do hope they bring it back next summer.  It was an additional charge, but worth a visit now and again.  

Admission rates: Please check out the Zoo's website for more details about cost, food, parking, etc.

The Butterfly Place, Westford MA

One of the more annoying things about Groupon is that I end up buying things that I probably wouldn't have if i didn't feel the pressure to 'buy now or forever hold your peace'.  A few months back there was a deal for The Butterfly Place in Westford.  I thought "Hey cool!  that would be fun, and look how much I'm getting off!"  Then the months went by and it was no where on our list to go.  I tried a few times to make plans with people to go, and they somehow always fell through.  Today we decided to venture out there on our own, something I try not to do often!  I don't think I really need to explain why - there's nothing worse than bringing the 3, 2, and not-quite-1 year old somewhere and realizing I'm in over my head.


Nonetheless, after a very short workout at the YMCA, we got on the road to Westford.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the area, its in the Lowell area.  As we were driving the skies opened up and I was terrified that this was going to be a bad idea.  We got there, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised.  It was so easy to find, and plenty of parking.  I decided not to take the stroller because most butterfly places I've seen don't allow them.  So I packed Riley into the Baby Bjorn and ventured in.  When you walk in there's the 'gift shop'.  It's not all that impressive, but they were so friendly.   I'm actually glad it wasn't that impressive of a shop, since the kids would have wanted more than they always did.

We walked back into a display room and the kids were so excited! There were a few cases with butterflies and some with cocoons.  They were pretty excited here and I thought it would go really well.  We walked back into the "Garden".  I thought it was just beautiful.  So many butterflies flying around.  We quickly recognized the Blue Morpho Butterfly from Go Diego Go.  Unfortunately, the kids were a little uncomfortable.   Patrick (3) did alright when I had him on a mission to find yellow flowers.  Cecilia (2) liked the butterflies, until she realized they were flying around her.  We sat on a bench to stay still to see if they would land on us.  Cecilia was ok once she settled in under my feet.  It was a bit of work to keep them in the butterfly room, and we really didn't last too long before we had to leave.

The Groupon had a balance so we needed to pick up a few things in the gift shop.  The kids picked out butterfly nets and we headed home.  The entire excursion took just about an hour.  While it was beautiful, for us at these ages it wasn't worth the trip.  We still can go and see butterflies at the Franklin Park Zoo.  While this has no where near the concentration of butterflies, the kids still get a few minutes to check it out and it's somewhere we already are. 

The Butterfly Place
120 Tyngsboro Rd
Westford MA
978-392-0955

Strollers ARE allowed in the butterfly room!
February 14th - March 31st: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
April 1st - August 31st: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
September 1st - October 31st: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Adults ..........................................$12.00
Seniors (65+) .............................. $9.00
Children (3-12 years) .................. $7.00
Children (2 & under) ...................Free

 

Constitution Beach, East Boston

So it's been a while since I've posted.  This year has been a busy one for us as three out of our four siblings (my husband's and mine) are getting married!  I've been a little lax on posting about our adventures as other things have taken priority.  Even so, we have been exploring and have so many great places to post about.  (Leave some suggestions for us as well!)

So, beach and three kids?  Let's just say, I am not a beach person to begin with - I burn, don't like swimming.  To throw three kids into it is my own personal nightmare.  I'm worried about them in the water, the waves, the rip-currents, the inevitable sunburns, sunscreen in the eyes (not a fun ER trip, trust me!).  So many of my friends spend much of their summer at Salisbury Beach Reservation.  I have never gone, but I know they love it.  My mother and sister also love going to the beach.  Today they were both on vacation and wanted to spend the day at the beach with me and the kids.  I reluctantly agreed to go, and I must say I'm glad I did!  I think this is a great beach for kids.  Constitution Beach is really a great space!  It's the only beach in East Boston, and this website gave some really great information.  My understanding is that year ago this place was a dump.  The city successfully cleaned it up and then shipped in sand from the Cape.

There are so many reasons that I think that this place is great for kids.  One, it's located right across from the airport.  For the kids, what could be more exciting than watching planes taking off and landing just across the way.  (It is actually quite cool to watch, even as a grown up)  For me, the beach is sheltered from the airport.  This means that the currents are almost non-existent, and the waves are perfect size for toddlers/preschoolers.

Two, there is a fenced in playground just off the beach!   It's clean, and it's a good sized playground.  Just behind here runs the T's Blue Line.

Three, There are restrooms and changing rooms at the beach are in pretty good shape.  The area's equipped with showers for rinsing, and there's a concession stand there as well.  (We packed a picnic lunch and Nana brought the treats so there was no need).

Four, the parking is right there, behind the playground and runs the length of the beach!  Or you can park on Bennington St. and take the pedestrian walkway over the subway tracks.  I'm not sure how easy this place is to find without a GPS.  I'm fortunate to have family live in the area, so we meet there and head over via backroads. 

It looks like this is a popular place for the local camps to bring kids for some outdoor fun.  So at some points the playground was a little busy.  This was fine since they groups came and went.  One YMCA group set up a snack station for all the little ones at the beach with juice boxes, crackers, and some other snacks.

There are many other things to do here.  I'm fairly certain I spotted some tennis courts, softball field, a basketball court, and there's a skating rink just off the beach. 

I don't have a beach tent, so we took the tented wagon for the baby.  This worked out great, and I also had many extra hands to help me manage the little ones.  They loved running up and down from the water, watching the boats, planes, and trains, and running back and forth to the playground, just as I knew they would.   It ended up being a great day at the beach - not crowded, lots to do, and the excitement over the airplanes only 2,000 feet away didn't fade away.  If we end up looking to spend another day at the beach, this will likely where we end up. If you and your family love the beach, this is definitely worth the trip.  Despite having a great time, I just don't think this is something I could do without help, so it will have to wait for another vacation day from a family beach-goer, or for a year or two from now when the babes are a little older!

Boston Children's Museum, Boston

I decided to be brave and courageous yesterday and bring the crew to the Boston Children's Museum.  While it's a great museum, and there's lots of fun to be had, this is absolutely not a place that I will be returning too anytime soon, (unless, of course I have extra reinforcements that are totally dedicated to me and my kids!!)

 As you can tell, I certainly don't shy away from exploring the area parks, playgrounds and attractions.  I try to keep calm and not get stressed out because children can feel that stress.  Me getting stressed out makes them worse, and ultimately gets me more stressed out.  So, I generally try to maintain my laid-back attitude when bringing the clan out and about.   It took us a little while to find parking, and get our bearings in the area.  But we found parking ($19.00).  I think it was the closest to the museum.  It was a little tiny lot where the attendant had to park the car for us.  It took awhile to unload.  I decided to bring the double stroller, Baby Bjorn, and the sling carrier.  We also had packed a picnic lunch to enjoy on the waterfront.  

Once we got into the museum, I sensed that I might be in over my head.  It is the end of the school year, and apparently 11am prime time for elementary school field trips.  Can we say chaos?  As soon as we got in, Patrick flew into the climbing structure.  Cecilia made her attempt, but fortunately she didn't have the height to get up too high.  For this age group, and with three kids, my biggest complaint is that I can't see them in this structure.  At one point, Patrick had climbed down, and I saw him come out.  I didn't catch him quickly jump back in because I had grabbed one of the other two.  We thought he took off through the museum.  After what seemed like 15 minutes, and was probably one 2 or 3, our friend noticed him in his neon orange shirt at the top of the structure.  Be aware, this is not something that an adult would want to climb up into, and thank god I didn't have to because I'm not sure what I would have done with the other kids! 

I really wish I could do a better job describing the layout to you all, but honestly it was so tough to keep on top of them (even with help) that I couldn't tell you where anything was!  So here, check out the map! 

We did explore most of the museum, though not all.  We tried the third floor, and then headed outside for lunch.  There's an Au Bon Pain in the 'milk bottle' which would be great on warmer summer days.  It was a great place for lunch even though they were closed.  We then headed back in to check out the other floors.  The kids LOVED the bubble exhibit on the first floor, as well as the water tables on the second floor.  There's a great construction room that Patrick loved when  we went about two years ago.  This time, Patrick was so overwhelmed with how much there was to see that he couldn't pay too much attention here and just wanted to keep moving onto 'bigger and better things'.  At the very end of our visit we learned there was a 0-3 center that was GATED.  I wish I was able to pay better attention to the map when we first got there.  Perhaps we could have prevented "Lost Patrick Round two"!

So the nitty-gritty:

Boston Children's Museum
Congress ST, Boston.
Parking: ample parking at various lots around the museum.  Almost all parking is at a cost.

Hours
Open every day 10am - 5pm
Fridays 10am - 9pm

Costs:  Adults: $12.00
Seniors(65+): $12.00
Children (1-15): $12.00
(0-12 Months): Free!
Members: Free!
United States Armed Forces Active Duty Personnel OR one of their dependents will receive complimentary admission to Boston Children's Museum with appropriate ID.


And Check this out: $1.00 Friday nights from 5-9.  This is sponsored by Target!


There are also library passes that offer a discounted rate.  If you are a member of a children's museum, and have a Reciprocal pass, admission is free. 

Bailek Park, Ipswich

What a great park we went to today!  It's called Bailek Park, and it's on Linebrook Rd, in Ipswich, MA.  We'd never been and decided to go check it out.  It's fun trying out different parks!  Anyways, this has a 'new' section that was built in late 2009, with an older wooden 2-5 structure.  It's a really cool park.  I really can't do much in terms of describing it, but I did remember to take some pictures for everyone.  The kids had a really good time.  Positives: lots of fun structures to play on.  Mostly fenced off from the road.  Parking: today seemed to be plenty of parking, but since this park is with several ball fields, I think it might be a bit more difficult on busy days!   Negatives:  No shade!  We all left with some color, and the baby unfortunately got a bit of a sunburn since she's photo-sensitive due to meds.  There were also a few broken things, the large swing (see pictures below) and one of the play structure had a sign saying not to use until it's replaced.  It did look like a new sign, so hopefully it's fixed soon.

Totplex, Canton MA

I packed up the kids, and headed down to the Canton Totplex to meet a friend and have all the kids play together.  I heard about it from another mom's posts on Facebook.  She really enjoyed it, so we figured this was a good halfway point between our two towns.  The Totplex is actually part of the larger Sportsplex.  They have several programs, but we were there for the indoor playspace.  It was not too far from the highway, but at the end of an industrial park.  We had a very hard time finding it, since I couldn't find any signs saying either totplex or sportsplex.  After driving around and around, I decided this must be the place due to the number of minivans in the parking lot!  We headed in.  Basically, this is a giant complex with ice rinks, indoor fields, locker rooms, etc.  The totplex part of it is actually just a large indoor soccer field (maybe lacrosse) with a bunch of toys.  There were a few inflatables, some infant exersaucers, cars, playhouses, and the kiddie coasters.  It was very wide open with lots of room to run.  I had purposefully dressed Patrick in a neon green shirt for easy watching!  This proved to be useful as he literally ran from one end to the other for the entire time we were there. 

This was a great place for multiple kids, since I could keep an eye on them.  Although, it is a huge place and you could end up with one kid at one end, and one at the other!  What I liked most about this place, was that at the entrance to the playspace, there are staff members who don't let the kids leave!  Everyone has numbered tickets/wristbands that match.  (for example, we were all number 14)  This also proved useful when Cecilia had enough playing and wanted to go home.  Great safety feature that I wish other places implemented.  There were a few downsides, the biggest being the condition of the turf.  It appears to be deteriorating, and little bits of the floor were coming through the turf.  With Riley being such an active crawler/roller, she ended up covered in little black bits.  I thought they had great inflatables, but found that most of the toys were things we had in our yard or friends yards.  Still, this is great for those long winter days.  We won't be there in the summer, that's for sure!

Canton Totplex
 5 Carver Circle •
Canton, MA 02021 •
Telephone: 781 821-0304 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              781 821-0304      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Hours: Monday - Friday 9-2 pm
September 13, 2010 - June 13, 2011
closed on all school holidays and vacations.
Cost:  $8.00 per child.  (Discounted rate for more children)

Discovery Museums, Acton MA

I've been a bit lax in updating this blog the last few weeks, not because we haven't been going anywhere, but more because we've been going everywhere!  We had a whole 10 days straight of heading out an about.  Some of the places I've already written about, like the two zoos, and Ackerman/Boy Scout Park.  And of course we've been off visiting friends.  We did check out some great new places! 


One of those was the Acton Discovery Museums.  Wow!  Can I just say, this was probably the best place I've taken these kids!  It was a little bit of a drive, about 45 minutes from Wenham, but it was so worth it!  Can you imagine, we spent three hours at this very small museum, and didn't even come close to seeing half of it?   There are two small buildings, and actually, we didn't even see all of the smaller building.  There were upset children when it was time to go, and sleeping children the entire ride home. :)

So we met up with two friends and their (combined) 4 children.  Driving down the road, I literally drove right past it. I was looking for a 'building', not a 'house'.  Thank goodness for the giant dinosaur in the lawn!  We turned around and found the parking lot.  It's not a huge parking lot, but I think it gets the job done.  We didn't have a hard time finding spaces.  I was surprised to notice a sign that said "30 Minute Wait".  A museum with a wait?  So we got our tickets.  (Free if you have the Children's Museum Reciprocal pass or a library pass, and can be discounted if you have the Entertainment Book)  We headed back outside to explore.  There's a lot to do in the parking lot.  We hovered around the tree house and ship area, and also the painted 'road' they could drive tricycles on.  I noticed there were other things around the parking lot, but the kids weren't interested in heading there.  They also have a 'classroom' that has some toys in it, and a bathroom! 

The wait ended up being much less than 30 minutes, and when we got in, I could see why there was a wait.  It's a small victorian style house that's been converted into this amazing playspace/museum.  No strollers allowed in the museum, and I'm not sure it's fully handicap accessible. 

The first room was the train room, complete with a large train the kids could go on, a train table, and a ticket counter.  Nothing high tech, and for me not all that exciting.  The kids on the other hand had to be dragged out and into the next room, the ball room.  Now I thought this room was great!  There was a 'loft'-type structure for the kids to climb, some stage type areas, and a fireplace converted into a cozy reading nook.  The entire room was outfitted with different 'tracks' for the balls.  There were large lacrosse balls that you had to climb into the loft to put in the tracks.  The tracks went around the room and hit different obstacles like keys, or dominoes.  This was great for Patrick, and Cecilia loved the lower level tracks for golf balls scattered throughout.  Room 2 was were we lost one set of friends......they stayed here almost an hour!  The next room is the water room.  Pretty simple.  Giant water table, and this giant bubble set up where the kids can stand in a bubble.  They do have 'water aprons' but I would definitely recommend a change or two of clothes per kid!  

Then come the stairway, also full of fun for the little ones.  There's a giant lighthouse they can climb in with a periscope and switches to turn on the light.  Under the stairs is a seat and a TV that showcases an ocean scene.  (No, not a Sponge Bob ocean scene! )  We headed upstairs, there's a bunch of rooms up there, and I know that with the three of them, I didn't really get to explore all the rooms, because it was hard to keep track of them all!  I do wish there was a gate at the top of the stairs.  The first room we went in was exploring colors with a huge wooden puzzle along the wall, and some neat color mixing containers and wheels.  There's also a big wooden bridge that has light-up steps.  The next room was a restaurant set up. This pretty much speaks for itself, but just picture a play kitchen on steroids!  Complete with restaurant booths for us parents to sit and enjoy their creations.  Here is also an unimpressive infant corner.  There weren't too many toys in it, but I appreciated a chance to put Riley down so I could keep a better eye on the bigger two.  Then we worked over to an eclectic area.  There was a puppet theater, dollhouse, and they could climb up into an adventure fort. 

The two other rooms on this level were the safari room, which also had climbing structures and a sensory room.    I didn't get to spend much time in there since I could be in the hallways and keep an eye on them. Oh, and very important to note: Bathroom is located on this floor too, with a changing table!

There is a third floor, but we didn't make it up there.  At this point, we'd already been inside about 2.5 hours!  We slowly headed back outside and went to the 'front yard'.  We grabbed some lunch at the picnic tables and the kids played in the sandbox and on the dinosaur. 

I can not wait to go back!  Not only did we miss the third floor of the smaller building, there's the entire 'science museum' that didn't open until 1 that we missed.  Some of our friends had been here before and the kids really wanted to go there as well.  But rush hours was fast approaching.  We will be going back and planning a full day, so look for the Part 2 post. 

Discovery Museums,
177 Main Street (Route 27)
Acton, Massachusetts 01720
Phone: 978.264.4200 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              978.264.4200      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
fun@discoverymuseums.org

Parking: Ample
Bathrooms:  Classroom building by the Children's Discovery Musuem, and on the second floor of the Childrens' Discovery Museum.  (I don't yet know where in the Science Building)

	Children's Discovery Museum (The smaller front house) Tues-Sun 9-4:30
	Science Discovery Museum Tues-Fri 1-430, Sat-Sun 10-4:30