ok, call me the last to know, but Queens is home to the oldest continuously operating farm in New York state, appropriately called The Queens County Farm! and you can go there! feed the sheep, take a hay ride, buy local eggs, honey and WINE! check out the cows and watch the peacocks sneak peaks of themselves in your hubcaps. AND IT IS FREE!!!!!

in celebration of everything green, we headed over that way with a motley crew of kids, and our buddy Alison Lowenstein – writer extraordinaire (City Kid New York, City Baby Brooklyn and a frequent contributor to Time Out NY Kids).

we also headed to her favorite post farm hang, Eddie’s Sweet Shop – an authentic old timey ice cream store on Metropolitan Ave in Forest Hills. banana split so big and messy it took 5 kids (and me!) to devour it – and everything is home made from rum raisin ice cream to decadent whipped cream and caramel.

so, check out the show tonight @ 9pm on NYC Life! you will also get to check out my new electric Chevy Volt. just plug ‘er in and gooooooo! say buy-bye to paying at the pump! being green was never this cool!

Ok, so once again i have a house full of out of town relatives and being that the hubs can’t get time off of work…what’s a tv host to do? Take ‘em on a ROAD TRIP! I was working on my Rock And Roll Episode so, we loaded 7 of the Senecal/Shea clan into The Traverse and took off, heading to Bethel, NY to visit the site of the most famous concert of all time. You may not know that Woodstock did not actually happen in Woodstock. Originally, the idea was to create a retreat like recording studio in Woodstock, but then the idea eventually morphed into a live show. But….the questions remained….Why were The Beatles not invited? And why did Joni Mitchell drop out? Why did Led Zeppelin turn down an offer to play? Well, you are going to have to check out the show tonight to find out!

Also tonight, we are 1 on 1 with my Rock icon Joan Jett. Now, I think of her as a tough cookie, but what other Rock legend was she totally nervous to share the stage with? And who used to open for her when she was in The Runaways?

We sit down with our very own Little Steven who tells me about when he teamed up with The Boss, who at that time, believe it or not was a folk singer who was not experiencing much success….until that famous week of showcases at the legendary Bitter End. Well, you have to hear Stevie explain it himself, but let’s just say after those shows Bruce was on the cover of both Time and Newsweek with headlines proclaiming “Rock’s New Sensation” and “Making of A Rock Star”, respectively.

So check out the show tonight @ 9pm on NYC Life….Channel 25 unless you have Cablevision, then it’s Channel 22 xos t

Head out of the city this weekend and explore these fantastic children’s museums in the suburbs. All are less than an hour’s drive from NYC. If you’re a member of your local children’s museum, you might be able to get into these museums for free due to the reciprocal membership program. I know my Globetrotter membership at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, gives us access to over 150 children’s museums in the US & Canada and over 300 Science & Technology Museums. Reciprocal memberships are another great reason to support your local museums.

Long Island Children’s Museum
Kids can step inside a bubble, explore a handicap accessible van and home, and build sculptures in a large woodworking exhibit. This weekend they are offering, Messy Afternoons, drop in art projects for kids. If your child ever wondered how toys work, you should stop by the exhibit. Toys: The Inside Story, where you can learn cool facts like how an Etch a Sketch draws and erases.

New Jersey Children’s Museum
Your kids can dress up as firefighters or knights and princesses at the interactive exhibits at this children’s museum. If your child is a fan of trains, be sure to check out their giant train set. Budding chefs will love to pretend to make and serve pizzas at the kid’s pizzeria. Have a baby? They won’t feel left out at this museum that boasts a Baby Nook, an enclosed area with toys and climbing mats.

About Alison Lowenstein, CITY KID blogger!

Alison Lowenstein is the author of City Kid New York: The Ultimate Guide for NYC Parents with Kids Ages 4-12, City Weekends: The Greatest Escapes and Weekend Getaways in and Around NYC, and City Baby Brooklyn: The Ultimate Guide for Parents from Pregnancy through Preschool.

She has written for The New York Daily News, Newsday, Time Out New York Kids, New York Family Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Arrive, American Way,Wild Blue Yonder, TravelandLeisure.com, Babble.com, Grandparents.com, Cookiemag.com, among many other publications and websites. She is the featured expert and Ambassador for PBS Channel 13’s Kids Club 13 and was a guest in the New York Times City Room Taking Questions column. Her website is http://www.brooklynbaby.com. Alison lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two school-aged children.

Brooklyn Museum
Target First Saturday
Saturday Nov 6, 5-11pm, Free
See the museum after hours at the Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturday event. Held the first Saturday of each month, there is something for every member of the family. This month’s activities include music, dancing, art projects and a screening of Alice in Wonderland. Come early because it’s a popular program and lots of fun!

New Museum
New Museum First Saturdays for Families
Saturday Nov 6, 10amTake the kids to this edgy museum on the Bowery. This Saturday is the New Museum First Saturdays for Families program. Ideal for kids ages 5-15. On the first Saturday of the month, the museum offers a host of hands-on kid-friendly programs throughout the day. This Saturday at 11:30am they will screen animated shorts presented by StoryCorps.

About Alison Lowenstein, CITY KID blogger!

Alison Lowenstein is the author of City Kid New York: The Ultimate Guide for NYC Parents with Kids Ages 4-12, City Weekends: The Greatest Escapes and Weekend Getaways in and Around NYC, and City Baby Brooklyn: The Ultimate Guide for Parents from Pregnancy through Preschool.

She has written for The New York Daily News, Newsday, Time Out New York Kids, New York Family Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Arrive, American Way,Wild Blue Yonder, TravelandLeisure.com, Babble.com, Grandparents.com, Cookiemag.com, among many other publications and websites. She is the featured expert and Ambassador for PBS Channel 13’s Kids Club 13 and was a guest in the New York Times City Room Taking Questions column. Her website is http://www.brooklynbaby.com. Alison lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two school-aged children.

So this week we hit SoHo, and learn all about it’s dark past….but being that these days it is a huge shopping destination, the prices can be steep, so we hit the road in The Traverse and headed to source the best outlet shopping.  Yes, we already know about Woodbury Commons – which as you know can be a zoo, so we went on the advice of an unnamed source who tipped us off to Clinton Crossing. Hollah! Everything from Michael Kors to Juicy Couture!

But you know me, your resident history geek, I’m always on the hunt to explore our past and just a short ride from Clinton, Connecticut is the quaint town of Guilford. and low and behold we stumbled upon the oldest stone houses in connecticut if not the country. And this is it:

Thirty-two years after the founding of Jamestown and nineteen years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, a group of English puritans journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean. Their goal was to establish a community in the new world free from religious persecution. They were led by their minister, Reverend Henry Whitfield.

The Whitfield family home also served as a fort for the community. Its massive stone walls and chimneys, steeply-pitched roof, and casement windows reflect the style of post-medieval domestic architecture found in England – rare in 17th century America …and unique today.

If you happen out that way, I would say it is definitely worth a visit!

Oct 7^th Pick—Open House New York Weekend—Oct 9^th and 10^th

Budding artists and architects can get inspired at the many family friendly/kid-focused workshops around the city during the 8^th annual Open House New York (http://www.ohny.org/kids/), taking place on October 9^th and 10^th. This free architect and design event is ideal for kids because they get to explore historic homes, museums, galleries and other notable spots in the city including a gallery that was once a men’s haberdashery and department store. Participating cultural institutions throughout the city offer various family programs including kid friendly scavenger hunts, art classes and workshops. During Open House New York kids can learn about the city’s history while also learning to appreciate NYC’s beauty. You will truly heart NYC after a weekend exploring these gems throughout the five boroughs. Just to note, some programs require reservations, so please check the Open House NY website to get information about specific programs.

About Alison Lowenstein, CITY KID blogger!

Alison Lowenstein is the author of City Kid New York: The Ultimate Guide for NYC Parents with Kids Ages 4-12, City Weekends: The Greatest Escapes and Weekend Getaways in and Around NYC, and City Baby Brooklyn: The Ultimate Guide for Parents from Pregnancy through Preschool.

She has written for The New York Daily News, Newsday, Time Out New York Kids, New York Family Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Arrive, American Way,Wild Blue Yonder, TravelandLeisure.com, Babble.com, Grandparents.com, Cookiemag.com, among many other publications and websites. She is the featured expert and Ambassador for PBS Channel 13’s Kids Club 13 and was a guest in the New York Times City Room Taking Questions column. Her website is http://www.brooklynbaby.com. Alison lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two school-aged children.

Considered one of the world’s outstanding sculpture parks, storm king art center is about and hour north of new york city, in new york’s hudson valley. Storm King’s permanent collection of sculpture, dating from 1945 to the present, includes works by many of the twentieth century’s most influential artists, integrated into a pristine, 500-acre landscape of rolling hills, fields, and woodlands.

At Storm King, the exhibition space is defined by sky and land. Unencumbered by walls, the subtly created flow of space is punctuated by modern sculpture. The grounds are surrounded by the undulating profiles of the Hudson Highlands, a dramatic panorama integral to the viewing experience. The sculptures are affected by changes in light and weather, so no two visits are the same.

Much of the open area in Storm King’s 500 acres were farmed for more than two hundred years, until agriculture in the Hudson Valley became harder to sustain. In the second part of the 20th century, the fields lost much of their beauty and became susceptible to invasive plants. In 1997, we started a multi-year program to reintroduce native long grasses and wildflowers into our fields. We have been helped in this endeavor by Darrel Morrison, Senior Landscape Planner & Designer for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, Texas and the Storm King Art Center’s landscape architect, William A. Rutherford. We have already had great success with the creation of flowing islands of alfalfa, buckwheat, and oats. Wide mowed walkways meander through these fields to provide access to sculptures.

The early history of El Museo del Barrio is complex, intertwined with popular struggles in New York City over access to, and control of, educational and cultural resources. Part and parcel of the national Civil Rights movement, public demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, and sit-ins were held in New York City between 1966 and 1969. African American and Puerto Rican parents, teachers and community activists in Central and East Harlem demanded that their children— who, by 1967, composed the majority of the public school population—receive an education that acknowledged and addressed their diverse cultural heritages. In 1969, these community-based groups attained their goal of decentralizing the Board of Education. They began to participate in structuring school curriculum, and directed financial resources towards ethnic-specific didactic programs that enriched their children’s education. East Harlem’s Puerto Rican communities’ energy and dedication to social justice prepared the way for the founding of El Museo del Barrio.

If you never met Stchmo, then this is the next best thing. his home in Corona is a National Landmark and has been preserved. When you walk through his home that he shared with his wife Lucille, you can listen to recordings he made while just kicking back inbetween touring the world. You migh even run into his 86 year old neighbor who has teh BEST stories!

Does your kid want to be a news anchor? Or a surgeon? Or just wants to have a great time learning all about technology? Well, then, Sony Technology Lab is the place! AND it’s free! Our reporter Mark Joyella, had more so much fun here, we think it is a great bet for all ages!