Tag: Eurostoves

Nichole’s Picks of the Week: February Vacation

Posted on by Nichole S.

Many kiddos are on vacation this coming week so I’m throwing out some extra suggestions to the universe in case you have some extra downtime.

The possibilities are endless and this list is not meant to be comprehensive…just some of my favorite choices!

Pick #1:  

The New England Boat Show!

The boat show runs from February 14th-22nd at the the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center!  Children 15 and under are FREE and adults are only $16.  Actually, for a limited time, adults are only $13.  It’s a good idea to purchase tix online as the line to buy tickets can get long at times.

My boys LOVED the car show….I can only imagine the mayhem that will ensue when we unleash them at the boat show.

NE_2

Pick #2:

Slope Fest!  Lawn on the D February 20th-22nd

This event sounds like a blast!  Tubing, music, food trucks, frost ice bar, winter sports exhibition, family friendly activities, and much more!  This could easily become quite the staycation.  Book an inexpensive room and make a little getaway out of it!

Winter on D’s Slope Fest, a three-day wintertime festival offering city-dwellers an urban escape featuring a two-story-high snow slope for tubing, downhill winter sport exhibitions on the slope, a custom-designed illuminated bar carved out of ice by Boston’s Frost Ice Bar, activities for families and the young at heart, a hot Latin dance party and more!

With over five feet of snow blanketing The Lawn, Winter on D’s Slope Fest offers Bostonians the chance to tube down a 70-foot-long slope made of fresh snowy powder – without heading to the mountains. You can leave your snow tubes at home as they will be provided by the MCCA, but make sure to buy a ticket* to ensure that you get a chance to slide down the snowiest hill in Boston! The slope will also be the location for an hour-long sport exhibition featuring the SnowRiders, a team of experienced skiers and snowboarders, who will be twisting and turning in the air to show off their hottest moves on and off the slope**.

Once you’ve had your fill of tubing, grab a hot beverage or choose from local wine and beer selections from the ice bar provided by Boston’s Frost Ice Bar, the world’s largest permanent indoor ice bar in the U.S. Order a special drink to pair it with your favorite menu item from one of the many food trucks that will be on-site for Slope Fest.

Watch Latin dance performances by MetaMovements and even learn the latest dance steps before trying them out yourself during a Latin dance party that will take place before Friday’s Slope Fest downhill winter sport exhibition.

If that isn’t enough, Slope Fest will also feature fun family friendly activities, music from DJ Frankie White, fire pits on The Lawn and more (think snowy selfie photo opps)!

Pick #3
Salem’s So Sweet  This event is still going on so if you didn’t make it last weekend…you still have time.  Chocolate and ice sculptures…sounds like you can’t go wrong!

SalemSoSweet_Logo_2015-01-242x300

Pick #4 
Pinkalicious! The Musical

PINKALICIOUS: The Musical
February 14 at 2 pm
February 15 at 2 pm and 4 pm
February 18, 19, and 20 at 2 pm
February 21 at 2 pm and 4 pm
February 22 at 2 pm

Back by popular demand! One of the biggest hits with BCT audiences, PINKALICIOUS returns for a limited run in our 2015 season. This pinktastic musical features everyone’s favorite pink princess, Pinkalicious, along with her brother Peter and her adoring parents! Learn why it’s so important to eat your green vegetables! A pinkerrific time will be had by all!  Single Tickets Now On Sale!  All Performances of PINKALICIOUS at the Cambridge YMCA, 820 Mass. Ave, Cambridge

Pinkalicious-Graphic-Square-hi-res-150x150

Pick #5

Dave and Buster’s

I’m not typically an arcade fan, but my boys love it here and I actually usually have a pretty good time too!  We’ve been to the Providence and the Braintree locations.  We eat a decent lunch, play a ton of games, the boys run around like crazy scoring tickets, and then cash them in for some silly little prize.

images

Pick #6
The Mary Baker Eddy Library has February Vacation activities.

The Mapparium is really cool to see while you’re there!

imgres

Pick #7
The Museum of Fine Arts

As with other museums, the MFA will be hosting February Vacation activities for children and their families!  Check out their program of events.

 

Pick #8
Maritime Gloucester!

One of our favorite summer places of all, Maritime Gloucester will be having some great February Vacation activities!

Be sure to click on the link to discover just what they’ll be offering!

IMG_5781

 

Pick #9
Eurostoves

Eurostoves in Beverly is offering kids’ cooking classes most days during vacation week, but they are filling up QUICK!

Check out their class schedule and call ASAP if you’re interested!

 

Pick #10
The Wenham Museum

The 6th Annual Lego Train 

by The New England Lego Users Group 

February 14 – 15

Learn more…

February Vacation Fun 

Legopalooza 

February 16 – 18

Train Time D IY Maker Studio 

February 16 – 20

Learn more…

               

Train Time 18: Farm to Table By Train

                                                                     

 

Open through February 22 

Learn more…

 

Pick #11

So, I know that you all know to go to the New England Aquarium, but right now I’m particularly excited about the Humpback Whales 3D IMAX Movie!

 

Nichole’s Family Picks of the Weekend 11/29 + 11/30

Posted on by Nichole S.

Pick #1

So, I’m cheating here a bit with this post because my 1st pick is actually a few weeks from now.  Originally, I was going to post about the Parent/Child Cupcake making class that is taking place at Eurostoves on Saturday 11/29, BUT it is sold out….which made me think that some things I may want to recommend in the future may need to be written about ahead of time so that interested readers don’t get shut out!  I’ll try to keep that in mind.

You’re in luck, however, because the “Parent/Child Cupcake Crazy” is also being offered on December 26th.  So book now….and turn it into a great little gift to put under the tree!  A fantastic little date day for you and yours (or a niece, nephew, grandchild, etc) all wrapped up with a bow.  Annnnd, no need for the recipient of your awesome gift to be patient, because just when the Christmas buzz is about to wear off, you get to hop in the car and keep the fun going!

Check out Eurostoves here

Pick #2

If I’m to be honest, I haven’t been here yet, but I’ve been meaning to go and this weekend’s Annual Holiday Bazaar in the “magical shop in the forest” sounds pretty perfect to me.  I love the sound of the nature-inspired gifts, but strolling through craft tables can get boring for kids, let’s be honest.  The Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine, (just over an hour away….so not too bad!) eliminates that by giving the kiddos an opportunity to meet the owl, hawk, falcon, and more who call the center home! And, this weekend’s events will also include winter book readings.

“Environmental Fairy Tales Come Alive! We will have readings of “A Christmas Owl” and “A Winter Solstice Celebration” at 1pm and 2pm. Gather under our educational pavilion, enjoy hot cocoa and cider, listen to these great tales, and meet some of the animals from the book!”

Stop for some lunch and hot cocoa in Newburyport on the way home to break up the drive and you’ve made a whole day of it!

Check out the Center for Wildlife here!

Pick #3

One of our favorite holiday traditions!!  For the record, traditions are really important to my little family unit.  Because I say so.  Kidding.  In all seriousness, creating traditions and being sure to do them each year so that our boys would hopefully learn to love and cherish them, was really important to me.  So, we have several traditions that we don’t mess with….and hopefully never will.  One of those is cutting down our Christmas Tree.  In November of 2010, the Bertolon family opened the Beverly Tree Farm.  Since then, countless families have marked their calendars to make the annual pilgrimage to their gorgeous property to find the one.  The one perfect tree that speaks to them!

We have gone every year since.  I’m not going to lie, the trees could easily be considered expensive. However, you’re not just paying for a tree.  You’re paying for hot cider, cocoa, homemade Christmas cookies, a roaring fire, and an incredibly kind and friendly family run business.  You’re paying for holiday memories in the making.  When they first opened it was possible to tag the tree of your dreams and then go back and get it later. When that was an option, we got two times the tradition for the price of one!  We would go, find our tree, decorate it at the farm, have some holiday yummies, sit by the fire, and then head home….Christmas carols blaring! Then, we’d head back the following week, search for our masterpiece, and cut her down. We’d eat some more yummies, sit by the fire for a bit longer, strap it onto the car….and head home once again.

Tagging it for later pick-up is no longer an option.  One of the reasons for that is that the tree farm is so phenomenal that they now sell out of trees in just two short weekends.  They open the day after Thanksgiving and stay open just this weekend and next weekend.  That’s it.  Still, even without the tagging, it is totally worth it.

A very important fact to know is that the Bertolon family uses proceeds to cover operating costs and then gives every other penny to charity.  A couple of years ago a large recipient was Hospice of the North Shore….last year, they were able to give $25,000 to Direct Relief to assist Philippine victims recovering from Super Typhoon Haiyan.  In all, over the past few years, they have given an incredibly $85,000 to selected charities.  This year’s charity is The Cabot….as in The Cabot Performing Arts Center in Beverly.

So, be sure to check out the Beverly Tree Farm here!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.