Leeny & the Eeny Meenys and a Giveaway

The Carver Music Boosters proudly present Leeny & The Eeny Meenys, the first-ever children's music act featured at their summer concert series! Head on down to Shurtleff Park in Carver  (across from the Town Hall) on Sunday, August 28th to enjoy the music…fun for the whole family!  They will have 2 sets from 2-4pm, each one running about 40 minutes.  The Carver Farmers Market will also be in the park from 12-4pm…support the local vendors!

Leeny (aka Ilene Altman) is a Parents' Choice Award-winning children's music artist based in Gloucester, MA. Her concerts are interactive, high energy, and geared toward audience participation. Leeny's catchy, funny, and sweet songs cover topics like ladybugs and penguins and dogs (oh my!), good behavior, shyness, growing up, sharing, family, and seat belt safety.

You can view the event on facebook here.  And while you’re there, “like” the Leeny & Tamara page!  To get you excited for the upcoming show, we are giving away some CD’s:  "Sharing the Same Stars" by Leeny and Tamara, and "Be Nice" by Leeny and Steve.  Leave a comment on this blog post (not on facebook) by August 24th and you could be the winner of a CD…we’re giving away 2 of each title.  =))  Make sure you leave an email so I can get in touch with you if you win.  Good luck!

Library Storytimes

Here’s a listing of storytimes at local libraries that I could find…let me know your town if I’m missing them!  Also, most libraries have programs running on Saturdays too…check out town calendars for more info!  And please…call library first to verify times listed!

Abington:  none found

Carver:  Toddlers Tuesdays @10:30; Preschool, Wednesdays @ 1:30

Halifax:  Lapsit,  Fridays @ 10; Toddlers, Thursdays @ 11; Preschool, Fridays @ 11:30; PreK, Thursdays at 1; All ages, Saturdays at 11.

Hanover:  Lots of different programs, see site for more info.

Hanson:  Toddlers, Fridays @ 10

Hingham:  Preschool, Mondays @ 10:30 and Wednesdays @ 1:30; Toddlers, Tuesdays @ 10:30;  Baby, Wednesdays @ 10:30

Kingston:  Tuesdays @ 10:30

Manomet:  Toddlers, Mondays @ 11;  Preschool, Mondays @ 9:30

Marshfield:  Mondays @ 10

Middleboro:  Tuesdays @ 10:30 and Wednesdays @ 6:30

Norwell:  Toddlers, Fridays @ 11; Preschool, Thursdays @ 10:30

Pembroke:  Tuesdays @ 10:30; Lapsit, Wednesdays @10:30

Plymouth:  Preschool, Tuesdays @ 10:30 and Thursdays @ 2:15; Toddler,  Wednesdays and Thursdays @ 11

Plympton:  Preschool, Tuesdays @ 10:30

Rockland:  Wednesdays @ 10:30 and Saturdays@ 10:30, Baby, Fridays @ 10

Weymouth:  See site for specific library info.

National Cranberry Harvest Festival

This weekend is the National Cranberry Harvest Festival at Edaville Railroad in Carver.  There will be live entertainment & music, arts, crafts food and more!    There will even be a special appearance by the Grinch.  Open 10-5.  General admission to the festival is $5.  General admission with a train ride is $10.  Full price admission to ride the train and the amusements is $18 per adult, $16 per child.  Save $2 off each full price adult admission here.

Arts by the Bog

This Sunday, October 3rd is the 5th Annual Arts by the Bog at Flax Pond Farms in Carver.  Head on over there 10-4 for children’s activities, arts & crafts, food, dry harvest bog tours, entertainment and more!

Kids ages 8-22 can enter their artwork into their art show as well!  Entries must be ready to hang and dropped off between 9 and 9:30am. 

A nice family outing!

Me Time!

Now that the kids are back in school, I decided I really should get my butt back in gear and put me first again.  Sooo…I rejoined my gym.  I can never seem to get there during the summer with three kids at home so back to school is a great time to join again!

Stonewood Health and Fitness in Carver has recently become USA Fitness.  It will be nice to get myself back into a schedule…and losing a few pounds would be really, really nice!  I like this gym…very clean, lots of equipment and a women’s gym (my favorite!)  Not to mention it’s very convenient for me.  =)

While I was there, I took one of their cards so I could post their special right now.  Until the end of the month, you can save half off their enrollment fee (reg. $199) and pays only $29/month with no commitment.  And you can get your first month free.  If you want to take advantage…print the card below and bring it with you.  =)

They do have babysitting…I think it said $4.00 per hour.  And they have a lot of classes….I’ll be taking up the yoga again!

So if you’re interested in joining somewhere and this gym is convenient…head on over there!  If you’ve got a membership somewhere else, make time to use it and get healthy.  =)

Edaville Railroad Deal!

Karen sent this over to me from Groupon.com

$10 for a General-Admission Ticket to Edaville USA

• Expires Jan 2, 2011
• Valid for general admission only. Not valid for Day Out with Thomas events, 8/28-8/29, 9/3-9/6, or Saturdays during Christmas Festival of Lights. No cash value. Not valid with other offers

Good deal!  You can save $8 a ticket!

 

Day Out with Thomas at Edaville

Thomas the Tank Engine is coming to Edaville in Carver!  You can take a train ride with Thomas through the picturesque cranberry bogs.  Kids can also meet Sir Topham Hatt, ride the amusement rides and see live entertainments. 

Day Out with Thomas Dates:  June 19-20, June 25-28, August 28-29 and September 3-6.

Tickets are $18 per person over 2.  For groups of 20 or more, tickets are $14 per person.  See their website for more info and/or to buy tickets.

Carver Swim lessons

Carver is having swim lesson sign ups on Tuesday, May 11th 5-8pm and Saturday, May 22, 10:30-1pm at the Carver Library.  Lessons are first come, first served and begin July 5th.  Cost is $25 per child.  All lessons will be held at Sampson’s Pond.

Easter Egg Hunts

Carver is having an Easter Egg Hunt for residents on Saturday, March 20th, 9am at Shurtleff Park.  The hunt will be split by ages with the youngest group going first.

Tihonet Village in Wareham is having an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 27 (raindate April 3) at 10am for kids ages 2-8.  All participants receive a goodie bag from the easter bunny.  Space is limited…please pre-register and pre-pay.  Cost is $5 per child.

Hingham Newcomers Club is having an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 3 at 10:30 at the South Shore Country Club.  10 egg maximum for kids.  Cost is $9 per child, $25 family max.  Pictures with the Easter Bunny are an additional $5.  You can buy tickets online here.

Updates:

Pembroke Recreation Department is having an egg hunt on the Town Green on Thursday April 1st at 3:30.

Paragon Carousel in Hull is having an Egg Hunt on Sunday, April 4 at 12:30.

You can find some other Massachusetts hunts listed here.

If you know of any other egg hunts on the South Shore, please email me and let me know!

Edaville Railroad

We did from our annual Edaville Railroad visit a few nights ago. It seems they've added more lights to the train ride which is nice to see! We went on a Tuesday, got there at 4 and had the place to ourselves for at least and hour! We went on the 5pm train ride with plenty of room. The park was a bit more crowded by the time we departed the train but still no where near the crowds they see on the weekends!

It is pretty expensive...we were lucky and had a coupon from the Mass Pass book as well as free passes from our rec department. Admission is $18 per person and 2 and under is free. But dinner cost us $62 for the five of us and then another $24 for fried dough later!

Edaville is open weekdays from 4-9pm and weekends from 2-9. There are coupons available on their website. Coupons available if you are a fan on facebook and there's two for one admission coupons in the Entertainment book and the Mass Pass book.

We go every year and never miss it!

Carver Farmer's Market

Every Sunday from 12-4, Shurtleff Park in on Main Street in Carver is host to the Carver Farmer's Market. You can find lots of local businesses selling their produce, plants, flowers and handcrafted items. You'll also find booths for local community organizations so you know what's going on in the area.

There's an "all terrain train" for the kids on September 20th & 27th and also a haywagon ride on September 20th. There's usually pony rides available for the kids each week as well.

Come on down to find the finest produce, home baked goods and more! For more information, check out their website.

Edaville Railroad events for September

There's quite a few events going on at Edaville Railroad in September. Tickets are $18 for ages 2 and up and ticket price includes the show and unlimited rides & attractions as well as the 2mile train ride through picturesque cranberry bogs.

• Children's Storybook Festival is on September 12th & 13th. Children can meet & greet with characters such as Clifford & Curious George.
  
• Jay Jay the Jet Plane and Brenda Blue's Live Stage Show is on September 19th & 20th.
• Community Heroes Festival featuring Spiderman & Wolverine is on September 26th & 27th

Check out their website for more information.

Ice Cream!

Where is your favorite place to get ice cream?

One of our favorite spots is Eastover Farm in Rochester. I'm eagerly awaiting them to open for the year! It's really out in the middle of nowhere in a beautiful spot. It's a small farm stand and there's a freezer there that they sell the ice cream out of. You can even have lunch first with hot dogs if you choose. The kids love it here because there's lots of grass to run around and they can visit with the donkeys and horses after they have their ice cream. They even do hayrides on the weekends during the summer. Fun!

We also love Erickson's here in Carver (even though their prices keep going up, up, up!) and also Mea's in Halifax.

When we're heading up north, we love Kimball's ice cream....we usually hit the one in Jaffrey, NH.

Tell me where you like to go!

Edaville Railroad Festival of Lights

It's time for Edaville's Festival of Lights! I used to go to Edaville when I was little--I was always amazed at all the beautiful lights. I loved the little scenes with the moving figures. We always got our Christmas Tree there as well. And of course, I loved the train ride and watching for all the lights out in the middle of the bogs. Now it's my turn to let my kids enjoy Edaville! The kids love riding the train and going on all the kids rides. We must get fried dough and of course, hot cocoa! One visit to Edaville will get you in the holiday spirit!

If you're a Carver Resident....this Friday & Saturday, November 14 & 15 is Carver Free Days! You must show proof of residency and this year, they'd like you to bring a non perishable food item per person to donate. Maximum of four people.

Here's a link to a money saving coupon too!

Start making some holiday traditions with your children at Edaville this year!

Storytimes

I haven't been to the local storytime at my library in a long time! Now that my 5 and 8 year olds are in school, I think it's time to take my 2 year old to the libary for it. He loves me to read to him so I think he'll like it. Here's a listing of local library storytimes & events:

Carver Library
Halifax Library
Pembroke Library
Plympton Library
Hanson Library
Kingston Library
Plymouth Library

The storytimes are held on lots of different days so you could hit them all in a week if you're looking for things to do with the little ones!

King Richards Faire

King Richards Faire is almost back in town! The Faire opens for the season on Saturday, August 30. If you're lucky enough to live in Carver, you get in FREE on opening day! We've gone to the Faire numerous times on free day. It's pretty expensive for admission and food if you have to pay full price (there are tickets online for a discount but it's not substantial). Tickets cost over $20 for adults and around $15 for kids. I don't think we'd take the kids if we didn't get in free...it's just not too kid friendly. A lot of the humor in shows is geared towards adults. Many people show up there in renaissance costumes and let's just say a bit too much of the upper female anatomy is usually in full view. A great place to experience once....but not especially appealing for the kids.

Edaville Railroad

We all know how beautiful Edaville Railroad can be during Christmastime but Edaville can be just as much fun in the summer! Edaville is in S. Carver just off Rt. 58. Edaville has lots of fun rides for the kids to take and there's even rides for the littlest of kids! No trip to Edaville is complete without taking their train ride--a half hour ride around pretty cranberry bogs and lakes! There's all sorts of fun character events that go on during the summer too. We saw Thomas the Train there and my 2 year old was ecstatic! Edaville is not cheap....tickets are $18.00 for 2 and over and some events cost even more. The website usually has coupons but I couldn't find any listed for the summer. (UPDATE 8/25: Just found out that you can save $2.00 each admission with your Shaws Card through October 13)

Edaville might be worth the trip in August before the kids go back to school!

Free & Discounted Passes available!

Did you know that your library has free and discounted passes available to places like the New England Aquarium, Roger Williams Zoo, Edaville Railroad and more? Most passes are first come, first reserved and some libraries have certain restrictions on their passes (for residents only for example). Quite a few libraries let you reserve your passes online too! Here's a list of local libraries and the passes they have:

Carver
Plymouth
Kingston
Halifax
Pembroke
Middleboro
Hanson
Norwell
Duxbury
Marshfield

Favorite Ice Cream Places

Summer's here and that means it's Ice Cream Time!! EJ's favorite is Cookie Dough, Maddie loves Mint Chocolate Chip, Lucas eats anything but we get him Chocolate Chip. I have a few favorites I go between...vanilla fudge, coffee fudge, strawberry. My husband like Moose Tracks or Strawberry Cheesecake. We've never met an ice cream place that we didn't like but here's our list of favorites:

• Erickson's, Carver. It's right on Rt. 58 and is very close. They have all the flavors that we like and is the place we go when we by default.
• Mea's Dairy, Halifax. They have soft serve so if we're in the mood for that, that's the place to go! My husband really likes their mocha frappes and visits often since he goes by there every day.
• Eastover Farm, Rochester. This little gem was found by mistake! We were driving around that area and stumbled across the ice cream sign. It's a little farm that serves ice cream, hot dogs as well as fruits and vegetables. They even do hayrides on the weekends!
• Kimballs, Jaffrey NH: We try and stop here at least once a year on our way to vacation in NH. We've been to the one in Westford too but the Jaffrey one is not as commercialized. Try the Kimball Special and see if you can finish it!
• Heidi's Hollow, Hanson: They have yummy ice crea and a great variety of things for sale inside too.
• There's a new place here in Carver that just opened...I can't remember the name of it. Portions seem small but we'll see how it goes....