I am so excited to giveaway a family four-pack of tickets to Kiddie Cruise, a cruise around NYC for the small set and their parents! I literally can’t think of anything better to do on a hot summer Sunday in New York City. Kiddie Cruise takes care of feeding your kids (and you!) a healthy lunch and entertains them with face painters, magicians, storytelling, live music, raffles, games and more. And as for you, well you get to enjoy spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York City skyline aboard the Queen of Hearts, a Louisiana-style paddlewheel boat. The boat departs from Pier 40 at West Houston Street on select Sunday throughout the summer. Boarding is from 12pm-12:30pm and sailing 12:30pm- 2:30pm. Tickets are $35 for adults (13 & up) and $30 for kids (12 months – 12 yrs) – under 12 months ride free. Click here to buy tickets.

In order to enter the contest to WIN a family four pack of tickets on a Kiddie Cruise of your choice (pending availability) post a comment on this blog post telling us what fun things you are doing this summer in the city with your kids. Contest ends July 6th at midnight.

Remaining cruise dates this summer are:

July 11th – Princess & Pirate
July 25th – Super Hero & Fairy Princess
August 8th – Princess & Pirate
August 22nd – Super Hero & Fairy Princess
September 12th – Back to School Safari
September 26th- Rock Star
October 17th - Princess & Pirate
October 31st – Halloween

Disclaimer: Tickets for giveaway were provided by Kiddie Cruise.

SCORE! The Cooking Channel is hitting the road this summer in an Ice Cream truck and giving YOU free Ice Cream! As if that wasn’t cool enough they are bringing some of the network’s biggest stars along for the ride, and coming to a city near you. You and your kids will be treated to a scoop or two of your favorite Ice Cream flavor and will be able to meet the stars of Chuck’s Day Off, Everyday Exotic, FoodCrafters and more!

The kick-off will be THIS weekend in New York City! Here are the details:

Friday, June 25
12 noon- 4pm
Chelsea Market
75 9th Ave. (between 15th and 16th Streets)
Special appearance by Chuck Hughes from 1pm – 3pm

Saturday, June 26
12:00 pm- 10:00 pm
NYC FoodFilm Festival’s “The World’s First Food Truck Drive-In Movie”
Under the Brooklyn Bridge, DUMBO
Special appearance by Chuck Hughes from 1pm – 3pm

If you are not in NYC and would like to catch the Food Network’s Ice Cream Truck in your city here is the NATIONAL TOUR SCHEDULE:
(Dates and locations subject to change)

June 25-26 New York
July 1 Boston
July 4 Washington D.C.
July 17 Atlanta
July 19 Knoxville
July 20 Nashville
July 23 Cincinnati
July 28 Philadelphia
July 31- August 1 Atlantic City
September 4-5 Los Angeles
September 7 San Francisco
September 11 San Diego
September 19 Dallas
September 21 New Orleans
September 25 Chicago
October 7- 10 New York

Check out www.CookingChanneltv.com, Cooking Channel ‘s Facebook page and Twitter.com/CookingChannel to see the most up to date tour schedule.

Bank Street boasts more than 60,000 titles in 17 languages and offers events throughout each month.

Bank Street Bookstore
Corner of 112th & Broadway
(212) 678-1654
www.bankstreetbooks.com

Check out these amazing mom-mavvens and let them inspire you too! LOVE ya ladies!!!

Adina Belloli – Little Lunalu
Julia Samersova Adler – Planet Awesome Kid
Lyss Stern- Divalysscious Moms
Elina Furman Landauer – Mamaista
Liz Gumbinner – Cool Mom Picks and Mom-101
Holly Brown and Hadley Longstreth Peterson – Tada! Shop
Krista Njapa – The Momtographers
Jodi Nelson Call – Pistols and Popcorn

Lunch afterwards at kid friendly hit, The Peanut Butter Co., didn’t hurt either. We got our fix of Elvis Sandwiches and I got to share my first milkshake with my son. A perfect NYC day.

Ever wonder what your nanny is up to during the day? Ever see a nanny acting mean to a child and wished you could tell his or her parents?

Enter the I Saw Your Nanny Blog which allows you to report suspect nannies and check in on your own. Brilliant, if you ask me.

On what seemed like a regular day in our house, my 21 month old boy was sitting in my bedroom watching TV and had a seizure. Luckily (if there is anything lucky at all about the situation), I was with him at the time so I was able to see what actually happened and care for him myself. Now he had only been watching TV for about 15 minutes. TV is not a regular staple for our little boy, but I must admit we had recently gotten into the habit of allowing him to watch about 45 minutes to an hour of TV every morning: Sesame Street, Curious George, Sid the Science Kid or Super Why. On this day, he was watching Super Why and he said to me “mama, eyes”. I looked at him and his eyes were all red – like he had had a bad allergy attack or had been rubbing his eyes, which he hadn’t. One second later, he fell back on the bed. No shaking like in the movies, but his eyes were open and he was completely unresponsive. I lifted him up in the panic of my life, screaming his name in desperation. Then all of a sudden he looked at me and said “mama”. I breathed the biggest sigh of relief I have ever breathed EVER. My baby was ok. But WHOA… what the hell just happened???

I immediately called the pediatricians office and they told me to bring him right in. By this time he was playing with his toys and seemed quite normal. I rushed him into a taxi and off we flew to the doctor. No messing around. When we got there he seemed to slip into a strange daze and as the pediatrician came in he became somewhat unresponsive again. Off we were rushed to the hospital. Within an hour we were checked into the pediatric unit at NYU hospital and my little healthy baby was hooked up to more things that I want to count (or recount). The worst of which was an EEG where they attached hundred of little electrodes to his head using glue (the process was unbelievably traumatic as I had to pin him down for about 45 minutes while they glued each one on as he screamed at the top of his lungs). The electrodes each had different colored wires attached to them which were all attached to a box which he had to carry around in a little backpack – which was in turn attached to the WALL. Our 21 month old boy, and only child, had his head covered in wires attached to a wall with three feet to run around. We were fortunate enough to get him his own room but it still managed to feel like a jail cell since the crib bars extended up to the ceiling. How were we going to get our kid to sleep in that scary crib? But our child kept his spirits high, we were kept ours high for him. We never left his side and the entire Paul family moved into NYU hospital for two days.

After monitoring him for 24 hours on a video monitor and examining his test results, they concluded that he was “fine”. “Every child is entitled to a seizure” they said. “So there is NO explanation for this???” we retorted. “No, they said” abruptley. And that was that. Our child had had a seizure and we don’t know why. According to the doctors we may never know why. So what caused this and how do we make sure it doesn’t happen again?? “Well, you could try not having him watch TV? We doubt that’s what caused it but he shouldn’t be watching TV anyway” the doctor said. Don’t most kids watch TV? Were we bad parents for allowing him to watch TV in the first place? How were we going to explain to the little guy that loves Elmo so much that he can’t see him anymore?

Since our arrival back home, our little boy who loved TV, has not asked for it once. It’s almost as if he feels like TV was the cause of this terrible ordeal and he has written it off. He is perfectly happy playing with his toys instead. Our brave little boy is happy, healthy, and dare I say, back to normal.
We will probably never know what actually happened or why, but now we hold our beloved child just a little bit closer, kiss him on the forehead a few too many times, and remember how grateful we are for the health of our family.

Think your kid is cover model material? Don’t we all?? Well, now they can be with FujiFilm’s SeeHere.com’s photo books! SeeHere.com is FujiFilm’s website dedicated to photo sharing, photo books and just about every photo product you can imagine. SeeHere.com allows you to customize a photo book down to the smallest detail. I just did it and it’s so easy – you choose a cover photo and a custom background (I chose cute little blue trains for my baby boy), autofill the photos, and poof your photo book is ready! At only $29.99 these photo books will encourage you to get your digital photos off of your computer and into your home. I pledge to make at lease 1 book for every year out of my kid’s lives. Totally doable.

Enter to WIN one of three Printed Cover Story Books from SeeHere.com by leaving a comment on this blog and tell us who would be the subject of your photo book. Contest ends Friday June 4th.

Ways to get additional entries:

- Tweet about this contest as much as once a day with @iKidNY and http://bit.ly/dbFaJn
- Follow us on twitter (new followers only) and send us a message telling us to enter you in the contest
- “Like” iKidNY on Facebook and leave a comment on the contest post telling us to enter you in the contest. If you already like us “suggest to friends” and you will get one entry for every friend who “likes” us (make sure to tell us who your friends are who “like” us).
- Subscribe to our free mailing list and send me an email to say that you just subscribed to info at ikidny dot com
- If you already subscribe to our mailing list, get a friend to subscribe and send me an email to info at ikidny dot com giving my their name and email addresses (can do this multiple times)

* SeeHere.com DISCOUNT CODES for iKidNY readers:

Offer: 50% Off All Photo Books Plus Free Standard Shipping
Limited Time Offer – Two Days Only: 5/27/10 & 5/28/10
Promo Code: tvbook
Note: The promo code is case sensitive.

50% Off 11oz Photo Mugs Plus Free Standard Shipping
Limited Time Offer – One Week Only: 5/24/10 through 5/31/10
Promo Code: mug2010
Note: The promo code is case sensitive.

(Giveaways were provided by SeeHere.com as well as one for blogger to do write up)

All Bareburgers are made with organic meats and poultry free of growth hormones, artificial additives and antibiotics. The animals are humanely raised, free-range, and grass-fed, and their turkey bacon and regular bacon are both organic and nitrate-free. Their food comes from local farms and cooperatives (their brioche buns and 7-grain buns are baked daily by local artisan bakers). All vegetables, fruits, cheese eggs, and dairy products are certified organic and produced without any pesicides or antibiotics. Carb-counters may choose to have their entree wrapped in lettuce instead of served on a bun. Even the physical space was built using sustainable, reclaimed and recycled materials. This is not a joke.

At Bareburger, every burger is made to order, so although there is a menu, you choose your ingredients. I ordered the Avocado California Burger for $11.95 (aged cheddar, hass avocado, mixed greens, tomato, raw red onion and organic dressing) and chose turkey meat and the 7-grain bun. Messy, yes, but simply delicious. My husband ordered the BareBurger Supreme for $10.95 (monterey jack cheese, gourmet bread battered onion rings, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomoato, and BareBurger special sauce) with beef and a 7-grain bun. Equally devastating although not half as healthy. We also shared the french fries for $4.95 (cooked in 100% peanut oil) served with spicy chipotle mayo, curry ketchup, and BareBurger special sauce. As if we needed it, we topped off our meals with yummy organic beer (mine was $3).

As for the wee ones, this place is as kid friendly as they get. They provided us with a fun, colorful, and super-comportable (padded) booster seat that my son loved and actually wanted to sit in. There were tons of kids in the restaurant and they clearly have experience in this department. We sat outside which was perfect as it was not in direct sunlight. For my 21 month old son, we ordered off the kids menu (they call them Cubby Meals all priced at $5.95). We chose the Grizzly Meal – choice of beef, turkey, or veggie burger, served with monterey jack cheese, lettuce and mayo. All Cubby Meals include a small salad and fries. The kids presentation was just perfect. It’s a mini burger which comes on a huge platter with a small salad and fries. Our son was in heaven. We considered ordering one of their amazing looking milk shakes for deserts but just couldn’t eat any more.

Don’t live in Queens? BareBurger is so good it’s even worth a special trip.

BareBurger
33-21 31st Avenue
Astoria, NY 11106
(718) 777-7011

(Note that BareBurger also serves breakfast and offers free delivery with a $15 minimum)

With Central Park front and center in NYC, it’s no wonder that the Playgrounds of Riverside Park are sometimes neglected. Flee the masses over in Central Park and venture on over to the water, where you can discover (or re-discover) Riverside Park and it’s dynamite playgrounds.

Spanning from the Upper West Side through Central West Harlem, from 67th to 148th Street, Riverside Park offers fifteen different playgrounds for kids of all ages. Some have animal themes such as Elephant, Hippo, Dinosaur, and more. Be sure to visit the River Run Playground, where kids can play with a water-play replica of the Hudson River and the Little Engine Playground where they can actually play in a little engine. So venture out of your neighborhood, give your kids a little variety, and check them out sometime. You will not be sorry!

1) Little Engine Playground – 67th Street & Riverside Boulevard – Your kids can play in a playground “choo choo”!
2) Classic Playground – 75th Street near the river (public restroom)
3) Neufeld (Elephant) Playground – 76th Street & Riverside Drive (public restroom)
4) River Run Playground – 82nd Street near Riverside Drive (public restroom)
5) Hippo Playground – 91st Street near Riverside Drive (public restroom)
6) Dinosaur Playground – 97th Street & Riverside Drive (public restroom)
7) 105th Street Tot Lot – 105th Street & Riverside Drive (smaller playground)
110th Street Tot Lot – 110th Street & Riverside Drive (smaller playground)
9) 112th Street Tot Lot – 112th Street & Riverside Drive (smaller playground)
10) 117th Street Playground – 117th Street & Riverside Drive
11) Sakura Playground – 122nd Street & Riverside Drive
12) Claremont Dolphin Playground – 124th Street behind Grant’s Tomb (public restroom)
13) Riverbank (Camel) Playground – 143rd Street & Riverside Drive (public restroom)
14) Palisades Playground – 148th Street & Riverside Drive (small playground)
15) Ten Mile River (Beaver) Playground – 148th Street, west of Riverside Drive (public restroom)