Here's our roundup of the kids' activities and family-friendly events going on in the Greater Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn for the week of August 31 - September 6, 2017 (and Labor Day Weekend)! Don't forget to sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay in the loop of all the local goings on!! Businesses are invited to join our advertisers' newsletter to receive occasional ad specials and upcoming deadlines!
All the events and ads below are linked, so click away for more details and to double check before heading out for an event (time changes, cancellations, and mistakes do happen on occasion).
ONGOING:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31:
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1:
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Have you ever booked a car service, perhaps a ride to the airport, having specified in detail what kind of car seat you need for your child - the age, weight, even the direction the car seat should be installed... only to be picked up in a car with the wrong kind of car seat thrown in the trunk - stained, beat up, and not even installed?? Or perhaps you've even been picked up with no car seat at all?? And of course if you call around for another ride, you'll miss your flight. So you jump in, hug your child dearly, and hope for the best. Yep, it's happened to the best of us and IT SUCKS!!!
But, families of the greater NYC area, I have AMAZING news for you!!! There's a new high end car service catering to families and it's awesome! I'm very pleased to introduce you to, Kidmoto!
Not only does Kidmoto provide cars with top of the line car seats, they actually train their drivers to install their car seats quickly and correctly. So, whether you need an infant car seat (NOT provided by UBER Family, btw), rear or forward facing toddler seat, a booster seat, or all of the above, they've got you covered!! You just download the app, make the reservation, and put your worries aside! 
We recently booked Kidmoto, a new Queens-based transportation service, for our ride home from the LaGuardia after a long 24-hour journey back to the US from Japan (read more about our Japan trip and see our fun recap videos here). We got our ride free in exchange for providing this review for them, but you're in luck because you can get $10 off unlimited rides with code "USJAPANFAM" (valid through June 2, 2020), and one lucky winner will receive up to $500 in credit for roundtrip anywhere in the greater NYC area to a local airport (enter to win below)!!!!
The app is easy to use, allowing you to select the pickup and drop off locations, type of car (sedan, minivan, or SUV), number and type of child seats (rear facing 5-15 lbs, rear facing 15-40 lbs, front facing >40 lbs, or booster seat). Our driver, Nelson, texted us when he arrived at the airport and we let him know exactly where to pick us up, and he was there waiting when we walked out of the terminal!! He had a beautiful SUV, and two gorgeous top-of-the-line Diono car seats, installed (rear facing) and ready to go for our 1.5 year old twins (we brought our own Mifold booster for our 4.5 year old). The experience was seamless, safe, comfortable, and just what we needed at the tail end of a very very long journey!
Don't get me wrong, a ride with Kidmoto doesn't come cheap (over $100 for a ride from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to LGA or JFK, for example), but with the price tag comes safety, professionalism, and peace of mind, which can be well worth the splurge!
If interested in trying out Kidmoto, just download the app for free (available for iPhone and Android) and don't forget to use code "USJAPANFAM" to get $20 off each ride - no limit! They specialize in transport within the NYC Metro area to JFK, Newark, LGA and Teterboro airports.
Enter to win in the Rafflecopter below for a FREE ROUNDTRIP transport from the NYC area to any of the local airports (JFK, LGA, EWR; up to 7 passengers and up to 4 car seats) - up to a $500 value (valid until January 1, 2019)!! Giveaway ends at 11:59PM EDT on Tuesday, September 5 and a winner will be randomly chosen and e-mailed the next day. 
Here's our roundup of the kids' activities and family-friendly events going on in the Greater Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn for the week of August 24 - 30, 2017!! Don't forget to sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay in the loop of all the local goings on!! Businesses are invited to join our advertisers' newsletter to receive occasional ad specials and upcoming deadlines!
All the events and ads below are linked, so click away for more details and to double check before heading out for an event (time changes, cancellations, and mistakes do happen on occasion). 
ONGOING:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 24:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25:
SATURDAY, AUGUST 26:
SUNDAY, AUGUST 27:
MONDAY, AUGUST 28:
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29:
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30:
We recently journeyed from our happy home in NYC (with our 3 kids under the age of 5, including twin toddlers) to Japan for 10 days to visit my husband's family in the rural valley of Yamaguchi-cho Nishinomiya (about an hour from Osaka). We lived (barely) to tell the tale!
In case you missed it, I'm embedding our 4 ten-minute long YouTube videos below for your viewing pleasure! (Links at very bottom to products and other things mentioned / recommended in the videos!)
Video 1:
Featuring our 30-hour travel day to Japan via 3 flights (2 of which got rescheduled during our travel!) and the beginning of a horrible stomach bug (i.e. me being puked on for 4 hours of our 2nd flight, yippee!)
VIDEO 2:
Featuring our first few days in Japan (with no clothes, thanks to our flights being rescheduled our luggage didn't catch us for 3 days!!), a tour of a 7-11 convenience store (I LOVE Japanese "Combini"), the beautiful scenery of mountains and rice fields near my husband's home, and a typical experience at a "kaiten" (conveyor belt) sushi restaurant! (The nasty stomach bug that hit our youngest on the flight returned to hit 3 more of us the night after our sushi adventure, and 3 more family members in the next couple of days...)
VIDEO 3:
Featuring our adventures after recovering from the stomach bug, including a fun afternoon at the Anpanman Children's Museum in Kobe (Anpanpan is a Japanese superhero just about EVERY Japanese toddler is OBSESSED with, including all 3 of my kids), a nature walk near my husband's home (we found frogs, kiwi, tomatoes, pumpkin, a praying mantis, and more!), shopping at the mall (always a tricky endeavor with toddler twins!!!), library and children's play center, and how amazing a typical Japanese public toilet is (with electric bidet toilet and child seat on the wall to contain your little one while you do your business!)
VIDEO 4:
Featuring our visit to neighboring natural hot spring town of Arima Onsen, a big family and friends BBQ at my husband's home (and my first odd and exciting experience with "Nagashi Somen" / "flowing somen noodles" / "water noodles"!!), a tour of the amazing bathrooms and nursing rooms at Kansai International Airport, and our 24-hour door-to-door travel home back to NYC, including our sweet ride with the kid-friendly car service Kidmoto that provides top of the line car seats and drivers TRAINED to install them properly (get $20 off all rides using code "USJAPANFAM"!!)
So, the stomach bug put a major damper on our time, taking us out of commission for a good 2-3 days. On the bright side, it kept us more local and relaxed, giving us more chance for good quality family time rather than running around trying to jam in as much touristy stuff as possible! We plan to take the kids every 2-3 years, and eventually they may start going and spending summers over there, even going to local public schools for a month or so! That's the plan, anyway... we'll see how things pan out!!
LINKS!!
So, what do you think? Did you enjoy following along with us!? What's the furthest you've traveled with your kids? Any hilarious horror stories, or fabulous tips to share?? Leave a comment below!!!
Here's our roundup of the kids' activities and family-friendly events going on in the Greater Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn for the week of August 17 - 23, 2017!! Don't forget to sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay in the loop of all the local goings on!! Businesses are invited to join our advertisers' newsletter to receive occasional ad specials and upcoming deadlines!
All the events and ads below are linked, so click away for more details and to double check before heading out for an event (time changes, cancellations, and mistakes do happen on occasion).
ONGOING:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 18:
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MONDAY, AUGUST 21:
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With our huge trip to Japan coming up, I am in overdrive trying to hoard every possible toy and travel accessory to make our travels easier. When searching for comfortable kids' headphones I came across the very unique fleece headband CozyPhones and immediately reached out to do a review. I mean, look at these!!! Cute, comfy, and much more compact than tradition kids' headphones!  CozyPhones not only come in a variety of adorable children's styles, they also have a couple of adult designs as well (such as the sleek black one I got for myself, pictured above). Basically, they're soft and stretchy fleece headbands with small flat speakers tucked away inside. You slip the headband on, adjust the speakers to fit directly over your ears, and then you're good to go with no further adjusting needed for future use!! The quality seems great and they feature a 36" braided cable which seems like it'd be more resistant to breaking and biting (we'll see if they survive my twins haha, they're always a great test for product durability!). You can also remove the speakers and wash the headbands!!  The "one size" kids' headphones fit my 1.5 year olds and 4.5 year old perfectly, they're very stretchy and comfortable! Probably not so much an issue for kids, but maybe adults, is the hair factor. The headband won't do you any favors if you've got a major style going on. On the other hand, it could also double as a hair accessory and keep your hair out of your face! You can also slide it down to cover your eyes for a mid-flight nap. Niiiiiiice! We haven't had a chance to test them out on the plane yet. Since they don't insert into your ears, I have some concern that they won't be loud enough to overpower the hum of the plane, but I'll do some live-sharing on social during our travels (which start in less than 48 hours!!) so follow us on Instagram, and I'll come back and edit this review after our travels, so be sure to come back in a couple of weeks!! You can browse CozyPhones on their website and Amazon (affiliate link), which retail for between $15 - $35. Also recommended (and modeled above by my 3 kids) are a multi-headphone splitter (so more than 1 person can listen to the same device), the HDE ipad case, and Munchie Mug spill-proof snack cup! So, what do you think? Do you have CozyPhones, or another pair of headphones you love? Leave a comment below!! Disclaimer: Although I did receive this product free of charge, all thoughts and opinions are my own and completely unbiased.
We're going on vacation, so here's a special 2-week roundup of the kids' activities and family-friendly events going on in the Greater Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn for the period of August 2 - 16, 2017!! Don't forget to sign up for our e-newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay in the loop of all the local goings on!! Businesses are invited to join our advertisers' newsletter to receive occasional ad specials and upcoming deadlines!
All the events and ads below are linked, so click away for more details and to double check before heading out for an event (time changes, cancellations, and mistakes do happen on occasion). 
ONGOING:
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2:
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4:
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5:
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6:
MONDAY, AUGUST 7:
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8:
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 10:
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11:
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MONDAY, AUGUST 14:
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About ME:I'm a NYC metro area mom blogger living in NJ with my Japanese husband & our 3 kids (twins + 1), focusing on fun and honest product and travel reviews, helping busy parents find the best for their families! Find what you need in the menu bar or search section above! 
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