Tuckerton Seaport 

We were recently invited to Tuckerton Seaport in Tuckerton, NJ to check out their family-friendly atmosphere, including a few fun spring & summer festivals.

Tuckerton Seaport

If you’ve been reading for any amount of time, chances are you know I’m a Midwestern transplant to the East Coast. So my summers growing up weren’t spent near the ocean beaches.

Now that we’re living in Philadelphia, we can’t help but be drawn to “the shore” as much as possible. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump away – and there’s just something about that first breath of sea air you get on the drive down. There’s nothing like it.

So in the several years we’ve been living here, we’ve explored a few different shore points and are still learning a lot of the history behind these New Jersey towns.

This was our first trip to Tuckerton, but I know it won’t be our last.

We visited last weekend for their beloved Bluegrass & BBQ Festival and we’re so glad we made the drive. The bands were lively and provided the perfect backdrop for kicking up your heels… or just sitting back, relaxing and chowing down on some good eats, which were plentiful.

Perhaps our favorite part of the morning, though, was Todd’s Musical Petting Zoo. For our two music-loving kids, this was the perfect way for them to pick up and try so many instruments they’d never heard or seen before, along with a few favorites that are more familiar. This was Todd’s first year at the festival and I do hope they’ll have him back next year. It was the perfect addition to keep little (and not-so-little!) hands busy and engaged. The entire family had a great time tapping out a new tune or two.

He had the neatest collection of instruments—many hand-crafted out of some pretty unusual materials—and the kids continue to talk about the different things they saw and played with, even a week later.

There were also tables set up where the kids could become marine biologists for the day, exploring water samples for tiny wildlife, which they loved!

Once we were able to tour more of the Seaport itself, we were able to get a taste of the history of this little seaside town.

Their collection of surfboards was impressive. There was a whole room filled with surfboards of all kinds, with examples of the very earliest kinds.

There was also a great collection for the train-enthusiast (though I somehow managed to not get one photo of that collection!) and the little historic details scattered throughout the Seaport museum were fascinating. Our walk up to the top of the lighthouse was windy, but wonderfully exciting.

Tuckerton Seaport has really gotten it right, offering activities and attractions for families of all ages – and I appreciated that they offered plenty for young ones to interact with, so that we (as adults) could fully relax and adopt the beachy, relaxed vibe of the day and not interrupt it with worries of keeping little fingers from touching every.last.thing in the museum.

Next visit, we’ll definitely make a stop at the mini golf area and spend more time feeding the animals, also on the grounds.

And we may, or may not, be dressed as pirates. Arrrgh.

Be sure to check out the Privateers and Pirates Festival on June 8 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pirate history, treasure scavenger hunt, costume contest and pirate craft activities. Along with a live band and food vendors.

And to help support Tuckerton’s educational programming, you can donate (or bid on items) at their annual summer auction.

According to their website, The Seaport, which first opened in 2000, is committed to furthering the public knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Barnegat Bay and surrounding environment through exhibition, artist demonstration, educational programming, research and documentation.

Tuckerton is just one of the towns along the Jersey Shore that was hit especially hard by Hurricane Sandy last year. Tuckerton Seaport’s 40-acre site and building experienced significant flooding and wind damage during the storm. They currently have four buildings open to the public and are committed to fully reopening as soon as possible to continue serving the community.

A HUGE thank you to Joey Fortman of Real Mom Media and Stephanie Glover of A Grande Life for setting up this blogger event and introducing us to the treasure that is Tuckerton Seaport. We were thrilled to be a part of it and are looking forward to our next visit!

{ 0 comments }

Disclosure: For Memorial Day, as part of a sponsored post for Collective Bias, I stocked up on the perfect road trip snacks and saved on gas for our family road trip with the GIANT gas rewards program!

We’re so lucky to live in an area where we have so many great options for a day trip destination. Hop in the car and drive a couple hours in any direction, and we can build sandcastles on the beach, explore a farm in the heart of the countryside or hike in the mountains, depending on which we way we steer the car that day.

We’re always up for a road trip adventure with the kids – and there’s no better time than Memorial Day weekend. It’s such a fun way to kick off the soon-to-be summer vacation!

While being spontaneous can be fun, with young kids, it’s easier (for me) to do just a little pre-road trip planning to make our road trips as smooth (and as relaxing) as possible.

And lucky for us, our favorite place for road-trip fueling is right down the road.

Giant

At GIANT, you can fuel up on both fronts. They offer a great selection of healthy, affordable snacks, along with the ability to fuel up your car — and they reward you for doing both!

Saving on gas for your Memorial Day road trips is easy with the GIANT gas rewards program.

Here’s how it works:

  • Shop with your BONUSCARD from May 12 through June 29, 2013 and you’ll earn 1 point for every $1 you spend.
  • 100 points equals $.10 off a gallon of GIANT gasoline.
  • Track your Extra Rewards points on your receipt, register at GiantFoodStores.com or download the free GIANT mobile app!
  • Redeem your points any time during the period in which you earn them (i.e. before June 29, in this case!). There is no limit to the number of gas rewards points your household can earn.
  • Visit GiantFoodStores.com for gas locations.
Giant gas rewards

For our road trip snacks, I focused on healthy (but fun) items that I knew they’d enjoy.

Healthy Road Trip Snack Ideas for Kids

  • Fresh fruit (bananas, grapes, berries)
  • Granola
  • Nuts (cashews, peanuts, pistachios)
  • Individual yogurt snacks
  • String cheese

Want to see all the great deals I scored on snacks for our upcoming road trip? Check out my entire pre-road-trip shopping adventure right here.

One thing I do know is that with GIANT, wherever we end up this Memorial Day weekend, we’re ready for the ride!

We can’t wait to hit the road!

What are your go-to road trip snacks?

{ 14 comments }

What to Read Next: May 2013

by Alissa on May 17, 2013

What to Read Next: May 2013

Reading List May 2013

I love to read and until recently, almost always had a book (or two) going at any given time. Now that I’m trying to grow two little readers of my own, though, I find that my book diary consists of mostly picture books and early chapter books.

And my normal reading time—right before my own bedtime—gets cut short most nights, when I can’t keep my eyes open any longer than to sneak in a few pages. Clearly I need to switch things up and start fitting in short reading sessions throughout the day. Or I could keep accumulating books on my never-ending to-read list.

But where’s the fun in that?

Each month I’m going to set a “What to Read Next” goal of the books I’d like to read that month, so that I don’t get distracted (by other books or by Downton Abbey – ha!). I’d also like to make my way through my backlog of books. I have a growing number on my bookshelf still waiting to be read. So I’ll look to include an older book on each month’s What to Read Next list, too.

What to Read Next: May 2013

1. Finish The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
2. He’s Gone by Deb Caletti
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shafferthis is my “clearing out the back stock” selection for this month)

I’d love to hear your opinion on what to read next! What have you been reading?

Leave your recommendations on what to read next in the comments section.

{ 0 comments }