I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of your days!

Well today was going to be Davis Farmland, until I found out it would be $60 for the 3 of us. Ah, no thanks. So where can we go that's new to us?

We headed off to Don Ball Park in Derry NH. This is a great park!! It has a nice playground with two sections. The one for older kids is pretty high and of course it's where my two boys wanted to play. I was wishing for some anxiety meds or a bottle of wine....or both. It also has a splash pad area which was lots of fun. It's nothing fancy, but it's a nice way to cool off. There are also bathrooms there which is a huge plus! Not much worse than a playground port-a-potty.

Overall this ia a great park. It's clean and appears to be fairly new. Parking is easy. Picnic tables and benches all around. Not much shade though. I think there are baseball fields there and there is a sign that mentions their youth football program, so it probably gets pretty crowded at night when the teams are practicing.

If you have family visiting the area with kids and you want to get them out of the house, send them to Don Ball Park. They'll have a blast.

On the way home we stopped at Findeisen's Ice Cream in Hudson. This was a first for us as well. It was...okay. Staff was friendly, lots of seating, huge scoops....but the ice cream tastes like it has artificial ingredients in it. It tastes good, but it doesn't taste natural.

Tomorrow is an off day from our little adventures. Then we'll head to Seabrook NH and York ME.

York has a great play ground on Short Sands

Well it's been a while, but we found a great new place! The Providence Children's Museum is so much fun! We have 3 and 4 year old boys and they had a blast. There is an outdoor area where they can climb, dig in dirt, etc. Inside there are two levels. Upstairs they have a section that is divided up by century. My boys loved this. The 1600s area was their favorite. There is also a nice water play area, building areas, and trucks.

We also had a chance to visit Mystic Aquarium. It's very clean with lots to see. I did find some of the staff members weren't very educated and answered questions with "I don't know" a lot. There are a few exhibits outside too, so it's not necessarily a rainy day destination. And it's expensive IMO. My younger son was free but I still paid almost $100 for the four of us to get in.

I'll update again later as we get to check out more fun family spots around New England.

Rizzo, I agree about the Mystic Aquarium. It is overpriced with how small it is. I somewhat justify it by realizing that the money goes to their rescue program but its still too much $ for a family. Thankfully, I get in free through work.

You do have your hands full with 3 and 4 year old boys. Yes, prices can be a bit much. Our son nearby has taken his 3 year old to the zoos in Boston and some parks, etc.

We once enjoyed a day at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne Vermont. It was a huge, eclectic place spread out over a large area. Not a 'children's museum' per se, but exhibits on circus figures, carriages, antique toys, as well as a real-live steamboat.

A Ben and Jerry factory tour was a hit too.

Your kids may be a bit young for these now, but wanted to mention them for the future. It is so much fun to take little kids places. I loved reading about your adventures with them.

travelgirl2 - thanks! we've done ben and jerry's, but by ourselves. we'll take the boys to vermont soon. i want to check out the montshire museum this summer. it's only 1.5 hours from us, so doable as a day trip.

We took our then almost 6 and almost 8 gds to the Montshire last summer. Make sure to take swim suits so they can enjoy the outdoor water play area. Also take a picnic lunch. There are plenty of picnic tables and seems to be in an area where there's not a lot of restaurants. Are you sure it's only 1.5 hours? I thought it was that long for us and we're near Concord NH.

I have an acquaintance that works at the Prescott Farm Environmental Center in Laconia NH. It looks like a good place to take the gds some time.

dfrostnh...google maps says 1+33 from Nashua.

Headed to the planetarium in Concord today. Will report back later.

Hopefully this thread will help folks find some fun places to take their kiddos!

I'm hoping to take the GDs to the SEE Science Center in Manchester while they still have the dinasoar exhibit. Our library has a pass.

I'll be away for the spring festival in Warner NH. The GDs enjoyed that two years ago.

dfrostnh - I don't think the pass gets you into the Dinosaur section, only into the regular museum. The pass then gives you 1/2 off the Dinosaurs. Use cation...they have a omnivore section where four small dinosaurs are eating a large one. My boys happened to be fascinated by it, but it may bother other kids.