Kelly Alfieri | Web Editor

It's all about the big top these days in New York. The Big Apple Circus just rolled into town and Calder's Circus is being presented in a new installation at the Whitney as part of Alexander Calder: the Paris Years.

My husband and I brought our 2 1/2-year-old children to the Big Apple Circus this past weekend and they're both obsessed with the trapeze now. The circus feels lost in time -- it's in a small tent with just one ring and no seat more than 50 feet away. Many of the show's talent are second and third generation circus performers and the clowns weren't even creepy. 

Calder's Circus was created by Alexander Calder in 1927 and is a miniature, mechanical circus created from wire and bits of cloth, wood, and other materials. It's quirky and charming and has a magical draw to both kids and adults. The circus has been part of the Whitney's permanent exhibition since 1970 but it is presented now in a new installation that includes fresh elements that were uncovered in Whitney storage.

If you're in New York or planning a visit, step right up...

Since it's been around for more than 30 years, the Big Apple Circus technically isn't new, but it is back in New York with a new show, Play On!

Tickets start at $28 and kids under 3 are free (as long as they're sitting on your lap, that is.) Also, no seat is more than 50 feet away from the ring, so even little ones should be able to all the action without any problems. The clowns, acrobats, and animals will be in NYC until January 18, then the big top will set up shop in Atlanta from February 13 to 28.

A new exhibit at the National Museum for the American Indian aims to teach kids about leading healthy lives through the artwork in Eagle Books, a four-book series by Georgia Perez, a community health representative in New Mexico. The exhibit, Through the Eyes of the Eagle: Illustrating Healthy Living for Children, is a joint effort to prevent diabetes in children with the CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation in collaboration with the Tribal Leaders Diabetes Committee and the Indian Health Service. The work of artists Patrick Rolo (Bad River Band of Ojibwe, Wisconsin) and Lisa A. Fifield (Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, Black Bear Clan) are featured in the exhibit, which is part of the museum's effort to highlight contemporary Native American issues through the arts. The exhibit runs through Jan. 4.

While you're at the museum, stop by the Mitsitam Cafe for native foods from areas that include the Northern Woodlands, South America, the Northwest Coast, Meso America, and the Great Plains.

We don't know about you, but any hotel that provides some kind of distraction for the kids that will allow us some time to sneak away for that hot stone massage is worth looking into.

North Carolina's luxury mainstay, The Umstead, has added a kids' cooking school to its already impressive list of accommodations and activities. For the winter season, kids ages 6 to 15 can try their hand at creating an elaborate Ginger Bread house. In the spring, the classes will be focused on gardening and growing herbs and vegetables.  The winter classes start December 7 and are $38 per child. Spring classes begin March 29 and are $75 per child.

Plus, if you're looking for more ways to foster your child's epicurian future, check out our directory of kids' cooking schools.

Looking for inspiration for a trip? We love to explore the World Monuments Fund's Watch List for ideas. Every other year the WMF selects the 100 Most Endangered Sites and sets forth to help bring attention to the site and preserve these threatened cultural treasures. Their interactive map is a fantastic way to learn about the sites and a great way to start thinking a bit more globally. You can also donate to the fund. Let's face it, our kids may be a bit young to travel to Cambodia's Angkor Wat (above) or Peru's Macusani-Corani Rock Art, but we're hoping that these amazing sites are still around when they're old enough.

Lisa Trottier | Cookie Reader, Kensington, California

If you've ever been to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, well, just forget about it. The old Academy was a pretty dusty affair. The new one, though, became a must-hit spot for families the moment it cracked its doors September 27.

A morning here winds you through a huge translucent orb holding a misty rainforest atwitter with neon birds, then out past Claude, the albino alligator basking on a rock, and on to the world's biggest indoor coral reef, swirling with Nemo and his Technicolor buddies. Go eye-to-eye with a second-grader-sized giant bass, look up into the jaws of a T-Rex frozen mid-stride, and touch a live sea anemone.

Unfortunately, when most visitors will miss when they stream out the doors and pile into their cars are some locally beloved kid magnets clustered a sippy cup's throw from the Academy. So, do your little ones a favor and take a couple of detours before you head back out into the city...

Planning a visit to Washington, D.C.? The kids will flip over the Smithsonian's new Ocean Hall, opening this Saturday. The $49 million project is the National Museum of Natural History's largest renovation since 1910. 

The hall will feature a 1,500 gallon aquarium, a 45-foot model of a right whale, and the preserved remains of both an adult coelacanth, a prehistoric fish thought to have gone extinct 65 million years ago.

Check out our other favorite children's museums.

For a limited time, you can hop the pond for less and get up to two free nights at selected hotels. British Airways is offering fares to the UK (London, Edinburgh, Manchester, and more) from $236 on flights departing from Sept. 30 to March 22. Participating hotels include the four-star Marriott London Maida Vale, which also includes a full breakfast. Also, when you register on the British Airways web site, you can get an extra $20 off each round-trip ticket. Offer ends Oct. 2.

There's an elephant in the room. At the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, a new exhibit celebrates the beloved children's book character Babar, according to USA Today. The famous little elephant was created by Cecile de Brunhoff, whose husband, Jean de Brunhoff, after her death turned the stories she told their sons into one of the best loved children's books of all time. Later on, their eldest son continued the tradition and penned 37 more Babar books, At the exhibit, visitors can follow the creative process, as pages from the published books are displayed next to earlier drafts and sketches. The exhibition runs until Jan. 4.

Check out our NYC guide to find more family-friendly ideas.

Explore a rich history of children's literature at Chicago's Newberry Library when "Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children's Books" opens on Saturday. The exhibit, which features 65 of library's "little-known collection of books and manuscripts created for an by children," includes standouts like the first illustrated edition of Aesop's Fables from 1485 and the first edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which dates back to 1865. Take a 45-minute gallery walk of the exhibition on Thursdays (October 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30) at 5:45. Even better, admission to the exhibit and gallery walks are free! The exhibit runs through January 17.

In this most historic of election years, you have a great opportunity to spark your kids' excitement about the election process (and renew your own if you're sick to death of negative ads and irritating cable punditry). Starting this Wednesday, Sept. 17 -- which also happens to be Constitution Day -- the National Constitution Center is opening its "Headed to the White House" exhibit. The interactive and educational experience gives kids a glimpse into the election process from start to finish through role play as a campaign manager or presidential candidate, insight into the key issues in the 2008 race, and much more. Exhibit ticket prices are $12 for adults, $8 for kids and $11 for senior citizens when reserved online.Headed to the White House runs from Sept. 17 to Dec. 14.

The idea of a "carefree weekend trip" is obliterated if you're not a guide book-wielding, TripAdvisor-obsessed traveler and you get cold sweats thinking about finding hotels, figuring out what to do, choosing good restaurants...ay.

The Washington Post featured a new web site, GoPlanit, that simplifies the process. All you have to do is pick a destination (we tried San Francisco) and the dates you are traveling, and the site will create a list of hotels, activities, and more.

Not a fan of some of the choices? You can further customize your trip by deleting or adding new activities (like a visit to Ciao Bella!) You can also compare prices of flights, hotels, and car rentals. According to the Post, "The calendar also includes links to reservation and ticketing systems when possible, further streamlining the process (part of the company's monetization model relies on fees generated from these affiliates)." When you've created your ideal itinerary, you can send it send it to you iPhone or save it online for easy access to pre-trip daydreaming.

Check out our picks for San Francisco and more city guides.

Ease your kids' transition from vacation time to school time with two great new travel books.

Where's Waldo? The Ultimate Travel Collection
by Martin Hanford
(Candelwick Press, $11)

Where's our striped-sweater hero this time? Keep your kids dreaming of far-off lands as they follow Waldo to a wide range of places and eras. This travel-sized edition is both light and small, so it's great for stashing in a backpack and searching for Waldo on the bus to school.

3-D World Atlas and Tour
by Marie Javins
(Chronicle Books, $12)

Two words: 3-D glasses. That alone should be enough to get your kids psyched about this part atlas, part virtual travel experience, which allows them to "travel" to destinations like Paris (by looking down from the top of the Eiffel Tower) or Antarctica (by peeking inside a blue ice cave). Even better, they can travel with a buddy--there are two pairs.

Get some R&R with three more R's (reduce, reuse, recycle) at Westin's new Element hotel chain, the first of which just opened in Lexington, Massachusetts. Some of Element's green features include carpets made from 100% recycled content, bath products in dispensers (no more mini bottles), and Energy Star-rated appliances. Style hasn't been overlooked, either. The soothing colors and clean lines in the rooms and public spaces create a modern, serene atmosphere. And there's free Wi-Fi access. Twenty-two more locations are slated to open in the U.S. and Canada through 2010--including hotels in Las Vegas and Irving, Texas, later this year. 

Dinosaur-loving kids can take their prehistoric experience beyond the park at Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando, which has created Jurassic Park-themed rooms featuring raptor's cage headboards, artwork from the making of the movies and Jurassic Park-themed furniture. As part of a $10 million room renovation, Loews has also added post-prehistoric technology like iHome clock radios with iPod docking stations and is installing 32-inch flat panel televisions in all guest rooms (all the better for reliving all three Jurassic Park movies). Never fear, parents -- you can get a break from the dino-mania in the two-room suites, which include a grown-up, tropical-themed room just for you. Also, the kids' room only opens up to the parents' suite -- not the hallway -- so you can rest easy that they're safe...and surrounded by dinosaurs.

How do you make a massage go from indulgent bliss to white-knuckled paranoia? Just start thinking about all of the mysterious chemicals that could be seeping into your skin along with the lusciously-scented lotions. Luckily, Kimpton Hotels is putting the "ahh" back in spa  by introducing Swedish skin care specialist Kerstin Florian's organic and paraben-free skin care products to its in-room treatments. All massage oils use organic sunflower oil and natural essential oils, so you can relax while you're getting specialty services like the Mothers-To-Be Harmony Massage, which is designed to relieve back tension and alleviate swelling in the hands and feet. The new spa additions are part of Kimpton's EarthCare program, which aims to integrate eco-friendly practices throughout the company. Book a treatment online, or indulge at home by picking up some Kerstin Florian spa products.

When four smart, savvy friends (and new moms) found themselves scattered across Europe in London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Milan, they wanted to keep in touch and share all of their fashion obsessions, travel tips, and must-have products (like seriously spill-proof sippy cups from Tommee Tippee and stylish sneakers for moms by Emma Hope) with their fellow urban moms around the world. So, in February they launched the Babyccino blog, where they have posted guides to each of their cities (perfect for planning a family vacation!) and theme weeks like traveling with kids (idea: try wrapping up cheap toys to keep them happy during a long-flight).

Blogger (and American ex-pat) Courtney says, "We are still flattered and surprised by how many people care about what we have to say each day!"

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Everything old is new again...at least in the case of Castle on the Hudson, a nearly 100-year-old hotel that is going green. Resting atop acres of manicured grounds on the Hudson River, the historic property just 30 minutes north of Manhattan has partnered with electricity supplier Juice Energy to convert to wind power. The move is intended to help the hotel keep energy costs down in an environmentally friendly way. And that should help ensure that the hotel will be around for your family to enjoy for another 100 years.

Email us with your travel stories and tips!

If you're booking the same standard beach vacation again this year, get some fresh ideas at Globorati.com. The recently relaunched luxury travel site is back with a spanking new look and features like an interactive map search, breaking news ticker tape, and bigger photos of drool-worthy destinations like Mozambique's pristine Bazaruto Archipelago. With a family travel section and new stories posted each day, you can find everything from an online concierge service to order organic baby food at a resort in Cyprus to how to get someone to hold your place in line at Disneyland.

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Bug lovers, fairy fans, and girl power enthusiasts should check out  "Maria Sibylla Merian & Daughters: Woman of Art and Science," now showing at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Curator (and Cookie contributor) Stephanie Schrader shows us how Maria broke ground for women when she could draw and paint better than her male counterparts in art class.

After Maria divorced and took her daughters with her to Suriname in the 18th century, she and her daughters used their interest in nature to create painstakingly precise renderings of plants and insects.

The illustrations will transport your child into a magical land filled with flowers, plants, and insects (with the possibility of a fairy hiding behind each one!). Now through August 31st.

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Turn down the stress of planning a family vacation a few notches by checking out VibeAgent.com, a new hotel booking web sites that compares rates from more than 30 leading web sites for over 120,000 hotels worldwide. This one-stop hotel-booking site also provides recommendations based on personalized criteria plus reviews from other users (you can add your own reviews, too). We like the clean, easy-to-use format and frank, personal hotel feedback. VibeAgent also launched Jetsetter, a social networking features developed on the Facebook platform, which families can use to track their summer trips and get tips from other travelers.

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