All aboard for the best birthday party ever! Thomas the Tank Engine is set to roll into Strasburg Rail Road for Day Out With Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2010. All Thomas fans are invited to spend the day with their favorite engine and celebrate his 65th birthday from June 12-20, 2010. This nine-day event will include activities and excitement for the whole family.

* A 22-minute ride with Thomas the Tank Engine
* The opportunity to meet Sir Topham Hatt™, Controller of the Railway
* A Thomas & Friends™ Imagination Station, featuring stamps, temporary tattoos, hands-on arts and crafts activities and coloring sheets
* Storytelling and video viewing
* Ride on the Cagney, a miniature steam train
* “Steer” the pint-sized Cranky Cars around a track
* Ride Strasburg Rail Road’s hand-powered Pump Car
* 2010 commemorative merchandise and giveaways, including a mini-view finder giveaway that tells the story of Thomas’ upcoming adventure, Misty Island Rescue
* Shop a large selection of Thomas merchandise, including toys, books, railway sets, DVD’s, apparel and more

Day Out With Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2010 will welcome roughly 40,000 fans to Strasburg Rail Road during the June, September and November visits. Pulling out of the station for its 15th consecutive ride on the rails, Thomas will make stops in more than 45 US cities. This year also marks Thomas the Tank Engine’s 65th publishing anniversary and fans will participate in many Thomas-themed celebratory activities! Children can make birthday cards for Thomas at the Imagination Station and then upload them on the official Thomas and Friends website. Kids will also receive a discovery map during their visit. As they visit each activity center they will receive a stamp. Once the discovery map is full of stamps the kids will receive a Thomas and Friends prize!

The 22-minute train ride with Thomas the Tank Engine will depart every 45 minutes, rain or shine. Check www.StrasburgRailRoad.com for specific train times. Advanced ticket purchase is recommended. Ticket prices are $18 for ages 2 and up (service charges and fees may apply). Purchase tickets for Day Out With Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2010 by calling Ticket Web toll-free at 866-468-7630, or by visiting www.ticketweb.com or www.StrasburgRailRoad.com.

To purchase tickets or view a detailed train schedule, visit www.StrasburgRailRoad.com or call 717-687-7522.

Saturday May 8, 2010


11am-4pm

Amtrak hosts a National Train Day celebration that includes an expo with a variety of train exhibitions and equipment, live musical performances, special guests, raffles, giveaways, a train marketplace, and more. An AmtraKids Depot offers a dance party with the Radio Disney Road Crew, interactive games, magicians, face painters, hands-on educational activities, and appearances by real Amtrak employees such as train engineers and conductors.


For more information: Details and a complete entertainment schedule are available online: http://www.nationaltrainday.com/
Location: 30th and Market Streets Philadelphia, PA 19104
This event is appropriate for the whole family
Cost: free

Celebrate Spring at the Brandywine Zoo! Each day will be full of spring fun such as live entertainment, fun animal games, animal arts and crafts, discovery cart with hands-on animal biofacts! FREE ADMISSION!!!





For more information: http://www.brandywinezoo.org/events.html#spring
Location: 1001 North Park Drive Brandywine Park Wilmington, Delaware 19802
This event is appropriate for all ages
Cost: FREE

Grand Illumination Celebration and Gingerbread Display starts November 20, 2009

Just in time for the holidays, Santa’s Paradise Express is pulling in early to Strasburg Rail Road, bringing Santa on his journey to spread the magic of the season to thousands of families who believe. This year, Santa’s Paradise Express will chug along the tracks starting November 27, 2009.

The Christmas celebration begins on the platform of the East Strasburg Station as the sounds of the season fill the air. Relax as an authentic vintage steam train, warmed by a potbelly stove, takes you on a 45-minute ride, traveling past more than 1,000 acres of picturesque farmland on the way to Paradise, PA. As the train chugs down the track, Santa, carolers and musicians stroll from car-to-car.

After the train ride, children are treated to storybook readings of holiday classics. Children of all ages can also enjoy a ride aboard the Cagney, a miniature steam train. As a special treat, children ages 3 to 11 will receive a gift from Santa and his helper.

Santa’s Paradise Express will be at Strasburg Rail Road, Route 741, Strasburg, PA, starting Thanksgiving weekend, November 27, 28 and 29, 2009. Also, see Santa December 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 20, 2009. Trains run throughout the day during weekends and a special 7p.m. train runs on Friday, December 11th and 18th. Tickets are available for $16 for adults and $10 for children ages 3-11. For a complete listing of dates and times, or to purchase tickets go to http://www.strasburgrailroad.com/ or call (717) 687-7522.

* check out their website for special event weekends

Beat the winter doldrums and the recession with a visit to The Academy of Natural Sciences, where admission is two for the price of one on Tuesdays throughout March.



From March 1 through 31, admission to America’s oldest natural history museum will be buy one, get one free. (Offer pertains to admission of equal or lesser value.) Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, college students, children 3–12, and military personnel. Members and children under 3 are free. There is a $2 fee for "Butterflies!"





Enjoy a trip around the world and back in time without leaving home. Here are some things you can do at the Academy to cure cabin fever this winter:



Warm up in "Butterflies!," a tropical garden filled with live, fluttering butterflies from around the world. Our naturalist will narrate how a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis—while you watch it happen.



Journey back millions of years by strolling among towering skeletons in Dinosaur Hall.



Travel to exotic locations as you take in the historic dioramas depicting wildlife from America, Africa, Asia and the Arctic



Enjoy a nature video on our high-definition, big-screen auditorium projection system.



Visit the library, where you can view treasures from rare book collections, including John James Aubudon’s famous double elephant folio "The Birds of America," purchased by the Academy from the artist-naturalist himself.



Learn how the Academy became the first museum in the world to display a dinosaur skeleton and what role New Jersey played in the exhibit "Hadrosaurus foulkii: The Dinosaur That Changed the World."



Explore your local watershed and find out how you can be an environmental steward in the interactive computer exhibit "Living Downstream."



Have an affordable, heart-healthy lunch (that you don’t have to cook yourself!) in the Ecology Café.



Meet our live birds, iguanas, tortoises, and cute, furry animals and learn about the shrinking habitats where they live in the wild.






The best time for adults without children to visit is in the afternoon. .








For more information: http://www.ansp.org/.
Location: 19th St. & Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia
This event is appropriate for all ages
Cost: Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, college students, children 3–12, and military personnel. Members and children under 3 are free. There is a $2 fee for "Butterflies!"

Victorian Arts & Entertainment Family Fun Day

For more information: http://www.delart.org/prog_events/fam_youth/index.html
Location: Delaware Art Museum – 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19806
This event is appropriate for 3 and older
Cost: free

This weekend the Garden State Discovery Museum is hosting Caribbean Carnival on Saturday 2/21 and Sunday 2/22.




Come out and hear the sounds of the steel drum to the colors of the ocean shore. Visitors will step into the vibrant world of the Caribbean to explore its rich history.





For more information: http://www.discoverymuseum.com/intro.html
Location: 2040 Springdale Road, Suite 100 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey,
This event is appropriate for ages 1 and up
Cost: $9.95 for adults and children 12 months and over

We are excited to add a new feature to Fun Things, we are going to feature Day Trips for families, if you have any ideas for fun family trip please share. Enjoy!

If you are like most American Families your cutting back on travel this year, but you can still get away with a Ski and Stay Package in Leigh Valley, PA. The Ski and Stay package is wonderful for families with kids, because when they get tired you can head back to the hotel, get some rest and head out to ski or go tubing later in the day. The Ski and Stay experience includes exclusive getaway packages with VIP benefits and discounts at Blue Mountain Ski Resorts, as well as special hotel events and activities specifically for the ski traveler.


Features of the “Ski and Stay Headquarters” Experience include: