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🧔🏽♂️ Dad Thoughts: #NotNormal
Not everything that’s “normal” is worth passing on. Here’s what feels normal in 2026 that I don’t want my kids picking up:
Hating on pineapple on pizza.
Obsessing over money. And the billionaires who have most of it.
Telling everyone else how to live.
Accepting fear as the default. Scared of trying, scared of failing.
Treating different as bad. The weird kid usually turns out to be the interesting adult.
Pretending kids shouldn’t care. Equal minutes in sports. No score kept. Wanting to win is not toxic. Losing teaches far more than a participation trophy everybody gets.
Never letting them hear no. A kid who’s never disappointed at 6 gets flattened by the first real no at 16.
Hating on pineapple on pizza. Did I say that already?
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🚗 FAMILY FUN FIELD TRIPS
Dad-approved outings.
This Weekend → 🦖 Final Weekend for LuminoCity Dino Safari at Walt Whitman Shops (Suffolk)
Over 70 animatronic, light-up dinosaurs, some 46 feet tall, across three acres, plus a fossil hunt, playground, and LED dance floor. Saturday is the last Dino Fall Fun night with Halloween activities.
💰 $22.99 per person plus fees; 3 and under free
📅 Fri Oct 16–Sun Oct 18, evenings from 5 PM
🔗 luminocityfestival
🦪 The Long Island Oyster Fest
The East Coast’s biggest waterfront festival takes over Oyster Bay: carnival rides, a seafood court, oyster shucking and eating contests, and harbor views. Go Sunday 10–11 AM for the Sensory Friendly Family Hour before the crowds, and take the shuttle.
💰 Free admission
📅 Sat Oct 17–Sun Oct 18, 11 AM–6 PM
🔗 oysterfest
🍁 Mineola Fall Festival
A fast-growing village festival in Memorial Park with food trucks, music, kids' activities, a costume contest and a pie-eating contest. Free and easy, the perfect low-key alternative if Oyster Bay crowds aren't your thing.
💰 Free admission
📅 Sat Oct 17, 12–6 PM
🔗 mineola-ny
Next Weekend → 👻 Ghostly Gala at the Long Island Children's Museum
LICM's biggest Halloween night: trick-or-treating through the museum, a Monster Mash dance party, a spooky studio with mystery cauldrons, and creepy crafts to take home. Add the Uncle Vlad's Pumpkin Patch theater show for a few bucks more.
💰 $18 non-members / $16 members; theater add-on $5 / $4
📅 Sat Oct 24, 6–9 PM
🔗 licm
🍬 Trick-or-Treating + Not-So-Spooky Ghost Puppet Show
Trick-or-treating through the gardens with nut-free candy, then a puppet show in the Barn where a shy little ghost’s candy goes missing and a kid detective has to crack the case. It’s also Fall Dog Days, so expect costumed pups on the paths. Spooky, not scary.
💰 $22 adults / $12 ages 7–17 / free 6 and under; puppet show $18 adults / $12 kids 3+
📅 Sun Oct 25, trick-or-treating 10:30 AM, puppet show 1 PM
🔗 oldwestburygardens
🎃 ALL OCTOBER LONG
For when the weekend plan falls through.
🍂 Hicks Nurseries Fall Festival
The easy, free, any-day fall outing. Otto the Ghost's animated walkthrough and the indoor Skeleton Estate Garden are spooky-cute, not scary, and on weekends the wristband activities and hay maze turn a pumpkin run into a real morning out.
💰 Free admission and parking; hay maze $8; activity wristband $25 online / $30 in store
📅 Daily through Nov 1; wristband activities weekends and holidays, 10 AM–5 PM
🔗 hicksnurseries
🌽 Heritage Farm & Garden Fall Festival
A true farm-style fall festival without leaving Nassau: a corn maze, hayrides, a pumpkin patch, farm animals, a kids' village, and live music on weekends. Everything you want from a farm day, minus the drive east.
💰 $25 weekend package / $15 weekdays; crafts $5 each
📅 Daily through Nov 1, 10 AM–4:30 PM
🔗 heritagefarmandgarden
🎨 Scarecrow Garden at Old Westbury Gardens
A gentle Halloween stroll through one of Long Island's prettiest estates, lined with community-built scarecrows that run from charming to wonderfully weird. Kids can vote for a favorite by QR code through Oct 24, and the fall color makes it an easy photo morning.
💰 Included with admission: $22 adults / $12 ages 7–17 / free 6 and under
📅 Daily through Oct 31 (closed Tuesdays), 10 AM–6 PM
🔗 oldwestburygardens
🎃 Spooky Fest at the Center for Science Teaching & Learning
The best pick-your-scare-level Halloween night in Nassau. Little ones do the Enchanted Forest Walk with cute dinosaurs, crafts, face painting and glow slime, while big kids can brave the Spooky Woods. A nonprofit fundraiser in a nature preserve that feels homegrown in the best way.
💰 $22 non-scary ticket / $27 all attractions
📅 Fri–Sun, Oct 16–18 and Oct 23–25, 6–9 PM
🔗 cstl
👻 Not-So-Scary Days at Bayville Scream Park
The daytime, kid-safe side of Long Island's most hardcore haunt: a pumpkin patch, a Halloween train, haunted bumper boats, pirate mini golf, and a funhouse with no actors jumping out. Built for kids under 10. Just be gone before the nighttime haunts open.
💰 Varies by time slot
📅 Weekends in October, 12–5 PM
🔗 bayvillescreampark
🐐 White Post Farms Fall Festival (Suffolk)
A Long Island classic just over the county line: the animal farm, giraffes, a dinosaur exhibit, unlimited hayrides through the cornfields, and family shows, all in one ticket. Pricey, but toddlers through 8-year-olds lose their minds here.
💰 $39.95 cash at the gate / $43.95 online; 15 months and under free
📅 Weekends through Oct 25; gates 9:30 AM–4 PM
🔗 whitepostfarms
🕯️ RISE of the Jack O'Lanterns (Suffolk)
More than 7,000 hand-carved jack o'lanterns lining a wooded trail just over the Nassau line. The region's big pumpkin-art night walk, stroller-friendly but hilly. Online tickets only, so book early.
💰 Varies by time slot
📅 Select nights through Nov 1
🔗 jackolanterns
✏️ PENCIL IT IN
Future you will be glad you read this.
🎃 1880s Haunted Halloween at Old Bethpage Village Restoration
Trick-or-treating through a historic 19th-century village, a children's costume parade and contest, and a Sleepy Hollow marionette show. A perfectly spooky-not-scary Halloween outing for younger kids.
💰 $17 adults / $14 kids ages 5+
📅 Sat Oct 31–Sun Nov 1, 10 AM–4 PM
🔗 oldbethpagevillagerestoration
🚀 STEM•X Festival at the Cradle of Aviation Museum
Two days of hands-on STEM inside the museum: robotics, coding, VR, drones and more. A perfect post-Halloween sugar-crash Sunday.
💰 Free
📅 Sat Oct 31–Sun Nov 1, 10 AM–3 PM
🔗 cradleofaviation
✨ LuminoCity Holiday Lights at Eisenhower Park
The LuminoCity Festival Lights comes to Nassau for the holidays. Super early bird 25% off running now.
💰 Adults $36, Children $28
📅 Wed Nov 11–Sun Jan 3
🔗 luminocityfestival
Two Things:
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See you next Thursday,
Akash