Family Day Trips for Charlotteans to Cap Off the Summer
All are within two hours of the city
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Keep Your Home Secure While Away
Learn simple tricks and tips to keep burglars away while your family is on vacation.
Keep ‘Em Busy – Products that Make Summer Fun
From easy-to-use sunscreen to a breezy story about summer clouds, to the latest Phineas and Ferb DVD, we've got a list of great products for the summer.
Make Your Own Tornado
Step by step instructions for cool, weather craft and experiment.
Viriginia Creeper Trail
Try this exciting, outdoor hiking and biking adventure in neighboring Virginia.
Family Bike Adventures in the Southeast
Take your family on a bike ride this summer on one or more of these four awesome trails! These are some of the nicest trails in the Southeast.
Mother's Day Pizza
Kids (with supervision) can make mom an awesome homemade pizza for Mother's Day.
Mother's Day Crafts
Perfect for Mother's Day! Fun, easy craft using pipecleaners. Even preschoolers can help create this cute bouquet of flowers.
Button Frame Craft
Craft for Mother's Day that is personalized and memorable!
Eye Injuries in Sports
Eye injuries can be troublesome on the field. Learn about the most common ones and read our tips on how to avoid them.
Ages & Stages: 6-10: Creative Ways to Beat Summer Boredom
Some of my finest childhood memories are of sweltering summer days spent wading through the shallow creek close to home. With an empty jar in hand, my neighborhood buddies and I spent hours catching minnows and examining streambed rocks in search of the best skipping stone.
50 Years of High-Flyin' Fun
While throwing a popcorn lid at a Thanksgiving Day picnic more than 50 years ago, inventor Walter Fredrick Morrison was inspired. Afterward, he took a gravity-defying concept to an innovative toy company with a plan to bring his revolutionary flying disc concept to back yards, parks and beaches everywhere.
20 Outings under $20
If you’ve found yourself frustrated by the cost to take your family out for a day of fun, we can relate. This summer, enjoy the following 20 things for under $20 based on a family of four. Details are subject to change, so be sure to call before you go.
5 Summer Boredom Busters
You can find lots of ways to beat the blues with your kids when summer boredom sets in — even in your own back yard.
10 Tips for a Summer Block Party
Looking for a way to finally introduce yourself to the new neighbor down the street? Are your kids begging you to host an all-day water balloon war? Whether wanting to swap recipes or socialize within the neighborhood, block parties are time-honored traditions in neighborhoods all across the country.
Give Board Games a Spin
The next time your family is making a beeline toward the video game department of a toy store, try taking a detour into the board game section. You’ll find plenty of old favorites and new variations. Along with the simpler luck-of-the-dice racing games for younger children, there are complex scenario strategy games for older kids and teens.
Make Johnny Appleseed Proud!
If Johnny Appleseed would love North Carolina! Our state has an abundance of fresh farm apples to pick this fall, so take advantage of it. Try any of these fun activities or recipes to make the most of the season.
Be Safe, Be Seen on Halloween!
Did you know? Halloween is the most dangerous day of the year for children under 14 to walk? Children are four times more likely to be killed while walking on Halloween than any other night of the year.
Host a Spooktacular Halloween Party
Whether it’s super scary or just plain silly, your Halloween Haunt will be a hit with these quick and easy party tips.
Have a Healthier Halloween
My father, a dentist, refused to give candy on Halloween night. He suggested apples; my mother managed to talk him down to popcorn. Still our house was only slightly more popular than that of the missionary family that dropped Bible tracts into the outstretched hands of costumed kids.
The Thankful Tree
My sons, ages 3 and 5 years, have 57 dinosaurs, 24 action heroes and 214 army men. They also have an amazing collection of 47 ketchup packets, just to prove it’s not the cost that counts. Before you convict me of attempted-spoiling, I’ll ask you to count up your children’s favorite toys. After that, consider that all these items (never mind the ketchup) were purchased by well-meaning aunts, uncles, friends and grandmas.
A Christmas Holiday Retreat in Dillsboro/Balsam
Crisp mountain air, luminaries, carolers performing on the street corner and the whistle of a steam locomotive set the stage for an memorable holiday weekend in Dillsboro, N.C. Just down the road, the Balsam Inn welcomes you with a blazing fire, hot cider and comfortable rooms. Only 2.5 hours from Charlotte, you’ll feel a thousand miles away and decades in the past.
Candlelight Christmas Evenings at the Biltmore House
To spend the holidays at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville is to step back in time. The sights, the sounds, the smells all are reminiscent of the Gilded Age at the turn of the century. Each year, the Biltmore House is richly decorated in the holiday traditions set by George W. Vanderbilt, who first welcomed friends and family to his country retreat on Christmas Eve 1895. The bright tapestry of Christmas colors complement the rich oak paneling and European furnishings of the home.
Enchantment in Blowing Rock
From late November through the Christmas season, visitors to Blowing Rock, N.C. and Chetola Resort will feel as if they have stepped into a fairy tale.
Butter-Basted Lemon and Lime Turkey
A chilled lemon and lime butter, placed under the skin, adds a zesty twist to the traditional Thanksgiving turkey and solves the problem of dry breast meat. You’ll need to dispense with your rings, gird your loins and push that citrus butter up under the skin. It is a little fiddly (the butter will break up), and you may not like the slimy sensation, but it’s well worth it. To help the big day go smoothly, make the butter ahead. Let the kids help mix the butter, lemon and lime zest together,
