Family Fun: October 11-12 Weekend What-To-Dos

Star Wars Reads Day

Spandex City Comics, at 2914-A Mt. Holly Huntersville Road, invites the public to participate in Star Wars Reads Day on Saturday, October 11th, 2014, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. This is a free event for the whole family. There will be fun Star Wars activities, contests and prizes for fans of all ages, and Spandex City’s next door neighbor, X-tra Ball, is participating too. Star Wars Reads Day is a worldwide event that celebrates Star Wars and reading. Here’s the schedule:

11 am – 6 pm: Star Wars crafts and activities (Spandex City and X-tra Ball)

11 am – 2 pm: Star Wars Pinball contest at X-tra Ball (youth and adult divisions)


11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Jawa Storytime at Spandex City


4 pm – 6 pm: “Stump the Stormtrooper” Trivia at X-tra Ball

Ballantyne Fall Festival

Ballantyne District Park, behind Morrison Family YMCA at 9405 Bryant Farms Road, is the site for Ballantyne Fall Festival–Autumn in the Park, on Saturday, October 11th, 2014, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The festival is free and most activities are free. Some of the activities are hayrides, bounce house, face painting, field day activities, pumpkin painting and more. There’s a charge for the cornhole competition and chili cookoff. Entertainment will be provided by The New Familiars, Dead27s, Matt Stratford and Scoot Pittman.

Food and drinks will be available from a variety of vendors including Elwoods BBQ & Burger Bar, Crü Wine Shop, Carolina Fish Market, True Crafted Pizza and Bird Song Brewing Co. Also, this is the first year to enjoy Charlotte’s Best Oyster Roast, brought to you by Carolina Fish Market.

And for the kids, there will be a special showing of “How To Train Your Dragon 2″ at 7:00 p.m.

Autumn Treasures (Waxhaw)

Waxhaw’s largest festival, Autumn Treasures, takes place Saturday, October 11th, 2014, and Sunday, October 12th, in downtown Waxhaw. The festival takes place 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. On Saturday, taste championship BBQ during the Grill’n & Chill’n public tasting, take part in Boot Camp Waxhaw and earn your stripes, watch good old-fashioned pig races, witness live entertainment, shop for arts & crafts or stroll the community & business fair. Cap the evening off with a free concert to salute veterans featuring Ansel Brown. On Sunday, the Hometown Heroes Car and USO show is back. Assist in breaking a world record at 3:30pm!

Free Museum Day – Levine Museum of the New South

Levine Museum of the New South offers free admission every Sunday, as long as you’re not bringing a group of 10 people or more. Its hours on Sunday are 12pm to 5pm. If you like free parking too, and who doesn’t, park in 7th Street Station, right next door. Bring your parking ticket to the Levine Museum for validation. On weekdays you can validate parking for up to two hours, but on weekends, you can validate for all day, so you can enjoy other Uptown attractions as well.

The Levine is an interactive history museum that focus on the time period from 1865 until until current times. Its permanent exhibit, Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers: Reinventing Charlotte and the Carolina Piedmont in the New South, invites guests to step inside a one-room tenant farmers house, run a hand through a pile of seed cotton, listen to the churning of the cotton mill, play checkers on the front porch of a mill house, hear personal accounts from local sit-in leaders, and more.

American Girl Store Opening
The American Girl Store officially opens Saturday in SouthPark Mall.  Parents, take your patience, reading material and full wallets. On average, a trip to an American Girl store lasts 90 minutes. *_*

Free Outdoor Movie

Afton Ridge, at 6230 Bayfield Parkway in Concord, is presenting a free outdoor movie, Monsters University, on Saturday, October 11th, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. They’ll also be giving away a $50 gift certificate to Party City to help you find a great Halloween costume of your own.

Open Studio Saturday- McColl Center for Innovation

During Open Studio Saturdays artists work in their studios with the doors open. It is an opportunity for the public to meet the artists and learn about their art as well as view the current exhibition. Every Open Studio Saturday, free docent-led tours will begin at 11:30 AM. Open Studio Hours:
11 AM to 4 PM

24^th Annual Latin American Festival

Charlotte’s signature cultural event, the 24th Annual Latin American Festival, returns Sunday, October 12, 2014 to Symphony Park. Mingle with more than 20,000 other lovers of culture and music this fall with internationally renowned musical performance from Colombian electro-tropical band Bomba Estéreo, Puerto Rican sensation and masters of contemporary bomba and plena, Plena Libre, The Latin Grammy award-winning Panamanian Ska-rock group, Los Rabanes and many more. The festival also features traditional and contemporary dance performances, some of the most diverse and delicious Latin food in Charlotte, marketplace with authentic handmade crafts and a Plaza de Artistas featuring some of North Carolina’s best Latino visual artists.

General admission is $5 and children 8 and under are free. 12pm - 8pm.

Weekend Agenda 9/21-9/23

Did you know the World's Fair is coming to Charlotte this Sunday?  The Mint Museum Uptown is hosting Sunday Fun Day (which is one of our favorite hangout spots in town) is debuting their new exhibit 'Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at The World's Fairs 1851-1939':

This groundbreaking international exhibition presents outstanding examples of glass, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, precious metalwork, and textiles displayed at the world’s fairs between The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London in 1851 and the New York World’s Fair in 1939. Many of these objects have never before left their respective institutions or countries.

The museum is debuting this exhibit in a big way, there will be a Ferris Wheel in uptown Charlotte as part of the opening events his Sunday! If you come out look for us between 1-3pm, we'll be there volunteering.

If you're in the Kannapolis area Saturday evening you should check out Stories Under the Stars, for an interactive program that brings words to life.  

What better way to kick of autumn than with a corn maze?!  Rural Hill's seven acre Amazing Maize Maze is now open through November 3.

Big shout out to all of the ladies that will be participating in the Ramblin' Rose Tri this Sunday! I did it last year and crossing that finish line is such an incredible feeling.

What is on your weekend agenda? Don't forget to check out the calendar for upcoming activities and events. 

Weekend Agenda 9/13-9/15

What's on your agenda for this weekend? Are you going to Freedom Park to check out the new Play 60 KidZone that opened on Tuesday? It includes an obstacle course, 40 yard dash with automated timing device, Play60 photo booth and a few other amenities. As this week's lunchbox notes have indicated we have had a little difficulty with decision making this week, so we won't get to check out this sure to be favorite spot, for at least a week. :-( With the weather cooling down any park or greenway will be enjoyable this weekend, so get outside, get some fresh air and more importantly get moving!  The great thing about the cooling temps is that you don't have to worry as much about your child passing out from heat exhaustion or having to pump them with water every five minutes to keep them hydrated.......eight minutes should do it.

Or maybe you've got team sports, gymnastics or church youth group activities. Many of us big kids are looking forward to the Mayweather/Alvarez fight, make sure you use the manners your parents worked so hard to instill in you and not show up at a fight party empty handed.

To all of my educators....WHOOOOP WHOOOOOPPP, are you taking advantage of Educator Saturdays at the Discovery Place museums this month? If not, you should, it's free and just for you.

If you are like me, you are looking forward to catching up on Breaking Bad while you and your child are at your parent's house.  I've got see what's going on with Heizenberg and Jesse, my son will be doing some manual labor to help out his grandfather as a result of not so great choices and behaviors at school earlier this week.

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Agenda 9/6-9/8

This weekend there are TONS of things to do in Charlotte!  The Yiasou Greek Festival, free admission to local museums, Panthers first regular season home game, Educator Saturdays at Discovery Place museums, free crafts for kids and of course the new love of my life, the new Romare Bearden Park.  Check out the calendar for more details.  What is on your weekend agenda?