Science Sunday is for everyone interested in the world around them, whose lectures are designed to make science interesting and “user-friendly” for everyone. Lectures are one hour long. Doors open to the lecture hall at 1:00 pm. Lecture passes are available at the admissions counter at 12:30 pm. Seating is limited and first-come, first-served. No late seating. Lectures include time for a few questions at the end.

Celebrate the warmth of the holiday season with crafts, games, music, and enjoyment from the early 20th century. We’ll busy your hands with holiday wreath-making (花冠), invite you to join in an old-fashioned sing-along around the player piano, and provide you with materials to make Victorian and Mexican holiday crafts. Come play games, take a draft-horse carriage ride, decorate the tree, and create decorations to bring home to your own tree.

Explore the hidden world of art! Visit artists in their studios, learn about their processes, purchase original works of art. Free mobile app and printed guide have artist information and maps. Open Studios is a free self-guided tour, produced by Arts Council Santa Cruz County, which invites the public into more than 300 artist studios across Santa Cruz County.

Step into the incredible world of steam power at the Steam & Harvest Festival. Welcome Fall with traditional children’s activities like candle making, and gold panning. See a variety of steam and belt-powered equipment on display. Admission is free for the whole family.

2 . If you’re looking for something fun to do this weekend (November 9-11), there’s plenty of action happening around the Tampa Bay area.

Siesta Key Crystal Classic

When: November 9-12

Where: Siesta Beach

Cost: $10 per day

Info: The Siesta Key Crystal Classic kicks off this weekend at one of America’s best beaches! For four days, the international sand sculpting festival will feature artists creating life-size masterpieces out of Siesta’s sugar-fine sand. There will be plenty of food vendors, drink specials and live music. You can also learn how to create your own sand sculpture! The festival costs $10/day and it runs November 9-12. Come soak up the sunset as Siesta Beach transforms into an outdoor art gallery!

Tampa Greek Festival

When: November 9-11

Where: St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church at 2418 West Swann Avenue, Tampa

Cost: $2 General Admission

Info: OPA! Whether it’s freshly-prepared Mediterranean style food and pastries, an evening of live music and beautiful dance, or a unique shopping experience, the Tampa Greek Festival gives everyone the chance to enjoy life like a Greek.

Sponge Docks Seafood Festival

When: November 9-11

Where: Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard, Tarpon Springs

Cost: Free

Info: This 3-day outdoor festival will feature tons of fresh local seafood to tempt your taste buds, an art & craft show with up to 60 local and regional artists selling their work, continuous live music, unique retail shops and complimentary festivities for the whole family. New this year, specifically selected artisans, craftsmen and other vendors will show and sell nautical and food-related art, crafts, fishing apparel, kitchen and cooking items, samples and much more.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Washington Redskins

When: 1 p.m.

Where: Raymond James Stadium at 4201 North Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa

Cost: $50

Info: Get ready for some Sunday football! The Bucs are taking on the Washington Redskins at Raymond James Stadium. Kickoff is 1 p.m.

3 . Is your child interested in a camp with Girl Scout (童子军) activities? Attending a summer camp with this focus is a perfect way for them to explore while giving them experience and confidence. Browse our selection and find the perfect fit for your child.

Code Ninjas Camps (CNC)

Transform your child’s love for technology into an exciting learning adventure. Guided by our team of Code Senseis, Code Ninjas Camps empower kids to gain valuable tech skills and make new friends. It’s an unforgettably fun learning experience! Our camps invent, inspire and create to bring out the inventor and creator in your child this Summer and Spring Break.

Fighting Illini Sports Camps (FISC)

The University of Illinois has committed itself to the development of well-rounded summer camp programs for boys and girls. Camps are offered for boys and girls in cheer leading, cross country, golf and swimming. Also offered are camps for boys in baseball, football, gymnastics and wrestling, as well as camps for girls in basketball, gymnastics, soccer, softball and volleyball. Team camps are available in Cheer leading, Basketball, Football and Volleyball.

Girl Scouts of Central Indiana (GSCI)

Campers will enjoy the great outdoors, improve their mental health, make new friends and learn more about themselves! Girl Scouts of Central Indiana has five unique camps, each situated on beautiful sprawling acres, and each with their own special touch. Activities vary by camp program/event/location, and may include: hiking, swimming, jumping on the giant trampoline, horse or pedal car riding. It’s definitely more fun than you’d ever expect for such a great price!

4 . Central Park Picnic Experiences

Having a picnic with family, friends or colleagues at the Pool with iconic views of the NYC backdrop would give you good feelings. We handle all aspects of your event from beginning to end, so you can just show up and have a great time! Fresh baked service! — You can now add games to any picnic experience (details below).

Family-Style Picnic

Serves a minimum of 15 people

Our family-style picnic experience is perfect for big groups! Includes set up & clean up, plus fruits and food. Also includes coolers with ice, blankets, pillows and parasols (遮阳伞). $60.00 per adult, $30.00 per child. Includes a 2-hour picnic with set up and clean up. $50 per add 1 hour.

Social Picnic Party

Serves 10 to 12 people

Comes complete with an entire picnic set up including extra space, blankets, pillows, parasols. The meal is a sampling of sandwiches, roast chicken, potato salad, seasonal greens, local cheese platter, lemonade, water and something sweet for dessert. Perfect for meeting new friends.

We Love This Formal Picnic!

Serves 4 to 10 people

Looking for something more formal? This is special and for you! Includes set up with a set low-rise table for business talk, a great selection of delicious food, flowers, and clean up! Tips not included — and should go direct to your picnic expert.

Birthday Party Picnic

Serves 2 to 18 people

Besides our signature birthday party cake, we also offer a local cheese platter (拼盘), seasonal salad, chips, lemonade and water, plus cookies & brownies for dessert! When you arrive at your picnic spot, one of our picnic experts will have everything set up, ready and waiting for you when you arrive! Includes a 2-hour picnic for 2 with set up and clean up. Add up to 16 additional guests. $50 per add 1 hour. $50 per add 1 guest. Max 18 guests.

5 . Visit America’s National Parks for Free on These Six Days in 2024

It’s time to plan a visit to your dream national park destination. For a few days each year, every national park in America is free to visit — including hundreds of national monuments, seashores, historic sites and more.

Less than a quarter of them have entry fees, but those that do charge up to $20 per person or up to $35 per vehicle. Revenue (收入) from these fees stays in the National Park Service to cover visitor services, including improving accessibility, restoring wildlife habitat and more.

“National parks are places that awaken senses, inspire curiosity, encourage reflection, and promote joy,” National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said in a statement. “The entrance fee-free days expand opportunities for people to visit their national parks and experience the beauty and history of our country.”

There’s a new addition to the entrance fee-free days in 2024: Juneteenth, which became recognized as a national holiday on June 17, 2021.

National park free entry days for 2024:

●Jan. 15 — Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

●April 20 — First day of National Park Week

●June 19 — Juneteenth

●Aug. 4 — Great American Outdoors Day

●Sept. 28 — National Public Lands Day

●Nov. 11 — Veterans Day

Fees for certain activities like camping and fishing will still be in place. Additionally, parks operated in partnership with outside parties may charge other types of fees. For instance, Waco Mammoth charges an access fee for its dig shelter. That park is run by the Park Service, together with the City of Waco, Texas, and Baylor University. Visitors can find site-specific details on park websites.

8 . The beaches on Mykonos’s southwest coast are among the Med’s best for parties, but head east to find a different atmosphere among a rocky, golden coastline dotted with sandy bays.

Park your vehicle in the dirt lot and walk over the low dunes to find perfect little Fokos Bay,where deep, sheltered waters offer delightful swimming for all ages. Once you’ve worked up a bit of an appetite, head on over to the renowned restaurant overlooking the sand for a lazy seafood lunch.

If getting your own wheels isn’t an option, Agari is only a 15-minute walk east of the more famous Elia Bcach and on the south coast bcach ferry route. It’s one of the closest uncrowded beaches to Hora, Mykonos’s main town, and home to a lonely cafe that provides sunbeds and sell drinks and snacks.

Wander west around the headland to the next beach along - the gentle arc of Mersini beach, which is usually the least-crowded on Mykonos. Bring your own sun mat and even an umbrella as this beach is service-free: wild and raw, and perfectly matched to a sunbathing without being disturbed.

In the far southeast, about seven miles from Mykonos town, the broad curving coastline of Kalafati Beach is beloved for its steady winds that blow the sails of windsurfers and kite surfers- perfect if you’re looking for sporting action. Rnt boards and get lessons right at the beach at Windsurfing Mykonos.

9 . What do people associate with the Metropolitan Museum of Art called the Met? For most, this New York museum is a treasure trove (宝库) of beautifully-scheduled artistic expression. After all, its collections include 1.5 million works of art from prehistory to the present.

But since September 9, 2023, as Hyperallergic reports, the Met is also the setting for a new, super-creative center for kids aged 3—11 and their families, named“81st St Studio”, which sets out to help children understand the materials used to make art. Coming in through the entrance, visitors see tree trunks, cardboard and a carved wooden screen among other examples. Visitors can participate in activities such as woodblock carving and drum making.

According to Heidi Holder, Chai r of the Met’s education department, there’s no contradiction in this new attempt. She recently said the Met is a science institution. As she explains, “We have three big parts of ourselves: our scientific research, our conservation and our art.” As Holder explains, even when objects created hundreds of years earlier come in, a scientific understanding of the materials used will help people better understand the art itself.

The exhibit is rich with art and science activities to encourage self-expression. There’re no traditional glass exhibition cupboards here. Instead, the 3,500-square-foot center is filled with seven stations that encourage visitors to explore them using all their senses. As Holder said, “It’s an open space where you can create your own path. You can learn at your own pace. You can take risks, be curious, have fun, and discover things.”

A music installation (装置), for instance, helps kids understand how materials influence sound. It consists of several creative music-making devices. Curious young visitors can pull open small, drawer like boxes. For example, an accordion lets out an airy sound as the opening and closing motion compresses (压缩) the air inside it.

In agreement with its ambitions to serve as a community center, the 81st St Studio is free to enter for children and their caregivers, no museum ticket required, during regular Met hours.

10 . One of the most rewarding ways to plan a trip is by building it around a specific event connected to a deep passion. Here are some unmissable events worth travelling for 2024.   

International Kite Festival—Gujarat, India

Kite-makers from around the world launch their creations at this cheering celebration of the return of sunshine after winter. You’ll enjoy traditional styles from Japanese rokkaku to Malaysian wau bulan. Locals and visitors get involved, too—so bring your kids and join in. The festival takes place in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city and a UNESCO World Heritage city.

Ride Africa Kenya—Rift Valley, Kenya

Wheeling from Lake Nakuru to Maasai Mara, this 310-mile, seven-day route takes up to 60 cyclists through Lake Naivasha, Hell’s Gate and Narok. It’s held to raise funds for the Child.org Charity, which supports newborns’ care in the country. Run in combination with the Kenyan Wildlife Service, the event includes a large number of animal sightings.

Jungle UItra—Manú National Park, Peru.   

With racers facing 143 miles of dense Amazon rainforest-and even denser heat and humidity-this is among the toughest ultra-marathons. Passing such terrain (地形) demands determination, but the friendship and trust of the trail team will keep you going. Peru’s four-million-acre national park comprises diverse tropical habitats.   

Lakia-Jukola Relay—Kauhava, Finland

This is one for old-school hikers, as your team of six needs solid map-reading and compass navigation skills for the overnight. It’s among the world’s most celebrated challenges, during which you will enjoy Finland’s most dramatic scenery. Sign up for the later legs to see in the sunrise.