Moving to S. Charlotte in June, Things to do with kids in Summer? (Gastonia: house, neighborhood)

[lisact]

Hi,
We are moving to Stone Creek Ranch in June and are looking for fun things to do with the kids (girls 7 and 10) this summer. Do Lake Wylie and Lake Norman have beach areas? Are there any pool and tennis clubs in S. Charlotte that have water activities/water slides? Thanks for your input!

[sheena]

Originally Posted by lisact

Hi,
We are moving to Stone Creek Ranch in June and are looking for fun things to do with the kids (girls 7 and 10) this summer. Do Lake Wylie and Lake Norman have beach areas? Are there any pool and tennis clubs in S. Charlotte that have water activities/water slides? Thanks for your input!

Lake Norman has a nice park called Jetton in Cornelius, or you can take them up to Lake Norman state park.

How about Carowinds, they sell season passes too.

[sixinthefamily]

My girls are the same ages. We are moving at the end of the month and already bought our Carowinds season passes. WE took the kids when we were house hunting and it is awesome. The water park was not open when we went but we are looking forward to that as well.

[winston2000]

McDowell Nature Center & Preserve is located on Lake Wylie. Check the Park & Rec site:

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/...d+Rec/Home.htm

[lisaf]

Stone Creek Ranch already has a pool for the neighborhood, I thought!?

There's a bunch of street fairs that start around memorial day that are great fun. THere's a big one in Freedom Park, one in uptown, and one in Matthews off the top of my head. Waxhaw has one too, but it's real tiny in comparison--but very quaint with all the little main street shops. Most have rides and activities for kids. These are usually announced in the local paper.

There's the Discovery Center in uptown that's good fun, too. There's Latta Plantation for something educational, and the Raptor center is nearby that. You're close to Union County, so you could skip over the border and take your kids horseback riding at one of the farms.

If you get the Friday paper, you'll learn about lots of weekend activities happening around town.

[Mrminsky]

There are also places like the Siskey YMCA that offer weekly camp options (5 days, vs. having to register for 6 or 7 weeks.) These are usually specialties for example in Soccer or cooking or arts or... whatever.

[lisact]

Thanks for the suggestion! Do you know if it gets really crowded at Carowinds during the summer?

[south.charlotte&union]

Yes it does get crowded, especially on weekends and holidays. We used to go early during the week (and leave by 2 or so) and it wasn't too bad.

[CRock]

Dont forget the US National Whitewater Center. Charlottes most unique entertainment.

http://www.usnwc.org/sports.asp (broken link)

[carolynpt]

Hi! I just moved here too and getting some wonderful info on what to do with kids down here>

Of course, there is Carowinds. They have awesome season passes.

Mecklenburg County parks; I go up to Blythe Landing. Jetton park charges a 3.00 entry fee though...heard they have some nice bike paths. Here is Meck. park website:

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/...trict/home.htm

I have also hiked at Crowders Mountain State park, which is just outside of Gastonia: some wonderful nature and hiking trails there:
http://ils.unc.edu/parkproject/visit/crmo/home.html

Also, good site for kids activities in Charlotte:

http://www.sardisroads.com/kids-teens/index.html


although Charlotte Metro Zoo has had some issues lately with animal rights groups as far as care for animals...don't know if that's still ongoing.....

And of course, the Whitewater Center!

Have fun!!!!!