Hellobee Boards

The downtown mall on Friday is fun (although it can be crowded). They do Fridays After Five, so there's free music and space for kids to run around. Eppie's is a kid friendly restaurant on the mall, and there are other casual dining spots as well. The Virginia Discovery Museum is also on the downtown mall, but I haven't been there in many years, so I'm not sure if it's worth a visit!

Saturday is the farmer's market off the downtown mall. It's really grown in the last few years, and you can have a great breakfast while walking around. Get there early if you're interested b/c it gets crowded and hot.

Greenleaf Park is another splash park and it's much smaller, so it's good for younger kids or those who get overwhelmed easily.

You can pick peaches at Chiles Orchard right now. Also around that area of vineyards that are fun to visit--they have grassy areas where kids can wander around. King's Family Vineyards sometimes has horses in the stalls that you can see and pet. Veritas is huge and Pippin Hill is pretty. People like to pack picnics for some of those places (you can buy meals at Pippin) and sit outside to eat and relax.

The Lawn at UVa is a nice place to visit and let kids run around. You can pick up food from the Corner (the shops and restaurants by UVa) and take it to the Lawn. Try to head to the Special Collections Library. They have some cool things to see there, and if they're having a slow day, they may be able to show you a special artifact or two. I asked if they could do this when visitors were in town, and they showed the University's minutes.

Monticello is really cool, although the history aspect is usually not appreciate by toddlers.

If you wanted to add on a little more mileage to your trip, you could head one hour south to Lexington, another history filled town. They have the Virginia Safari Park, a drive through place where you feed the animals buckets of food. Very popular! They also have Hull's Drive-In theater, which boasts the best hot dogs in Virginia. You can wander around Washington and Lee, and their downtown area is really quaint.

Let me know if you have any questions--I'm happy to answer them!