Bring the grandkids

The grandkids are coming. It's wonderful for about a day and a half, and then somebody small is standing in the kitchen announcing they're bored. Good news: the community is quietly one of the most kid-friendly places around, if you know where to point them. We dug through the calendar for the activities that don't care how old you are.

The sure things

Start with water. With 2,428 swim sessions on the calendar, a pool is never far, and nothing burns off a restless eight-year-old like an afternoon of it. Then there's the games room: 912 billiards sessions and 477 board-game gatherings mean there's almost always a table where a kid can be taught something and then, inevitably, beat you at it. And 243 table-tennis sessions make the paddle the great equalizer - no learning curve long enough to spoil the fun.

The unexpected hits

Here's where it gets fun. Radio Controlled flying and driving shows up 181 times on the calendar, and Model Trains another 89 - and there is no child alive, or grandparent for that matter, who can walk past a tiny working train without stopping. Throw in 62 trivia nights and 59 rounds of corn toss, and you've got a whole roster of things that play perfectly across the generations.

The evening plan

When the sun drops, the town squares take over. With 482 live-music events spread across the calendar, there's almost always a band playing somewhere nearby - and a town square at dusk, with room to run and ice cream within reach, is about the easiest win there is with a tired, happy kid.

Why it works

The secret is that the best activities here were never really about age in the first place. A paddle, a pool, a little train, a band on a warm night - these are the things that close the fifty-year gap between you and a visiting grandchild without anyone having to try. So when they ask what there is to do, you'll have an answer. Several thousand of them, in fact.