After a months-long shutdown, the American Museum of Natural History is on the brink of reopening Wednesday, September 9, and its special exhibition hall is aglow with the vibrant The Nature of Color exhibit, which lets visitors explore the role and power of color in the natural world, human cultures, and in our personal lives.

The Nature of Color reveals how color carries information in nature—where organisms use it to find food, ward off predators, and conceal or reveal themselves—and across cultures, where different colors can signal a wide range of meanings, from good luck to power to a sense of urgency.

While museum visitors may be anxious to see the famous dioramas or the towering T. Rex and its prehistoric dinosaur friends, this colorful, rainbow-hued exhibition is destination-worthy on its own, once you've nabbed your (now-required) timed-entry tickets to the museum. Get the details on how to snag your tickets to AMNH and all the other recently reopened, or opening soon, museums here.

Distance learning is hard and almost no one's first choice—this we know. But not everything about it is awful. In fact, there are even a dozen or so things about it that my family has found kind of nice.

We may be wishing for the good old days, but sometimes it's good to remember that these are the good old days. And the 12 things below might even be things we'll miss about remote learning when all this is a bizarre memory.

Find loads of remote learning resources in our 2020 Back-to-School Guide.

If you're looking for an escape and craving a little culture, outdoor sculpture gardens are the perfect destination for the entire family. While New York features some of the world's most famous art museums, many of which have reopened or are doing so soon, the metro area is also home to a diverse array of sculpture exhibits by international contemporary artists. At these outdoor art destinations in the city and nearby, you'll be enchanted by forests, meticulous gardens, and even a labyrinth of stone.

From Midtown Manhattan to the sprawling Hudson River Valley and Long Island's majestic Gold Coast, we've found 11 sculpture gardens and destinations to see outdoor art near New York City. So, spend the day strolling through wide-open spaces, gazing at stunning, larger-than-life sculptures, and breathing the fresh fall air. Pack a picnic and head out to one of these destinations for the perfect fall family day trip.

Find more seasonal fun in our Fall Fun Guide and consider these 30 fall family day trips nearby, too.

If you've got a child in public school, you live by the school calendar. The 2020-21 school year has already been off to a surprising start, with last week's announcement that the first day of school has been pushed back. Many local NYC preschools follow the public school schedule, too. The New York City Department of Education's calendar for the 2020-2021 school year is below, and you'll want to bookmark it now for reference—and to help with planning family vacations and school break camp coverage. 

Of course, we've been reminded over and over again that this school year will be one unlike any other, so the dates may not be as set in stone as in years past, but at least parents have a framework now. 

These are all of the dates you can count on your kiddos being out of school—or away from their remote learning device—during the 2020-2021 school year.

Covering more than 5,000 acres, Pedernales Falls State Park in Johnson City, Texas, offers camping, miles and miles of hiking trails, plenty of river to explore, and some amazing and unique scenery with a little wildlife, too.

My family typically takes an annual camping trip from our Houston home base, often to Garner State Park. But one thing this pandemic has done is to change up our routines, right? When we couldn't find any open slots that fit our schedule at that park (most of the Texas state parks are operating at reduced capacity), we found Pedernales Falls State Park.

Pedernales Falls proved to be a wildly untapped resource that's only three hours from Houston, and offering both electric and primitive campsites. In fact, this fallback option turned out to be one of the best camping trips we've ever taken. Read on for just what made it so special. 

Daring New Yorkers have a brand new observation deck to take in sweeping city views: Edge had a short-lived debut way back in March, before shutting down with the rest of the city, but the attraction in Hudson Yards has reopened and is ready to welcome visitors.

Even before its debut, the highest open-air observation deck in the Western Hemisphere made its mark on the city skyline. One glance at the towering skyscrapers of the new neighborhood, and you can't miss it—it's the triangular platform jutting out 100 stories high from 30 Hudson Yards.

Read on for details on our visit to the new attraction, and learn what sets it apart from the city's other sky-high observation decks at the Empire State Building, One World Observatory, and Top of the Rock.

Labor Day weekend is nearly upon us, and the milestone typically marks the end of the beach season in the tri-state area, but from the Jersey Shore to the sands of Long Island and Westchester County, area beaches are extending their seasons, giving visitors a chance to enjoy a little more sun and surf.

Read on for the details on which family-friendly beaches are welcoming visitors into September. 

New York City has pushed back the start date for its public school children to Wednesday, September 16, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday. The move is part of an agreement between the city and the UFT, which had long been pushing for enhanced safety protocols before schools reopened, even threatening legal action and laying the groundwork for a strike if its safety concerns weren't addressed. 

In-person instruction will not begin until Monday, September 21, meaning all students will start with remote learning.