Raising bilingual and bicultural children can be quite a challenge, so it's wonderful to see all kinds of events cropping up to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. From a celebration with Mariana Iranzi (pictured) to a Spanish story time to an event with La Piñata, there are plenty of activities to immerse kids in the Spanish language and culture this whole week. There are also some other great activities to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather we've been having, including a fun hike for parents and babies. Be sure to keep an eye on the full Event Calendar for more happenings all month!

Halloween is one of my family’s very favorite holidays. My daughter has had her costume for weeks. I’ve been holding out but will likely break down and fill up the candy corn bowl before the week is over. While trick-or-treating and candy eating on the 31st are what it’s all about, in truth the joy of Halloween is in the anticipation. By mid-October celebrations are well underway; you may not want to carve pumpkins yet in this heat wave, but it’s a great time to visit the patch. Underwood Farms is especially fun, and a mid-week visit is a low-cost way to avoid the weekend crush.

Something I missed last year (won’t make that mistake twice!) is the Halloween Ghost Train operated by LA Live Steamers in Griffith Park. Oh, and it’s the second week of the month, so there are free days at The Autry and Japanese American National Museum if you and yours are looking for some non-holiday related fun. Read on for our favorite five things going on this week.

Maximize your three-day weekend by fitting in extra activities on Monday—we've found 17 things to do with kids on Columbus Day! It's also the perfect day to kick off your Halloween revelry by hitting a nearby pumpkin patch or corn maze, shopping for a costume or going on a fall day trip.

Of course even once school and work start up again, the fun doesn't need to stop. Our best bets for Tuesday, October 13-Friday, October 16 include a Minecraft club, a FREE storytime for tots, a teen night out at the Met and one of our top picks of the month, a multimedia anniversary screening of Back to the Future.

As always, you can find lots of other ideas in our Event Calendar and Fall Fun Guide.

As a native Angeleno, I pride myself on having been to most of our local venues at least once in my life, but recently I discovered one that is brand new to me: The Valley Performing Arts Center at Cal State Northridge. VPAC, as those in the know call it, is in fact a fairly recent addition to our cultural scene, having begun its inaugural season in 2011. VPAC is a light, bright, large theater with comfortable seating and easy and affordable parking (including a free shuttle for those who need it). While Valley residents must surely appreciate this addition to their neighborhood, those of us living on the Westside, Hollywood, or beyond can also enjoy it for years to come. Though Northridge sounds far away, it really took us less than half an hour to get there from the Westside and was well worth the trip—particularly for the debut a marvelous new family series, the VPAC Play Date, featuring a range of performances geared towards children and their families.

If you've got older kids (or a macabre Halloween side yourself), you know what a great job our LA and OC theme parks do of haunting those who love to be scared every October. But what about the kids who just like things mildly spooky - like maybe a couple of smiling ghosts and a spider or two? Sure, Disneyland has Mickey's Halloween Party, but that still involves staying up way past bedtime. If you have little ones you want to bring to a happy Halloween haunt without staying out past dark, where the scariest mummy looks suspiciously like Peppermint Patty, then Camp Spooky is the place you oughta be.

Few things will excite a kid more on a hike than the sudden roar of rushing water. They'll race toward the falls, eager to toss in a stick to see where it'll go, mesmerized by the crashing water. But really, encountering a waterfall deep in the woods is enchanting at any age.

Families can find a trove of gorgeous waterfall hikes easy enough for children tucked into the northern end of the Pennsylvania's Delaware Water Gap—less than two hours by car from Midtown Manhattan.

These nature walks are doable in a day, however, you might want to turn this getaway into a weekend by visiting the many other family-friendly attractions in the Poconos.

This post is sponsored by BASIS Independent School.

One thing all parents I know can agree on is that we want our kids to have the best education possible. While we might not always trust politicians with our education choices, when two parents—who also happen to be world-class academicians—decide to take matters into their own hands, that's worth knowing about. And that's the story behind our sponsor BASIS Independent Brooklyn, a BASIS.ed school that offers a world-acclaimed liberal arts STEM-focused curriculum.

Founded in 1998 with one school in Arizona and just a handful of students, today BASIS.ed manages BASIS Independent Brooklyn in Red Hook, along with two other private schools in Silicon Valley and McLean, VA, 16 charter schools across the United States and an international school in China. Its students consistently rank among the best in math, reading, and science—not just in the country, but the world over.

This weekend is going to be hot. So hot it sizzles. So hot you’ll think that you’re in that lava pit that (spoiler alert) Anakin fell into in Revenge of the Sith and not just reading about it. So hot you'll feel like you’re actually on the surface of Venus and not just talking to the rocket scientists who send probes there. So hot that people are going to say, "What are you? A Mommy Poppins mama?" Dudes, it’s going to be hot.

But that’s okay. We’re Southern Californians. It takes a lot to scare us. Like, you know, spiders, haunted ships, elephants eating pumpkins, and Mickey Mouse in a costume. Okay, what? Those last two aren't even scary. Just fun, seasonal frivolity. But that's life here. Always fun, always in season...

But enough with the hot already, okay? (Cue El Niño in 3, 2, 1...)

Keep reading for our hottest picks for this weekend....