In two hours or less by car, you can get to any of the following outdoor water parks to cool off and have a blast this summer with your kids. Although there's no shortage of thrill rides and slides at these places, you don't have to be a daredevil (or of a certain height) to enjoy them. There are play areas for young children, wave pools, family raft rides, and lazy rivers for those of us who don't need to plummet a down a very tall slide to have fun. Some of the parks are dedicated to water attractions and others are part of a larger theme park, but they all offer plenty of chances to get completely soaked. 

August in Boston is free and festive! There are free summer festivals almost every weekend in August, plus lots more free fun throughout the month. We've also picked a few activities that require a visit to the piggy bank, but we think they're well worth checking out—especially if you have a insect enthusiast or young astronomer in the house, or might be thinking about taking the kids camping for the first time. 

We hope you'll be able to squeeze a few of these top picks for hometown fun between summer day trips and weekend getaways before the kids head back to school.

For me, a drive-in movie theater evokes memories of playing catch with family and friends on a warm summer night, then settling in to watch movies on the big screen until the kids fell asleep. Those were distant memories until I took my own family to the Mendon Twin Drive-in. The experience was exactly as I had remembered it, and we now try to make it to the drive-in at least once each summer. 

Read on for everything you need to know about a family night at the drive-in, including seven drive-in theaters in the region and five tips for enjoying your experience to the fullest. A few of them might be over an hour away, depending on where you live, but consider that a chance to pack PJs and send kids off to dreamland on the drive home.