There are plenty of fun things you can do with the kids during the summer, but where can you give them the experience of a unique, face-to-face encounter with some of their favorite animals, ziplining and an option to touch some real live sharks?

Blake’s Orchard and Cider Mill will be hosting its annual Lavender Market festival this weekend.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. Maya Goldman and Ben Ratner spent almost 3 months visiting 148 of Ann Arbors parks. And its this gorgeous field, like rolling hills and a border of trees, so we were really taken by that park, Goldman said. Through their report, Goldman and Ratner also touch on the necessity and usefulness of Ann Arbor parks as social infrastructure and their role as a place for social action and protest. The couple wants their report to be useful for park visitors and hope that it inspires Ann Arborites to visit parks they have never seen. Read From Burns to Belize: A Report on Ann Arbors Public Parks here.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. GIVE365 is challenging residents to visit as many of the citys 163 parks as they can this summer. The Visit Every Park Challenge, which began in mid-June, features four Ann Arbor parks to visit every two weeks, and will continue throughout the rest of the summer. GIVE365 is a program that recruits volunteers to maintain, enhance, and beautify Ann Arbor parks, as well as providing volunteer assistance for park events. Here are the featured parks so far:For an additional challenge, a letter is hidden in each of the featured parks for participants to find. Challenge participants are encouraged to share photos from their trips on Facebook and Instagram by tagging GIVE365, or by sending an email.