It's 9 A.M. on a sunny summer Saturday—the kind of day that is fairly bursting with opportunity. After all, the lawn needs mowing, the garden needs weeding and that laundry is piled high. So, what are you gonna do? Squander the day on chores while your kids busy themselves in the ho-hum backyard--or launch into an adventure so unique, so unexpected, that your kids will remember the day for the rest of their lives?

We're hoping you'll choose the latter. Yes, we know you'd be shirking your household duties. But the outings we've come up with offer ten perfect excuses for throwing responsibility to the wind. None of them involves much money or planning; each requires only a firm resolve to seize the day and live it to the limit.

So, please, put the rake back in the garage, call your kids to the kitchen table and choose your adventure (each one described here includes links for resources across the country). Neither summertime nor childhood lasts forever--and your garden, rest assured, will get by just fine until tomorrow.