If you're planning a trip to IKEA near Charlotte, be sure to sign up for the retailer's new "family membership" to take advantage of discounts and freebies.

Among the perks:

• Discounted prices on select items.
• A chance to win a $100 gift card when you scan your membership card at checkout.
• FREE coffee or tea in the IKEA restaurant.
• An extra 30 minutes for your kids in IKEA's on-site daycare center.

Sign up here for a membership card. It only takes a few minutes and it's free.

When you pick up your card in the store, you'll get one FREE frozen yogurt.

Ryan Nagy of Raleigh shot a 6-under-par 64 to win the 20th annual Jack Ratz Jr. Memorial Golf Tournament played Aug. 3 at the Wildwood Green Golf Club in North Raleigh.

Seventy-five junior golfers turned out for the annual privately
sponsored tournament, which is conducted by the Ratz family to promote
teenage-driver safety. Proceeds from the event are used to fund the
Cardinal Gibbons High School Scholarship Fund in the memory of Jack
Ratz Jr., who was a Wildwood Green member and a 15-year-old Cardinal
Gibbons freshman when he died in a car accident in 1988.

In the girls 16-18 Division, Katie Yelle of Raleigh and Jeda Borek of
Raleigh each shot a 77, and Yelle won the playoff. (A list of top
finishers in each division is below.)

In case you missed the story, last Friday was something other than Black. It was also the National Day of Listening, something I would color happy. If you have a chance this holiday season to capture the stories of your family, take it.

The July issue of Parents magazine, which hits newsstands today, features the results of an in-depth survey of family-friendly chain restaurants. The survey covers a wide range of factors that affect the family dining experience, from healthy menu options (including accommodation of children with food allergies) to changing tables in the bathrooms.

Here's the Top Ten list, in order of ranking:

1. Legal Sea Foods
2. Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes
3. Mimi’s Café
4. Uno Chicago Grill
5. Chili’s Grill & Bar
6. Red Robin
7. The Old Spaghetti Factory
8. P.F. Chang’s China Bistro
9. Denny’s
10. Claim Jumper

It has been a few years since I've had personal experience with crayons and changing tables, so I thought I'd ask all you parents of young children out there: How does this list stack up against with your experience?