So there are a few things for the summer that I have been wanting to research, but haven’t found the time. I thought I’d throw them out here and see if I could find any shortcuts from our local readers. Do you have any suggestions for the following in and around Austin?
1. Swim Lessons – I’m thinking of starting Livy in swim lessons and wondered if anyone knew of a quality place for a great price. One friend told me the key is making sure the child will have the same instructor through the entire course (in a 2-week session I assumed that was a given!). Any other tips?
2. “Big Girl” Activities – Now that Livy is older, I’m looking for some places to go that are more fun for a preschooler and if possible, also doable with a double stroller 
. . . something educational, cultural, or just plain fun. 
3. Community Pool Membership – I’m thinking of getting a pool membership for the summer so the girls & I have a place to cool off and they learn to be comfortable in the water. I know some of the neighborhood pools are open to non-residents for a fee. In order to take them myself, though, it’d have to be a fairly small baby pool, preferably gated and ideally with a sprinkler park or playscape attached. I think the sloped entrance ones are too much for me on my own. Oh, and again I”m looking for a good deal! Anything like that out there?
4. Family Day Activities – JR is thinking about taking a few Fridays off over the summer and we are looking for fun things to do on our “Daddy Days.” What family activities have y’all enjoyed most?
5. Photo Shoot – We have been taking our own pictures of the girls (instead of doing studio portraits) and are always looking for good place to take pictures. Seems they turn out best outdoors, but I’d be interested in trying some indoor shots if there are places with good backgrounds & good lighting.
6. Children’s Hair Salon – I think we are finally going to cut Livy’s hair. She’ll be 3 1/2 in a couple weeks and her hair is getting pretty unmanageably long (& hot). Where have you gotten your little girls’ hair cut? She is a little nervous about it since she’s never had a haircut and I’d like to make it a special day for her & I – one of our first Mama/Daughter outings.
For those not in the Austin area, feel free to chime in with whatever works for you and I will look into whether or not we have that here.
We absolutely love Emler Swim in Cedar Park for swimming lessons. They are a bit pricey (my kids were given their lessons for their birthday by generous grandparents) but if you can afford it they are WONDERFUL!
Thanks, Hallie – SO tempting!
#1 I’m still looking into the Y. I’ll let you know what I find out.
#2 We should try Capital Gymnastics again. They are starting Mondays and Fridays in the fall.
#4 Have you been to the Austin Zoo? How about Barton Springs Pool (along with the train and the playground)?
#6 Little HairKuts on Mays & Gattis School Rd. is a great place for haircuts. They are fast, inexpensive and have fun chairs for the kids to sit in. Linda cuts Reese’s hair and she’s really great. It’s also very close to a cool pet store and to half price books if you wanted to make that part of your outing.
Thanks, Amy. Yes, let’s do the Gymnastics again. I think that will be right up Molly’s alley & Liv is more brave now. I have to say I was not very excited about the Austin Zoo. Maybe it’s because of where I come from – the Omaha Zoo is one of the top 5 in the country and Lincoln has an adorable children’s zoo, but I could not have been more disenchanted with the Austin Zoo!
What did you think? Will definitely check out the haircut place.
We knew that the Austin zoo was different that a regular zoo (the San Antonio zoo is pretty great), so we didn’t have high expectations. I thought the petting zoo area and getting right up close to the peacocks, etc was pretty fun.
Good point. I think my expectations sunk it. Maybe I’ll give it another try knowing what it is going into it. Besides, the girls don’t know the difference! I don’t remember the petting zoo . . . I wonder if we did that. I only went once and it was right before Molly was born (like a matter of days, I think). I do remember Livy & I really enjoyed the train.
1. I just started my kids at Nitro swim lessons off of 1431. I’m completely impressed. They have 10 stations and they move your child up in the middle of the lesson if they accomplish that stations’ objective. This means they are not held back doing what they already know how to do until the next lesson. They are pricey, but I’m willing to pay for swim lessons. After they can do all 10 stations, they can do swim teams ( I have a 7 year old that is interested in this).
2. Austin Children’s Museum. Fun for the whole family.
3. I have never gotten a membership to a community pool bc I like going to different pools all summer. For your age girls I would highly recommend Micki Krebsbach Pool pool in Round Rock off of 620. The pool is 9 inches deep all around! This is perfect for little ones and they actually have certain times of the week (in the mornings) that only ages 5 and under are allowed. It’s super cheap too, only a few dollars to get in.
4. Volente beach is always fun and a “special” treat. They have a pirate ship in the water that is fun for little ones. Although I have never been, I hear that Veteran’s Memorial Pool in Cedar Park is awesome. I plan to go there as soon as school lets out. You would need Daddy’s help with this one since it’s a water park as well.
5. I love Kiddie Kandids in Babies R Us. My sister in law is also a photographer if you would rather do outside shots. She’s great. I’m not sure how much she charges, but if you are interested, I can ask.
6. I take my kids to Cool Cuts for Kids by Lakeline Mall. Again, I feel they charge too much for kids haircuts, but my kids love going there bc they get to sit in cars, etc. They are fast and do a good job.
This is great, Evelyn! I’ve never heard of those pools & can’t wait to check them out. I think you’re right – variety would be a good thing! I looked at your sister’s site – wow she takes some great pictures! I was all excited to go to the park where some of them were taken – then I saw the Washington monument in the background – guess not!
1. Nitro Swim off of 1431 is supposed to be fantastic! We are looking into for Harleigh as well, but may do Lifetime.
2. The fountain park at Brushing Creek is a blast… Harleigh loves running around getting wet…free fun for all!
4. San Antonio Zoo, Also, there is a regional park off of 1431 (can’t remember the name) that has a park with a train that little ones can ride similar to Zilker, but way closer…. Very fun! Also, the new light rail is running… there is a station right near our house that can take you down town…haven’t done it yet, but planning to with Harleigh… she will love it!
5. Picture People at Lakeline… you only pay for what you want or they have packages…. That is where we have gone the last 2 times.
We love Brushy Creek, too, I’ll give you a call next time we’re headed there! And I love the idea of the light rail. I will definitely have to look into that.
If you find a good place for swim lessons, let me know. I want to enroll Clare in a class, too, this summer. Maybe the girls could take the same class and hopefully feel more secure with a buddy there? Also, you are welcome to bring the girls by to our pools here anytime.
For a Daddy day idea… Clare likes to go to the Apple store in the Domain. They have computers close to the ground with kids games on them like Dora, etc. She also likes to go to the mall and ride the escalators… and Inflatable Wonderland at Lakeline Mall. Last year they had $5 days on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the summer.
Hair Salon idea — we took Clare to Toy’s R Us once– they have a salon in there where you can have her sit in your lap for the cut and watch a video, but it’s really expensive. Be prepared to drop $17 or more. The second time we took her to Fantastic Sams and she watched us get our hair cut first, so she was o.k. with sitting in the chair by herself after that. We are going to try out a lady who has her own salon at the front of her house this weekend… all of us are going.
Family Day — you could go to the Austin Zoo… or the San Antonio Zoo if you want to make a whole day of it.
Photo shoot. Charles invested in a good camera early on, so we never have taken the kids to a professional place. If we take pictures inside, we usually sit them by the sliding glass door (or other big window) so the light is on their face. Recently, we took them with them sitting on the floor and the couch was behind them as the backdrop. I think it came out pretty nice….
Thanks for the tips, Maria!
Aqua-tots swim schools
http://aqua-tots.com/
at braker/mopac-springhill suites. four weeks twice a week ($119 first child/$109 for siblings) registration $40 per family per year
Nitroswim
http://www.nitroswim.com/
1 lesson per week (30 minutes long)-$69 per month
in Cedar Park
YMCA –
http://www.austinymca.org/
$25-40 member/$50-80 nonmember parents in class up to three years old. (30 minute classes/5 days) Registration fee?
But I think we’re going to stay with Wells Branch lessons (info below) since it’s the least expensive and most convenient for us…and see where that leads.
Wells Branch Aquatics
http://www.wellsbranchmud.com/aquatics-sl.html (8- 35 minute lessons is $40)
lastly is to find a private instructor to teach a group of (3-4) kids at a pool.
Great list, Thuy, thanks for sharing.
You sure you want the comments of non-Austin people?
1. Swim lessons two minutes away at a private home on Randolph. Small classes, consistent instruction.
2. Zoo, Museum, any of 50 parks, SAFARI!
3. Woods Park Pool–5 minutes away and they have a gated splash park. And swimming lessons.
4. Safari! Safari! (Y’all!?)
5. Pioneer Park Nature Center, Holmes Lake, any nearby lake, ride bikes in a church parking lot.
6. Lollipops! Again, 5 minutes away on 70th & O.
Now you know all these things are back in Nebraska, so the logical conclusion is to …
Well, I know you’d probably love to do that, so I won’t tease.
Sorry … I couldn’t resist leaving the comment!
Oooooh – you just love to make me jealous! Thankfully, we do have many similar things here that have been named above. I like your idea of taking the bikes to a parking lot, though, we haven’t tried that and I think it would really help to spark Liv’s interest in bike riding. So far, the slanted driveway has only made her disinterested.
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We go to snip-its in La Frontera for the girls and they always like it there. They have videos for them to watch and you even get a prize and a lolly when you go. They do a special thing too for the 1st time cut with a picture and a lock of hair.
For pics we liked the umlauf sculpture garden. It is a museum so you have to pay but there is the free museum day and the grounds are awesome. Mayfield park is really nice too down by the laguna gloria museum. They have peacocks there and some lovely gardens. Both are good with spaces to roam and run.
Thanks!
Way out here on the “left coast” we do it like this:
1. Swim lessons at the community pool – it is about $100 for all 3 kids for 2 weeks of lessons – 4 days/wk for about 40 min or so?
2. Trying to accommodate ages 7,6 & 4… we go to the drive thru zoo and make a stop at the walk-thru part, too. Parks are a hit – when it isn’t too hot. We enjoy going to reservoirs, hiking trails, sprinklers in the yard (fast and easy fun! Not too much effort from mom and can be done when and if the littlest one is napping!), hopscotch on the sidewalk or driveway (if we had a basement, I’d paint one on the floor!), strawberry, blueberry, cherry, raspberry picking, LIBRARY – especially for their summer reading program activities (most libraries include kids of ALL ages!), Strangely – on a hot day – a trip to the grocery store with each of them having their own list and money for what I needed,
3. Uh, we go to the community pool for swimming AND lessons!
4. When dad is with… we go to the coast, Crater Lake, Diamond Lake, the “big” city, and all those other fun things listed above!
5. I do my own photos of the kids, too. I didn’t buy a “nice” camera to leave it in the bag! I do a lot at parks, by rivers, lakes, zoos, hiking trails – places that offer some shade so there aren’t such harsh shadows. For inside photos… I try to get some good lighting around. You can sometimes find that art museums’ atriums are nice for lighting (not in the galleries – they are usually too dark) – backgrounds are iffy, but sometimes there are neat benches there. Everywhere you go – look for good diffused lighting!
6. Uh, the local family bathroom or deck. I trim away! I have fixed a few disasters made by my “baby” and regular trims/cuts on my big kids. Although my big girl is 6 now and likes the idea of being big like mom and going to the salon… so, she may get treated to that once a year or so, now!
Good luck in Texas!!
Wow, y’all sound like a fun bunch! We would definitely like to start doing more state & national parks as everyone gets more mobile (though we have enjoyed a couple trips a year so far). Thanks for the tips on museum atriums for photos. I will look into that. You are braver than I with haircuts – JR wanted me to cut his hair when we were first married (like his mother did for his father), but it freaked me out. Took me so long, he eventually decided it was less painful to just do it himself! I have to say, I’m relieved.
Another good place for photos… Botanical Gardens. They are great outdoor places AND some of them have indoor areas for their “fragile” plants. Just a thought!!
Found these ideas in a community magazine:
1. Zilker theater productions
2. Zilker concerts in the park – Shana is James still in the orchestra?
3. Library story hours (Amherst Spanish hr or RR story hour)
4. Music class open houses (Kindermusik, Heartsong)
5. Round Rock Express games
6. Regal Cinema Free Family Film Festival
7. Sunharvest grocery (okay, just a random place I want to go).