Now THIS sounds like fun!

How's this for a fun outdoor summer activity for kids and adults?

Tree Climbing - Dances with Branches (ages 7 and up)

Tree Climbing Colorado offers introductory recreational tree climbing lessons using fun, easy-to-learn, arborist rope techniques, stressing both safety for climbers and protection of trees. All minors must have parent/guardian present. Longmont area park location given after registration.

Fee: $26.00 youth & teen, $29.00 adult
Saturday June 28, 12:30pm - 3pm
Saturday, July 19 12:30-3pm

Register through the Rec Center!

City of Longmont Outdoor Fest

On Saturday May 17th the City of Longmont will sponsor an Outdoor Fest at Union Reservoir. From 10 am to 2 pm there will be demonstrations on rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking and more! The regular entrance fee for the reservoir will be waived that day. For more information, see this page: http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/rec/special/index.htm.

Outdoor pools open in less than a month!

I know there is snow in the forecast for the next few days but it's almost May which means the City of Longmont's outdoor pools will be opening soon! Hooray! Here's the schedule:

May 24th - Sunset Pool opens for the summer

May 31st - Roosevelt Activity and Kanemoto Activity Pools open

Click on the links for locations, hours and fees! We're looking forward to some lazy afternoons at the pool! Hopefully we'll see you there :)

Texas Roadhouse 4th anniversary events

From this week's LAVA (Longmont Area Visitor's Association) newsletter:

To celebrate four legendary years in Longmont, CO the Texas Roadhouse invites the community to a week-long celebration:

Monday, May 5: Kids’ Night Pajama Party is the Theme - Kids Eat Free – only on this night!!! The Great Lloydini will perform magic also kids games with prizes (Free kids meal to 12 and under)

Tuesday, May 6: Sports Night - Show team spirit, dress in your favorite team colors or team. Coors will be In the house with prizes!!!

Wednesday, May 7: Wild West Night - Grab your Cowboy boots and 10 gallon hat and come on down.

Thursday, May 8: Retro Night - Come dressed from you favorite decade 60’s, 70’s 80’s or 90’s.

Friday & Saturday, May 9 & 10: Aloha! Hawaiian Weekend - Come spend the weekend at the tropical Texas Roadhouse. Best dressed family wins a dinner for the entire family (valid on next visit). Left Hand Brewery will be in the house giving away prizes on Friday night and Budweiser will be in on Saturday night.

Cinco de Mayo

From today's Longmont eNews...

Please join your neighbors as Longmont Celebrates Cinco de Mayo on May 3, 2008 at Roosevelt Park. The Cinco Planning Committee invites you to the 6th Annual Longmont Celebrates…Cinco de Mayo Celebration on Saturday, May 3, 2008 from 12pm to 6pm at the Roosevelt Park Pavilion, 910 Longs Peak Ave in Longmont. Music, entertainment, food, booths, and kids activities are part of the fun. Call 303-651-8444 for more information.

We went to this last year and had lots of fun! The music was great and there were fun games and crafts for the kids.

Youth Fishing Derby

Longmont Recreation Center will host a Youth Fishing Derby Sunday, May 4th, 2008 with check-in beginning at 8:30 am. Kids 15 and younger can catch and keep up to four trout. The first clinic begins at 9:00 am and judging will start at 12:00 noon. If the first 50 kids to register participate in all five 10 minute clinics, they'll receive a free fishing pole! Hot dogs, chips and sodas will be for sale. You can pre-register today at the Longmont Recreation Center and with your $5.00 paid entry fee you will receive:
A fishing pole (for first 50 registered)
Catch and keep up to 4 trout
entry into door prize drawings
and a drop in pass to the Longmont Recreation Center

For more info, call 303-774-4800

Free reusable bags at Wal-Mart

Thanks to Mom Advice's Freebie Friday post today: "As part of Earth Month 2008, Wal-Mart and Kellogg’s will be partnering to give away one million custom-made reusable shopping bags on Saturday, April 19th at 8AM local time.

Plastic bags can take as long as 1,000 years to degrade. Wal-Mart sells reusable shopping bags every day made from recycled materials you can use instead, for just $1."

We love our shopping bags and the satisfaction we get each week not throwing away 6-8 plastic bags or watching them pile up in the pantry :) Plus they are easy to carry and hold a lot more!

Child Safety Day tomorrow!

From the Longmont Area Vistor Association's weekly newsletter:

Child Safety Awareness Day hosted by The Kiwanis Club of Longmont - this Saturday, April 12th!
Activities focused on child safety, how to prevent childhood injuries to themselves and others. Safety stations relating to Helmet safety, the latest Colorado State Laws, proper use and installation of child safety car seats, pedestrian safety, how to use the emergency 911 system. Completion of all stations children will be eligible to receive free photo ID, emergency information booklet and purchase a new bicycle helmet for a nominal charge of $5.00. Staff from Longmont United Hospital and Pridemark.
Time and Place: 10:00am to 2:00pm; Twin Peaks Mall Center Court
Info: (303) 772-5789 – This event is FREE

Best Places for Families Poll

Kids' Pages is conducting their latest "Best Place for Families" Poll to determine the best restaurants, birthday party locations, museums, book stores, etc in the Denver Metro area. There are quite a few Longmont places listed (Airborne, Sandcastle Kids, Longmont Recreation Center) but if you have some local favorites that are not listed feel free to type them in the "Other" box for each question. I figure if lots of Longmont businesses get votes then maybe Kids Pages will advertise more Longmont-specific businesses and events! So go vote! Now! :) Did I mention that they're giving away movie tickets and dinner gift certificates to ten participating families? If voting for your favorite Longmont attractions isn't enough, maybe the bribe will work! :)

Furniture Painting Summer Camp

The Painted Poppy is offering two summer camps this year - June 3rd through 6th from 1 pm to 4 pm and July 8th through 11th from 1 pm to 4 pm. Kids will paint their own piece of furniture! Materials and furniture are provided. If you're interested, hurry to register because there are only 10 spots available in each session. Cost is $185 per session and you can register by calling them at 303-485-8270.

Music themed summer camps

Summer Camps with a music theme seem to be in demand this year. The Times Call wrote an article about them (http://www.timescall.com/entertainment/entertainment-story.asp?ID=7536) and it includes a list of more than 10 nearby music camps including Guitars Etc and Mojo's Music Academy right here in Longmont. If your child loves music this would be a fun way to spend some time this summer!

Longmont Athletic Club Summer Camps

Check out the summer camp offerings from the Longmont Athletic Club here: http://www.longmontathleticclub.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=103. They have camps for kids who like cheerleading, basketball, soccer, volleyball, tennis and more!

YMCA Healthy Kids Day

The Ed & Ruth Lehman YMCA will host Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 12th, from 9:30 am to 1 pm. Healthy Kids Day is a free event for families and is open to the entire community. Activities include a family obstacle course, games and sports, a family cooking demo, and fun pool games. Free healthy snacks will be available at the Healthy Kids Café. Families may pick up a free YMCA Healthy Family Home kit too. YMCA Healthy Kids Day is the nation’s largest health day for children, an annual event that supports the healthy growth and development of kids and families.

More on summer camps!

The City of Longmont will host their annual Summer Activities Fair Sunday April 20th from 11am to 4pm at the Longmont Recreation Center (310 Quail Road). There will be representatives from several organizations there to answer questions and provide information on their camps. Be prepared to sign up too - registration forms will be available!

Participating Organizations include Longmont Recreation Center, Colorado Youth Programs, Blue Mountain Ranch, Longmont United Youth Soccer, Fiske Planetarium, Fire Mountain Kids, Longmont Humane Society, Highlands Presbyterian Camp, and Sun Pony Ranch

Also, Longmont Free University published their listing of 2008 Summer Camps. It's the most exhaustive list I've seen for Longmont and nearby towns! Check it out here: http://www.longmontfreeu.org/kids/. There are all kinds of camps listed - tennis, dance, woodworking, horsemanship, astronomy, photography, hockey, golf, anime, yoga, writing, jewelry, computers, drama, math, writing, art, spanish and much much more!

ColoradoKids.com also has a great list of Colorado summer camps here: http://www.coloradokids.com/camps.php.

Archery in the Wild

Looking for a summer sport camp that's not the usual soccer or baseball? How about archery? Archery in the Wild is a Longmont business that sells archery supplies and also provides lessons and hosts leagues and tournaments. They'll be offering summer camps too! Check out their website at http://www.archeryinthewild.com.