Friday, February 08, 2008
Family Activities in Family Friendly Gilbert
When past clients have decided to relocate to Gilbert, AZ, many of them stated that the abundance of family activities made their choice easy. However it's not easy to find a list of all the fun things in the area in one place. Here's a good first attempt:
Something specific first clued me in to how family friendly Gilbert is when I first moved here a few years back. I loaded the kids up for the first trip to the closest grocery store. Not looking forward to battling two young ones, shopping cart, unfamiliar store, etc, I was pleased to realize the store had free child care while you shopped. This was a revelation to little me! The boys played in a very secure and fun environment and my shopping was done in half the time with a quarter of the stress. Imagine that!
Then we got the town newspaper with the schedule for Gilbert Parks and Recreation. Page after page of city 
sponsored children's classes that ranged from Mommy and Me sign language classes to Little Tots sports classes to Hip Hop for Teens. The classes are affordable and sign up is easy with the online system. Hint: the popular ballerina and sports classes fill up the quickest.
After awhile we decided it was time to join a gym and work on Mommy and Daddy's fitness. There were two within easy driving that BOTH had free child care and child fitness classes. Mountainside Fitness was definitely more affordable and my boys loved their fitness class. But I have to say, as they grew older they got kind of bored in the child care. We moved to Lifetime Fitness, which is definitely more...posh. I mean, seriously, a treadmill is a treadmill. But the child care is a children's nirvana and they never complain about hitting the gym.
As we got to know more neighbors and friends, we started getting those birthday party invites. Which introduced us to a whole new realm of child activities. There's the Little Gym which is like kids gymnastics at Disneyland (think really happy thoughts). Then there's Bounce U, a party playland of huge blowup slides, obstacles courses, etc. My five year old has decided if he doesn't have a Bounce U birthday party, life isn't worth living. Finally there is Rolly Pollies (which has the most affordable playgroups), trampolines, balance beams, climbing walls, an entire hodge podge of ways to get out the child's crazy energy. All of these are very useful in the summertime, when play is limited to indoor, air-conditioned places. 
Speaking of which, let's wrap this up the outside activities for the eight months of the year that its fun to be outside. The City of Gilbert requires developers to build playgrounds in every neighborhood they build. The concept behind it is every child will have a playground within walking distance. The outcome is of course, tons of playgrounds maintained by HOA's, but also the city doesn't build many city parks. Versus a city like nearby Chandler. They have a few huge, amazing city parks, that the majority of the population can't walk to. It's a trade-off.
The city parks Gilbert does have are soo much fun. Start with Freestone, which has a lake, playgrounds, batting cages, a skate park, and a mini-carnival that runs on the weekend with a train, carousel, etc. Then there's Cosmo Dog Park, voted nicest dog park in the United States. And don't forget the Riparian Preserve, what I consider one of the most unique features of Gilbert.
The Riparian Preserve is located behind the Gilbert Library. It's 110 acres of a protected, water-fish-animal preserve. They also have an observatory, camping spaces, and ranger-led bird walks and even dinosaur digs. It's a really special part of Gilbert.
Since Gilbert is easily accessible by two major freeways, the family activities of the entire Valley are at your fingertips. These include the Phoenix Zoo, the Arizona Science Center, Tempe Town Lake, Arizona Museum for Youth, and tons more. But that's another post. :)
As a Gilbert resident and your Local Expert, I am here to help you in your relocation to Gilbert, AZ. As a Family Real Estate Specialist, I assist my clients in finding the right home at the right price for their families.
Email me today to see how I can serve you and your family!
Labels: family friendly neighborhoods, family real estate, gilbert real estate, mommy news
Elena Thurston, Family Realtor @ 8:18 AM
0 comments
Name: Elena Thurston, Family Realtor
Home: Gilbert, Arizona, United States
About Me: My passion is Family Real Estate. Families need more than just a nice house, they need a neighborhood and community where they can give and receive a feeling of home. I am one of the rare Arizona natives. I received my bachelors degree at Arizona State University and my real estate license at Arizona School of Real Estate and Business.
See my complete profile
