Madison Beaches and Goodman Pool Open This Weekend

Grab your water wings and pail and shovel and don't forget the sunscreen because school's out and Madison's beaches are officially open. Goodman Pool and Cypress Spray Park are open starting Saturday too.

The Goodman Pool has 2 water slides, a big shallow area with easy entry for the little kids and spray areas for the to play in. The daily rate for residents is $4.25 for adults and $2.75 for kids 1-18. It's $4.75 for each non-resident adult and $3.00 for each non-resident child. You can get season passes as well. The beaches and Cypress Spray Park are free.

There is also a splash park at Lakeview Community Park in Middleton.

[via madison.com]

Madison, WI Beaches
http://www.cityofmadison.com/beaches/

Goodman Pool
325 Olin Ave.
Madison, WI 53713
(608)264-9292
http://www.cityofmadison.com/parks/pool/


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Cypress Spray Park
902 Magnolia Lane
Madison, WI
http://cityofmadison.com/parks/major/cypressspraypark.html


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Free Soccer Camp this Summer in Middleton, WI!

This is a cool way to introduce soccer to your kids: the Middleton Youth Soccer Club is offering free soccer camp sessions at July 27-30 for U4-U10 and U10-U18. Parents can register their kids at http://www.mysc.us/

[via madison.com]

The Middleton Youth Soccer Club
2711 Allen Blvd
Middleton, WI 53562
608-831-8694
http://www.mysc.us/

Free Comic Book Day is May 2nd, 2009!

Free Comic Book Day is next week Saturday on May 2nd! Comic book stores all over the country are giving away free comics to kids that come into the store. The number of free comics and selection varies by store.

There wasn't much for little kids or girls last year. We ended up with Gyro Gearloose for our free comic which was ok for a three year old, but not all that exciting for us to read over and over again. The 2008 Free Comic Book Day promotion did get us into the store where we found one of our families favorite books, Disney Comics' The Classics Collection to buy. We totally bought into the promo, but as a dad and a teenage comic book nerd in the 1980's it was fun to go back into a store and we did get to share the original stories like Peter Pan and Snow White with our daughters without the all the princess/fairy tie-ins.

We're even more excited this year because there are more titles that little kids including Disney/Pixar's Cars, Owly and Friends, DC Kids Mega Sampler inlcuding the Tiny Titans, and Star Wars - The Clone Wars.

You can find out which comic book stores in your area on the Free Comic Book Day web site.

Here are the Madison, WI locations that are participating:

Capital City Comics
1910 Monroe St.
Madison, WI
(608) 251-8445
http://capitalcitycomics.wordpress.com/


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Westfield Comics
7475 Mineral Point Rd.
Suite 22
Madison, WI
(608) 833-4444
http://www.westfieldcomicsetc.com/


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Kids Eat Free at Perkins

We took a road trip to northern Minnesota last weekend to see family. 350 miles provides lots of opportunities to get hungry. We discovered that just about every Perkins restaurant has at least one, if not two, days a week with times when kids eat free with an adult meal between Madison, WI and Duluth, MN. A google search for "Kids eat free at Perkins" shows that it's most Perkins across the country. The Perkins web site doesn't have the times for any of the franchises so you have to call or drive past your local Perkins, but some restaurants have "kids eat free" days during the weekend.

Kids eat free between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Tuesdays at the east side Madison, WI Perkins.

Perkins on the east side of Madison, WI:
Perkins Restaurant
4863 Hayes Rd.
Madison, WI 53704
608-241-9123
Open 24 hours
http://www.perkinsrestaurants.com/

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Free swimming the rest of the week at SwimWest in Madison, WI

One of the preschool parents passed this on to us. SwimWest Swim School has free admission to their pool the rest of the week for a donation of one non-perishable food item per person. Here are the details from their web site:

Holiday Family Swim Food Drive

Join SwimWest over the Christmas holiday break for open swim and help us fill the Middleton Outreach Ministry's food pantry.

For a minimum donation of one non-perishable food item per person you can join us for FREE family swim at the Madison location!

If you have any questions, please call us at 831-6829

*Only a few days left to join us!*

We invite you to join our Family Swim Food Drive during these times:
Wednesday Dec 31: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Thursday Jan 1: CLOSED
Friday Jan 2: 9:00am - 4:45pm
Sat Jan 3 / Sun Jan 4: Noon - 4:45pm

The Madison location is:
Swim West Family Fitness Center
1001 Deming Way
Madison, WI 53717
(608) 831-6829
www.swimwest.com

Milwaukee County Zoo in Milwaukee, WI

The Milwaukee County Zoo is a lot of fun. We have a really great time riding the train and the carousel. They do have free days for families. About the only complaint that I have is that you have to wait in line awhile before getting to the parking lot. It seemed like a lot of people parked on the street and walked in. I also might pack a picnic instead of eating the cafeteria food. The zoo is open all year round.

Milwaukee County Zoo
10001 W Bluemound Rd
Milwaukee, WI 53226
(414) 771-3040
milwaukeezoo.org