Newcomer to area asks: Fun stuff with kids and camps? (St. Paul: sale, apartment)

[Tarheelappeal]

Well, we made the move to Minnesota last week and are are settled in our temporary quarters awaiting the sale of our home back east and the purchase of a new home in the area...

Our apartment is located in a new building in St. Louis Park, right next to the St. Louis Park Rec Center.

Husband starts his new job on the 22nd and I will be at home with the very active twin 8 year old boys in a tiny apartment...I have yet to learn my way around and am wondering what to do with the dynamic duo every day to help us all preserve our sanity...without going broke.

Looking for:

"Best" things to do with healthy, physically active boys during the day - parks to explore, museums, fun day trips? I'm pretty game but would so appreciate specific recommendations as I SO do not have a feel for finding my way around or how far apart things are!

Area camps that folks have had experience with that might still have some openings. Open to most any camp that boys might enjoy.

Resources for finding a college age student who might be capable of taking the kids out to the water park or some other outing (since the apartment is super small and there's not much to do.). We need to create some time for me and my husband to power house hunt without dragging the kids all over the metro area...

Thanks in advance!

[MnMomma]

Welcome! The Rec Center would be a great place to start. A pool pass isn't too much there--especially if you do the twilight rate and they also have information at the front desk about all the St. Louis Park summer programs. You may also be able to find a teen that works there that would be interested in babysitting.

Have you tried geocaching? It's a good way to explore the area. There are tons of caches near you--in the park and up the street a bit around the lake just north of the Melrose Institute.

Park Tavern is a bowling alley just off of highway 7 on the west side of 100. They often have summer deals and is a good place to escape on a hot day.

Exploring Lake Calhoun--not too far to your east is good. You can rent a canoe, kayaks or bikes.

If you aren't already signed up for Groupon and Living Social, it might be a good idea since it can help give you ideas about what is available and help save money.

The Science Museum of Minnesota and the History Center (both in St. Paul) are things that my boys always like. Como Zoo is free and fun to explore as well.

[acrobat19]

Welcome to Minnesota.

Couple other places I can recommend with the kids in the area are...

1. The Works Museum in Bloomington. It is a little more engineering oriented than, say, Science Museum of MN which my kids also love. I also like The Works because they have projects kids can work on themselves and they have a pretty confined space and thus no issues watching where the kids are. It's a fun place.

2. Biking around lakes and along the rivers. You can rent bikes at a few shops here, for example at Wheel Fun Rentals - Bicycle Rentals and Tours, but I don't know if they rent kids' bikes. I bought all bikes for my kids on craigslist, and we have been enjoying trails here for years.

3. If your kids like nature, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum or many other nature parks would be a good place.

4. For outdoors swimming I would recommend Square Lake in May Township although it's a little drive from StLP. You can make a day trip there and do some outdoors cooking too.

5. MN Zoo in Apple Valley is very nice.

[golfgal]

Take them to a lake and let them swim all day--that will tire them out .

The zoos are fun, Como and Minnesota

Mall of America-Nick Universe--get a wrist band for them, bring a book to read while they are on the rides. 8 is just about the perfect age for that park. Valleyfair if they are more daring with rides.

Any local park you can find that has great play equipment and lots of kids....bring a book while the boys run around.

St. Paul Children's Museum--again 8 is a great age for a lot of what is there. The Science Museum is right down the street from there and they would probably like that as well.

You are probably going to be out of luck for camps this time of year. Either they are mid-stream or done by now. I would check the Park and Rec website for St. Louis Park though, they probably have some activities that are day to day type things that the kids can go to. Otherwise maybe look into a local golf course or something and see if they have junior lessons starting up again this time of year. Usually by early August most of these types of things are done because people go on vacations in August and college kids start heading back to school so they lose their workers.

The Wisconsin Dells are just about 3 hours away--a bit more on that side of the metro--but a fun, mid-week get away for you and the boys. We like the Kalahari. They usually have a big rate drop the 3rd week in August so check for that if the rates are still really high.

Our kids liked Fort Snelling too. Check to see what they have going on mid-week, if anything otherwise it's more of a weekend type place to visit--living history museum on the Fort Snelling grounds.

[cheddar]

Skyhawks.com has half-day sports camps for kids. There are a number of openings if you are willing to drive to a nearby suburb.