Smithville Parks & Rec

Fishy Fun

2009-08-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fishy fun today at our Finding Nemo party. We created a special fish tank for Nemo (and Dory and Bloat) and of course watched them on the big screen after our craft. The fish tank was a baby food jar, and the fish was held by a paper clip connected to the bottom of the jar with a piece of fishing line. We put a magnet on the lid, which grabbed on to the paper clip and made the fish look like it was swimming. We put blue sand on the bottom for the water. I got the idea from the fabulous Family Fun site. Click here for instructions from their site. I would also suggest a jar larger than a baby food jar, with a wide mouth if possible. Expect to spend some time getting the measurement of the fishing line correct. It has to be just right to achieve the swimming effect...as you cut 8554 different lengths of fishing line, be sure to sing Dory's just keep swimmin', just keep swimmin' =)

Robert poses with his Bloat and my Nemo

Austin, Robert, and Rhianna suggested we make a fishy pyramid. I think they have a future in studio photography

Jersey Barnyard

2009-08-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

Our last field trip of the summer was to Jersey Barnyard. It is home to Belle of Blue Belle fame (the cow in the Blue Bell commercials). We were able to meet all the animals, including the baby cows! We toured the working dairy and each took a turn milking a cow (who just so happened to be Belle's baby). We have had a wonderful time this summer and the kids have all been great. I hope they behave as well for their teachers when school starts!

Lilli and Rhiana pet the baby cows

Bellerina, the cow we milked

Erin bravely milked Bellerina first

Lilli milkin' away

Where they milk the cows

Colton and Chad enjoy their Blue Bell

Dinosaur Park

2009-07-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today we visited the Dinosaur Park, which is located in Cedar Creek. They had amazing life sized dinos spread out along a trail. At the end of our tour the kids were able to play archaeologist and search for fossils in their fossil dig area. They also had a wonderful gift shop and lots of dino toys for the kids to enjoy. We all left as dinosaur experts!

i just LOVE this picture of miss gracie =)

miss lexie

chad and colton do their best impression of dinosaurs being born

group shot less the three girlies

last but certainly not least, here is alexis having the time of her life! i'm sure she is contemplating the virtues of the velociraptor behind her

Surf's Up Party

2009-07-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

No need to vacation in Hawaii...we had our own surfing adventures at the Rec Center. We crafted our own surfboards, learned surfer lingo, and enjoyed a viewing of Surf's Up.

hannah works on her surfboard

karley shows off her finished surfboard

austin parks and pizza

2009-07-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

This trip was by far the most popular, and after visiting Austin Parks & Pizza I could see why. This was my first time there, and we were pleased to find go karts, bumper boats, two climbing towers, mini golf, tea cups, laser tag and of course arcade games. And i'm probably forgetting something....I was thrilled to find a Pacman/Galaga game and skee ball. Good times!

Mark assured me he would let his parents go at a very reasonable rate

lilli, allison, haryle, emma and karley make sure no leaves the bumper boats dry

zachary shows off his guitar hero skills

erin and ashlynn climb their way to the top

Indiana Jones

2009-07-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

Today the Rec Center was transformed into a forbidden forrest, the Sands of Egypt and even had its own Cave of Doom! The kids navigated their way through the Indiana Jones style adventure using the clues provided. We transported the Cave of Doom and Sands of Egypt to Riverbend so the kids could get some more fun out of them during the movie. It was a great night and everyone enjoyed watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

cindy was kind enough to lend her services as a tribal face painter. she was beyond hilarious!

henry makes his way through the cave of doom

big thanks to miltons for supplying the boxes for our cave!

josie and henry mummified

the forbidden forrest

sam goes over the unravelled clue with zachary offering advice

josie digs through the sands of egypt for treasures

jackson supervises movie set-up

I Love Horses Day Party

2009-07-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

Every day is a holiday somewhere, and today is National I Love Horses Day. We celebrated all things equine by crafting our own horse which we then used in a horse race. After our time at the track we enjoyed watching the classic National Velvet.

christina shows off her horsey

christiana, grace and nicole race down our homemade track

capital of texas zoo

2009-07-14T14:21:00.001-07:00

Today we visited the Capital of Texas Zoo. It is quite different from your typical zoo. There are some animals which roam free, like the deer and baby goats. The animals which are enclosed seem far more accesible than in a traditional zoo. We enjoyed getting close to the wallabies, monkeys and especially the white tiger! It is definitely worth a trip out there!

the kids dubbed him King Julian

the white tiger

even though there were lions and tigers, the guinea pigs were their favorite!

after we finished our self-guided tour, we were given feed to feed all the animals (the friendly ones anyway)

Senior Trip to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

2009-07-09T12:53:00.000-07:00

Today we visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center with the "Smithville Seniors". Our docents led us through the center and taught us which plants are native to Texas and will thrive even in this heat wave and drought. It was the first day of Joan Son's exhibit "Origami Diva", which was beautiful (and air conditioned!). We were a bit worried since there was a heat advisory and the high temp reached 107, but we were all pleasantly surprised at how plesant it was. After our tour, we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch at the onsite Wildflower Cafe and spent time in the fabulous gift shop. We're all looking forward to the next senior trip!

bug hotel

2009-07-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Today we created some new homes for Smithville's smallest citizens. We used oatmeal cylinders which we decorated with tempera paint. After the hotels were fully decorated, we used an exacto knife to cut an "H" on its side for the windows. After the windows were cut, we trimmed a piece of window screen to fit the entire inside of the container to make sure the bugs didn't check out too early. Lastly, each child established house rules for future residents, such as no eating each other (Coey), no sneaking out (Avery) and share your grass (Lanie). I'm sure their future residents will be happy to abide by the rules if they are able to live in these beautiful new homes!

Lanie hopes her bugs will share their grass

Juliann's snails will know who is boss!
avery hopes to have a quiet home

logan decided not to impose rules on his residents

coey's bugs will be required to clean up after themselves!

I Scream, You Scream

2009-07-06T12:22:00.001-07:00

To celebrate National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day, we held a our own ice cream party. We even made our own ice cream! It's super easy and delicous...

Ingredients
one cup whole milk or half and half (i think half and half tastes the best)
one tablespoon sugar
one teaspoon vanilla extract
pint sized baggies
gallon size baggies
six tablespoons rock salt
ice

Directions

1) Put milk, sugar and vanilla extract into the pint bag. Make sure it is sealed tight!

2) Fill gallon bag up halfway with ice; add at least six tablespoons of rock salt.

3) Put the smaller bag in with the ice and shake, shake, shake for about five minutes! Your ice cream will form and will have the texture of soft serve.

Since it was National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day, we added things like air heads, sour punch straws, butterfinger bars, graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate! You can enjoy it plain or add your favorite candy.

Eliana adds her special ingredients

Filed trip to Children's Museum, Zilker and Peter Pan Mini Golf

2009-06-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

I have to admit this was my favorite field trip so far. We started our day at the Austin Children's Museum. While we were in the museum we saw something we haven't seen or heard in what feels like years - rain! The museum was wonderful and had lots of great hands-on stuff for the kids. This summer they have an amazing exhibit called Maker Kids. They have stations set up for screenprinting, stamping, origami, book making, quilt making and all kids of other fun stuff. Kids can create to their hearts content!

The rain brought something we also haven't seen in what feels like years - temperatures under 107 degrees! Seriously, the cooler weather was very welcome since we spent the rest of the day outside. Once at Zilker, the kids played on the playground until the Zilker Zephyr was ready to run (it had been delayed due to weather). While we were waiting we discovered a small museum/exhibit near the entrace to Barton Springs. It was like a cave and had tons of great information on aquifers.

After our ride on the Zephyr, we headed over to Peter Pan Mini Golf. This is a fabulous old school course on Barton Springs & Lamar. It was a great day and enjoyed by all!

miss erin and mister pan

the group shot

colton shows his stuff

the rec center band, with rosie (miss g) and colton a. on guitar, erin on upright bass, zachary on background vocals and colton on drums

mark contemplates the gears

lili works on her creation

makenna gets to work

Touch-A-Truck

2009-06-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Logan and Braiden relax inside the tires of the road grader

This week wasn't just for the princesses in Smithville! Yesterday we created construction hats for our Touch-A-Truck event today. The City and fire department were kind enough to send out their trucks to Riverbend for the kids to explore. They had a great time seeing the dump truck, bucket truck, road grader and of course the fire truck. Everyone got a big kick out of setting off the sirens and airhorn!

Volunteer firefighter and city employee Trey Clemmons shows Logan and Braiden how to sound the sirens.

Judah seeks some shade in the road grader tires

Logan checks out the bucket truck

the kids from first baptist sonshine school were initially not super thrilled with sirens. they were easily won over as they each got their turn to sound them off, though!

mister gabriel commands one of the big trucks

gabriel and matthew explore the front loader

Princess Party

2009-06-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Princess Chesney

The princesses of Smithville had a fabulous time crafting and watching a princess movie. We made two different types of bracelets and decorated princess themed sun catchers. One of the bracelets we created was filled with glitter and beads. I got the idea here at familyfun.com, which is a GREAT website.

Hydo Bracelet
Supplies
1/2" clear plastic tubing (can be purchased in the plumbing supply section)

3/8" clear plastic tubing
(You will need a smaller size for the piece to hold it together, it helps if you pre-fit it in the store. We used 1/2" and a smaller size for the smaller one.)

Tiny beads and big glitter.
(our beads were a bit on the big side - seed beads would work better. And we discovered the finer glitter globbed up and the larger kind worked much better.)

Directions
1) Start by measuring your wrist and trimming the larger tubing accordingly. The straighter you can get the cut the better.

2) Cut the smaller piece to approximately 1". We found it works better when the piece is on the long side, so start longer and trim from there.

3) Place the smaller piece inside the larger piece to plug up one end.

4) Place your glitter and beads inside the tube (you may need to use your finger to keep the beads from falling out).

5) Add a little water at a time, plugging of the other end with your finger.

6) Slip the other end onto your smaller piece to seal it - enjoy your bracelet!

Pet Parade

2009-06-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

Both the two and four legged had a great time at our first pet parade. We started the day by taking a special stroll from the Rec Center down to the gazebo. Once at the gazebo, we had a pet fashion show and pet trick contest.

Jayton and Bailey lead the way

Chad and Bella work the run way

Jaycee and her kitty, Luna, take a stroll down the run way.

Jordan leads Sunny with some impressive tricks

our esteemed judges =)

prizes were generously donated by rainbow company, riverside veterinary clinic and petco

bella models her winnings as best dressed pooch

brodie poses with his pup, bella

Bob Bullock

2009-06-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Our second field trip of the summer was to the Bob Bullock Museum in Austin. We learned about the history of our great state and enjoyed the movie Under the Sea in 3D. Everyone had a great time and left with a strong sense of Texas pride!

Field Trip to Inner Space Caverns

2009-06-10T11:46:00.001-07:00

We got the summer off to a great start with a trip to Inner Space Caverns. We learned all about fried eggs, soda straws and bacon! And no, these were not menu items at the cafe - they are cave formations. You can learn more about this and much much more at the library on Thursday at 3pm during the first Think About it Thursday. Here are some pictures from our adventure. Hope to see you on our next trip!

my favorite cave formation - curtains

the group poses for a photo

soda straws!

grace shows off the jewels she found!

erin empties her bag to pan for gems

Senior Trips

2009-06-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Parks and Rec Department will be taking a group of seniors to Brenham on Thursday, June 11th. The bus will depart the Rec Center at 8am. The first stop on our trip is the Burton Cotton Gin. Next we will head to downtown Brenham to enjoy a leisurely lunch and shopping before heading over to the Brenham History Museum. The last stop on our trip will be to the Giddings-Stone and Giddings-Wilkins Mansions for a private tour.

The fee for the trip is $15; you will be responsible for purchasing your own lunch. You may reserve your spot over the phone at 237-3282, x7 or you may drop by the Rec Center located at 106 Royston.

Our next senior trip will be to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at July 9th. Spots for both trips are limited so sign-up early!

Partnership with Smithville Public Library

2009-06-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce a partnership with the Smithville Public Library to continue Think About it Thursdays through the summer. The library will host discussion "salons" to follow Parks and Rec field trips on Tuesdays. They will take place at 3pm on Thursdays at the Smithville Public Library. Think About it Thursdays are free to the public and will follow field trips with a science emphasis (please see our website - smithvillepard.com for more information on which trips will be accompanied by a Think About it Thursday).

Participants will share their experiences from the trip and will be given the opportunity to check out some of new nonfiction books to further explore the field. For example, after the field trip to Inner Space Caverns on June 9th, the kids can head over to the library on Thursday to create their own aquifers as well as to learn more about stalactites and stalagmites.

You can visit our website for more info or you may also contact the library for more information. Spots are limited for the field trips, so be sure to call or come by to sign-up early!

Think About it Thursday

2009-06-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

The kids in the after school program ended the school year with the best Think About it Thursday yet. We created a crazy chemistry conccotion which is very similiar in texture to the Nickelodeon GAK.

Here is the recipe to create your own!

One 4 oz. bottle of Elmer's Glue (it has to be regular glue - washable will not work!)
Approximately 1/4c of water
Approximately 1T of Borax (common cleaning product available at Brookshires)
Food coloring

1) Empty the glue bottle in to a bowl.
2) Fill the glue bottle with warm water and swish around.
3) Add food coloring.
4) Add the water and glue and mix.
5) Add approximately 1T Borax to approximately 1/4c of warm water; mix until completely dissolved.
6) Slowly add Borax mixture to glue mixture.

If your goo is too watery, add more of the borax mixture until it reaches the desired consistency.

Hope you have a great time with your goo! Join us at the Smithville Public library on Thursdays at 3pm for the Summer Think About it Thursdays. Visit our webpage, smithvillepard.com under the summer section, for more information.

Nicholas peers through his creation!
Kimberlin adds the magic ingredient (borax)