FREE Event at Flower Mound Boomerangs

Burb Mom is so excited to be co-hosting a great FREE event for moms…did I mention FREE?…at Boomerangs in Flower Mound Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11:00 am to 2:00.

Bring your kids for a day of bouncing, playing, laughing, & fun at Boomerang’s Party & Play – 2301 Cross Timbers Rd Lewisville, TX 75028.

Burb Mom editors will be there ‘cuz it is FREE.

Other amazing activities will be set up for both parents and kids to enjoy.

Boomerangs will be selling Papa John’s Pizza and refreshments from their concession area.

Admission is free, but is limited to 250 children.

Sign-up today to reserve your family’s space!  As with All Playin’ Around Town family events, you need to be a member.

But that is easy…and FREE.

Northwest Regional Airport – Blue Hangar Cafe

When searching for things to do with my kids, I often overlook the simple.  I get caught up in events and attractions that are marketed as family fun which frequently include crowds, high admission and over commercialization.  Sometimes in the middle of all that tailor-made fun, the fun gets lost in the shuffle.

This week we went off the beaten track and found some good old fashioned FUN.  Fun unfettered by crowds, admission or commercialization.

We went to our local regional airport and met some friends for lunch – The Blue Hangar Cafe at Northwest Regional Airport.

As this outing was loosely planned (by Deb), we all kept mentioning to friends where we were going.  Each friend responded, “Oh, I want to go!” And when we finally counted, lunch with friends was a table for 30.

A table for 30?

We better call ahead!

The call was placed and picked up by the owner of Northwest Regional Airport.  He encouraged us to come on over and enjoy the day.  He surprised us by relating that Northwest Regional Airport is the largest privately owned airport in North America.  There are over 500 planes on the ground.  He mentioned that if he was available while we were there he would show us around.

When my minivan full of children arrived at the airport, I was taken aback by the fact that an airplane was driving on the road toward me!  Once inside the airport, the cars and the planes share the roads surrounding the runway.  The cars are expected to yield – which I did.  We found the Blue Hangar Cafe and sat down on the patio to wait for our friends.  The Blue Hangar was buzzing with lunch activity and just outside the runway was buzzing with airplanes taking off and landing.  We saw 7 in the first 5 minutes we were there.  My boys were thrilled.

While waiting for our friends to arrived we noticed this really cool plane pull out of a nearby hangar.  We walked over to see if we could get our picture in front of the plane.

The pilot/owner was so friendly and helpful and suggested that he could show the kids some of the different parts of his 1941 plane – if they wanted to see…

Did they want to see?

They were so excited to be up close.

No touching! Fingerprints will show on this shiny plane.

The kids listened attentively while they were shown how the wings worked.  This particular plane has places on the wings where you can look through to the ground near the front.  I am sure if I had listened better I would know what that was called, but it was something I had never seen before.

After the plane anatomy lesson and a tour through his hangar which included some really cool old cars in various stages of restoration, the pilot suggested a place where we could safely stand to watch him take off.

The plane passed by the children and took a corner to the end of the runway…

…then up, up and away.  It was easy to see the sun reflect off the plane even when it was in the air.  The pilot even flew the plane back by the airport so the kids could wave again.

We then descended on The Blue Hangar Cafe and took up their entire back room with tables full of moms and kids.  I had a chipotle chicken wrap and the boys all had burgers.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cafe had a children’s menu.  Food for myself and my three boys was under $20.  Mid-meal the table of older boys I was supervising decided they couldn’t handle eating INSIDE when planes were taking off like crazy OUTSIDE.  So, despite 100 degree temps they picked up their plates and went out to the patio.  Being a responsible adult…ugh…I went to.

BUT it IS amazing.  You sit right next to the gas pumps that are alongside the runway.

Planes come in, fill up with gas, park for awhile, load, unload, taxi, take off and land all within a few feet.

After lunch we caught up with the Northwest Regional Airport owner.  He took us down to a hangar where he was restoring this amphibious aircraft that easily seats over 30 people:

Inside we could see the work in progress and how the interior of the plane is under construction.  Outside we could see the tail sticking out of the hangar.  A perfect place to find some shade.

We then went down to what all the kids agreed was the coolest thing we saw all day…this Marine Helicopter.

They were able to get inside and sit and “fly”…

Overall it was one of the most amazing adventures we have had.  Everyone we met at Northwest Regional Airport was friendly, nice and went out of their way to make our visit special.

We also visited the Pilot’s Shop which has some flying collectibles and toys.  There were allowance-friendly toys starting at 50 cents.

The Blue Hangar Cafe is open Monday through Friday from 10:30 to 2:00 for lunch.  They open on Saturday at 7:00 for breakfast and boasted that they have the best pancakes in town.

Not wanting to let perfectly good pancakes sit uneaten, I returned on Saturday with my husband and boys to test them out.

The verdict?

Pretty amazing pancakes.

Pretty amazing view since the airport is even busier on Saturday morning.

Oh, and we ran into 3 other families from our initial adventure trip…I guess we weren’t the only one who think Northwest Regional Airport is a cool place to visit.

Northwest Regional Airport is located 1/2 mile east of I-35W on 1171 just North of Texas Motor Speedway.  The Blue Hangar Cafe can be reached by phone (817) 490-5146.

Gaston Park – Flower Mound

Gaston Park in Flower Mound is a quiet little park that has a lot of features.

There are two things that I love about Gaston Park.

1. A shady bench in the afternoon.
2. Super close, convenient parking.

The parking is so close to the play area that it was a place on a breezy afternoon I could park the minivan with a sleeping baby, open both minivan doors for air circulation and sit in the van while watching the older boys at the park.  Not very many parks can boast such a feature – there is even shade on some of the parking lot in the afternoon.

Thankfully we are now beyond the baby sleeping stage at my house, but we still go back to Gaston Park.

The boys love it because they believe that this the best slide in the DFW metroplex:

The slide is tall.

The slide is long.

The slide is awesome.

Gaston Park also has a large field area for running around, a baseball field, a basketball court, trails along a little stream, swing set and several benches.

Gaston Park is located at 2651 College Parkway in Flower Mound, Texas.

Have you slid down that slide?

Lewisville Library Summer Special Events

Our local libary hosts a summer reading challenge, & Reese completed reading the required 24 books (listening to Mommy read) and he was ready to turn in his paper for a prize.

Since we were going to be at the library anyway, I figured we’d catch the Friday Preschool summer special performance. This week, it was a group called “Boitumelo”. I thought it was going to be a storyteller, which is nice, but I wouldn’t have made a special trip just to hear a storyteller that particular day.

Boy, was I wrong!

Boitumelo is a performance group that specializes in Caribbean music!
Reese was totally in his element…the performers were so animated & all the songs they sang were ones that I recognized. I didn’t realize that so many popular songs actually came from African songs or rhythms. Like this….who knew?

At one point, they called for volunteers & Reese was right up front with his hand raised. I was so thrilled when he was chosen, because he was able to play the drums & it made his day like you wouldn’t believe!

And every good performer must take a bow at the end of their performance:

The very last song Boitumelo performed was the Limbo! Apparently, Reese has seen this done somewhere (SpongeBob perhaps?) and he was so funny trying to bed backwards to go under the limbo stick.
**Reese is wearing a black t-shirt**

I felt so glad we decided to attend the Preschool special that day. And I feel extra lucky to have a library where things like this are free!

Wild About Flower Mound Festival

UPDATE:  Due to inclement weather all FRIDAY NIGHT ACTIVITIES AT THE WILD ABOUT FLOWER MOUND FESTIVAL ARE CANCELED.  The festival will start on Saturday at 10 am.  Please check out the Wild About Flower Mound website for more information.

The Town of Flower Mound is presenting the Wild About Flower Mound festival to celebrate the fun and festive family atmosphere of the Town of Flower Mound. The festival will include non-stop family entertainment on two stages, great food, arts & crafts vendors, a large children’s area and other events and activities for the entire family.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a festival without live music! Dallas Mavericks house band, Emerald City will be featured on Friday night and local disco favorites, Le Freak, will headline the festival on Saturday night. Be sure to grab your friends, your family, your dancin’ shoes, and boogie down at the Wild About Flower Mound Festival!

Visit http://www.flower-mound.com/wild/ for more details!

Start Planning Summer Fun on Saturday at the Flower Mound Library

UPDATE: Watch burbmom.net over the next few days for a comprehensive list of local businesses that participated in this event to help YOU plan YOUR FAMILY’S SUMMER ACTIVITIES…I am still working on inputting tons of great summer time activities! My fingers hurt, but I do it because I love you.

The Flower Mound Public Library is hosting a Summer Fun Showcase on Saturday, March 28 from 11-2:

Don’t miss this opportunity to plan your family’s
summer fun! The Flower Mound Library, Community
Activity Center, and over twenty area businesses
and organizations that offer summer camps,
programs or activities will be on hand to take
registrations and distribute information.

Visit the Flower Mound Library website for more information.