Snow Day! Don’t worry, “it” will all be cleared up by this afternoon and by Sunday it’s supposed to be sunny and bright with a high in the 70’s. So bring on the weekend!
Our top 10 Austin family events this weekend include our favorite conference for moms, children’s theatre, a 3-hour train ride and a gorilla run. Also, we made an amazing list earlier this week highlighting all of the Best Freebies and Deals in Austin, take a look at some of these Austin-staple-kind-of-deals and start checking ’em off.
Have fun out there…
Today:
— MomCom 2014 is finally here! The 2-day conference will be at The Westin at the Domain and will start at 3 pm today and continue tomorrow at 9 am. Highlights include amazing speakers like the Queen of Rainey Street, Glennon Melton of Momastery and CEO of Glamajama, Heather Schuck. If you haven’t gotten your ticket yet, DO IT NOW!
— The Harlem Globetrotters will have their second show at the Frank Erwin Center tonight at 7 pm. Don’t miss the one-of-a-kind family show that features mesmerizing ball handing, crazy trick shots, high-flying dunks and precise timing. Tickets are $22 and you can buy them here.
— Pollyanna Theatre Company and Ballet Austin present: Sprites, a new dance drama for kids of all ages, especially those 8 years old and up. This performance will be at the Rollins Theatre at 7 pm, tickets are $9 – $11 and you can purchase them here or at the box office.
Tomorrow:
— Integrity Academy presents a community class in Transformative Storytelling with David Sewell McCann of Sparkle Stories from 5 – 7 pm at the Casa de Luz auditorium. Transformative Storytelling is the most effective parenting and educating tool. Come learn how it can help you change behavior and inspire confidence in your kids. $20 suggested donation, RSVP to [email protected].
— The Tree Talk Winter Walk at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center will have a tree and shrub sale, a kids tree climb, walks and talks through the arboretum, and kids activities like fort building, a scavenger hunt, crafts and more, and it’s all free to enjoy, from 9 am – 5 pm.
— Have a G’day (sorry, we had to) and head to Boomerang’s 8th Annual Australia Day Party at Boomerang’s Pies from noon – 9 pm. There will be a bouncy castle and face painting for kids from noon – 6 pm, a pie eating contest, Aussie beer specials and kids 12 and under can eat for free.
— The Austin Gorilla Run will start at 9 am at the Mueller Browning Hangar. Register to race online for $109.95 for first-time runner adult gorillas, $50 for returning adult gorillas, $40 for a first-time little gorilla and $25 for returning little gorillas (the price includes the gorilla suit, which you get to keep). Put your suits on and run through Mueller! Afterward, sip on Silverback Pale Ales from Thirsty Planet Brewery. Proceeds benefit mountain gorillas.
Sunday:
— Take a ride on the Capital City Express, a 3-hour ride on the Austin Steam Train from Cedar park, to Austin and back. See Austin like never before! Train leaves at 3 pm, tickets are $15 – $41.66 and you can buy them here, save 10 percent with discount code DO512FAM.
— The Austin Family Summer Camp Fair at the Palmer Events Center is from noon – 4 pm and is totally free to attend. Parents can get some face-time with camp counselors and owners, and kids can enjoy face painting, snowboarding, a bounce house and other fun activities. There will be giveaways for free summer camp from more than 15 amazing camps!
— That crazy structure on the lawn of the Long Center is called Miracoco, by Architects of Air. It’s a vinyl, inflated kaleidoscope that you can walk through and lounge in for as long as you please. It’s $10 per person, kids 2 and under are free. Click here for more info, and here for our review of the last time Architects of Air were here. It’s open from 10 am – 5 pm.
Have fun!
Next year you should consider NOT listing the illuminarium as a featured family activity. The line management there is atrocious — we got there 5 min after opening and had to stand in line for nearly 2 hrs before we got in. Then we got a primer about how the exhibit is actually NOT kid friendly and intended for adults despite looking like potentially the best bouncy house ever created. And then we were requested to keep the little ones calm while inside. So, even IF you are able to keep little ones patient and calm while you stand in line for 2 hrs (a feat in itself), THEN when you finally get in, you are expected to treat it like a library and getting scowls all over the place when you can’t. I would say don’t market it to families if you are not in fact family friendly and figure out better line management. There is no reason with today’s technology to make people wait in a line like that.
Thanks for your feedback, sorry you had such a tough time! We went last year with our 7-year-old, and while it did look like a bouncy house and nagging was pretty constant – we all had a good time. We did not get any “scowls” or speech beforehand about controlling our kids, that’s a bummer. Maybe we can make it “recommended for ages 8 and up”.
These are great events for the whole family. It always helps when some of the events are free as well. It is important for families to attend events and activities like this together.