Young family moving to St George... (St. George, Washington: school district, restaurant, centers)

[american british bulldog]

Moving to St George/Washington City area from Los Angeles... What activities are there for a 10 year old little boy? Can anyone suggest a good elementary school for a GATE student? Bloomington Hills scores high in the Washington School District area, but I'm sure all the schools rank higher than those in LA. We visit often, is there a place we can go to introduce him to other kids, as it would make the transition easier.

[toby04]

This is probably where being LDS would be a huge plus, being able to go to the ward and find many new friends in your future geographic area.
How about looking for a Scout Troop, Baseball Team or some other group that your son has a current interest in?
You might try Fiesta Fun Center in St. George, or one of the swim centers?

Sorry I can't offer you some better info, just wanted to wish you luck, I am sure you will love it!

[Utahooligan]

Yeah, no matter what (including the initial issues of your son making new friends), moving from LA to the St George area will be a tremendously positive chance of pace/lifestyle/culture. I just moved to the area 9 months ago from the San Francisco Bay area.

Kids being kids, he should make friends fast, but as Toby said, being Mormon ("LDS" is the preferred term) would give a huge advantage to all of you in terms of a large, built-in social-circle, but a Scout troop would also work, in addition to school, and don't let any religious concerns one way or the other stress you out -- LDS don't bite & aren't obnoxious.

There is a skateboard park in St George, just off I-15 & near that Fiesta Fun Center ( Fiesta Fun - Family Fun Center ) & the big indoor aquatic park is Sand Hollow Aquatic Park: City of St. George | SHAC Swimming Pool Information (http://www.sgcity.org/recreation/swimming/info_shac.php - broken link)

Washington City also has a very nice indoor pool & rec center:
Recreation - CommunityCenter - Main - Washington City, Utah - Where Dixie Begins


If your kid has any favorite activities now (besides XBox or PlayStation...), list them & maybe some of us can try to find some local versions of them prior to your move.

[BBFlinger]

Have you moved here yet? Just wondering. My son is 11 and is looking at getting involved in baseball and football down here. He has found making friends difficult. Shoot me a message if your son is having the same issues.

[jimnalli]

You will love St. George! great people and beautiful scenery. In addition to the other activities mentioned, there is Pirate Island PIzza..awesome themed restaurant with arcade. Also the city offers classes through the rec center for kids, there are 2 indoor city pools (one in Washington and one in st. george near santa clara) The rec center is a great place to start for activies

[scotttenorman]

Geocaching is a fun activity the whole family can enjoy, young or old, though it's probably more exciting for the kids.

A quick explanation is that it's a game where people hide a small container (often an old ammo can) and put a log book, and some toys, or other interesting things in it. The person then posts the gps data to geocaching.com and then it's free for anyone to search out and find. When it's found, the seeker writes their name in the log book, and exchanges one item in the cache for another.

I looked and there are probably one thousand plus caches around St. George. The only thing needed is a gps (I assume smart phones with gps have apps for this too?).

Anyway, just throwing that out there.