By Katy Killilea

After a night of fireworks, why not spend a day on the East Bay bike path? If your kids have outgrown their bikes, co-pilot seats, enclosed trailers, or trail-a-bikes, good used equipment can be found at tag sales, Craigslist, or with friends who have slightly older kids. Everyone seems to be shedding equipment at this time of year.

East Bay Bike Path highlights for Kido cyclists include:

• The view of Providence—especially if you live in Providence—from the causeway.
• Waving to other kids going in the opposite direction, and spotting sleeping babies.
• A stop at Del’s in Warren for frozen lemonade, Fruity Cow in Warren for palatas (Mexican popsicles,) or DariB in East Providence for an ice cream cone. All are located right along the bike path.
• A visit to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island Environmental Education Center in Bristol. For cyclists, this is an ideal pit stop. It’s right on the path, and offers plenty of bicycle parking. Step into the cool building, enjoy the exhibits, get a drink at the bubbler, and use the rest room.

This April, a huge fire destroyed the wooden walkway leading from the bike path out into the marsh, so it is closed. But the rest of the center’s property is open for exploration, and some kids may be very interested to see if they can spot lingering effects of the fire. Admission is FREE this Saturday (Free admission the first Saturday of the month).

If you head out for a ride, pack plenty of water and a picnic. Get ideas from Katy or Anisa’s picnic basket. Bike path picnic spots: Haines Park in East Providence, on the giant rocks along Brick Yard Pond in Barrington, or in Colt State Park in Bristol. All have shade and ample room for pulling over with a family’s worth of bicycles.

Details:
DariB - 240 Bullocks Point Avenue, Riverside, RI
Phone: (401) 433-1931

The Fruity Cow - 7 Turner Street (corner of Child Street), Warren, RI 02885
Phone: (401) 289-2089

Del’s Lemonade - 65 Child St., Warren, RI 02885
Phone: (401) 247-2210

Audubon Society - 1401 Hope Street (Rte 114), Bristol, RI 02809
Phone: (401) 245-7500
Website

If you head out for a ride, pack plenty of water and a picnic. Read what Katy and Anisa pack in their picnic basket.

Bike path picnic spots: Haines Park in East Providence, on the giant rocks along Brick Yard Pond in Barrington, or in Colt State Park in Bristol. All have shade and ample room for pulling over with a family’s worth of bicycles. Email us and tell us what’s in your picnic basket.

Photo credits: DariB by Douglas Itkin for Kidoinfo, Map from RI Department of Transportation

The Parks Department will run the 2008 summer lunch program, which provides free lunches to children at pools, parks and recreation centers in Providence.

The program will begin on Monday, June 30 and run five days a week until Friday, Aug. 22, 2008.

Lunches include a sandwich or pizza, fruit, milk and juice. Any child 18 or younger is eligible to receive a free lunch (no questions asked), as long as he or she eats it on site.

Check the Kidoinfo summer guide for a list of pools and waterparks.

Today I welcome Melissa Brusso, a mom from Pawtucket, as a new contributing writer for Kidoinfo. In her column, Home Plate: Reflections of a Sportsparent, she shares her wit, wisdom, and experience regarding the world of sports with her husband, “SportsDad”, their daughter “Stretch”, age 10 and their son, “LittleMan”, age 7.

As the weather warms and spring is really here (come on, suspend judgement), I can hear Coach Paul Janaway booming in his English-accented voice about the importance of sun lotion and drinking plenty of water, and the very real threat of squirrels helping themselves to your poorly wrapped lunches. I remember the huge, mesh bags of soccer balls waiting on the dewy grass, the requisite Sergio Mendes’s “Mas Que Nada” playing in the car (yes, every morning), and the LittleMan jumping out of the car and racing off before I can manage to park. Yep, it’s almost summer.

And that means camp, particularly the handful of sports camps that my children have enjoyed the past few summers.

For a city of our size, we have a terrific selection of sports camps located in a ten-mile (or so) radius of say, Seven Stars Bakery. Many of these camps are excellent and run by some quality individuals from the education and athletic communities. Whatever your child’s sports interest or ability level, there is a sports camp that would be suitable and age appropriate.

The following is an anecdotal and freely editorialized roundup of some of the sports camps that my two children have experienced first-hand and that we look forward to attending again. It is not a complete listing, but hopefully, it will provide an angle on the camps that a newspaper listing does not. It will become more complete as readers add comments about other excellent sports camps—especially camps outside the Providence area—so please add to the list in the comments section!

• The above-mentioned Coach Janaway of Proactive Soccer can be found at Moses Brown Plus camp all summer—and at Henry Barnard School during the school year. Because he is a physical education teacher as well as an athlete (check out his soccer cred on his site!), Janaway brings to soccer camp an understanding of children and development, as well as a passion for soccer. So even the youngest and most inexperienced campers feel at home with age-appropriate and fun drills that never feel over their heads. And rest assured, more experienced soccer players are also challenged at their level. Everyone is expected to play hard and do his or her best—and everyone does.

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When it snows, chances are – assuming your kids are old enough to talk – they will want to build a snowman and go sledding. You can build snowmen anywhere, but finding hills for serious sledding requires finding a hill. How big a hill depends on the sledders. If your baby or toddler is barely walking, then he or she will be happy being pulled around in a sled down your driveway or up and down sidewalks, and you may not need this list, yet.

Since I have yet to try all these places myself, I invite Kidoinfo readers to share their favorite spots or rate how easy or how difficult the hills are that I have listed.

In Providence
• Moses Brown School - 250 Lloyd Avenue, East Side. There is a steep hill on the school’s campus near the corner of Lloyd Avenue and Arlington Street, plus some smaller hills for novice sledders.
• Roger Williams Park (home of Roger Williams Zoo) - 1000 Elmwood Avenue. There are several hills to choose from, including a popular spot near the Temple to Music.
• Neutaconkanut Hill - off Killingly Street near the Johnston town line.

In Lincoln
• Lincoln Woods has big and small hills - enough to please sledders of varying skill levels.
• Chase Farm - 100 Great Road.

In Cumberland
• The hill behind the monastery at 1464 Diamond Hill Road.

In Newport
• A small hill at Morton Park in the Fifth Ward.
• Aquidneck Park near the Newport Public Library on Spring Street.
• Fort Adams State Park above the soccer fields.
• St. George’s School in Middletown, with views of Second Beach.

In Bristol
• Army Reserve Center - off Asylum Road (the road into Colt State Park on Route 114)

In Warren
• Burr’s Hill Park - Water Street, located south of Warren Town Beach. Short but steep hills.

In Barrington
• On Washington Road, the Rhode Island Country Club golf course has a hill nicknamed “Suicide Hill.”
• The Lacrosse/soccer field across from St. Andrews school on Federal Road has a low-lying field with steep, short hills on all sides. Not long enough to gather major
speed. Good sledding for people who fear hitting trees because there’s nothing to hit. May be too slow for most people. A great place for beginners or fraidy-cats.
• Behind the Nayatt School at 400 Nayatt Road is a very small hill. Perfect for little guys.

In Riverside
• Silver Spring Golf Course on Pawtucket Avenue.

In Cranston
• Hugh B. Bain Middle School on Cranston Street.

In Warwick
• Salter Grove Park off Narragansett Avenue.

In Johnston
• Memorial Park on Hartford Avenue, behind the softball fields.

In West Greenwich
• The great sand hills that locals call the Big River Desert are located at 135 Gansett Road. Off Rte 95, take Exit 6A - Hopkins Hill Road heading south. Take the first right, Division Street, and continue about a half mile to the dunes.

In Central Falls
• Jenks Park on Broad Street.

In Gloucester
* There is a wide slope in the Durfee Hill state management area on Route 94, about a mile south of its junction with Route 44. Parking lot is conveniently located at the top of the slope.

In Woonsocket
• Cass Park on Cass Avenue
• Cold Spring Park on Harris Avenue
• Globe Park on Avenue A.

Find safety sledding tips at Kids Health.

What kid doesn’t like skating outside (with some hot chocolate)? Skating starts now. In Providence, RI, the opening day for the Bank of America Skating Center ice-skating 2007-08 season is November 19 at 4pm. Take your kids ice skating, watch the Zamboni machine at work, then enjoy some yummy hot chocolate at the rink or across the street at Starbucks. Ice rink concession stand also has pizza, hot dogs and other snacks as well as restrooms.

Rink Hours:
Monday - Friday: 10 am to 10 pm
Saturday and Sunday: 11 am to 10 pm

For details, session times, directions, rentals, and prices, see the City Center Skating (also known as the Bank of America Skating rink) website.

Find a list of other skating rinks here.

When it comes to clothes and shoes that my family no longer wears or never quite fit us, we have always given them away to friends and to area shelters. However, sometimes our sneakers are so well worn, they seem worthy only of the trashcan. Well, I have a new plan for our old sneakers now that I learned about the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program, which recycles old and unusable shoe material into basketball and tennis courts, soccer fields, and running tracks. This program means less trash in the landfills and more places for kids to play. Did you know it takes between 2,000 and 2,500 pairs of athletic shoes to recycle enough material to build a basketball court surface?

If that isn’t enough incentive, National Geographic for Kids is working towards its third Guinness World Record for the longest chain of shoes. Once the magazine reaches its goal, it plans to donate the sneakers to the Nike Reuse-a-Shoe program.

Thanks to Andres Salmeron, a seventh grader at the Wheeler School in Providence who has organized a local effort, you can easily participate. Just drop your worn athletic shoes into the containers outside Providence’s City Hall or the Center for Environmental Studies at Brown University.

Deadline for Guinness World Record: January 22, 2008.

I always loved watching the X Games when they came to Providence. It’s not often the streets of College Hill are closed off for races like Street Luge. Well, let some new races begin! The Red Bull Soapbox Race will speed down College Hill on Saturday, October 13. It’s FREE, open to the public, and bound to be cool fun for kids of ALL ages. This non-motorized racing event invites people to craft outrageous human-powered carts to race against the clock in a downhill sprint to the finish. Soapbox cars can be made of anything the imagination conjures up (See car sketches). Past cars included a baby carriage, a rodeo clown, a massive cob of corn, and more. Extra points for showmanship - participants often wear outrageous costumes, act out skits, and create their own music soundtracks for the race. Sounds like a blast!

Event Details
11 am: Gates open - Explore the pit area and meet the teams!
1 pm: First race starts - Get there early as some surprises are in store.
3:30 pm: Final race takes place - Awards ceremony to follow.

Location
Waterman Street, College Hill Neighborhood
Starting Line: Fones Ally and Prospect Street
Finish Line: Waterman Street and South Main Street

There is a long list of what you can and cannot bring. And event organizers may search you and your bags upon entering or re-entering the event. They recommend leaving large bags at home – so try to pack light.

Here is a list of what YOU CAN BRING: blankets, hand-held umbrellas, soft-sided coolers, baby strollers, portable/collapsible chairs, regular size/unframed backpacks, sealed water bottles, binoculars, and personal camera equipment.

The DO NOT BRING list includes: weapons of any kind (okay my boys will leave their swords at home), illegal substances (including narcotics) or drug paraphernalia, framed or large backpacks, alcohol, glass containers (you may want to repack your baby food), food (this seems a bit tricky), and pets.

I just read about this and wonder if anyone has seen this traveling fun bus. If you see it, please click comments below and tell us about it.

What I read is the fun bus will be filled with dozens of games and equipment for outdoor activities, such as roller blades, field and board games, and a 35-foot inflatable obstacle course. Recreation Department employees donning super hero costumes will also be on board ready to engage in fun with youth as the bus visits each of the city’s pools and water parks.

Schedule: (I am listing the whole schedule so you can see where the bus has been and where the bus is going). The fun bus will arrive at each Providence location at 10:30 am, Monday through Friday. Check our summer guide for details on pools + waterparks.

July 25: Zuccolo Recreation Center - 18 Gesler Street
July 26: Joslin Recreation Center - 17 Hyat Street
July 27: Fargnoli Park - Street at Jastram Street
July 30: Selim Rogers Recreation Center - 60 Camden Avenue
July 31: Billy Taylor Park - Cypress St. & Camp St
August 1: One Recreation Way - Wanskuck and Mount Pleasant Avenue
August 2: George West Park - Chalkstone Avenue
August 3: Al Carrington Recreation Center - Prairie Ave
August 6: West End Recreation Center - 109 Bucklin St
August 7: Sackett Street Recreation Center - 159 Sackett Street
August 8: Davey Lopes Recreation Center - 227 Dudley Street
August 9: Harriet & Sayles Street Water Park - Harriet and Sayles streets
August 10: Neutaconkanut Recreation Center - 675 Plainfield Street
August 13: Zuccolo Recreation Center - 18 Gesler Street
August 14: Fargnoli Park - Street at Jastram Street
August 15: Joslin Recreation Center - 17 Hyat Street
August 16: Selim Rogers Recreation Center - 60 Camden Avenue
August 17: One Recreation Way - Wanskuck and Mount Pleasant Avenue
August 20: George West Park - Chalkstone Avenue
August 21: Al Carrington Recreation Center - Prairie Ave
August 22: West End Recreation Center -109 Bucklin St

The handicapped accessible bus was donated by the Free Wheeler Association. The bus’s colorful exterior was painted by Straight Up Graphics and students from the TruSchool through a grant from the Providence After School Alliance (PASA). The Boys & Girls Club of Providence is providing two staff members to help supervise the Fun Bus activities.

Swimming pools and water parks in Providence opened yesterday for the summer. Staffed with highly trained Department of Recreation life guards and counselors, they are a great place to cool off in the city with your kids. Open seven days a week, noon to 5 pm.

Swimming pool locations
• Davey Lopes Recreation Center, 227 Dudley St.
• Selim Rogers Recreation Center, 60 Camden St.
• Joslin Recreation Center, 17 Hyat St.
• Neutaconkanut Recreation Center, 675 Plainfield St.
• West End Recreation Center, 109 Bucklin St.
• Zuccolo Recreation Center, 18 Gesler St.

Water park locations
• Cabral Park, next to Vartan Gregorian School in Fox Point
• Pleasant Street Park, on Pleasant Street, off N. Main Street
• Richardson Park, at the intersection of Prairie Avenue and Richardson Street
• Harriet and Sayles Park, at Harriet and Sayles streets
• Fargnoli Park, Smith Street at Jastram Street
• Sackett Street Park, on Sackett, across the street from Sackett Street School

For additional information, contact the Department of Recreation at (401) 421-7740, x323.
Red Cross has General Water Safety Tips that will help you stay safe in, on, and around the water!

7:05pm - PawSox vs. the Yankees

The first 3,000 kids 14 years old and under will receive an Opening Night Mini-Bat!
This event is sponsored by LoJack Corporation & NBC 10.