I purchased a Groupon deal for a few horseback riding lessons for my daughter on a whim last…read moreAugust. She was just 4 at the time but loved horses and the website for Avalon said lessons start at age 5. I figured I would purchase the deal and use it when she turned 5, boy was I glad I purchased this deal! My daughter turned 5 in the first few weeks of December. We had our first lesson at Avalon just before Christmas. Lonna was my daughter's riding instructor for her first horseback riding lesson. Fun and engaging, Lonna made my daughter feel comfortable on top of the giant horse Evan she was riding. I might mention, my daughter is terrified of heights and Evan is impressively tall. Before riding Evan, my daughter was given the opportunity to groom a different horse with another riding instructor. She was shown how to brush, curry, and comb out the horses coat. She was also shown how to pick up and pick out the horses feet to get them ready to ride. After her first lesson she was hooked on horses and we signed up for a monthly lesson program. The staff, the facilities and the riding instruction is top notch. The Stables are always clean and the grounds are beautiful. The riding staff is trained in beginner to advanced riding techniques. They are welcoming, knowledgeable and friendly. We are happy to have found Avalon Stables for our daughter.

Best. Barn. Ever. You can tell that this barn is different from the first visit. Stables, grounds,…read moretrainers and groomers are world classtrainers. If you're brand new to the horse world or a World Champion, this barn is qualified to help you achieve and maintain riding goals. We couldn't be happier than we are to have two ASBs stabled here with our young daughter training here.

Fantastic place for field trips and birthday parties…read more This place is definitely a favorite for field trips and birthday parties. I've chaperoned a couple fields trips here and we've attended a couple birthday parties as well. The latest was for a five year old's birthday party and the weather in February was perfect (I could see it being a bit hot in the summer since the sitting/eating area is open door. They do have an air conditioned room you can rent though, we've attended a birthday party in there as well.) The invite said three hours and I thought is this really going to last three hours? It did, it was a jam packed three hours. We saw all types of animals, had a hay ride, picked up chickens, kids rode ponies, and milked a cow. It was fast paced enough that it kept everyone's attention. The farm may not seem big, but they do a fantastic job organizing the group to move from section to section. There was even an outdoor obstacle course that I didn't see before that the kids loved. If you're looking for a fun, organized activity, this is a great option. Both the kids and parents had a blast.

I was there to attend an event in the barn. That was all very nice. I walked around the grounds and…read morefound most of the animals were fine for a petting zoo. However, I was deeply disturbed by a poor cow that was tethered and shackled in a milking stand for four hours. She was shifting her weight from hoof to hoof and standing in her feces for at least two hours (that I observed). I was told by staff that she was perfectly fine and was used to doing this. What I feel the farm was teaching children is that's its OK to cause an animal discomfort if its for their pleasure and the facility's profit.

Clean-ish environment, well-trained horses, however the staff was mildly rude and unwelcoming.read more

My daughter attended a horse riding camp this summer at Suncoast Stables and had an incredible…read moretime. What did we love about it? -The themes. Each camp had a different theme and kids could sign up for the one they liked. -Covered riding area. Rain or shine, the kids could ride. -Kona Ice day. The truck came out and the kids could purchase a treat halfway thru the week. -End of the week presentation. Parents were invited to a Friday performance that showed off what their kids had learned. So why not five stars? Mainly because of the lack of communication. Leading up to the start of camp, the only information we had was from the sheet we filled out months before to reserve our spot. An introductory email would be incredible. Also, the paper handed out to parents about the presentation had the wrong time on. I was only able to confirm the actual time because we attended with a good friend who had the owner's phone number. Tightening up the communication would take Suncoast's Summer Camps from being amazing to perfect!

Stopped at this YMCA while I was on vacation in the area. I went on a Saturday mid morning and it…read morewas not packed. I liked that it had plenty of parking, and the gym was a decent size. Overall the gym was very clean and organized. There was a small area with some lighter free weights and random equipment, and then the rest of the gym had a variety of more free weight, cardio and weighted machines. I did add a lot of chairs are the gym where people relaxed which I have not seen at any other gym. The windows in the back show off the pools that the location have, which during the time I went looked like there was a class going on. The bathrooms threw me off. When you walk in there are individual bathrooms for people to shower and use the toilet on the side, and if you walk straight it takes you to the lockers and door to the outdoor pool. What was weird was the camera in there. I have never seen a camera in the general locker bathroom area so that was strange. Even though the toilet was private it still felt weird being watched on the camera tv as I paced around the bathroom.

Great place to workout and take exercise classes. Nice and helpful teachers. The gym has the…read morelatest in equipment. Everybody is nice and very helpful if you have a question.

The Gracie Trinity is perhaps one of the top Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools around. The facility is…read moreout of this world, with spacious open areas for people to train and wonderful staff members who truly spend their own time to assist and advance their students. This is the place to be if somebody is thinking of trying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for the first time or switching gyms! We've been bringing our 7-year-old son to Gracie for about two months, and we couldn't be more pleased with the outcomes. Along with excellent technical instruction, the school's culture and climate also foster independence, self-discipline, and confidence in students, and we have already started to see these beneficial changes in our son. Thanks Gracie Trinity! Highly recommend!

Everyone was very kind and learning was made easy with the helpful instructors at this gym. Looking…read moreforward to growing with this great group of people.

Shining Stars has been a fun extracurricular for my daughter. I love that they offer preschool…read moreclasses so it doesn't take away from our family time together on the evenings or weekends. Customer service via email is always friendly and efficient as well.

My son has been participating in Shining Stars Center Stage for 3 shows now and loves it. My…read moreyoungest saw how much fun his brother was having and also started with the Center Stage program this fall. Ms. Anna and the whole team are great with the kids and put on amazing shows that just keep getting better.

I think they need to hire a professional event coordinator for their championship meets and expos…read more Every single event that I've been to has been unorganized, delayed and poorly planned. The most recent meet on Jan 18 was horrible. It went way over the expected time, they crammed us all into this tiny space where we had to stand for half an hour to wait for "the results". Then the gymnasts were running around with no supervision, jumping all over the makeshift "stage" and ruining some of the placement tags. By this time the kids were starving and some of us in the audience saw one of the coaches eating a pizza in front of everyone. We all just stood there watching her.but she was oblivious.Not a good look. Then finally, someone explained the reason for the delay (their computer system went down so they had to calculate the scores manually). Then more waiting. When the winners were finally announced, the person announcing had no microphone. She just yelled out the names while nervously flipping thru all her papers. It was all done so haphazardly, Coaches were running all over the place like chickens with their heads cut off. Nobody had a clue. Like I said, they need to dip into that stockpile of money they make off of us and invest in a professional event coordinator. Cmon guys. Get it together will ya? Parents are getting fed up with this.

We attended a birthday party here recently. First, there were three bounce house-type inflatables…read more I was expecting more for the cost of hosting a party here (around $300). But the younger kids seemed to have fun. Then everyone moved the the gymnastics portion of the gym. The kids were able to use two trampolines and the foam pit. One trampoline had a hole/was broken, so I think there would have been even more jumping action for the kids if it had been fixed. I really liked the gymnastics portion and would consider it for a future birthday party. The cost is quite high, and it doesn't include any type of food or beverage. You are able to order or bring your own, but then the cost is of course even higher. The biggest problem I had, was that at least three children became sick a couple of days later. My child being one of them. I hope they do some deep cleaning, especially now. But this needs to occur at least once a week in order to help keep kids healthy, since many come in for classes all week long.