Looking to join a family-friendly pool that doesn’t cost country-club prices?

Check out Magnolia Park Pool, which opens Sat. May 28. The pool is located in Magnolia Park neighborhood at the corner of Morgan Street and Bacon Park Drive.

Membership is open for a fee to residents and non-resident members.

The pool is open 7 days a week during the season and has a lifeguard on duty.

The 2011 summer season will feature special events around the pool and offer swimming lessons. The pool – which includes a diving board and baby pool – can be rented for parties and events. Special events include: “Dive- in” movie night 8 PM Saturday May 28, which is the official pool opening day. The movie and all other events are open to members of the pool only. Members can bring guests. Movie cost for guests with members are $3 and $2. (adult/kids). Enjoy Pizza and sodas (for sale)

For more information, membership fess or to become a member of the MBF pool contact Don Consos at 912- 303-0101 or donald@consosgroup.com

Another Savannah neighborhood pool to check out:

The Kensington Park Pool located at 101 Althea Court (just off Kensington Drive).
A sweet location tucked away from the street, to avoid that “fishbowl” feeling.
Membership is open to everyone.
Kensington has a 100 thousand gallon pool that ranges from 3 to 9 feet, with a diving board.
A baby pool, snack bar and privates party facilities.The pool has friendly certified lifeguards to put you at ease.
Kensington Park Pool offers: Family memberships, Single parent memberships, Grandparent memberships and many more options!
Active duty military gets 25% off. Contact Kensigntonpool@aol.com

Did you enter the contest to win the 2008 HGTV Green Home in Tradition Hilton Head, SC?

Yours was one of 21 million entries received to win the $850,000 green home. People could enter to win online once a day.

The winner will be announced this Sunday June 8 on HGTV. The HGTV Green Home Giveaway Winner Special airs at 8 pm Sunday. If you miss it, on Monday, there will be an online video here of the winner answering questions posted by the public recently on the Web site.

Sorry, all you contest-entering SouthernMamas who are holding out hope. The winner has already been notified, but it’s being kept secret until Sunday.

This green home giveaway has such a lived-happily-ever-after vibe, we couldn’t pass it up.

Click here to enter a contest to win the 2008 HGTV Green Home located in Tradition Hilton Head, SC, a neighborhood that’s actually closer Hardeeville than HHI, but you know how marketing works.

The contest is from March 21-May 9.

The HGTV Green Home has all eco-friendly appliances and furnishings. The winner also receives (because a fully-furnished home is just not enough) a new GMC Yukon Hybrid. The whole package is worth $850,000.

You can also tour the home through May 18. The HGTV Green Home is open 9am-5 pm Monday- Friday; 10 am-5 pm Saturday; and noon-5 pm Sunday. Tickets are $20 per person. Proceeds benefit United Way of the Lowcountry. Local United Way volunteers are guiding the tours.

You gotta love this photo of children waiting for the ice cream truck in Savannah’s Isle of Hope neighborhood in the late 1980s. It embodies exactly what we want in a neighborhood today: a place where children – and pets – can make good memories together.

The photo is from ReMax Realtor Maureen Simmons. We asked Maureen for her picks on the best kid-friendly neighborhoods in the Savannah area as part of our ongoing collection of best neighborhoods to raise children. Maureen, who’s been at this real estate stuff for 20 plus years, was kind enough to share her favorites listed below (This sweet snap is of her children and the neighbor kids: Joe Ratterree, holding his little sister, Katie, next to Maureen’s sons Josh Simmons and Joseph Simmons).

• Parkside and Ardsley Park where Maureen was raised as the sixth of seven children (her mom’s motto was “If you can do it at Daffin Park, then we could join.”) She and her husband of 25 years had their first two homes there. Attributes include Hull Park and of course Daffin’s playgrounds, tennis courts, ducks-feeding, basketball courts, soccer fields, football fields and minor league baseball games at Grayson Stadium.
• Isle of Hope where Maureen and her family have lived for the past 20 years. Attributes include: not as much traffic as in the city; kids can ride bikes and explore before being called home for dinner by a cow bell; community pool for swim teams or just fun.
• Wilmington Park, Talahi Island, Mayfair.

Contact Maureen @ Msimmons77@comcast.net or 912-272-6808. Click here for more local family neighborhoods.

Looking to move to one of Savannah’s historic neighborhoods?

Thanks to Savannah Realtor Ron Melander of Cora Bett Thomas Realty for giving us his list of best kid-friendly historic neighborhoods. Read his picks by clicking here to go to his beautiful real estate blog.

I was jazzed to see Parkside among his selections. That’s my favorite, after living there during my single days. I’d love to return someday with the family. You can’t beat a sidewalk neighborhood that’s within walking distance to schools, Sand Gnats and soccer fields.

Thanks to Ron for his plan for the wee folks. We plan to feature even more Realtor’s picks for kid-friendly neighborhoods as an ongoing SouthernMamas series. So be sure to keep checking back in! For a past post on Best Kid-Friendly Neighborhoods in Bluffton by Realtor Stacey Macioszek, click here.

Trying to describe the hip, local magazine The Skinnie is tough. That’s because the content is so diverse: human interest stories, arts and entertainment, business features, travel, health and more. It’s hard to define. But here’s a try: Basically the magazine contains everything the community cares about.

Even better, you don’t have to wait every couple months for an issue. The Skinnie publishes every two weeks, as in 26 issues a year.

The Skinnie is distributed to every household in the affluent 31411 ZIP code (The Landings, Modena Island, South Harbor etc). But you don’t have to live on Skidaway Island to subscribe. They deliver all over Chatham County and to about 15 states and even to Canada.

So next time you’re looking for a good read, check out The Skinnie.

Driving to Palmetto Bluff to see Patrick Dougherty’s outdoor sculpture, you can’t miss all the new homes being built in the Bluffton area. As a Realtor with Cora Bett Thomas, Stacey Macioszek knowns firsthand which ones are family-friendly. She dishes on the area’s housing boom in her Bluffton SC Real Estate blog.

SouthernMamas asked Stacey to name the best new Bluffton neighborhoods for kids. Here are her picks:

• May River Plantation: River access and a few neighborhood amenities. Secluded with a great location to future shopping/schools.
• Martin’s Place: Compact family neighborhood in the heart of Bluffton. Great values on semi-custom homes on smaller lots.
• Shell Hall: Family neighborhood recently purchased by Legacy Group. Zero-entry pool, croquet courts, tennis courts, fitness center and community building for private functions. Close to schools.
• The Heritage at New Riverside: A 365-acre family neighborhood transected by the Bluffton Linear Trail, offering residents access to outdoor recreation; butterfly garden; playgrounds; pocket parks with picnic tables; fitness center; dog park; volley ball court.

While the housing growth means the local public schools are overcrowded, the good news is the Bluffton area’s getting a new elementary school, middle school and high school.

Stacey says people are moving to Bluffton for a better quality of life. One her clients moved from the Jersey shore, where his work commute was 1.5 hours each way. Now he commutes 10 minutes. Moving to Bluffton “allowed him to finally be a Dad,” Stacey said. “Plus, the size and type of house they purchased would have cost at least double in Jersey.”

“Bluffton is a way of life,” said Stacey. “That’s why we come. That’s why we stay.”

Be sure to check out her real estate blog here.