Park City & Deer Valley

Physical & Intellectual Development a Focus of Indoor Play Land

A new family-friendly activity center is now open at Kimball Junction. Monkey Mountain has over 2,000 square feet of play area for children up to age 12 in the Silver Mountain Sports Club building on Ute Boulevard.

It is the creation of the Carter family. Chris Carter's career moves him around a lot, so his family has lately been living in a different country every six to nine months. Their only constant has been a second home in Park City where the family spends a few months each year.

That's why Sarah Carter felt inspired to start a business here; it was the most logical place to put down some roots. Right now motherhood is the most important thing in her life, she said, so naturally a business catering to the needs and development of children was at the forefront in her mind.

Her last three homes were in Canada, England and Russia. In the former two, she found indoor play structures for children to help them run and exercise year round something especially important during cold winter months.

In Russia, she found a culture committed to child development and lacking the commercialism that permeates products and services for kids in the U.S.

Investigating the schools in Park City, she discovered there were not many choices to keep children engaged after school.

That inspired her to build an indoor playland with an emphasis on structured and unstructured play.

Nothing gives her more joy at this point in her life than hearing the laughter of her children her youngest being five-year-old twins.

"We want to hear the noise. Kids can be as loud as they want here," she said.

Sarah Carter's own background is in figure skating, so she naturally cares about physical development and fitness.

Two playground-equipment companies were hired to create Monkey Mountain. One made the climbing structure that engages both upper and lower-body muscles. The other made jungle-themed carpet and plastic animals children can climb on and around. The idea is to inspire creativity in play with every available square foot while catering to children of all ages and ability levels.

There are two party rooms for hosting birthdays and special events. But Carter is also lining up partnerships with other businesses to provide structured activities like yoga for children, or maybe art classes.

Because Monkey Mountain is all indoors, it does not currently qualify as a childcare center. Her long-term goal, however, is to provide an environment where parents can drop children off for several hours at a time to take classes and play.

Some kind of themed activity will be provided every hour, so no matter how brief the visit, there will be structured and unstructured activity.

For right now, parents must attend with their children but a parents' lobby next to the play area overlooking the Basin is filled with desks, couches, flat-screen televisions and wireless Internet access so they can relax or work while the kids enjoy themselves.

Monkey Mountain

1526 Ute Blvd.

435-214-7451

www.monkeymountain.com

by Andrew Kirk OF THE RECORD STAFF : The Park Record

For More Information on Park City and Deer Valley Contact:
Michael Lapay
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Mobile: 435-640-5700
Toll Free: 888-410-7653

mlapay@pureparkcityrealestate.com

Monkey Mountain Now in Silver Mountain Sports Club

A very different kind of business is opening in the Silver Mountain Sports Club this Saturday.

From 12:00pm to 4:00pm children of all ages are welcomed to check out Monkey Mountain, a new indoor playland above the Church of Scientology at 1526 Ute Boulevard.

Owner Sarah Carter's own background is in ice skating. Her husband is in trading. They currently live in Russia and own a home here. While in town, Carter said she's noticed that parents don't just want to find fun things for their children to do, but would prefer if the activity aided in their development somehow.

Wanting to give children more year-round physical activities, she met with two playground equipment manufacturers and with them designed Monkey Mountain. The equipment gives them lower and upper-body exercise as they play. The staff is trained to facilitate learning through play, she said.

The 4,100-square-foot space has a 22-foot tall playland with cushy carpet and educational panels on the walls for toddlers.

"We utilized every inch of space we could. Everything is custom made to fit our space," she explained.

After Saturday's grand opening, regular hours will be 9:00am every day to 8:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 7:00pm all other days.

To learn more, visit monkeymountain.com.

by Andrew Kirk OF THE RECORD STAFF : The Park Record

For More Information on Park City and Deer Valley Contact:
Michael Lapay
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Mobile: 435-640-5700
Toll Free: 888-410-7653

mlapay@pureparkcityrealestate.com

Park City High School Ranks #1 in Utah

KSL.com, April 20, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah High Schools are ranked in football and basketball, but parents have no comparable way to view schools' performance in academics until now. KSL has launched a research project called KSL Schools that shows how schools stand up against each other.

To rank overall high schools, our analyst equally weighted proficiency, how schools prepare students to meet basic state requirements, advanced placement (considered college prep) and progress scores. The state says progress helps equalize the playing field by judging students at a school against their own progress rather than comparing them to students from different socio-economic categories.

Utah's Top 10 High Schools are:

1. Park City High School

2. Davis High School

3. Skyline High School

4. Viewmont High School

5. Lone Peak High School

6. Timpview High School

7. Alta High School

8. Woods Cross High School

9. Timpanogos High School

10. Mountain View High School

Those at the top come from a variety of districts. "What it says is that every school district is probably doing good job with some schools. And I think each one of them has some premiere schools," said Steve Harrison, and independent analyst with Bach Harrison.

We also ranked small high schools -- under 200 students -- using the same criteria.

Utah's Top 5 small high schools are:

1. Panguitch High School

2. Valley High School

3. Morgan High School

4. North Summit High School

5. Wayne High School

 
The rankings begged several questions. Sunday night we revealed our research identified small schools like Altamont High School and Piute High School at the top of the list for preparing all students to meet state requirements. So why didn't they make our Top Schools list?

These small school schools don't or can't offer Advanced Placement classes. So, for many students, there is a clear advantage to attending a big high school. "I think there is if you are college-bound, it certainly is; because they're able to then offer more of those advanced placement classes," Harrison said. We recognize not all success stories revolve around test scores or rankings, so we've asked every principal to send us their school stories.