28Prowler525, your post described Austin to a tee, it is hard to beat, of course I came here to be a Longhorn from Dallas and never left. There are 6 boating lakes back to back on the Colorado River of texas from Lake Austin to Lake Travis to Marble Falls to Lake LBJ to Inks Lake and then Lake Buchannan. 3 small, 3 big, all have lake front homes. Your budget would determine which is affordable. The closer to Austin you get, the more expensive the properties are. It starts with Lake Austin and then Travis where homes go from the multi millions close to town down to maybe 300,000 on the upper half of Travis which would be 30-45 minutes from town. I would think the Lakeway ISD would be hard to beat for your children. A good realty company to start with may be Bee Creek Realty of Spicewood, TX, they will have a very good pulse on lake front homes. I am full of this kinda info and there is much more than can be written. I would be happy to help. Feel free to contact me.
Oh yea, everyone's comments are right on throughout the State, I am just partial to Austin.