Is suburbia all that awful?

I live in the Heights with two kids under 5. We love the short commute to work, the big parks/museums/zoo all nearby & DO take advantage of it. The kid friendly actual bars and restaurants are great too (patio style, not sit down inside). But what's lacking is obviously space and good schools. We don't have private school wealth, and wouldn't put our kids in anyway.

Wanting to move out for a backyard with a pool, nice friendly community.... But not feel locked into a life of eating at TGIF and never leaving our house bc nothing interesting is around. Any recs?