Shippensburg is a great little town for a family. I grew up in Shippensburg and attended the university there for my bachelors and masters. I now live outside of Carlisle, but still go to Ship all the time to visit my family (and for milk shakes from The Treat!!!). There is alot of emphasis on sports for kids, and a ton of programs with that in the area. There has been some definite building in the area recently, a tremendous number of new developments (there are actually a fair number of people commuting from Ship to DC now because of great housing prices, that is what the person is doing that bought our house). The school district is good, and in high school if you are in advanced classes, they even pay for you to take some college classes.
There is a Wal-Mart and a new Lowes, and the downtown is very quaint. There are a fair number of parks for children in the area, and the university just built a performing arts center that has been attracting some decent acts for families and just adults. It is also in a great location to go to Baltimore, DC, Gettysburg, Harrisburg, Hagerstown (only about 35 minutes and also experiencing tremendous growth).
If you have any other questions, let me know.