If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. All subscribers are automatically entered in our Car Seat A Week Giveaway. Thanks for visiting!

Last week my family got to experience another wonderful, fun-filled trip around Pennsylvania. This time we spent three days and two nights in Lancaster and Hershey, home to some amazing family-friendly vacation spots, including Dutch Wonderland, Hershey Park, the Strasburg Railroad, Choo Choo Barn, and much more. For those who live in the mid-Atlantic area, this is such a wonderful and close place to vacation. For those further away, it is so worth it to come to this area for a family trip! Read on to learn more about this exciting area…

Our Stay at the Willow Valley Resort
We started off our trip at the Willow Valley Resort, a fabulous family destination central to everything in Lancaster and about 45 minutes from Hershey. This was our hub for our trip and it was very comfortable, relaxing, and a nice place for our family to stay. Our double room in the Atrium building was nice and upgraded with granite, had a refrigerator (great for storing milk, fruit and snacks!) and was a convenient walk to everything on property: 2 restaurants (with great Smorgasbords!), a bakery, an indoor swimming pool and water playground, a beautiful lake with playground, and a family-friendly farm.

My children really enjoyed their time playing on the property throughout our stay. They loved the water playground and one of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the Willow Valley Farm. My boys learned about all of the animals there, got to feed them and give them water, and pet the animals, too.

We also liked the fact that the hotel was centrally located to Dutch Wonderland, the Strasburg Railroad, and the Lancaster outlet shopping (all about a 15 minute drive), Hershey Park (about 45 minutes) and was around the corner from a nice supermarket (which we went to numerous times!)

Take a look at some more pictures of the hotel and our stay in Lancaster/Hershey.

Read the full story

Read the first part of my Roadtripping with Nissan and the Whiteface Lodge article.

The Whiteface Lodge is absolutely gorgeous, but the beauty isn’t the thing we enjoyed!  There’s a huge variety of activities that are included with your stay, including:

• Kamp Kanu – a two-hour camp for children aged 3-6 and 7-10.  At the camp, my kids took nature hikes, fed the fish in the pond, made crafts, and colored.
• A private beach less than a mile down the road called the Canoe Club (a quick shuttle ride away) where you can swim, canoe, kayak, and play outdoor sports such as volleyball and badminton
• S’more making by the nightly campfire
• An on-site movie theater, showing three movies a day
• A family game room, including a two-lane bowling alley
• A fitness room, with treadmills, ellipticals, free weights, and Nautilus equipment

We are the type of family that’s typically always on the go, but for this vacation, we relaxed quite a bit, staying on property almost the entire time – enjoying the amenities, swimming, and eating some fabulous food!

For more info on the Whiteface Lodge, visit their website.

My family always travels to Walt Disney World every year, but we like to take a shorter, more local trip in the summer.  This year, we were invited by the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid, NY, to check out the kids’ activities they’ve expanded this year to help make the resort even more family friendly.

The drive from the western suburbs of Boston (where I live) to Lake Placid is about 5 1/2 hours.  Our friends at Nissan offered my family a Nissan Maxima to test-drive on our road trip.  While I was concerned that there may not be ample trunk space – the Maxima is billed as a sports car – the trunk space is actually pretty large.  There was more than enough room for the two suitcases and numerous tote bags we brought with us.

The drive was pretty easy – overall it took about five hours.  The Nissan Maxima was the perfect car for the trip – the included navigational system guided us along the way, and the XM/Sirius radio provided us with hours of entertainment (especially the 80s on 8 station – where I heard “Parents Just Don’t Understand” for the first time in probably 10 years).  We were also impressed with the gas mileage – we made it to Lake Placid on less than one tank of gas, and we even used the air conditioner for part of the trip.  The ride is also super-smooth, something I miss with my older 2004 Toyota Matrix.  Have I mentioned how much I want a Nissan for my next car?  I think the Maxima would work for me, since I prefer smaller cars (now if they’d only make a hybrid Maxima).

I’d seen pictures of the Whiteface Lodge, but I still wasn’t prepared for how gorgeous it is.  The resort doesn’t deviate one bit from its Adirondack style, and I half-expected to see Patrick Swayze teaching dance in the clubhouse.  The Whiteface Lodge offered us a free one-night stay and a discounted media rate for the rest of the stay, and I expected that my family would be given a one-bedroom suite.  But I was wrong!  Our suite was a 3 bedroom/3 bathroom suite with over 1500 square feet of living space!   All of the suites include a full kitchen, so you can prefer meals in your room if you’d like.  We preferred to order room service, and eat at the large dining room table, than eat in the restaurant.

To be continued with part 2 tomorrow, in the meantime, check out my photos on Whrrl.

I’ll be posting more about my trip soon, but in the meantime, check out my pictures on Whrrl…

Although I’m an avid traveler, I still get that jolt of excitement the night before heading on vacation.  Tonight, I’m excited to go, and also looking forward to seeing a new destination and experiencing a new resort.

This beautiful resort is the Whiteface Lodge – located in Lake Placid.  While I did visit Lake Placid many years ago, I haven’t been in probably 25 years, so I’m so excited to see what it’s like.

The resort itself has an amazing assortment of amenities, such as a 24 hour concierge, indoor/outdoor pool, bowling alley, restaurant, lakefront activities and a spa.  We’ll be eating a complimentary breakfast each morning, and tomorrow night, we’ll be dining at their fabulous restaurant.

I can’t wait!

We leave first thing tomorrow, and will be test driving a Nissan Maxima with our family.  I’m happy to be driving a car like this for our trip, because I know Nissan’s have the best features, like built-in GPS and a Bose sound system.

Stay tuned for more details and pictures about our trip!

My family and I live right outside of Philadelphia, a great city filled with tons of amazing, family-friendly things to do. I could go on and on about all of the incredible destinations in the area (and will touch on a few of our favorites throughout this article) but for now I want to focus on two of the most exciting destinations in Philadelphia (yet very different!)… The Four Seasons Philadelphia, in downtown Philadelphia, and Sesame Place, just 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia. My family got to experience both places over the past two weeks and I would love to share our experiences with you!

The Four Seasons Philadelphia
Wow! What a way to travel! the Four Seasons Philadelphia is an incredible, luxury hotel that exceeded all of our expectations. You may wonder… Four Seasons and kids? Does it work? I wasn’t so sure myself until the minute we arrived at the hotel and started to experience all of the amazing little touches that the hotel and staff do for all kids who stay. We got to experience the Family Values Summer Package which is a great option for families wishing to vacation in Philadelphia in style (and on a budget! Yes! At the Four Seasons!)

In addition to the impeccable service when we arrived, my kids were treated to a toy from the Radio Flyer red wagon! They were so excited to be able to pick out a toy (or two!) and immediately felt welcomed by a number of staff who warmly interacted with them. We went upstairs to our adjoining rooms (more on that later!) and discovered so many wonderful little surprises for the kids. They each had child-sized slippers and robes, books and puzzles about Philadelphia on their beds, and bath toys and their names spelled out in bath foam letters in the tub! After our room was turned down, we came back to the room to discover milk and cookies and balloons for the kids (they were in heaven!) and some sweet treats for us, too!

What we loved most about this special Family Values Package is that you get an adjoining room for 50% off, which makes a hotel stay with children SO MUCH nicer. After we put our sons to bed in the adjoining room, we got a chance to relax in our own room without the worry of disturbing our kids. Additionally, the Family Values Package comes with a $100 hotel credit per room per night for each full-priced room. That means a free spa treatment for you, or a meal for your family, or to spend however you wish!

This special Family Values Package is available every day from now through December 31st, so if you are looking for a great, luxurious vacation without breaking the bank, I highly suggest you visit the Four Seasons Philadelphia. You will enjoy wonderful restaurants (we dined at the Continental and loved it!), museums (The Please Touch Museum is amazing for kids, as well as the Academy of Natural Sciences), and other sites and fun attractions in Philly (hop on a Trolley, see the Liberty Bell, Ride the Ducks, and more) while enjoying the best hotel in the city and its amenities (including a beautiful pool). Please note this package is also available in Boston, New York, and DC as well.

Want to see some more? Check out some of our photos from our trip!

Sesame Place
A wonderful Sesame Street themed amusement park for kids of all ages, Sesame Place, right outside of Philadelphia, is a fabulous destination for families. From the minute you walk into this colorful, fun Sesame mega-land, you are surrounded with all of your Sesame Street friends. From character meet-and-greets, to amusement rides, to water slides and parks, to wonderful shows and parades, themed dining and great gift shops, there is so much to do!

My 2 year old loved all of the dry rides, like the Sunny Day Carousel, Big Bird’s Balloon Race, and Grover’s World Twirl. He also loved splashing around in the Rubber Duckie Pond and had a blast in the wading pool (which was huge!) He was dancing and singing at Big Bird’s Beach Party — an adorable show filled with all of his favorite characters! The highlight of the day, though, was meeting his favorite characters: Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Ernie.

For bigger kids, new this summer is The Count’s Splash Castle, a very cool multi-level interactive water attraction that has a HUGE 8 foot tipping bucket. There are also tons of fun water slides (Sesame Streak) , Bert & Ernie’s Slip and Slide, and Sky Splash, a cool family tube ride. Also, the nets & climbs on Cookie Mountain are awesome and a real challenge!

Check out this interactive park map to see all that Sesame Place offers.

There is so much to do at this great park, it is certainly worth the trip for anyone with younger children. Make sure when you visit that you pick up a yummy Elmo cupcake! They were a hit with my kids! Take some time on the Sesame Place website to plan out your visit. Also, make sure you check out any special offers that are currently being advertised. You will have a blast!

I have a large family. With 4 growing kids, we don’t do as many spontaneous road trips. It’s not that my kids don’t travel well. It’s that it is not so easy to find an affordable place for our family to stay. This is why we were thrilled to take on the Northern portion of the Country Inns and Suites Ocean Country drive.

This drive took us from Port Hueneme, California to Ventura with a scenic coastal jaunt to Santa Barbara. It’s a trip we’ve wanted to take for some time. Despite living in Southern California for a decade, we’d never made it up to this area.

While there we made stops at the Ventura Harbor to wander and get dinner, at the Ventura County fair, where we enjoyed the local color and flavor. We spent the day biking around the beach and waterfront in Santa Barbara and ate a fabulous lunch at Stearns Wharf at the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company.

Each night it was so nice to return to our Country Inns and Suites room, which was spacious and comfortable. We stayed in suites that offerred ample space, beds for all the kids (no sharing!) and a kitchenette with microwave, stove, full sized refrigerator and sink etc. Our room in Ventura was more like a two bedroom apartment, than a regular hotel room. My kids wanted to move in. Country Inns & Suites also included breakfast for all each morning. There were waffles, cereal, eggs, bacon & sausage, and more. The hotel also treats guests to a manager’s reception in the evening where snacks (veggies, popcorn, chips) are served.  Much to the kid’s delight, cookies are served throughout the day at the front desk. We also took advantage of the Read it and Return it book lending program in the hotel lobby, reading Peter Pan throughout the journey.

It’s not too late to take that last road trip of the summer, or plan an early fall weekend away. Check out Country Inns & Suites itineraries and know that you will have a great trip, with a comfortable place to land.

This past June we were looking down the nose of a loooong boring summer. We’d snoozed through camp sign up season, feeling rebellious and sick of driving carpool. We vowed we’d go to the beach and pool instead. The lure of staying home and doing “nothing” was strong too. It lasted all of a week. And then I heard the swine call of summer that every parent dreads the most. “Mooooooom. I’m so booooooored!!!”

“Go outside and play,” I responded. As if I was genetically programmed to say this, like my mother and her mother before me.

“Cool,” they said, seeing their big chance to sneak one over on me, ” can we go jump on the neighbor’s trampoline?”

Cue hair standing on end, visions of ambulances and general mom mayhem. I’m the unfun mom. The one who makes her kids ride bikes on the sidewalk and forbids them to jump on the neighbors trampoline.

Of course I swore early on we’d never get a trampoline. Never, ever, ever. This is what happens when you have an ER doc and a neurosurgeon in the family. Your kids wear helmets when they ride bikes, you look askance at sneakers with wheels and you swear off backyard trampolines. You embrace your neuroses.

But then I heard about Springfree Trampolines and one by one my objections were dealt with and dismissed. This isn’t the dangerous head injury-waiting-to-happen trampoline of my youth. In fact, it’s about the closest thing I have to a padded cell in which to toss my 18 month old whirling dervish. For this alone, the trampoline can stay. Honestly, I lay down in there with a good book and let him jump all around me when he gets into that kamikaze mode that usually ends in a headfirst dive off the couch. He gets his yayas out and I use fewer bandaids.

You don’t need me to tell you that jumping on a trampoline is fun. You’re probably not surprised to hear that rebounding is also good exercise. We can all use more of that, kids and adults alike. In this way, Springfree trampolines are like any trampoline. Bouncy, fun, and good for you. But they are also totally different in both construction and safety.

Springfree has eliminated the bulk of all trampoline accidents (impact injuries) by eliminating the springs and poles that usually pose a threat. Even with a thick layer of padding on top of the springs that surround traditional trampolines, impact injuries are common and can be very serious. Likewise, the poles that are traditionally used to hold up the netting (so your kids don’t fall off the trampoline) can cause serious injuries on old-style trampolines. Not so with the bowed, lightweight and flexible rods that hold the Springfree enclosure in place. Check out this video demonstrating the difference between the old style trampolines and Springfree.

Everyone in my family sat gaping wide eyed and slack jawed for a good long time when I told them we were getting a trampoline. They asked me at least five times, ” Are you SURE mom? Are you feeling ok? Can I borrow fifty bucks?”

But here’s the thing: After the kids go to bed at night, it’s MY TURN. My mom never let me have a trampoline. Too unsafe. That was then. This is now, baby! I’ve got air! Summer staycationing is a whole lot more fun when you turn off the TV and get on the trampoline.

I’d be a bum bouncer if I did not share with you a quick chance to win your own Springfree Trampoline Staycation. Bounce on over to Bellaziza’s Picks and comment on her review for a chance to win one.

One last note about our Springfree Trampoline? It’s not just a Trampoline. It’s also a clubhouse. And a perfect place to spend a warm summer night. This sleepover looked so comfortable, even I wanted to spend the night!

Folks travel from different states sometimes to visit places that we have just down the road.  For instance, just within an hour of our home we have Six Flags, The Gaylord Texan, The Fort Worth Zoo, the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium,  huge outlet mall shopping and tons of water parks just to name a few.  So, “Why would we need to travel out-of-state just to have a good family vacation?”, was our question to ourselves.  Turns out that we don’t.  Just up yonder a bit (“yonder” is Texas speak for “up the road a piece”), we discovered an oasis from the dreaded Texas heat.  A veritable cruise ship on land for lack of a better term:  The Great Wolf Lodge located in Grapevine, Texas.  Just across from the Gaylord Texan and within mere minutes of the DFW airport is a waterpark resort like none other in the great state of Texas.

We decided to spend our “staycation” at The Great Wolf Lodge for an extended weekend and decided on one of the numerous themed rooms available.  Upon check-in, we were all issued RFID bracelets that were unobtrusive and could stand up to the wet environment.  These bracelets performed several functions acting as room key, waterpark entry and charging privileges.  So no need to carry around a wallet or purse, just scan your bracelet and “Charge It!”.  Leading up to our room, we chose the Kids Cabin Suite which opened with a flash of our new bracelets.  The room consisted of a Queen-sized bed, pull-out couch and a built-in log cabin.  The cabin consisted of 1 single bed and 1 bunk bed which slept 3 of our kids nicely.  It also contained a small flat-screen television with game hookup as well as on-demand programming.  The kids enjoyed using the bunk beds and the fact that they had their own private space that they could retreat.  The room also featured the normal amenities that one would expect at a kid-friendly establishment, like a refrigerator and microwave.  Although sharing the single bathroom was a chore, there are rooms that have two-bathrooms but we elected to forego the extra bathroom and opt instead for the in-room cabin.

The indoor waterpark is a sight to behold.  Remaining at a constant 84 degrees year-round, the indoor area is great on those cold winter days or when rain keeps you from enjoying your time in the sun.  There are 2 large slides that can hold up to 5 or 6 people at a time and have their own particular rafts/tubes.  One of them is called the Howlin’ Tornado and dumps you into a large funnel where you slide around the large interior before being dumped into the end pool.  The other is called River Canyon Run and is a high-speed rush through the tunnel before landing at the end.  Three other slides allow you to take up your own 1 or 2 person tube for a run.  Although the wait times can sometimes be a pain, the rush is well worth it.

The large play area to the right is called Fort Mackenzie and is great to take the smaller kids for a splashing good time and has an additional 2 slides where you don’t need to use a tube.  The area is filled with various niches where someone is just waiting to pull a lever to splash, spray or drench their latest victim.  It’s all in good fun and let’s you have a turn as well.  It also features a 1000 gallon bucket that tips every few minutes just after the warning dings start fast approaching.  Standing in this splashzone is a great way to start your journey at this indoor entertainment venue.

Great Wolf Lodge has also opened a large outdoor wading pool for kids and parents to enjoy.  Along with the large 2-3 feet deep area, they have included a simulated stone mountain that occasionally rains downs over a sometimes unsuspecting crowd.  Also included for your entertainment are basketball hoops over the water, a lily pad floating obstacle course and 2 slides.  For the parents that like to keep their cool in the Texas sun, cabanas can be rented poolside.  We rented a cabana for both outside and inside on separate days and it was a great escape with our fridge stocked with colds drinks, the latest USA Today and a flat panel television to either catch up on the news or satisfy the kids with Nickelodeon during our lunch time breaks.

There is plenty of activities for the adults to enjoy as well.  They have a Starbucks onsite which was a lifesaver, as well as a spa and a few bars throughout where we could enjoy our favorite mixed drinks.  A trading post contained not only various vacation knick-knacks but also clothing and even some Vera Bradley bags that our 12-year old thought was cool.  For the teen scene they have a GR8_Space area that has Internet connected PC’s for those that like to live and communicate online as well as various gaming systems including XBox360 and Wii.  While we did enjoy the arcade during our stay, we did not get the chance to schedule time for the girls to enjoy a mani-pedi at Scooops ice-cream themed parlor, which they would have loved.  The recent addition of the conference center is a chance for Great Wold Lodge to play host to large groups and give them a home-away-from-home feeling where they can congregate or perform business as usual.

All of the Great Wolf Lodge resorts across the country are Green Seal Certified Silver and with their Project Green Wolf initiative you’re daresome to find a more eco-friendly, family-centric water park in the nation.

Free Photo Gallery by Picturesurf

Woodloch

Throughout the month of August my family has been taking various trips around the state of Pennsylvania, exploring great family destinations and creating awesome vacation memories. Our first trip was to Woodloch, an amazing all-inclusive family resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, very close to New York state. (Here is a quick link to a slideshow of photos from our trip)

From the minute we arrived to the time we left, we were treated like we were part of the Woodloch family, with friendly smiles and attentive service. The owners of Woodloch personally meet and greet each person multiple times during your stay and truly make you feel like you have known them for years. Beyond the amazing hospitality, we couldn’t get over how peaceful and beautiful this place is, with its incredible lake, beautiful trees and trails, and spacious, nicely appointed rooms and suites. The meals were delicious and plentiful, in a very homey and comfortable dining room. Finally, everyone there, from toddlers to grandparents, can stay as relaxed or as busy as they choose, with the vast amount of activities happening all throughout the day.

Read the full story