South Georgia Zoos Offer a Walk on the Wild Side

October 26, 2012 by 5 Comments

What’s not to love about a day at the zoo? These four zoos in South Georgia offer great day trips with educational components for the kids- great if you are a local, or on vacation in the area.

The Oatland Island Wildlife Center of Savannah will provide your family with memorable experiences
that will last well beyond your trip. Striving to spark a lifelong love of nature and its inhabitants,
the Center lets your children experience any of the forty hands-on activities available to them, such
as marsh ecology boat tours, star programs, and guided tours—all with the goal of deepening their
understanding of the surrounding flora and fauna. Locals can even enroll their children in summer
day camp, which feature stories, crafts, up-close-and-personal observations, and hands-on scientific
experiments to help children experience and understand nature’s phenomena. Contact: (912) 395-1212;
www.oatlandisland.org

At Pine Mountain’s Wild Animal Safari—Georgia’s drive-through animal park—you and the family
can go on safari from the comfort of your own vehicle, in a rented Zebra Van, or on the bus service
offered by the zoo and led by a tour guide. With a park [Read more…]

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5 Great Family Winter Vacation Ideas

October 23, 2012 by 5 Comments

Winter is a great time to take advantage of the season and get your family into an environment that it’s never experienced before or doesn’t get to experience very often. Wintertime is a great opportunity to use some of those vacation days and spend your time snuggling up with those that are the most important to you as the days get colder and shorter at the same time. Vacation is a blast when you’re making the best of your cold temperatures, and we’ll talk about some of the best ideas for you and your family when you see that it’s starting to get colder out. It’s easier than you might have thought to get a great vacation out of the coldest time of the year!

1. The Cabin in the Woods. Perhaps the most classic winter vacation idea, you can always go with the good, old-fashioned cabin in the woods. There are plenty of locations that will make cabin rentals an easy reality when you and your family want to get out, and a low-tech vacation experience is a great way to bond with those to whom you’re closest. You can go as modern or as rustic as you want — your cabin can be equipped with modern amenities, or you can try and have a screen-free weekend with a deck of cards and a few good books. The possibilities are endless when you’ve got your very own cabin in the snow for a week or so.

2. New York City! The city that never sleeps is a blast during the winter, and the closer you go to Christmas, the more festive and interesting things have a tendency [Read more…]

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Sesame Place #Spooktacular @SesamePlace

October 16, 2012 by 11 Comments

Halloween themed destinations often fall into two categories- scary/non-kid friendly, or family friendly to the point of boredom for adults. As always, Sesame Place has made a wonderful middle ground with “The Count’s Halloween Spooktacular”. The Spooktacular event transforms Sesame Place from the summer amusement park destination for kids of all ages to a Halloween themed wonderland of Sesame Street proportions.


The Spooktacular starts with an already cool park (but now without water rides), then adds Trick or Treating and special Spooktacular rides, decorations, and attractions. These include an Un-Haunted Castle maze, which is adorable to roam through, and without a single scare is great for kids of all ages with tons of interactive discoveries (and buttons to push) and fun learning experiences.

There is also Abby Cadabby’s Magical Halloween Maze, which is a fun hay-bale maze full of sparkle-riffic fun for kids. The story behind the attraction is that you and your kids must help find Abby’s missing wand and of course, experience the hijinks that occur in the process.

There is also a wonderful family themed hay ride with a Sesame Street character in their own costume as well. When we went we had Bert dressed as a farmer. During the ride there was singing and stories and laughing [Read more…]

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My Little Farmer

October 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Here are a few photos from our recent visit to the Lazy Acres Alpaca Farm in Bloomfield, NY. More to follow, but wanted to share some of our fun!

Alpaca…curious

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Rental Homes Vs. Hotels for Large Family Vacations

October 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

When you’re getting the whole family ready for a big trip, there’s a lot to take care
of, and it can be tough making sure that all of it gets taken care of right. Whether you’re
a single parent or not, coordinating a vacation involving a lot of people involves a ton of
moving parts, from packing lists to lodging arrangements, everything has to be perfectly
planned and flawlessly executed. Nothing’s worse than a vacation gone awry, so we’re
going to talk about some of the finer points of deciding whether or not you should go with
a rental home or a hotel for when you take your flock on a vacation.

Cost will, of course, always be an important factor in your decision, but we’re
going to talk about some of the other elements first, and for a good reason. The cost
advantage between a rental home and a hotel can vary based on a pretty wide variety of
factors, so we’ll begin by discussing some of the more practical needs that might factor
into whether or not you opt to go with a rental home or find some nice hotel deals.

Age factors into this decision pretty significantly, as a hotel might be a better option
[Read more…]

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The Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center

August 28, 2012 by 4 Comments

One of the nicest resorts we have been to in a long time, the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center was a vacation all in itself. With lovely rooms, several restaurants and dining options right on site, as well as shopping available, and it’s own pool and water park, you won’t need to leave the campus to have a great time. Beautiful gardens with running rivers and waterfalls, fish (including mangrove snappers, redfish, snook, stingrays and tarpon) and koi fish, alligators, turtles, and other aquatica abound in over 360,000 gallons of water, you may forget you are indoors as you [Read more…]

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Paddle Boarding in New Smyrna Beach

August 28, 2012 by 5 Comments

Tired of the crazy, frenzied, tourist rush? I love theme parks as much as the next gal (maybe more!) but sometimes, you just have to get away. My son, a friend, and I took a day trip out to New Smyrna Beach to paddle board at East Coast Paddle, and it was one of the highlights of our trip. Spending the day out in the quietude, in nature, and with only 5 people visible to me (including myself) was a welcome break from the crush of crowds you typically find at most attractions.

vacation in florida

About and hour and a half from Kissimmee, East Coast Paddle is an award winning-company, run by a husband and wife team. Proud parents themselves, they are excellent with children. Mine was smitten with wife, Cheryl, who toured about with him on her board the morning through. Cheryl, who has a doctorate in addition to her company and expert paddle boarder-status (and is a boat captain as well- yes, she makes us all look bad, LOL) also acted as tour guide in the river in New Smyrna for us, and was more then patient as we found our balance (or didn’t) and with my son, who kept dangling his feet in the water (which I am sure did not make steering easy for her!) Her husband, Tim, joined us in the beginning, and gave us our “lessons” on how to properly use the paddles and boards before we got on.

I think I annoyed him mildly, as I was only half paying attention (my son was asking a million questions, and also since he was on a boat and wandering, I was nervous- even though he was standing with Cheryl and I was an arm’s length away, LOL. What can I say, nervous mommy!) When we got on the boards, I found myself not having much of an issue finding my balance or keeping it. As a yoga lover for many years, I think that helped a lot, and did a fondness for kayaking. My son got right on Cheryl’s board, and stayed there, no problem. How she kept her balance with his wiggling is beyond me, though! My friend had a rougher start, but then he found his groove and we were on the way.
[Read more…]

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Wingate by Wyndham- Universal Location

August 28, 2012 by 3 Comments

If you are looking for a hotel that is close to Universal Studios, Orlando, and the airport, feel free to check out Wingate by Wyndham Universal and Convention Center. Great for business or pleasure- or a mix of both- the Wingate is a great place to stay that won’t break the bank.

I am traveling with my son, who is 5. I know this is terrible of me, but I really liked the fact that there was an IHOP, KFC, and Taco Bell in the parking lot of the hotel. He almost never eats fast food, but when on vacation, [Read more…]

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