Month: August 2017

We loved The Lake George Escape Campground so much last year we had to stay there again this summer. We were even able to book the same site, within sight of the playground and just a few more steps to the beach. Lake George Escape has tons for kids to do, every week has a different theme. Some the highlights, which can be seen in the video at the bottom of the page, were the waterslide, tubing on The Schroon River, DJ dance party nights, gem mining and of course the pool and playground. The playground was new this year and they actually have two pools: a kiddie pool with small slide and a larger saltwater pool. Dan’s Riverside Grille is right beside the pool and offers hot snacks and cold beverages for both the kids and Mom and Dad.

We drove the short drive into Lake George Village on our second day and went to the small amusement park near Million Dollar Beach and attempted a visit to The House of Frankenstein but shortly up the stairs the kids chickened out. Last year Sarah and Ryan went into Dr. Morbid’s Haunted House with me but this year was a no go. Luckily the cashier took pity on us and gave us a “good for life” ticket to go back. Maybe next year…

It was also nice just to walk around the village. Ava’s leg was in a full cast last year and we were unable to do many things we did this past visit such as our visit to Natural Stone Bridge and Caves and our hike on The Pinnacle Trail (up next). You can watch our day in the village as well as getting a glimpse of Lake George Escape Campground in the video below. Thanks for stopping by.

Natural Stone Bridge and Caves is a network of self guided nature trails located in Pottersville, NY.  Their well groomed but rustic trails take you above and below ground offering views of caves, underground streams and gorges created over 200 years ago.

The kids really had a great time here. It’s an hour long hike with 22 amazing sights along the way. You can also see an old sawmill, do some gem mining and see rare geology as well the largest marble cave entrance in the east.

Check out the video below detailing our trek through this adventure park. Stay tuned as we show you Lake George and The Lake George Escape Campground next. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Camping reservations at Smith Point Beach Campground are akin to purchasing concert tickets. After weeks of trying I secured a water and electric site for four days. My parents and sister live out in Suffolk County and thus were able to visit us each day. It made for a great time, especially for the cousins to be bonding.

The flat paved roads are great for bike and scooter riding and the large playground was sufficient. Bring shade with you, as there’s none of it here. What there is is sand. Plenty of it. We probably swept a half pound of sand from the camper each day.

While out here I took Cooper to the TWA Flight 800 Memorial on one of our morning walks. It’s been over twenty years  since since the mysterious tragedy but this is the first time I’m visiting it. It was a beautiful morning and we were the only ones there. Very solemn. Makes you realize how precious life is and we should be thankful for each and every day we spend on this beautiful Earth.

Naturally the attraction here is the beach. Being able to walk down to the surf from your camper is huge. If waves aren’t  your thing, there is also a small beach on the bay side thats fine for wading. It’s about 2 feet of water for a couple hundred yards out.

My kids spent hours each day playing in the surf and building sand castles. Although it’s not our usual style of camping, you better believe we’re going to to try to book a full hook-up site next summer. The very least, water and electric again.

Check out the video below that we filmed during our beach weekend. We’re heading back to the mountains next on our return to Lake George. Thanks for stopping by.

Santa comes to campgrounds in July. Check around and you’ll see that many campgrounds celebrate sometime during the month. Brook n Wood does a fine job of this. There are many activities centered around the holiday all weekend long, such as Christmas Cookie Decorating. There is also a site decorating contest and Santa’s singalong hayride in which my father-in -law, Mario provides the music. After the hayride we all congregate  in the activity center and Santa hands out gifts to the children. We all look forward to this weekend for months and the kids always have a wonderful time. You can view some the holiday cheer in the video above. We’re off to the beach next, thanks for stopping by.

Sarah, Ava and I were able to attend my annual father/kids camping trip with my work friends this year. Sorry no Ryan this year as I was the only adult supervision as the wives are not invited. I’m happy to say the older kids took in my girls and everybody had a great time even though we did miss mom. The kids were very busy all weekend with their new friends bouncing on the bounce pillow, playing on the playground and splashing and swimming at the splash pad. We had great weather all weekend with the exception of a few hours our last night but it worked out conveniently as Boo Boo and Cindy were having their dance party in the theatre that night. It cleared up for our campfire just in time for marshmallows and spooky stories.

Woodridge Jellystone is not cheap mind you but it’s resort style camping at it’s best. The campground is clean and has a lot of activities and amenities for kids. The splash zone and bouncy pillow entertained the kids for hours and we took a hayride on the second day.  I wasn’t able to shoot much video while I was there as I was alone with the kids but feel free to check out the highlight reel below made possible with additional footage taken by the guys. Stay tuned as we’re back to Brook n Wood next for some more Christmas Cheer. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Santa’s Village is a small, family friendly theme park set in the mountains of New Hampshire. The atmosphere is perfect for young children and the grounds are well manicured and clean. The kids absolutely loved it here!

Christmas music pipes throughout the entire park, the staff is friendly and the price is decent for what you get. We spent the entire day here.

As for the rides, I think we all liked the flume ride, The Yule Log Flume, the best although I took Sarah on their coaster, Rudy’s Rapid Transit, and there may exist a tie between the two.

We also loved the antique cars and I can’t believe Sarah was tall enough to drive her own. Ryan and I watched as she drove off single handedly. My baby all grown up!

There was one feature that I had discounted when planning our visit: The Ho Ho H20 Water Park. We spent our last hours at the park here and the kids were just besides themselves getting splashed and sliding down the water slides! We literally closed the park. Santa’s elves were shutting down the park as we were walking out.

Santa’s Village has a deal that if you arrive at the park after 3 pm admission for another day is free. Not if, but when we come back here we plan to take advantage of that maybe splashing at the water park for the partial day and coming back for the rides on the next.

Our video above captures some of the highlights and we highly recommend anyone visiting the White Mountains area with small children take in this attraction. Thanks for stopping by.

Guidebooks, guidebooks, guidebooks. I can’t stress enough on consulting guidebooks and reading reviews before you book a campground, especially if you’re staying for a week. That’s how we found this gem, and we’re not the only ones who think so.  I called back in January during their first set of office hours and they only had two sites left available. Turns out most campers booked when checking out the previous year. We did so ourselves when checking out after our recent stay.

We stayed over the week of Independence Day, Mountain Lake has their own fireworks show over the lake. There wasn’t a bad seat in the house, we were practically right under the fireworks.

Mountain Lake has a top notch pool area with two waterslides that we spent hours on each day racing each other down. If you’re looking for a beach they have that too. We swam out to the floating dock and rented a paddle boat near the end of our stay.

They have a great playground and camp store. If I had to only disclaim one thing, it would be that the hills in the campground might be a little tough to peddle  bicycles, especially for the younger kids. Check out the following link and our video below highlighting The Fourth of July and our stay at Mountain Lake Campground.

As I said above, we’re coming back next year for the same week and are looking forward to it. Besides, we feel we left a lot undone at Franconia Notch so we’re coming back for that too. Stay tuned as we have some holiday cheer in store for you up next. Thanks for stopping by.