Leesburg Animal Park and overcoming fears!

We go to Leesburg Animal Park about once a year.  It could be because the Great Zucchini is doing a show there, or we got a good deal on Certifikid.  They have recently added a new indoor location with an art room and a HUGE Mcdonalds-esqe play structure.  They also have some animals and have an interactive theatre where they do shows there.  I am not going to chat much about all the other stuff...what I want to talk about is how much my baby has grown up!  Not sure who reads this, and not sure who knows, but he has not taken well to animals.  He runs when animals larger then a medium sized dog come up to him and try to sniff him to say hello.  He starts to run, so they start to chase him and he just does not like it.  So you could see that this would be a problem in the open feeding range of a petting zoo.  He would never let the animals eat out of his cup, he would loosely hold it and it would fall out of his hands, and I think he would be relieved that he didn't have to do it anymore.  Things seem to be changing in our world.  The last time we went there, he went right in to the open range and fed the goats, who just about knock you over!  He was even upset with the larger ones that bump the smaller ones out of the way and tried to make sure the smaller ones got some food to.  Here are some pictures of that day.  I was very excited to see him in there!  

Can't really explain my kids....at all.

So today we had a doctor appt for my oldest.  The run of the mill-annual check up.  One that takes 5 min with the doctor, but at least 1 hour of my time, because we have nothing better to do.  The kids are off school this week for Thanksgiving, so I had to drag both kids to the doctors office.  This has been a task I have hated for  years even with one kid.  How do you keep a kid entertained for almost an hour?  How do you keep them from complaining and asking when the doctor is coming in and quite frankly from bouncing off the walls.  No idea how I did it today, but we had a phenomenal doctors visit today.  And what was the magic combination you ask--spatulas.   Yup, the ones you use to flip your pancakes with.  Just before we left, I was putting away the dishes and my oldest asked if he could play with the spatula, I said sure.  He goes and shows it to his brother who in turn, thankfully wants a different spatula--a shiny one.  So they are playing happily with Spatchy and Shiny and I say it is time to go to the doctors.  They ask if their new friends can come along...why not, the more the merrier!!!  So off we trudged to the doctors with the boys in t-shirts, shorts and boots along with their new trusty side kicks--spatulas!  I had one rule--they do not hit people.  I thought this would get blown up in the car.  It didn't.  So they sat in the waiting room watching the movie with their new friends.  I was put in charge of Spatchy while his owner was getting examined.  The doctor came in, did her thing, he got dressed, got his friend back and was ready to go!  While I chatted that last few things with the doctor, the kids decided to run down the hall, passing everyone.  And everyone responded with 'Why do they have a spatula?'  And I responded--'it is what got them out the door this morning!'  In this season of Thanksgiving--I am thankful for these 2 little guys who embrace life in their own little ways and make it a brighter place for me! 

Our vacation to...wait for it....Ohio!

So, our vacation to Ohio started out as a reunion weekend.  Since we are at least an 8 hour drive from there, I had the great idea to just stay for the whole week.  My husband was a bit skeptical of my choice of vacation location, but after looking I found some fun stuff for us to do.  Even if he won't admit it--he had fun as well!  We were very close to Sandusky, Oh.  Which if anyone is roller coaster saavy that is the home of the Rockin' Roller Coast that is Cedar Point Amusment Park.  The idea to stay there for the week and go the that park was the first idea and pretty  much what fueled my ambition to go there.  But after it was all booked and I was looking at heights and prices, I realized that my kids can do the same thing at the Six Flags by our house, and have just as much fun for a fraction of the cost, so that will have to wait until they are older.  So, I surfed the web for a bit trying to find things and didn't have the best of luck to find thing.  Then I had a thought--'hmmm, there are Groupons for our area, I bet there are Groupons for close to that area!' And I was right.   I found 2 great deals on 2 venues the the kids would LOVE!  The rest of the week, we visited lakes and islands and just had alot of fun together as a family.  So here is a quick rundown of our Ohio-an adventures!  

African Wildlife (drive-thru) Safari

I saw this place on some of the searches I did for the area, but the priced were o~u~t~r~a~g~e~o~u~s, I thought, so I just put it on the back burner.  I knew my kids would love it!  Who wouldn't love feeding animals out of your window.  I remember seeing the vinyl top of a car being ripped off by monkeys at one of them when I was a kid and I just had to share this experience with my kids!  Now--enter Mr. Groupon and Bam!  Mission accomplished!  At close to 75% of the savings off the original price--I can share this magic moment with my kids!  And my parents! And my niece and nephew!  My kids loved it.  Derek loved feeding the animals and Jared loved taking pictures Derek feeding the animals--he enjoyed it a little bit though!  But it pretty much was a bunch of field deer, bison, elk and a couple of zebras and giraffe's.   They also has a small walk through safari, free camel rides, pig races and an animal encounter show that entertained the kids as well.  We were able to go through the drive thru 2 times and it was entertaining the whole way through! 

Liberty Aviation Museum

This museum was right outside the gates of our mobile community where we stayed.  The price was right so we thought we would stop there for a bit.  It wasn't huge, but had alot on the history of aviation and some cool historic planes.  I didn't think the kids would remember much about this, but they have talked about the planes they saw a few times since we have been there.  So it was worth it.  We even got root beer floats at the 50's diner attached to the museum! 

Maui Sands Indoor Water Park

This was one of my good finds on Groupon. It made a visit to an indoor water park extremely affordable.  And when you are looking for something to entertain kids ages 5-12--this is an excellent fit.  All the kids could swim and do most of the slides, so we had a super fun day here, and now it keeps the kids from asking about Great Wolf Lodge all the time!  Even at my kids height, they were able to do some of he body slides and all but one of the tube slides.  However, they couldn't do the lilly pads!?  But they had a vortex pool and hot tub that kids all floated around in like manatees to make up for it.  And the bonus of this day--my parents stayed back and did our laundry!  

Kelleys Island

This part of Ohio has alot of islands off the shore placed in Lake Erie.  Due to the price of the Ferry's (no groupon for that one!) we decided on one island--Kelleys Island.  One of the features this island has is a Glacial Groves monument.  A location where you can see where the glaciers came through the area and marked up the ground around it.  While it wasn't as big as I would have thought, it was still pretty cool to see some rock that age preserved!  Most of the islands there have a great night life, but since we were there with our kids that just wasn't our cup of tea this trip so we decided to try our hand at Geocaching.  It has been something Joe has wanted to do for a while and with the technology of smart phones it makes it extremely easy to hunt for treasures these days!  We went on a mile or so hike along the edge of the island and walked on rock cliffs to find our treasures but it was worth it!  After those adventures including huge ice cream cones and mini golf, we decided it was time to hit the beach!  

Lake Erie

This area is blessed to have great beaches along the Lake Erie coast.  One of the nice things is that the water never really gets to deep for the kids in the swimming areas.  Our kids like swimming at Lake Erie more then the pond at our resort because of the waves.  So we spent more time in the lake then we did at the resort.  The water and air was the perfect temperature and the kids loved it and swam and played in the sand and swam and played in the sand, every time we hit a beach.  It brought back awesome memories of me and my cousins playing on the beaches of Brigantine, NJ where my grandparents used to live.  

 

Our latest adventure---camping and RV livin'!

We just spent the last week at Tall Timbers Resort and Campground.  We needed to find a place central to Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina--Sandusky, Oh is as about as central as it can get!  I started researching and found this resort.  We needed to accomodate 27 people--8 family units consisting of 16 adults and 11 children under the age of 16.   I came across Tall Timbers who rents out RV's in their RV park, and has primitive tent camping sights for those who wanted to 'rough' it.  Looking at their website I learned there was a stocked lake you could fish from and also swim in.  In the swimming area they  had a Wibit inflatable water playground as well.  What is a Wibit--I will tell you in a second.  They also have a decent playground that kept all the kids entertained!  It included a merry go round and a basketball court with hoops at different levels, so all the kids were able to play basketball.  There was an awesome field there to fly kites! We ended up renting 2 RV's and 4 campsites for the weekend, and I decided that we would just stay the whole week and vacation in the area.   We stayed in a tent site for the weekend and moved to an RV/park model for the rest of the week.  Each site has a fire ring and picnic table.  It was a blast to make s'mores or moon pies with the kids every night.  It was a fun, quiet place to visit away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but not to far of a drive to get to alot of the attractions of the area.  If you are looking to visit the part of the states, I would check it out!  They also have alot of events going on.  They had a viewing of the 'Lego Movie' and craft time that the all the kids enjoyed, and my dad enjoyed the yard sale that the seasonal members participated in.   It was a pleasant alternative to a hotel, and a chance to meet some new people!

Wibit Water Playgrounds---it is an inflatable obstacles for the water.  My kids loved them!  They are decent swimmers in our swimming pool, but in a 10 foot lake with no wall or ladder, I was a bit worried.  They had a blast though and enjoyed every minute of it!

Stay tuned to see our adventures of swimming in Lake Erie, feeding wildlife out of our cars, indoor water parks and more!  

Things to do with pre-schoolers while school aged kids are still in school and over the summer

Here is a list that I have compiled of affordable things to do with your pre-schoolers.  My youngest is done with pre K on May 16th, my oldest doesn't finish 1st grade until June 18th.  That is alot of time on my hands to fill with my 5 year old.  I don't have a schedule of what I want to do when, but this is the list that I will be using when I think 'What are we going to do today?'  I will break the list down by days first since certain things only happen on certain days.  At the end, I will list other stuff that there is to do outside of that.  This could be useful for the entire summer.

To start off this is a blog that I go to find new and fun places to visit: family fun in maryland and beyond

Monday:
Skate Zone in Crofton, Tot Rock & Roll (rent skates or bring your own ride on), 10-2, $4/child (will probably only run through Memorial day.
http://www.sk8zone.com/

Fairlands Gymnastics-- This is a gymnastics arena in Burtonsville, Md.  They open up their arena for ages walking-6 years. 1 hour for open gym time.  There is a nice boundless playground with a large sand box there as well great to have a picnic afterwards.  Mon/Wed 10:30 - 11:30 $5/child
open gym at fairlands gymnastics

Tuesday:
Fairlands open gym: 11:30 - 12:30 (see Monday for description)

Regal Cinema Summer Movie Express: Movies at Regal Cinema, Waugh Chapel, $1 movies on tues/wed over the summer beginning June 24.

Wednesday:
Robinson Nature Center: A new nature center in Columbia.  There are alot of interactive displays, a play room and a walk through nature that makes you feel the size of a field mouse.  Closed Mon and Tue.  Free on Wednesday.
Robinson Nature Center

Fairlands Gymnastics: 10:30 - 11:30

Regal Cinema Summer Movie Express (see link below)

Thursday:
Fairlands Gymnastics: 11:30 - 12:30

Friday: Working on finding things that have deals on Friday's.

Other useful links:
Kids skate free: free coupons to use at local skating rinks: kids skate free
Kids bowl free: free tickets to use at some of the local bowling alleys: kids bowl free
Regal Summer Movie Express: Regal Cinema Summer Movie Express
Cinemark Summer Movie Club house: $1 movies at the Arundle Mills Movie theatre, the list hasn't been posted yet.
North Arundel Aquatic Center: North Arundel Aquatic Center
Pump it up: Pump It Up Calendar
NASA Goddard Visitor Center: Small visitor center that you can visit for free. NASA Goddard Visitor Center
Patuxent Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center:  patuxent wild life refuge
Rollie Pollies in Crofton: Check open gym times: rollie pollie schedule
Eco-Adventures: A new location in Millersville that you can interact with animals.  eco adventures drop in time
Currently an amazon local deal for EcoAdventures: amazon local deal (may be expired)
Play n' Learn Playground Super store:  This is a playground store that has made an arena of their sales area with at least 6 playground models, 3 trampolines and a small basketball area.  $6 for 2 hours.  Play n' Learn superstore
Rainbow Systems Playground super store: They to have opened up their show room for open play.  There are more structures, no trampolines and basketball.  Yes, it is located about 2 blocks from play n learn.  I have been there one time, and that is it, my kids like the trampolines.  I believe it is $6/2 hours, it is not advertised as well, so I would advise calling before you go.  Rainbow systems super store
Bass Pro Shop offers an informational and crafty kind of summer program.  We have done it in conjunction with the movies offered at Cinemark.  The info isn't up yet, but here is the link--hopefully it will work when the information becomes available: bass pro shops summer camp

Playgrounds that I like and why:
High Ridge Park: no swings, secluded, rubber ground (no mulch), short paved walking trail, close public restroom, picnic tables, open field for sports/kite flying high ridge park
North Laurel Community Center Park: mostly fenced in, no mulch, has some different structures. north laurel community center park
Hilton Area Tire Park at Patapsco State Park: Playground using recycled tires, large, different kinds of structures, small nature center (if open), short nature hikes, onsite public restrooms.  hilton area tire park

Here are links to some great playgrounds that are more then a 20 minute drive:
Clemyjontri Park
Wheaton Regional Park
South Germantown Adventure Playground
Cabin John Regional Park


I regularly scan certifkid.com, groupon, living social and amazon local for deals and discounts on local attractions.

Fort Meade offers has some great playgrounds at Burba Lake Park, and have $1 bowling days on Thursdays.

Orioles Season Opener

While alot of people in my family are sports fans, and I have played sports all my life, me and my husband are not really sports fans.  But since my kids have been born and raised in Maryland they have been drilled with the Orioles and Ravens from day one.  Not that they watch the games, but they are excited to hear about them, or drive into the city and see the stadiums.  We had planned to go to some games in the future, but ended up going a bit sooner then we thought.  The Orioles decided (or whoever the powers that be) that the first game would be dedicated to the members of the military.  They asked Fort Meade to rally some kids to help with the opening ceremonies at the game.  We were lucky enough to be one of those families. We really had no idea what was going to be happening until it happened.  And what happened was just magical for the kids!  All the kids, about 80 of them, lined an orange carpet coming from center field.  Each child held a flag and waved it as the players ran down the carpet.  They even got to meet and hang out with the Oriole mascot.  It was a beautiful day for baseball that day and great day for the kids to enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Here are some links to the opening day ceremonies: 

Baltimore Sun Paper

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-orioles-opening-day-2014-pictures-pg,0,7417331.photogallery?index=bal-orioles-game-033114-15-20140331

Fort Meade Soundoff paper: (you can see the kids in some of the pictures, and we are pretty sure our oldest is the one hugging the Oriole) 

http://www.ftmeadesoundoff.com/sports/11830/fort-meade-children-celebrate-opening-day-with-orioles/