• Travel

    Bruce County Travel – Exploring the Bruce

    August 19, 2013 - By 

      All the summers of my childhood were spent with my Mom and brother on the beaches along the Bruce Peninsula. They were leisurely Bruce County summers spent sunning ourselves, swimming, growing.   Exploring Bruce County Travel Attractions  From the time my kids were little, we maintained the Bruce County summer tradition. This year, before we headed up to the beach for a week at a rented cottage I checked out a few web sites to see what was new and what we might add to our week. Tweens are fun to travel with and mine have been visiting the…

  • Travel

    Blue Mountain, Collingwood Scenic Caves

    June 27, 2013 - By 

    My kids have the hearts of explorers. So last week when we had the chance to stay at Blue Mountain Resorts, Westin Trillium House for a family blogger retreat and we saw that a visit to Collingwood Scenic Caves was on the schedule, well I knew we had to bring walking shoes and take photos. When I was a child my Mom drove us to Collingwood for family vacations in the summer. I vividly recall exploring Collingwood Scenic Caves and the Blue Mountain Resort area way back in the late 1980s. Collingwood was one of my Mom’s favourite Ontario destinations…

  • Travel

    #WordlessWednesday My Parasailing Family #Travel

    June 12, 2013 - By 

    My family is daring. I am not. This is the photo I took of them getting ready to go parasailing. Five minutes after this photo the three of them were flying down the beach watching sea turtles and such from way too high for this Mom. Thank goodness the husband has no issue with heights at all.

  • adults_only_travel
    Travel

    Making the Time for Adults Only Travel

    January 4, 2013 - By 

    Weird but true. We travel a lot actually and did so before we had kids. But ever since having children we have not been able to find the time to just cut loose and go somewhere as adults. You know adults only travel. Well, maybe that’s not such a weird story after all. I am sure a few of you have a similar story. Finding child care is hard. In fact when special needs kids are involved it is actually almost impossible.   But soon we will go away together just the two of us for a grownup trip. Reason…

  • active family travel - family - parenting - Travel

    Addalock Review – Safe on the Go #Travel Lock

    April 30, 2012 - By 

    Addalock Review   Imagine a lock on the go. Addalock is a simple effective little invention you can toss in your suitcase and carry with you anywhere. When I heard about the device I was interested because safety is a huge priority here and because I have a child with special needs who wanders. Now, I am pretty sure that Addalock wasn’t intended necessarily as a special needs tool, but I can see useful applications here. My daughter from a very young age could get out any door and had very little impulse control, so we were hypervigilant, and we…

  • Stratford Festival Warehouse Tour
    family - Travel

    Fun Tour For Drama Queens and Kings: Stratford Festival Warehouse Tour #travel

    September 19, 2011 - By 

    Stunning hats, caps, crowns and bonnets One of the highlights of our summer was a day trip to Stratford, Ontario. Just under one hour from London, Ontario and not too far from Detroit (two and a half hours about) by car, there is a good deal to see and do in the pretty town of Stratford. This theatre town is well known for its lovely scenery, its trademark swans and world class theatrical productions. Since my children both are very dramatic and my eldest acts with Original Kids Theatre Company we were eager to explore the city. This year we…

  • Travel

    The Thrill of Last Minute Travel

    June 25, 2011 - By 

    My kids, my husband and I have had a lot of adventures and they have been successful and fun, save for one very difficult flight back from Jamaica a couple of years ago when my youngest who has sensory processing disorder, had a major meltdown at 30,000 feet in the air. But we dealt with it and moved on. (And so did some of the passengers sitting nearby.) My daughter was very tired and frankly a flight attendant might have avoided the whole panicky episode if he hadn’t been so insistent that my darling girl cram her blanket and favourite teddy bear into…

  • Travel

    Wings of Paradise: Family Travel and a Butterfly Rescuer

    August 31, 2010 - By 

    This summer you will want to check out this little gem near Cambridge. Wings of Paradise Butterfly Conservatory is a perfect day trip for kids who are school aged. First catch of the day. Payton lands one easily at Wings of Paradise near Cambridge. Ainsley waited and waited. At first the butterflies swirling around her head were really making her nervous. Then she started to get a bit more comfortable and, when her sister proudly landed one carefully on her finger, well, my competitive six-year-old was not be to outdone. Here little sister finally had her moment. The Blue Morpho…

  • family travel

    Bruce County Museum Prehistoric Sea Monsters

    August 26, 2010 - By 

    Last year I spent some time blogging about the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Centre in Southampton.  At that time there was an amazing dinosaur exhibit. This year, when we once again found ourselves back at the cottage, we wondered how they might top last year’s animatronic dinos and BBC film. Well, somehow they did it with prehistoric sea monsters larger than life. (See Payton below.) If you are still heading for the beach between now and September 6th, when the exhibit ends, you should find a way to visit this one. It was well worth it and more than…

  • family travel

    FDR and Jamaica

    December 10, 2009 - By 

    FDR Resorts are excellent family vacation destinations and while I have never yet made it there in person I can’t wait until the time we are able to swing this trip. Jamaica is a fantastic family vacation destination and FDR Resorts has been recommended to me by many travel agents over the years. While some shy away from Jamaica for fear of high crime rates, it is entirely safe as long as you take some precautions. We travelled to Jamaica last year with our children and stayed near Falmouth in Starfish Trelawny. We loved the food and our family resort had…