My boys have long loved looking for shark’s teeth on the beach so I decided to try to find a good spot in NJ to go hunting for them. Imagine my surprise when a google search for NJ shark teeth popped up not a beach but a creek 15 miles inland. Big Brook Preserve is located in Colts Neck, NJ and is home to fossils that date back to the late Cretaceous Period (67-74 million years ago). During the Cretaceous period, NJ was submerged underwater. Prehistoric animal remains that were left on the sea floor became buried over time under the …

We’ve made the trip between Ocean City, MD and central NJ dozens of times. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve said “we should try the ferry one trip.” Well, we finally did it! The Cape May – Lewes Ferry goes between… Cape May, NJ and Lewes, DE obviously. 🙂 Connecting the tip of NJ to the nearest point across the Delaware Bay, the 85 minute ferry ride takes both automobiles and walk-on passengers across the bay. A one-way tickets costs $37 per vehicle and $10 per person ages 14 and up (children 6-13 are $4 and under 6 …

After years of driving past the Ocean Downs Casino while visiting family in Ocean Pines, we finally went to watch the horses race. Although the casino is the main attraction at Ocean Downs, that is obviously not a family-friendly activity. But watching the ponies definitely is! We arrived a little early and were surprised at all of the family-oriented activities setup in the grandstand. Both a magician and a juggler were on-hand to entertain the kids, and they both really delivered. Cascading Carlos is a two time Guinness World Record holder for his amazing juggling feats. His first record is …

I grew up going skiing in Vermont every February and was lucky enough to go skiing in Colorado and Utah a few times in my young adulthood. Living in the south, our skiing options are nowhere near as impressive. We’ve taken the kids to various ski resorts in North Carolina and West Virginia but felt like they were ready for the next step. We started looking at options out west for a President’s Day weekend trip and decided on Keystone, CO. Keystone boasts three mountain peaks with a combined 130 trails. Located an hour and a half from Denver at …

For a variety of reasons, we haven’t flown from NC to NJ to visit family since the pandemic started. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t visited! It just means that we’ve driven. A lot. We normally like to break up the drive but are starting to run out of midway points of interest. Charlottesville was one of the last remaining places on our idea list of stops so we headed there for an overnight on our drive back to NC after Christmas. We decided to leave NJ early enough to visit Monticello that afternoon. The historic site has several ticket …

My youngest loves all things related to animals and really enjoyed his first horseback riding experience at Cedar Creek Stables in Lake Lure, NC. Last summer he had really wanted to ride horses while we were on our annual trip to Hilton Head, but the stables were closed due to the pandemic. So we were thrilled to find that Lawton Stables was open again this summer. We didn’t have any other takers on this adventure among the siblings and cousins so we made it a mom-son outing. At $75 per person, it was a little pricey so I was happy …

This was our 8th summer visiting Hilton Head Island with my extended family, and although the majority of our annual visit is spent relaxing together at the beach or by the pool, we usually try to do an outing or two while we are there. It had been at least 5 years since we had gone on a boat ride so we decided to do a sunset dolphin cruise. There are many options for dolphin cruises leaving from various points around the island. We narrowed it down to a private sunset cruise and ultimately booked with Dolphin & Nature Tours. …

I have long wanted to take the kids to Colonial Williamsburg. When I was looking for a mid-way stopping point on our way home from our annual summer road trip to NJ, I felt like we had covered almost everything on both the mountain route and the I-95 / I-85 route. So even though Williamsburg was off the path a bit, I figured we could stay two nights to make the stop worthwhile. Despite horrendous traffic, we made it in time to go on the Haunted Williamsburg tour our first night. We had a full day to explore Colonial Williamsburg …

There are several ghost tours available in the Williamsburg area, but we decided to go with the official tour run through Colonial Williamsburg. They have exclusive access to the buildings and restricted outdoor spaces, and their storytellers are costumed, adding an authentic period feel to their stories. Their tour is also kid friendly for ages 8 and up. Two tours are offered nightly, one at 7pm and one at 8:30pm. Tickets cost $19 for adults and $12 for kids. Since our kids are older, we went with the later time, hoping the darkness would add to the spooky ambiance. We …