We started our Maymont outing at The Robins Nature Center. After learning about the ecosystem of the James River, we headed out the back door of the nature center to explore the 100-acre grounds of the historic estate. The Maymont Mansion is the centerpiece of the park. Built in the 1890s, the house was turned into a museum after 32 years of occupancy by the original owners. A well-preserved example of the Gilded Age, the estate is a step back in history to a time when millionaires’ homes had a level of opulence that was simply breathtaking and almost unbelievable. …

When we recently headed to Richmond VA to cheer on my husband in his first marathon, I knew the boys and I would need an activity for after the race while my husband rested back at the hotel. I researched a lot of outdoor activities that would be ok for a fall visit and settled on Maymont, an historic estate whose 100-acre grounds include a public park and gardens, wildlife habitats, and a nature center. The only indoor activity at Maymont that is open during the pandemic is the Robins Nature Center. While I was somewhat leery of doing anything …

Lockdown 2020 has been tough on everyone. We’ve been trying to get out of the house more, exploring local parks and hikes. But sometimes you need more than a few hours away from the house. Hoping to stay ahead of cabin fever (and still away from covid), we wanted to take a long weekend at the beach in early fall when the boys had a few days off from school. Our requirements were pretty minimal – we wanted a house with a private heated pool within walking distance of the beach. Literally any beach. Just to go someplace different, we …

Until last summer, the last time we had driven to NJ was Christmas 2010. It was the last time because it took forever and both boys repeatedly threw up in the car. It was a miserable 12+ hour drive. We were already frequent fliers to NJ (it’s just more practical for our typically short visits) and that awful drive won us over to flying entirely. For the next 9 years all our visits were by air. But last summer I had a hankering for a road trip so we decided to plot out a course to NJ and on to Newport …

On our annual NJ summer visit 4 years ago, we took the kids to Six Flag Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ. One of the boys’ favorite parts was the safari. When I was growing up, the safari was a drive thru, and my main memory of it was the baboons jumping on the hood of the car and playing with the windshield wipers. This was highly entertaining for the kids in the car; not so much for my father. But when we went 4 years ago, the safari had been transformed into a “ride”, similar to Disney’s Kilimanjaro Safari. You …

After visiting with my husband’s family in MD, we continued north to visit my family in NJ. This was yet another “working vacation” for us, but in many ways it was more of a vacation than Lake James because we had family there to help entertain the kids. My parents live about 3.5 miles from the beach and belong to a beach club in Sea Bright, NJ. The boys spent most afternoons at the beach with my mom, enjoying the ocean and the pool and, most importantly, time with their grandmother. I (of course) still tried to mix things up …

The boys were SO excited when their nana told them she had booked a parasailing trip for us during our visit (and their parents were too!). None of us had ever been parasailing before and we were thrilled to give it a try. She booked through OC Parasail. They offer 400, 600 and 800 foot rides, and we did the 400 feet. We waited for the previous group to return (they were running late) and then headed out. There were 9 people in the group – the 5 of us plus two other groups of 2. When we booked we had …

Part of the National Park Service, Assateague Island National Seashore is most famous for its wild horses. While local legend has it that the horses are descendants of shipwreck survivors, the more likely scenario is that farmers brought them to the island to avoid taxes and fencing laws and the once domesticated animals have gone feral over the decades. Whatever their history, they are a unique and amazing sight to behold. While the horses are often the main draw to the island, there is so much more to explore here. My husband grew up in Ocean City and we visit …

We are an active vacation kind of family. We are not a sit-on-the-beach-all-day kind of family. My ideal vacation is going someplace new and seeing or doing something new each day and then ending the day relaxing at a pool or a resort somewhere – all of which sort of runs counter to our annual family beach vacation in Hilton Head. But I absolutely love our annual trip there because of the tradition, because of the time with family, and because it forces me to slow down. Much like everything else in 2020, our Hilton Head trip would not be …

When choosing a destination for our ski weekend, one of the things that appealed to me about Winterplace, WV was the fact that it also offered snow tubing. Our oldest had been skiing before and loved it, but it was our youngest son’s first time and we weren’t sure he would be as enamored with it. I liked having snow tubing as an option for the second day in case he didn’t like or if anyone just wanted to do something different. After some early frustrations, my youngest did really enjoy skiing. But even so, by lunch time on the …