Mom’s Talk Q&A: Seeking Salvation In a Short Vacation

Q: I am in desperate need of a vacation that gets me out of New Jersey, but does not require that I hop on a plane, brood in tow. Can you recommend a few fun weekend trips that I can take with my family?

A: I completely understand where you are coming from. However, I would try to keep an open mind regarding plane trips. We recently booked a long-overdue vacation (thank you American Express membership miles) to Atlantis, Paradise Island in The Bahamas (www.atlantis.com; 1-888-877-7525); a veritable recreation of the ancient city, and home to the world’s largest open-air marine habitat, with tons of fresh and salt water pools and cascading waterfalls. There is ample fine dining on the premises (Nobu, here we come), and we can book a sitter for those nights we plan to hit the casino. Although my two-year-old is a year too young for the kid’s club, she can still enjoy the pools, watch them feed the fish, build a stuffed animal, make a pottery craft and take a slow tubing ride down the river with mommy and daddy. I plan to head to the spa for a massage, and my husband…well, let’s just say he has a date with The Leap of Faith, a water ride that boasts a 60-foot near perpendicular plunge ending in a clear acrylic tunnel submerged in a shark-filled lagoon. At this rate, I’m going to need several massages!

If you are dead set against flying, and need to get out of state to save your “state of mind,” look no further than Pennsylvania, just a short drive away.

 The Crayola Factory, Easton www.crayola.com/factory; 610-515-8000

This hands-on discovery center for kids and (bigger kids, like you, mom) is the perfect way to explore the magic of light and color, experiment with art techniques and engage in creative personal development experiences targeted to improve social interaction, self-expression and gross motor skills At the Crayola Color Carousel, young artists can create an abstract art work using more than 100 different crayon colors; at other areas kids create sculptures from molding mud, draw with chalk on the sidewalk, and paint on one side of a glass wall, while another child paints the other side and they both observe how the color blue, for example, looks against the color yellow. For the two and under crowd there is a soft play area that includes a crawl space, oversized puzzle pieces and interactive panels.

Sesame Place, Langhorne www.sesameplace.com; (1-866-GO-4-ELMO)

If you’re heading here, you’re already “on your way” to the ideal interactive experience for children two years and older. Kids have the option of choosing from over three dozen activities, including water attractions such as Sky Splash; live stage shows; the “Rock Around the Block” musical parade; the thrilling Vapor Trail roller coaster; and greetings by Sesame Street characters throughout the day (hello, Elmo and Big Bird). The recently renovated Count’s Splash Castle is a multi-level water play attraction featuring a 1,000-gallon, eight-foot tipping bucket, multiple water slides, water curtains, hydro-blasters and water wheels. My daughter is a huge Elmo fan, so we are so totally there this summer! 

Woodloch Pines Resort, Hawley www.woodloch.com; (1-800-WOODLOCH)

Situated on a private lake, the 250-acre family resort offers a pre-K activity center, boat rides, bumper boats, and cars, canoeing, arts and crafts, scavenger hunts, miniature golf, nature trails, game show contests and hayrides. Our family vacationed at this resort last year, and it couldn’t have been more family friendly (pack and play in the room; no problem; a specially prepared fruit platter for my little fruitaholic; and a padded area perfect for crawlers and new walkers). They also have a gaming arcade (where I challenged my husband to a ping pong match, while my little one lay happily in her bouncy seat), plus a play area for older kids who gleefully shrieked with joy as they ran, climbed and ducked through a colorful construction of stairs, tunnels and slides. The family-style sit-down meals are fabulous: one delicious dinner featured homemade macaroni and cheese, and for dessert a selection of cheesecake, chocolate cake and a hot fudge sundae (I’m not naming names, but someone at our table sampled all three of the sweet treats!) We purchased several loaves of their homemade bread and picked it up nice and warm, straight from the oven, the morning we left. 

Editor’s note: If you have questions related to parenting, raising kids or just generally being a mom, feel free to submit them to the author at estellewriter@aol.com, like the author at http://www.facebook.com/estelle.sobel.erasmus or email the editor at erik.wander@patch.com. Your question might just be featured in a future column.