Valley of Fire

The Valley of Fire is in Nevada just an hour north east of Las Vegas. It's a great place for family camping. With the location so close to Vegas you could have a weekend getaway or just take a day trip to let the kids climb and do some hiking.  Valley of Fire fun fact - it was Nevada's very first state park.

They have places for tent camping and lots of rv spaces some with hook ups. It's first come, no reservations. Every site has a fire pit. Camp fires are allowed.


There are huge beautiful rocks every where.


There is wild life including this big horn sheep that walked by.

There are hiking trails all over the state park.

Many of the hikes are kid friendly.



You can see petroglyphs at various locations throughout the park.



They have a small visitors center with information on all aspects of park. It's a great educational opportunity for kids.

St. Augustine, FL a great family destination

Back in March we got the chance to go to St. Augustine for the first time. This turned out to be a wonderful weekend getaway for our family. 

Surprisingly, no one in Florida had recommended it to us.  I came across it in a magazine.  After reading about it I decided it could be the perfect weekend trip.  We already had to go to Daytona Beach for a gymnastics meet on Sunday which gave us plenty of time to hang out in St. Augustine first.

St. Augustine 

St. Augustine is the oldest city in the nation. There is an old Spanish fort here, Castillo De San Marcos. Which was built around 1672.  Some of it has been restored and most of it is still in very good condition.  So much so, that you can walk all around the outside and the inside.  There are other forts in the area as well, but we didn't have time to visit those.

Castillo De San Marcos

Of course this we had to go to the fort first thing.  It was cheap to get in. Once inside we got to walk across a restored draw bridge, look at various rooms and artifacts including lots of old cannons. We also got to watch a reenactment of soldiers preparing and firing a cannon.

There were all kinds of cannons everywhere.  There were a lot of other artifacts as well.  Afterwards we were able to walk around the entire outside. 

Near the old downtown area was a massive playground. It was near the parking garage.  There are two sides to the playground.  This picture only shows a small part of the playground.

Historic St. Augustine

The old town was very cool. It reminded me of New Orleans and it definitely had a party vibe going as the sun went down.   At night time they did ghost tours of the area.  The tour guides were dressed as pirates.  We didn't schedule a tour, because we thought it would be too scary for the kids.  After seeing the tours guides, I think it might have been okay.  I recommend staying in one of the hotels in old town.

You can stroll down main street with your kids without worry, because there are no cars are allowed. 

There were tons of neat shops and restaurants. The very first Ripley's Believe it or Not is here.  I found out after the fact restaurant.com had lots of places in old town on their website.  For some other info and family fun things to do check out Child Mode's post on St. Augustine.  She has great suggestions.

Panama City Beach - Fabulous Family vacation

      Looking for a weekend getaway and with in driving distance of Panama City Beach, FL?  You might want to check it out. The beaches are beautiful. Better than Hawaii beaches in my opinion. Panama City Beach is located in the panhandle of Florida.  This is a great family destination, despite what you may hear. (spring break)
     Even if you are not with in driving distance there is now a new international airport in Panama City Beach that Southwest Airlines flies into! 
There's a big recreation center with a little water park and playground at Frank Brown Park.  The playground is big and has nice white soft sand for the kids to play in.  It's close enough to the beach that even on hot days there is usually a nice breeze coming off the gulf. 

For skating and bowling you can go to Rock it Lanes.  This place in in an older shopping center, but the inside looks very new and clean.  They have a tot time on Friday mornings.  At tot time they can ride around on bikes or scooters and there is a bouncy castle.

There are tons of putt putt golf places. Coconut Creek was the one we always went to because it offers free golf and maze to kids 6 and under. 

Cobra Adventure Park has rides, an arcade, and a large go cart track.  Keep in mind the track is wooden and makes for a bumpy right.

Shipwreck - Island Water Park is a great time.  There is a little bit of everything that you can expect at a waterpark.  I was surprised how fun this was, because driving by it looked tiny.  They have done amazing things with the space they have.

There are many Golf Courses:
Camp Creek Golf Club
Holiday Golf Club (they offer an amazing military discount through the Navy base.  My husband golfed there for $10)
Hombre Golf Club - Adam Brack offers kids lessons at this course. 
Panama City Beach Signal Hill Golf Course
Fox Run Country Club Sandy Creek 

Junior Museum of Bay County 1731 Jenks Ave. Panama City, FL 32405 Designed for children in preschool through middle school. Features an early childhood learning center, human biology and nutrition, natural history and a nature trail.

Zooworld  Again, driving by you would never guess how many animals they actually have there.  For a smaller zoo they have many animals including lions and a giraffe.

Gulf World Marine Park  - This place has a ton of birds.  They do some great shows for the kids.  My kids still talk about the bird tricks we saw there.  You can swim with the dolphins too!