Jan 272013
 
Families Come in Out of the Cold to Enjoy CoCo Key Water Park Boston North Shore

The 65,000 square foot CoCo Key Water Park Boston North Shore is a pretty impressive sight when you first walk through the doors. CoCo Key is the largest indoor water park in Massachusetts and any time it is open the park is a beehive of activity as kids, tweens and teens make the most of the park’s brightly colored slides, sprays, pools and water features. Located in Danvers MA, just 19 miles north of Boston and adjacent to the 364 room Doubletree by Hilton Boston North Shore hotel, CoCo Key Water Park Boston North Shore includes multi-level water slides, spray decks, bucket dumps, water actvities, four-story high enclosed tube slides, a lazy river, and a wading pool for younger kids.   The action never stops as the kids scamper from one splashy activity to [...]

Review: “Memory House” at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre

 Posted by on October 31, 2012  Comments Off
Oct 312012
 
Review: "Memory House" at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre

Having recently survived the stress of the college application process, the current production of “Memory House” at the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Massachusetts really caught my eye. Single mother Maggie arrives home from work on New Year’s eve only to find that high school senior Katia has yet to complete her one and only college admissions essay, for an application that needs to be post marked no later than midnight!   The essay prompt demands that Katia describe her personal “Memory House” and the memories she keeps inside.  After months of introspection, Katia feels she has nothing to say and the whole process is worthless, because she is adopted.  The roller coaster of emotions that run through this two-woman show ring true to any parent who has gone down this [...]

Oct 182012
 
International History School Trips Create Lifetime Memories for Teens

Our teen’s school trip to Italy was the highlight of his senior year in high school. It gave him an opportunity to see a foreign country in the company of friends and trusted teachers. School trips like that are something that any high school or middle school student will remember for years to come, but, making them happen often depends on just one or two teachers who take the initiative to plan the trip, recruit participants, get school board and parent approval and then, of course, chaperone the trip. It can be a lot to ask of someone who is also busy in the classroom. That’s where seasoned school trip travel planners can really make a difference. Travel planning pros like our friends at The Adventure Company can streamline and [...]

Oct 072012
 
Teens, Tweens and Families Travel into Fall 2012

Its time to take another look at what our favorite traveling teens, tweens and their families have been up in the US and around the world.  This time around we found some great current articles  as well as a few older favorites that still make us smile! Family Travels in the US To kick things off, Jen Miner of The Vacation Gals attended Mickey’s Scary Halloween Party with her tween daughter and a friend in Mickey’s Halloween Party in Disneyland and the Pirates League.  Even teens and tweens can’t pass up the opportunity to dress like pirates while celebrating Halloween Disney style. Sherri of Sherri May’s Traveling Classroom recently visited the Ford’s Theatre Museum and Center for Education and Leadership in Washington, DC with her son.   It features a 34-foot tower of [...]

Our Five Favorite Passports with Purpose Prizes for 2011

 Posted by on December 11, 2011  Comments Off
Dec 112011
 
Our Five Favorite Passports with Purpose Prizes for 2011

With just a week to go, the annual travel blogger Passports with Purpose fund raiser has passed the $33, 000 mark, but we still need many more donations to reach our goal of $80,000 to build two libraries in Zambia in partnership with Room to Read.   How are we going to get there?  With your support of course! If you haven’t made a donation yet, its time to head on over to the Passports with Purpose donation page and make a $10 pledge for each prize you would like to win.  Dream big, there are luxury hotel stays, international tours, passes for all kinds of family fun, luggage, and more.  Donations will only be accepted until 11:59 pm PST on Friday December 16, 2011.  All prizes will be awarded just [...]

Dec 052011
 
A Family Heli-Hiking Adventure Q & A

Guest Post  By Topher Donahue, Sponsored by CMH Summer Adventures Thinking about an adventure vacation with your teens and extended family? CMH Summer Adventures offers a wide range of hiking and outdoor adventure vacations.   The following discussion with recent participants shows adventurous holidays can be fun for family members ages 2 to 90. Last summer,  a family of 12 from Toronto, representing four generations, gathered to share a Heli-Hiking trip with CMH Summer Adventures, in the Bugaboo Mountains on the British Columbia/ Alberta boarder in Western Canada.  The youngest, Cooper, was not quite two years old, and the oldest, Helen, was 90 years old.  Afterwards, I tracked down three women from the family to find out how the trip went for everyone. Helen, Barbara  and Sarah all took time to [...]

A Sunny Summer Sunday Seattle Tour with Teens

 Posted by on September 14, 2011  Comments Off
Sep 142011
 
A Sunny Summer Sunday Seattle Tour with Teens

On our way to Alaska we stopped for a short weekend to visit with some grown up Tacoma-based cousins.  We expected to be playing tourists under typical misty Seattle skies, but were instead treated to a wonderfully sunny summer Sunday.   The Seattle metro area is home to over 3 million people so as you might expect there are unlimited activities to choose from.  Given that we had just one day, the cousins opted to show us some of the City’s most iconic locations.  If you have limited time to get a sense of Seattle, our sunny summer Sunday tour offers a good starting point – beginning with the famous 605 foot Seattle Space Needle. View of the Seattle Space Needle on a sunny summer Sunday While the Columbia Center is actually taller, the view from the Needle’s [...]