Weekend Getaway with Kids

Have you ever been to Sanibel? They have hotels in every price range and pretty much all of them are on the beach. Sanibel is on the west coast of Florida on the Gulf, so I'm not sure if the oil spill has effected the beaches, so you may want to look into that.... but it's an incredible shelling island and you don't have to worry about big waves since it's the gulf and not the ocean. You can just hang at the hotel pool and beach all weekend long, or there are lots of other things to do on the island. Google it and see what you can find

Another thought is the Nickolodeon hotel, which has cool kid themed rooms, a huge, awesome pool area with daily activities by the pool, and stuff like special movies and game shows

might not really be what you're looking for, but my family is doing a camping trip over memorial weekend this year. we are SO excited! and my 3 1/2 year old is giddy. fishing, swimming, boating (we are in ks. so we are camping on a lake). can't wait! super cheap and so much fun :)

I would look up cabin rentals! we have actually been looking into that lately! or, im not sure if you have a great wolf lodge near you, but those are super fun too!

Have you thought about camping? It's a great wayto get away from the "world" and focus on just your family. Alot of camp grounds have lakes for boating and swimming, play grounds and paths for hiking. You can google local camp grounds and view lay outs and ammenities.

We dd Busch Gardens and Water Country USA for almost NOTHING last year! Go to the website and they have Bounce tickets that are $100 for everyone 7 and over, and you get 7 days to Water Country USA, Busch Gardens, and Williamsburg. You can also get a discount on the hotel through that site. We did the whole weekend for about $600...so for three days, it wasn't bad at all! And my kids were 2, 4, and almost 6...it was a blast!

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We dd Busch Gardens and Water Country USA for almost NOTHING last year! Go to the website and they have Bounce tickets that are $100 for everyone 7 and over, and you get 7 days to Water Country USA, Busch Gardens, and Williamsburg. You can also get a discount on the hotel through that site. We did the whole weekend for about $600...so for three days, it wasn't bad at all! And my kids were 2, 4, and almost 6...it was a blast!

Try the Hyatt Coconut Point in Bonita Springs. It is between Fort Myers and Naples. Not right on the beach, but on the marsh land there and they have a pontoon boat that will take you to their private beach that is real nice and quiet and has facilities. The hotel has many pools and you can take a shuttle to their time shares about a mile away that has a lazy river and pools and outdoor restaurant. In the evening, you can purcahse a "smores kit" and roast marshmallows by a huge fire. The food is kind of pricey at the hotel, but there is a shopping village about a two miles away that has a movie theater and lots of good restaurants. Rates are not too bad during summer, so I would keep checking. we went last year, end of July, and got a $119/night rate which I haven't been able to get this year.
We are contemplating a road trip to Atalanta this year to stay at the Hyatt there and got to the Georgia Aquarium and Six Flags which has aThomas Town that my boy would just love. And then, of course, there are roller coasters for your older one. The Club at Hammock Beach is nice in Palm Coast, and so are the cabins at Fort Winderness at Disney.
Something really cool we did two years ago is drive down towards Jupiter, Florida and go to Lion Country Safari. I did this as a kid and it is still there! You stay in your car and drive through this preserve and you will have emus and zebras cross right in front of your car. There are rhinoceros' that get pretty close too and I have video of one running alognside the car. There is a little theme park you can go to after the drive tour that has shows and rides and you can feed giraffes and they had a giant blow up water slide that my then 4 year old loved. We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Highland Beach which was about 25 minutes away from the park, but was very nice and right on the beach.
Sorry so long, but all theses ideas keep popping into my head!
Happy summer!