I’m not a golfer — I never have golfed, in fact, though my two friends, Sue Tober and Elise Carlton, do. Christina Trammell, the resort’s director of golf is very patient. I’m pleased I can even hit the ball! One person in the clinic has just finished up two full days of lessons with Christina.
It’s bad enough to say no to the kids all the time at home, much less on vacation. (No, you can’t have that $40 sweatshirt. No you can’t order that $20 steak…) Vacation, after all, is when we all want to indulge the kids and ourselves. But with the economy the way it is, I think we’re all going to be saying no more often, until we figure out better ways to stretch those vacation bucks.
I know when times get tough, vacations are the first thing to go. My husband already is grumbling about the Christmas trip I’ve tentatively planned for us.
Welcome to the vacation world of family river rafting. You can go for a day, three days or longer on the Green River in Utah, which is mild enough for a 5-year-old or on others where outfitters suggest kids should be at least 12, in order to handle the rapids. Lewis, Kerr and Dr. Jacobsen give rave reviews to the trips down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River
Eleven-year-old Nate Gourd, an avid snowboarder from Manchester, Vt., couldn’t agree more. “You feel like you’re flying when you come down the mountain,” he says, adding that kids “definitely should wear helmets.” Meet Vermont’s vice presidents of fun. Bridget — who says she’s always waiting at the bottom of the mountain for her “slowpoke” family
By Eileen Ogintz Tribune Media Services The big green moray eel stares at me, coming out of his hideaway in the reef, as if to…
My best friend JoAnne and I fashioned ghost costumes out of old white sheets, corralled my little sister Amy to join us and –presto — we were The Ghost Family. We happily went off trick or treating in our suburban Long Island, N.Y., neighborhood. No parents tagged along, of course, no one had expensive costumes or headed to a theme park fright fest.
Adults and kids are hunched over mounds of multicolored clay, fashioning little clay people and assorted creatures that will star in kid-produced animated shorts. “This isn’t your typical museum,” says Mike Shomo, from Denver, who’s visiting with his wife and three kids, as he creates a sea lion.
Sure you have to drag a diaper bag (not to mention stroller, car seat and a generous supply of Goldfish) everywhere you go, you haven’t had a full night’s sleep in you can’t remember when and the dire economic news makes you wonder how you’ll ever pay for preschool, much less college, but then there’s the bright side — travel-wise, anyway. While everyone else is up to their ears in carpools, homework and soccer games, you’re free to get out of town.
By Eileen Ogintz Tribune Media Services The beach is pitch black, except for the light from the stars dancing across the sky. The ocean waves…