Richards Review: Fall Break at the Poconos

From October 16-20, we used Bruce's fall break to take an extended weekend up to the Pocono mountains. We booked a resort - "The Villas at Tree Tops." The first two days we had mild weather. We wore jackets and enjoyed the sunshine. This was followed by a bitter cold snap. It's a good thing they had plenty of things going on at activity central to keep us busy during the cold.

We started our fall break by hiking around Bushkill Falls. Yes, the waterfall was beautiful. It is known as Pennsylvania's Niagara. Yes, the hike was wonderful. I was proud of my children for their excitement and endurance. Yes, we had a great time, a wonderful time, a fantastic time. No, I don't agree with the $46.00 admission fee we paid to get in the park. We've been on many wonderful, beautiful hikes with waterfalls that do not charge 15.00/adult and 8.00/child to hike the park. Seriously, sometimes Pennsylvania bothers me in the ridiculous amounts they charge for things. Despite that downside, Zabien, Eliza, and Hazel really were the best 4, 2, and 6 month old hikers out there.

There were 4 different trails leading to and around the Falls. The trails were marked by color; green and yellow being the easiest, blue moderate, and red difficult. Most of the trail was a series of man made steps. Some were steep and some broken. Other parts of the trail were rocky and full of tree stumps. The amount of stairs didn't deter the children. They rushed forward as quickly as possible. We had to keep telling them to slow down or stop and wait for us. It's much easier for a small child to plow through crowds of people on stairs than it is for an adult, especially one that is carrying a baby in a front carrier.

I can't tell you how many people stopped to both admire and compliment our three kids. There were throngs of people hiking, but most of them were retired couples, families with teenagers, or young adults. Very few children were hiking, and the few that were, were closer to 10 than 5. Hazel particularly enjoyed hiking. She didn't stop smiling, squealing with delight, or kicking up a storm as if she were trying to hike herself.

The waterfall really was pretty amazing. I loved how many different places there were to view the falls. We stopped several places to snap some pictures with the beauty of the hike behind us.

We stopped to take a rest and the bottom of this huge rock. The kids were so excited to see what was up there, that without hesitation, they began climbing the side of the rock. I really was surprised by their bravery. They are generally more reserved when in a new place. We got to the end of the longer easy trail and the parents thought we should turn around and head back. The kids really wanted to keep going. Based on the immediate difficulty of the red trail and the fact that it was about 5 miles long, we really didn't think the kids had that much energy left in them. We made the right decision in turning around because the last tenth of a mile on the way out of the park took a lot more time and a lot more coaxing than needed. They were indeed tired of walking.

They may have been tired of walking, but they certainly weren't too tired to pose with his bear statue or eat a picnic lunch. The picnic lunch was all the rejuvenation they needed. Immediately after lunch, they spent the next hour running around on the playground. They played all their favorite games at the park: 3 Little Pigs, Rapunzel, and Little Mermaid.

By the time we got back to our resort, everyone was pretty worn out. Hazel went to bed pretty quickly. The others enjoyed a hot soak in the giant tub, complete with jets. The kids really thought this big tub was pretty awesome.

We managed to get 4 free passes to various amenities at the resort. We weren't that interested in paintball with 3 small children. The kids were too little and too young to participate in either zip-lining through the mountainous trees or the tree tops ropes course (which would have been awesome to do.) We settled on "Blue Lightning."

We rode a slippery inner tube down a giant blue slide. The picture is deceiving - we went super fast.

Our original plan was to take turns holding Hazel while one adult went up with the other two children. It was a sad time when we were told at check in that children had to be BOTH 42 inches tall AND 4 years old. Poor Zabien, my not quite 3 y ear old, - he was tall enough, but he wasn't old enough to ride. As you can imagine, we were met with some rather inconsolable tears when Zaby found out that he couldn't participate in the giant slide. We tried allowing him to sit in the tube with Hazel for a few minutes, but the tube didn't satisfy the desire.

Bruce took Zabien and Hazel back to the van while Eliza and I enjoyed ourselves on the slides. We had the place to ourselves

We used the double tube - Eliza squealed/giggled the entire way down every time we went. Bruce told me he could hear her from inside the van. With her reaction, I knew she was having the time of her life.

In an effort to console the unfortunate boy, Bruce raided my purse to find some coins to buy him some ice cream from the vending machine. It was chilly outside, but Zabien didn't seem to mind.

Our resort room came complete with a mini-kitchen, meaning we had a small fridge, a 2 burner stove and a few pots and pans. I'm only mentioning this story because of the pure irony of it all. Bruce decided to make some scrambled eggs one morning for breakfast. Our stove was a bit fickle in that it was difficult to tell how high the burner was turned up. Needless to say, when he put some oil in the pan to keep the eggs from sticking, he managed to start the pan on fire. Yes, there were flames, but very little smoke. I used baking soda to put out the fire, and we had cereal for breakfast instead. Even with flames, the fire alarm did not go off. Later that afternoon, another unit in our building set off the fire alarm, and we had to evacuate the building. Everything was fine in that there was no fire, but we wondered what they did to actually set the alarm off. When Eliza talked about this event later, she was sure to mention that daddy "fired" the eggs. She also told Bruce that he should let mommy cook from now on. I don't necessarily agree with her on that one, but it was a memorable story.

The weather did turn a bit cold on us, so we spent one morning enjoying the planned activities at "Activity Central."

Bowling

Bingo

Eliza was able to manage 3 boards (with a little help from me). Out of the 5 games we played, she didn't win, but the caller thought she was a good sport for trying that she got a prize anyway.

And because big sister got a prize, so did Zabien

We also painted masks and pumpkins

Eliza's was quite colorful.

On our last day, we spent the morning exploring the local Christmas factory. The kids really enjoyed this coin operated piano.

Later that afternoon we attempted 18 rounds of mini golf. I say attempted because the kids only last through about 6 holes before they gave up to go and play on the nearby playground. Bruce and I managed to finish the round. Even cute little Hazel took a turn with the club.

I love Zabien's excitement about everything. Even though he tried to swing his golf club more like a baseball bat, that didn't stop him from picking up his golf ball and dropping it right in the hole, then cheering like he won the lottery. He is so cute! Eliza was very careful to line her ball up just right. She used the one hand approach to pushing the ball directly into the hole. Their methods worked out well for them. They almost always managed to complete the hole in matter of 1 or 2 "turns."