A Weekend in the Poconos

Last weekend we enjoyed a fun family get-away to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The best part...our two night hotel stay was paid for by my company!

It was our annual team building get-away to go Snow-Tubing. The only trouble is, I've got a baby bump growing which makes snow tubing too risky, and it's just too involved and difficult for Daddy to try it with two little girls on his own. But we didn't want to miss out on a chance for a weekend trip...especially since it happened to be my birthday on Saturday!

Excited little girls snuggling with their toys in the hotel bed!

We joined in for the snow tubing at Camelback Mountain last year. It was pretty fun, but definitely geared toward older children. Navigating the long lines, the lifts, and double person snow tubes with a 5 and 2 year old along was rather tricky...not to mention the downhill was super fast.

So while my co-workers and their families went snow-tubing on Saturday, we went exploring to CRYSTAL CABIN FEVER in Lakeville, PA. A large red barn almost lost in the hills of the Poconos becomes a visitor destination every February with more than 100 tons of ICE meticulously sculpted into beautiful creations. This year's theme was "Under the Sea", and we were quite impressed with the display plus the girls got to play outside in the deep snow!

Checking out the "Crystal Cabin Fever" ice sculpture exhibit with an "Under the Sea" theme.

We even got to see an ice carving competition...impressive.

Daddy and Johanna made snow angels

Yeah for deep snow! The girls have been disappointed at how little snow
we've had in DE this year, so this was a special treat.

Daddy and girls exploring in the woods beside the ice festival

The Ice Throne...made my bottom COLD!
See that Nemo in the corner? They were hidden throughout the display.

We had an enjoyable weekend with the girls loving some time in the hotel pool after our outing, and they actually slept well in the hotel bed...Yeah!

That night we joined my company's crew for dinner at Red Lobster.  At the end the servers brought me dessert and sang "Happy Birthday", which reminded me of my younger years when my Aunt Bon would treat me to Red Lobster every year on my birthday. Good times!

While we were in the Poconos, I noticed several fun places and things to do that might be worth coming back with our children another time to experience. It got me thinking of all the great places to go within a few hours of our home in Southern Delaware, so I took some time on the way home Sunday to create a list of future fun trips.

Stay tuned because that list will be my next post: Great Day Trips for Delaware Families!
Maybe it'll give you some good ideas or you can help me come up with more fun adventures with children.

We did stop for one more quick activity on the way home, visiting the new Cabela's beside the Christiana Mall. I've got to say, it was surprisingly impressive and entertaining with all the animals on display and large fish tank. Adria even said it looked more like a museum than a store! And she decided she wanted to try out the dart gun, but Johanna was surprisingly too bashful to try.

Oh yeah...we totally took advantage of this parking spot :)

Sometimes adventure comes in unexpected places, like the new Cabela's by the Christiana Mall, where we stopped on our way home Sunday.

Adria even got to try something new...

It always takes some extra work to get away, needing to pack all the girl's stuff (especially with Adria's involved nightly routine) and sleep in different beds, but usually the adventure is worth it. I would say the girls loved it...they got to celebrate mommy's birthday playing in the snow, swimming in a pool, and eating shrimp!