16 Family Firsts at Silverwood Amusement Park

This was a sponsored activity. 
I was asked to share my honest experiences.
Couer d'Alene amusement park

Visiting Silverwood Theme Park was a brand new experience for our family. We are not a tourism-destination family. We adventure on dirt paths and spend our nights out under the stars. Nonetheless, when a northern road-trip opportunity presented itself, I jumped at the chance to pack our bags and start driving to Couer d'Alene. With my mom and cute niece along with us, 2 full days of amusement park fun brought a full range of family first experiences...


Our Firsts at Silverwood
1. Our first adventure was riding the train. An authentic steam engine chugged us out into the Idaho evergreen forest where Bigfoot lurked and a posse of bandits staged a robbery. B & P BELIEVE it was a dangerous & harrowing ride.


Hunting for Bigfoot
On the hunt for Bigfoot

2. The Tilt-a-whirl: All 7 of us jumped on the first ride we saw. Only after Grandma was spinning in one car, and the babies were sliding around with me in another car did we think about maybe talking about what our stomachs and nerves could handle.

3. The Corkscrew was the first roller coaster in the world to take passengers upside down through double loops. It was the first roller coaster B and I had ridden together. It was the first time I've been a single rider (B and his cousin decided to ride together). It was the first time I'd felt totally lame.


4. The kids got to drive their very first cars. I had to step on P's foot to get his to go, but, surprisingly, he was having so much fun he forgot to scream at me.



Antique Cars
Driving Antique Cars

5. We forgot to first count heads, then move onto the next attraction. Which led to me frantically calling my niece out of line to watch the babies while Grandma and I ran around praying to be the first one to find a wandered off P.

6. My niece and I had our first experience with zero gravity as the Round-Up spun us in circles both vertically and horizontally. I LOVED it! She walked off dizzy and feeling queasy.


7. B was being so brave that it caught me off-guard when he refused to get on a his first wooden roller coaster. My niece rode the Tremors her first time alone. When I rode with her later, the first tunnel convinced me I was going to die. It was the first time I told B he was smart to not ride that ride.



Silverwood roller coasters
wooden roller coaster

 8. Wanting to get wet, we all loaded on to the Log Flume. It was exciting to take the babies on their first roller coaster ride.



9. Our first treats were ice cream cones larger than our heads.


Loving his cotton candy ice cream!

10. We were not the first to leave-is anything more cool to kids than shutting down the theme park?

Our Firsts at Boulder Beach

11. Having a mother's helper here was the first time we used a divide and conquer tactic. Grandma and the babies played in Polliwog Park while the rest of us went on water slides.



12. At first it was fun to see P loving to float around Elkhorn Creek. Getting bored first, I was eternally grateful for a cousin who didn't mind going around with him again...and again...

13. We rode the family-size water slides first, while the lines were small. We rode them many many more times, even when the lines were long. Absolute favorites!


14. B & I both rode our first open air water slides. Having 4 slides starting on the same platform, it was fun to get on at the same time, and race each other to the bottom.



water slides
Racing to the bottom

15. My niece was the first and only one of us to hurtle herself 55mph downhill on Velocity Peak.


Boulder Beach water slides

16. For the first time ever, there wasn't any whining accompanying the "One last time..." warning.

After two full days of non-stop amusement park fun, we were happy! We easily could have spent another day or even two, but no one left feeling like they'd missed anything. We'd spent quality family time together in a new way, and it was rewarding. The drive back home was long, but we made it smiling and now a month later the boys are still telling me Silverwood and Boulder Beach were their favorite days of summer!



Travel with a Mother's Helper (Our Trip to Triple Play)

Our trip to Idaho was media sponsored.
I was asked to share honestly about our experience.
Do you travel with a mother's helper? 

Early last month we drove out to Nebraska (yes, crossing Wyoming once again) for my family reunion weekend. The kids and I needed to leave straight from there for a week-long stay in northern Idaho, but my husband needed to head back to work. We decided to try something new, and invited my mom and niece to come along for the ride. Our first destination made it easy to be traveling with the kids; having the extra pairs of eyes and hands turned out even better than I'd expected!



mothers helper
The Trip: Western Nebraska-Couer d'Alene road trip 
The Destination: Triple Play Resort & Suites
The Helpers: Grandma and a Super-Fun 12-yr-old cousin
Choosing a Room
Booking a room for 7 people is not always easy. From my years working in the hotel industry, I know that regular room occupancy is usually a maximum of 6...and it's tight. Our family is only just moving into the stage where the babies count as "real" people and have to be considered when we're thinking of what type of room to book. It's not a pleasant thought, as our hotel budget is usually quite low. But at Triple Play, there were several options to accommodate our large group.  


hotel bunk beds

The Kids' Suite was B & P's first choice. With bunk beds, television, and video game system in an alcove, can we say little boy heaven? Making it even better, the resort's water slides were right outside the window. Their grandma and cousin could have shared one of the other queen beds while I shared with the babies, but it sounded kind of tight.



Instead, we decided to stay in a 2-room Suite. Divided by a half-wall, there were 2 queen beds, plus a pull out sofa. The room also had a small eating area. When B & P were very young, we started building them forts under the desk and tables in our hotel rooms, and so it worked out perfectly for Grandma, cousin, and myself to have our own beds with the boys in their cool blanket forts. We weren't tripping over each other, and everyone got to have a little bit of privacy.  


Splishing and Splashing

Triple Play is a 3-in-1 vacation destination-the hotel, water park, and fun center all in one facility. Entering through the breakfast nook, you can go straight from eating to playing in less than a minute. There is something HUGE to be said for not having to pile into the car, sit in traffic, and be frustrated when you get to the fun play place! Grabbing our swim bag from the room, we headed first to Raptor Reef...


triple play resort water park

The benefit of having my "mother's helpers" became obvious instantly! B wanted to go straight to the water slides, but I wasn't comfortable yet sending him off alone. P wanted to play in the spray area, and the babies simply did NOT want to play at all. In comes Grandma!  She sat with the babies, watched Peyton, and slowly convinced them all to get wet and play together.  


raptor reef

It freed me up to ride the slides with B-that is something we had never done together before! He was nervous to slide at first, and I was there to assure him he would love it. We took turns riding down together and with my niece and racing each other down different slides. And when my legs couldn't climb the stairs one more time, B and his cousin kept on going on. With her there, I was able to take time to rest and play with the little kids without having to worry.  




The Center of Fun
My kids have never been to a place where a wristband gets them into everything for free. We went mid-week and they almost never had to wait in line. Triple Play was their paradise. We bowled, drove go-karts, and played laser tag. Grandma watched the babies sometimes, I watched the babies sometimes, we all did activities together sometimes. Having more than one person over the height requirement was especially useful on the bumper boats. With a combination of adults and kids in boats, the little ones had a blast spraying (read: soaking) the grown-ups.  


bumper boats

The ropes course was something different all together. Beck and cousin went up first, but he got scared. By the time I went up he'd gained some confidence, but she was on her way to the top. Doing something I would never have done with my little boys, I followed her all the way up and meandered around 3 stories above the ground. Forever now she and I will have "that time we did that kind of scary thing together" to talk and laugh about.  



The sweet part of the whole trip came when the group divided. When we met back up, we found the babies in the arcade with Grandma, punching ducks and having a spectacular!



This trip to Triple Play Resort had three great take-aways:


  1. A 2-3 day vacation completely contained in one location is absolutely worth it! If the babies needed a change, we could run to the room and back without having to pack and take a diaper bag. We could take a break for naptime without fearing we'd decide not to come all the way back later. We could take our time eating, knowing every meal was only moments away from getting back to the fun.  
  2. A mother's helper is useful, but also a subtle relationship building tool. With the extra help, I never had to tell the kids no. There was no reason not to trade cars and ride around the go-kart track three times. There was no fighting about taking turns or waiting for the next time. Just like when I camp with the kids alone, they got to see that Mom does know how to have fun. Mom can help me be not afraid. Mom can relax and let kids be kids.    
  3. Travel strengthens families. It is difficult living far away from family. Our long road-trip and week of fun in Couer d'Alene gave Grandma and the babies a chance to get to know each other. It allowed me to interact with my niece as a growing-up girl, and gave her the chance to appreciate her younger cousins. It brought each one of us closer together.
Have you ever traveled with a mother's helper?
Here are 4 more tips to get you on your way.


6 Wanderlust Inspiring Books


There are times in life full of travel.  There are times in life full of reading.  And there are times in life focused on other things.  As I find myself in the latter of these lives, I thought I'd take a look back at a few of the books that have played a role in inspiring my wanderlust...

wanderlust
Location: Croatia 
Running Away to Home  related to my own struggles balancing travel and wanderlust with family and responsibility. The first few pages do an EXCELLENT job of explaining the quicksand of the American dream.

Family Travel books
Global Family Travel
One Year Off  is an anthology of the emails a family sent home while on their year-long round-the-world travels. I loved the way their expectations and reality often clashed and they were able to roll with it, especially when it came to what they thought their kids would like/not like and the fear of what a toddler will do/not do. 

Book about Panama Canal
Location: The Amazon
River of Doubt tells about an excursion Roosevelt took in the Amazon.  It was an era when there were still unknown places and men who wanted to explore them. I could feel the fear and frustration, understand their luck and fortune, and yet could not imagine the physical and emotional feat they endured.  Stories like these, about the people who shaped our society and places that were unknown, need to be told.

quirky travel book
Quirky and True Travel Story
Round Ireland with a Fridge will make you want to grab something-ANYTHING-and go!  It is an inspiring tale of the author doing exactly what the title infers.  

travel book
How People Live
Material World is a beautiful photo collection of how much stuff people do/or do not have in their homes.

travel book
What People Eat
Hungry Planet is also a picture book, this time showing the amount of food families eat in one week.

What books make you want to pack your bags and travel?

*Post contains affiliate links*

Family in Nature Prize Pack: Grillin' Up Giveaways Blog Hop

It has been such a great summer of exploring in the sun, and we could not be more excited to add to your sunny adventures.  

Check out the fun prize we're giving away, and then hop along to the other participating blogs.  Good luck!

Welcome to the Grillin' Up Giveaways Summer Giveaway Hop
brought to you by The Hopping Bloggers & Up All Night Blogging!
Hosted by
Mama Smith’s Review Blog & Women And Their Pretties
Co-Hosted by
Cia Denise & Real Advice Gal
Looking around A Local Wander, you'll quickly discover that we love getting out in nature and exploring as a family.  We are all happier outside.  We are the most connected when we're out away from everything.  

Today we want to share our love for the outdoors and encourage you to take your family out to do your own exploring.  We hope this giveaway pack will help you do that!

Family in Nature Prize Pack
 we Love nature! and The Kids' Outdoor Adventure Book
Educational Insights Jr. Bugwatch Kit
Each blogger participating in this hop has a giveaway with a prize value of at least $15 – and some are much more than that! Be sure to scroll down the whole list and visit them all – there is no limit to how many prizes you can win! 
Good Luck and Have Fun!

#GrillinUpGiveaways

Park Watch: Saratoga Springs, Utah

It's time to revive our Park Watch series!  Wandering off the main travel routes this time to visit our family's favorite new park...
Neptune Park

Saratoga Springs parks

Neptune Park is at 452 W 400 N in Saratoga Springs, UT
There is easily enough variety and space for kids of all ages to play!

Have a unique park you'd like featured in our Park Watch series?
Send an email with photos & brief description
 to the email under our "Contact Us" tab!

Utah's Mountain Letters: The Bountiful "B"

It was our pleasure to work with 
Max ATV Rentals for this sponsored adventure.

We love hiking to Utah's mountain letters!  As we've ventured out exploring more and more of them, we've discovered two interesting things.

  1. Getting from the bottom to top of one can be very, very steep
  2. The amount of "hiking" involved in getting to many mountain letters is very very small.
Both of these observations apply to the Bountiful "B".  


Our trip to the "B" was part of a recent opportunity to borrow an ATV for the day. Max ATV Rentals gave us great instructions on getting from their shop to the Farmington/Bountiful Skyline Trail and made sure we understood that after we'd driven there, we should stay on the paved trail in front of the "B".  They repeated that many times.  With the ATV, stay in front of the "B".  Just to clarify a few more times, they threw in a few, "As a beginner, you definitely will not want to go up behind the "B". We tried to follow those directions...we really tried...

Utah Mountain Letters

Bountiful's large concrete white letter is located literally in a neighborhood backyard...the climb is about 4 steps off the roadway. The "B" is tall and the dirt path around the side is steep.  Of course it was raining when we were there, so it also was slippery.  My husband, B, & P made it to the top, but I decided I just wasn't up for slipping and sliding that day.  They went up, across, and came back down.  They were very happy, and we continued on with our day of backcountry exploring.

Utah mountain letters
Climbing the Bountiful "B"

Following further along on the road that separates the "B" from backyards, we sped higher and higher up into a beautiful fog-filled forest.  The views at every turn were breathtaking. So many bays and inlets branching off of the Great Salt Lake!  On the way up we stuck to the paved motorized vehicle trail as far as we could go.  Although the Farmington/Bountiful Skyline Trail opens up in dozens of different directions when you get to the top of the mountain, we were there before the snow had melted and were turned around by a locked and closed gate.  We'll definitely have to go back and explore what's back there some day.

View of the Great Salt Lake
Max ATV Rental
Bountiful Skyline Trail
Coming back down, we decided to get a little more adventurous.  Afterall, we were on a monstrous ATV that could handle some mud and bouncing around.  Having driven most of the way up, I moved into the backseat and let my husband take the wheel.  Almost immediately, he turned us off the main road and onto a puddle-riddled, tree branch covered dirt trail.  He skillfully crawled over mini boulders and maneuvered some tight turns.  Then it got scary.

We thought we'd find an easy cut-off back to the main road, but one never materialized.  Two times we stopped to consider backtracking the scary trail we'd already covered rather than moving further into scary terrain we hadn't yet seen.  Two times my husband got out and ran ahead to try to assure me we would make it.  He didn't feel comfortable turning around.  He couldn't tell me it wasn't going to get more challenging.  B & P thought for sure we were going to die.  We kept moving on.  


We never did find the road.  We did find an open meadow and could see the road...way over there! And then it hit us.  After following directions to the letter, we'd gone up the trail in front of it, and now were coming down directly behind it!  The kids and I had had enough.  We opted to walk the last little bit while my husband strategically bounded down the rest of the hill.  As often happens, by that point we'd covered the scariest ground, but I was glad to give him the freedom to skillfully drive himself down the gully. He didn't hesitate to show-off with a good manly gun through a mudpit before picking us back up at the bottom.  Then, without humility, we grinned at the dirt bikers staring disbelievingly as we passed by grinning and waving.  

A Local Wander

We made it to another of Utah's mountain letters.  We  hiked  the Bountiful "B", and then we rode it. It was an exhilarating way to spend a rainy spring day in Utah. It would be worth doing again, and next time we won't be beginners, so surely the "behind the B" road won't be as hair-raising...surely...?

Directions to the Bountiful "B"
Taking I-15 exit 317, follow 400 N east up the hill.
Be sure to stay right all the way until you get to 1300 E.
Turn left & follow the road around until reaching Eagle Ridge Drive.
Look for the dirt parking lot,  It'll be a short walk from there.
Wave at the neighbors if they're in their backyard!

Want to rent an ATV?
We had a great experience with Max ATV Rentals in Centerville!
Pick-up and delivery available in the area.
Great prices for a day or a week!

Take note that when we visited the "B", 
there was quite a bit of old electrical debris laying around
It didn't seem dangerous, but was cumbersome to climb around.

3 Reasons To Love British Soccer Camp

This is a sponsored review via US Family Guide.
I received a product & am now sharing my honest review.

Soccer camp has come and gone and I can't say enough about it!


P's confidence soared during his week of practicing.  He laughed and was happy.  He got to be himself without B hovering over him.  The Challenger Sports program focuses on building skills, but also teamwork, and belief in self all while having fun.  It was a fantastic choice for him and I think will be for your kids, too.  


Focus on Relationships
The very first day the coaches had the kids "hugging it out" as they warmed up around the soccer field.  There were lots of high fives. Every activity had an element that involved encouraging or working with the other kids on the team.


Building Confidence
Remembering that P came to soccer camp with no apparent soccer skills, I was unabashedly surprised to watch him on the 2nd day proudly performing each soccer skill the coach asked him to do.  He was doing them with some finesse and without the look we're used to seeing that says, "Well, someone else can do that better, so I'm not any good."  He ran fast, and then faster when another kid pulled ahead.


The entire week, P only had one activity he didn't want to try.  It involved balancing a bean bag on his head while kicking the ball, and while beanbags were falling off heads all over the place, he absolutely did not want to try and fail.  I felt sad for him, but watched as the coaches treated him the same as they did in the activities he thrived at-they encouraged him, they showed him how to do it again, but they did not make his refusal to participate into a spectacle.  As soon as the activity was over, he still felt comfortable with them and the other kids and went right back to laughing and trying his best.  

In addition to the physical skills, the Challenger Sports program also puts an emphasis on developing a child's inner confidence.  More than once during the week the kids gathered around their coaches and traded turns standing in front of the group and sharing a joke.  It can be a scary thing, but after each joke the kids and coaches all clapped and laughed and shouted praise.  Kids who had stood up timidly, sat down beaming from ear to ear!


Games, Not Winning
The focus on winning in American youth sports is one of the primary reasons our family has not made organized sports a priority.  We  try to teach our kids the importance of learning skills and developing a love for an activity even when it's not going well.  My biggest pleasure with the Challenger Sports British Soccer Camp is that they never "played a game" of soccer.  Doesn't make sense, does it?  I loved it!

The two camp groups I watched playing each day ranged from 3-6 and 7-10 and they played fun games for an hour and half each day.  The coaches taught them a skill and then implemented it into a relay race or a cone drill or a game of make believe.  One day they were retrieving ice cream cones, the next traveling on world-wide adventures, and the next re-enacting their favorite scenes from Toy Story.  My absolute favorite was a pirate game that involved these 4 elements...



I am sure that as kids get older and advance through the Challenger Sports program, there does become more of a focus on the actual game of soccer.  I, though, could not be more grateful for the emphasis at a young age on skills and having fun.