What did you do on your summer vacation?
I Spy Montréal wants to know!
Travelling with kids is always an adventure, and it really helps to get tips from parents who have “been there and done that”.
Whether you went on a family vacation, stay-cation or even a local day trip this summer, we want to hear about where you went and whether you would recommend the experience to other families.
Help other parents out by adding a comment below that includes:
- Your destination
- Type of accommodation
- Age and number of children
- Highlight(s) and recommendations
- Lowlight(s) and lessons learned, if any
If you comment by Sunday, Sept. 12, you’ll be entered to win a $50 Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream gift certificate!
Update: Yolande Moreau is the contest winner! Thanks to everyone for their helpful comments.
Main photo courtesy of Jude Doyland.
27 Comments
We went to Maine. The drive is quite nice…we went a route through Screw Auger Falls (yes, that’s the name…as rude as it may seem!). Plenty of great places to stop for breaks/picnics….e.g. on the way back we stopped here: http://www.maine.gov/ifw/education/wildlifepark/
We stayed in Biddeford. We ended up spending most of our beach time at Goose Rocks beach. Next year we will likely rent a cottage closer to that beach, or maybe Hills beach. Goose Rocks has a great low tide that is perfect for toddlers, and also a Tidal river that is calm and warm – well, warm for Maine!
Looking forward to other ppls stories!
Thanks for that link to the Maine Wildlife Park – the site has some great videos of the animals you can see at the park, including deer, bears, porcupines, lynxes. It says you’re guaranteed to see moose!
We went to Ottawa and the Gatineau hills. Stayed at the Marriott – great kids’ play room and pool (open early, closes late), great view and pretty central.
Best: Dinos and Water show at Nature Museum, Kids’ Museum in Hull, Byward Market, changing of the guard on Parliament hill, hanging around the lake and making smores
A kids’ play room at the hotel – now that’s what I’m talking about! Great to know. Our kids also loved the Children’s Museum, but next year we’ll have to check out your other suggestions.
We went to the Island of Nantucket in Massachusetts. We drove to Hyannis and then took a ferry with our car (Steamship Authority) across to the Island. It was a great place to take the kids because there are amazing beaches that are calm and actually warm. Bringing the bikes is a must! There are miles of bike trails and we were able to bike for hours with our little ones (1 and 3 year old) in-tow. We stayed with family and dined out at our favourite restaurants there, Downyflake for breakfast and the SeaGrill for dinner. The only down side is the price of the ferry and chasing our toddler around during the 2 hour ferry ride.
-We had a blast!
Nantucket is on my to-do list, with or without the kids! Great that you managed to get in some biking on your trip. For anyone interested in more info, here’s a blog about Nantucket family activities.
This was a day-tripping summer, and one of our favorites was Lake Placid. The main mission was to take our 4 yr old to the Curious George live musical. The weather was beautiful, the mountain scenery can’t be beat, we hung out, shopped, had ice cream, sat in an authentic Olympic bobsled, ate pizza by the lake – yay!! It felt like a mini-vacation.
Lake Placid sounds like a great change of scene! Here’s a CNN article about family attractions in Lake Placid. Hopefully the Curious George Live Show will come back to the Montreal area soon!
We went to Falmouth Cape Cod and loved it. Rented a two bedroom place accross from the beach with a Kitchenette/ private deck at the SeaSide Inn. Great place with many conveniences ; access to huge park, groceries, and lots of other facilities. Our 4 year old could not get enough of the beach..we went 1st two weeks of July ( before the mad rush) so beaches were not too crowded and the water was quite warm. Lot’s of families with young children were there as well. We will be returning next year for sure!
Glyn, thanks for the Cape Cod suggestion! It’s great to know about places that offer so many activity options for the kids in one place – then mom and dad get to relax, too.
We went to Ottawa for an overnight stay. We stayed at the Marriott – excellent family hotel. The pool was a good size and definitely kid-friendly (unlike some other hotels). There was a really cool kids’ playroom with doll houses, riding toys, a large slide and video games – I had a hard time getting my 5 and 4 year old out of there. There is also a teen room. We took a tour of the city on the amphibus (bus tour + boat tour) which was fun. We also had tickets for the hop on and off double decker bus – which will take you to all the major attractions & destinations. We toured parliament (left early, kids were bored) but they loved the museum of nature & the kids museum – also enjoyed watching the boats make their way through the locks. We wanted to rent a boat at Dow’s Lake, but never quite made it.
Kristine, thanks for confirmation that the kids play room at Ottawa’s Marriott rocks! Also, the amphibus and the on-and-off double-decker bus sound like super ways to see the city. Nice try with the Parliament tour – I think our guys would also probably veto that as an activity
Our road trip to the Maine coast had so many highlights, that we just may make it an annual event! We camped with the kids at a small, family-run campground right on the ocean. The dreamy, private, 3-mile Popham beach was priceless, the small campsite (Ocean View Campground) not so much.
Next time we would camp on Hermit Island, as we heard many good things about it.
Here’s a recap of the trip with plenty of photos: http://www.underthehighchair.com/2010/08/maine-mini-vacation-highlights.html
On the way home we drove from Portland to Maine in 5 hours; not a bad price to pay for the ocean experience.
Aimée’s photos of the beach in Maine are priceless. Other great reason to go? Lobster rolls!
We took our three-year-old to Boston for 3 days. We stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown, which is a great central location, we got great prices bidding on our hotel room through priceline.com. The weather was terrific and we had a great time. We left the car at the hotel parking lot and used the metro.
We went to Faneuil Hall and Quincy market (activities are very similar to what we would find at the Old Port), went to the port and had fun just walking and enjoying the scenery.
My daughter loved the ride with the duck tour, which is a W.W. II style amphibious landing vehicle, for a guided tour of the city. We even got to drive that funny boat/fun.
The following day we went to a park with a great playground, duck pond, merry-go-round etc.. We spent the afternoon at the New England aquarium
A great cheap eat was a taqueria close to our hotel that had one of the best burritos I have ever had.
The following day we went to Cambridge and spent one night. It was plenty of time to visit Harvard University and spend the afternoon in Harvard square, surrounding the campus.
Great vacations for us, we came back totally rested and everybody had such a great time.
Rose, thanks for all your suggestions for places to see in Boston! I’ve always heard that it’s a super city for kids. Here is an article that mentions some of the children’s attractions in the city.
We kicked off the summer with a big family trip with our 2 daughters (ages 21 months and 9 years) to Maya Riviera Mexico. We went with my in-laws which included the kids grandfather, Aunt and Uncle, and their 3 daughters (Twins aged 3.5 and 5 year old). We stayed at the Grand Riviera Princess Hotel which was all inclusive so it was very practical for the kids. No need to worry about transportation around the city since everything was on the resort and the many large buffets were very family friendly. The kid’s club was enjoyed by all and the mini trams that took us around the very large resort were also a huge hit.
Then, as a second more intimate family trip, we went camping at the end of August with just our 2 daughters. We went to Voyageur Provincial Park in Ontario which is about a 1 hour drive past Montreal on the the way to Ottawa. It was an amazing place for families! We selected a site adjacent to one of several playgrounds so while we were busy cooking meals, the kids would be able to play right next door. There was often wildlife roaming around the park (rabbits, bluejays, plenty of chipmunks, butterflies) and the girls loved to chase them or play hide-and-seek around all the large trees. There were showers and indoor bathroom facilities that made clean up easy. We often spent most afternoons at one of 4 beaches they have on site. They were ideal for families with large areas of sand, clean water, no rocks, and plenty of other children to play with. They also have a boat rental place on site which we took advantage of and went off to an island by peddleboat (our youngest fell asleep withing 5 minutes on the boat!). We also brought along a lot of stuff to do which helped keep the kids busy such as bubbles, tennis, coloring, friesbee’s, a deck of cards, a kite, and in the evening we kept busy making s’mores on the campfire, telling funny stories in the tent, and making shadow puppets! We also had a great time just playing charades in the tent! This campsite also offered many family activities with nature guides that were really fun. One was an afternoon of learning about some of the local wildlife which they would incorporate into some pretty fun obstacle course style games complete with prizes! And all for free! In the evening, they offered different activities every night such as star gazing the night of the large meteor shower as they explained some of the astronomy aspects to the families, and frog searching in the marshlands which taught the kids about all the different species of frogs in the area and they had to spot them. We also did a nature hike along one of their trails which had fun boards posted all along the path that would explain noteworthy aspects of that section of the trail (such as rare species of trees, massive rocks shipped in from the arctic, and animal life of course!) At the start of the rail they have a board that provides samples of several objects that the hikers are challenged to find along the trail which our 9 year old thought was a lot of fun! All in all, camping had a lot to offer with no electronic distractions (we banned the electronics for the trip) and was a fun and cheap way to spend time together and learn lots of new things!
Throughout the rest of the summer we kept busy with smaller day trips since my oldest did not go to daycamp this summer. Some of the places we went to include Au Pays des Merveilles (great for the toddler crowd!), The Children’s Museum in Laval, Laval Nature Centre, Kirkland Day in the suburb of Kirkland, Canada Day festivities in Montreal Ouest (offers a much smaller, less crowded parade and activities for little ones compared to downtown), Ile St. Helene Aquatic Complex, Nadatorium in Verdun, 2 days at the fete nationale des Enfants at parc Jean Drapeau, and plenty of afternoons picnicing at various parks and playing at local splashpads!
Stephanie, sounds like you’ve had an amazing summer! The Montreal Gazette ran this article about Voyageur Provincial Park earlier this year, recommending it for its proximity to the West Island (about 30 minutes away). It also offers an “off-season” beach option when municipal pools have closed.
We did a big summer trip with my spouse and kids who were 2 years and the baby 3 months. We rented a house near Hollywood beach, Florida and it was so worth renting a house in comparison to renting a suite since the kids were allowed to have their cousins overnight and make as much noise without us having to worry about the persons next door. The beach was awesome except for one downfall… they had tidal waves due the the hurricane season but we did sand castle and played at the water fountain.
We then travelled to Guyana, South America and the kids were excellent travellers – thank god! They had a wonderful time there as we had a big yard to for them to play in at their grandma’s place. They saw cows, donkeys, sheep, goats, chickens, dragon flies, butterflies, beetles, live crabs, shrimps, fishes. It was wonderful… plus they had all freshe fruits and vegetables to eat. The best part was going to Lake Mainstay which is on the Essequibo Coast. We also celebrated my mom’s 60th birthday and my son’s 3th birthday.
Shantie: Florida and Guyana! Lucky you.
We spent part of our vacation back home on Georgian Bay in Ontario. This is one of the best family beach areas. The sand is fine, the water is clear (no seaweed, no muck) and many beaches are really shallow & have sand banks , so the water gets warmer than a lot of other places. If you get tired of the beach, there’s hiking, museums, boat tours in the area. http://www.visitgeorgianbay.com/
We also made it out to Sauble Beach to visit other family : another great beach : http://www.saublebeach.com/
We took the train home from Barrie (Go Train) then from Toronto (Via Rail). If you’ve never travelled by train with kids, you really don’t know what your missing : No pee stops, No meal stops, & No car sickness!!! You can read, eat, play games, sleep, meet other people, watch a movie, surf the net while getting home. The train is the best way to travel with kids!
Yolande, Georgian Bay sounds wonderful and it’s great to hear about the advantages of taking the train with kids!