HRM Parent Blog

A relaxing weekend away from home with friends in a cozy cabin = bliss.

Last week was one of those crazy weeks - you know, where it's all go-go-go but nothing seems to get done? Knowing that we'd be enjoying our weekend at a cabin at Milford House kept me going all week, but not any more organized. Friday morning was a frantic packing fest, combined with finishing off the March enewsletter and sending it off about ten minutes before we left for the weekend. But after the 2.5 hour drive, we arrived to this:

and this:

and this:

This was our third visit to Milford House, and definitely not our last. Already we are plotting our return. It was, however, our first winter visit. For those of you not in the know, Milford House has three winterized cabins - the rest of the charming cabins are closed from mid-October to mid-June. And they really are charming - the insides are rustic, but not *too* rustic, and are all situated on a lake, each with a fireplace, a porch and a small dock (perfect at other times of the year for searching for frogs and launching a canoe). The main lodge (not opened in the off-season) has a dining room serving breakfast and dinner, a library, and a small children's play area with games. The winterized cabins are self-catering, but the rest are not. Each one does have a fridge and various dishes though. Most people seem to bring a camping stove for meals, eat at the lodge, or go to a nearby town to find a restaurant. We've done a combination of these and it works quite well. I definitely recommend the cabins farthest away from the lodge as possible, if you are looking for a cabin-in-the-middle-of-nowhere experience without *actually* being in the middle of nowhere.

For our friends it was their first visit to Milford House, but judging by the email I received this morning, I don't think it'll be their last:

We had a wonderful time also, the place was perfect. I just LOVED the fire...it made me realise how long it's been since we sat around a fire and lazed and chatted! The cabin overall was perfect and the surrounds was amazing. It felt like a goodbye to winter and hello to spring!

We really couldn't have asked for better weather. Saturday was sunny but cold enough to still feel like winter - perfect for walks in the woods and fun in the snow:

And Sunday teased us with spring and masked crusaders:



Definitely a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

For more information on Milford House, check out their website. Have you been to Milford House? Or where is your favourite relaxing family getaway? Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.

Summer is coming to an end far too quickly for my liking. It's almost September! How did that happen? Sheesh. Guess we'd better enjoy our summer weekends while we can, eh? This weekend certainly isn't looking great for weather (hello Hurricane Bill - go away please!), but hopefully at least it'll hold off long enough to enjoy some of the wonderful family events on this weekend. I'll be off camping this weekend so I'm *really* hoping for good weather.

And on to a quick round-up for this weekend:

• alFresco filmFesto, Friday August 21 at 8pm, Halifax waterfront. This week's film is Peter Pan - A Disney Animated Original.
• Sambro Sou' Wester Days, Friday August 21 to Sunday August 23, Sambro. Celebrating the 251st Anniversary of the Founding of the Sambro Island Lighthouse. Lots of events for families, including parade, lighthouse tours, family carnival, rubber duck race, fireworks and more.
• Nuts4Ribs Festival, Saturday August 22 from 11am to 11pm, Halifax waterfront. The purpose of Nuts4Ribs is to raise awareness and educate men and their families about testicular cancer and raise funds which go to the Canadian Cancer Society in support of testicular cancer research and awareness in Atlantic Canada. Among lots of other things, there will be a children’s play area (complete with bouncers, games and activties) and lots of music.
• Eastern Shore Homecoming, Saturday August 22 from 10am to 4pm, Lake Charlotte. Come home to the Eastern Shore for a day of meeting friends and family, while learning about Eastern Shore heritage. Free admission.
• Safari Presentations, Saturday August 22 at 2pm, Keshen Goodman Library. All ages. Shake, groove and be spellbound as African performers entertain you with drumming, dance and storytelling.
• Incredible Picnic, Sunday August 23 from 11am to 3pm, venues all over Nova Scotia. Leave the day-to-day routine behind and get back to the roots of family, community, nature and good food. Food, live music, and children’s activities will ensure this is a memorable experience for you, your family, and friends.
• Shakespeare by the Sea, Point Pleasant Park. The Jack and the Beanstalk shows this weekend are on Saturday August 22 at 1pm and Sunday August 23 at 7pm.

Have a great weekend everyone!

You'd think with this incredible heat wave we've been having that anyone in their right mind would be heading to the beach or to the pool. And so perhaps it is an indication of our sanity (or lack of?), but yesterday, instead of the beach, we spent our afternoon at Atlantic Playland. On one hand, it seems a very reasonable place to go in the heat - big water slides and other water-based fun! But I knew that Alex wouldn't want to go on the water slides, so their presence was pretty irrelevant to us. And I was worried about crowds. Would a hot day bring lots of people, or would the hot day mean everyone was at the beach? Oh, the uncertainty, the stress! Nevertheless, we braved it, and went for Alex's first time to Atlantic Playland.

Thankfully, it wasn't busy at all (crowds make me cranky, and I was already cranky enough with the heat). And even though the big water slides were out for us, we still had lots of fun with mini-golf, go-karting and the kiddie pool. There was lots of other things to do that Alex would have liked (such as kiddie rides), but unfortunately we ran out of time.

It was another big weekend of firsts for the little guy: his first time playing mini-golf, on a go-kart, or going down a 'water slide' (there was a little one in the kiddie pool). It's not that we've had the poor child locked in a closet for the first five years of his life; he's just a cautious little dude. But this summer he is really blossoming and trying lots of new things. It's amazing to see. (OK, OK, he wouldn't have been scared of mini-golf before now! We just never got around to playing it until now.)

I definitely recommend Atlantic Playland for kids over 36 inches - yup, that's the magical height when you are allowed to go on a fair number of the rides. Of course, once you hit 48 inches you are laughing. I think the next time we will go for the day, bring a cooler of food and drinks, and buy the bracelets, which give you unlimited use of most attractions. This wouldn't be a cheap day (a family bracelet is over $65), but we were there for just a couple of hours and spent about $30 - much better value to spend the day for twice as much, I think.

Atlantic Playland is located at 1200 Lucasville Road in Hammonds Plains. It is open 10am-6pm daily until Labour Day. More information on their location, rates, attractions, etc is available on their website.

 Lantern Festival, Photo by Alex Solak 

August continues to be packed full of fun family events here in the HRM. For Saturday, I'm torn between the Northern Lights Lantern Festival in north-end Halifax, with lantern making, bouncy castles, pony rides, face painting, music, fireworks and more, and the Community Potluck & BBQ for Newcomers and Residents at Halifax Common, with an international craft display, face painting, art-making, Korean and African drumming, a soccer game and more. Oh, decisions, decisions. Of course, they *are* at different times on Saturday, so technically we could do both...

Also on this weekend is the Seaside Festival in Sheet Harbour (it also continues until next weekend) and the Eastern Passage/Cow Summer Carnival. It's also the Busker's Festival first weekend and Family Sunday at the Art Gallery. Family Sunday is on my list for this weekend too - we always seem to keep missing it, but whenever we do make it, Alex loves it!

A bit farther afield is the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival, which starts today and runs until Sunday. Everyday at 1:30pm there is a Children's Stage with entertainment for kids, along with of course all the awesome grown-up music from Lennie Gallant, The Marigolds, Stephen Fearing, The Dardanelles, The Nields and lots more.

If you are still looking for ideas, check out our activity calendar, find a new playground to hang out at with our Playground Directory, or go laze at one of HRM's beaches.

Have a great weekend!

This weekend is packed full of events - there's the Natal Day weekend festivities, but also a lot of non-Natal Day fun ones too. Now there's absolutely nothing wrong with long, lazy summer weekends hanging out doing nothing in particular (in fact, that's what I plan on doing this weekend), but in case you are looking for some inspiration...

This one isn't in the calendar, since Windsor isn't technically in the HRM and I never quite know what to do with these borderline ones (what do you think? where should I draw the line?). but I wanted to make sure you knew about it because it's quite big and it sounds like a lot of fun:

Windsor West Hants Summer Fest, Thurs July 30-Sun Aug 2: Train rides, giant bouncers, music, parade, face painting, parachute games, swimming, magic show, family picnic and more! Check out www.windsorsummerfest.ca for more information.

And these ones are in the calendar:

• The Nova Scotia In-Water Boat Show, Halifax waterfront
• Teddy Bear Picnic, Lake Charlotte
• Veggie Tales, Bayers Lake
• Eastern Passage/Cow Bay Summer Carnival
• Gold Panning Demonstrations, Lake Charlotte

Enjoy - and hope you stay dry! (Just couldn't make it without mentioning the weather at least once, sorry!)