Family Fun at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp-Resort

Picture this... You're sitting in front of a campfire next to your significant other, gazing at the flames dancing in the dark, while your children sleep soundly in their tent, worn out by the whirlwind of fun activities from the day.  Ahhhh...

The morning is just as relaxing... With the quiet hours enforced until 8 a.m., you can sit back and listen to the birds chirping while your children groggily - but quietly -  lounge in their chairs or in the tent, waiting for breakfast to be grilled.  They're eager to comply with your wishes, because they know there's so many things they want to do today.  Ahh, so peaceful...


Yes, it's possible! 


I know, because this is how my weekend played out! 


Well, almost.  It wasn't peaceful the entire time; my children are not perfect little angels.  Nor do I expect them to be.  But, even with the occasional grumpiness and meltdown, we still had a "beary" fun and memorable time.

 

Jellystone Park Camp Resort in Caledonia, Wisconsin is a fun, family-friendly place! 

 

I overheard a lady say to one of the rangers this morning that out of all the Jellystone Park campgrounds she's been to with her family, this one was the best.  She said she likes how the staff here is so friendly and really caters to families and especially to children.


Now my family and I have never been to any other Jellystone Park campground, so we can't compare.  But we have been to other campsites and this one is, by far, our favorite!

 

One year, we visited Jellystone park about a month after visiting Disneyworld.  And guess what?!
Yep, my girls all agreed that they had more fun at Jellystone!  Seriously!


Maybe it's because our family really enjoys camping!  Yes, even roughin' it and sleeping in a tent! Well, personally, I prefer sleeping in a hotel or a cabin... But my girls really do enjoy sleeping in a tent.

 

The nice thing about Jellystone is that you're not completely roughin' it here.  This is the part where my Army brother-in-law shakes his head.  When he camps, it's out in the deep woods - with no outhouses, much less bathrooms or showers.


At Jellystone, there are bathrooms and showers!  Hallelujah!!!

 
They keep 'em clean, too! Yay!


They also have cabins with bathrooms for those of you who really do not care for any kind of "roughin' it".

 

Besides giving you and your family a healthy dose of the outdoors, Jellystone Park also provides a multitude of activities to keep your children entertained.


If you have little ones, they will enjoy waking Yogi Bear up.  My youngest, who is now 7, still enjoys this.  At 9:05, the children gather around Yogi Bear's cave (which is really more of a little house) and then they all yell as loudly as they can to rouse the bear.  Once he's awake, a staff member helps Yogi read his mail and then the kids get to take photos with him.

 

 

At night, the children can tuck him into bed and read him a bedtime story.

If you have older kids, those two activities might generate some eye-rolls.  My 11-year-old and 13-year-old are now too cool for the wake-up and bedtime fun.  But they are absolutely not too old for Candy Bar Bingo!!!

 
A regular-sized candy bar buys you a Bingo card.  And a Bingo wins you a stack of candy bars!  Woo hoo!  What makes it even more fun is the different versions that they play like Loser Bingo, Yogi Bingo, and Black-out.


My 7-year-old was lucky enough to be a "Loser!"  During Loser Bingo, the staff member calls out a number and if you have that number on your Bingo card, you have to sit down.  The last one to stay standing wins. 

 

(We later used my daughter's Bingo winnings at Georgie Porgie's in Oak Creek which is a less-than-ten minutes drive from the campsite.  We bought a quart of vanilla custard and then each of us chose a chocolate bar to use as topping for our custard.  Yummm!)

 

Another activity my girls unanimously agree on is jumping on the jumping pillow.  They could jump on it for hours!  I guess it's the same appeal as jumping on a bed.  Simply fun.

 

There's also the pool with water slides and a water balloon fight area.

 

There's a game room, mini-golf, archery, laser tag, giant chess, playgrounds... Like I said, a multitude of activities!

I almost forgot to mention the hay rides!  This weekend, there were two - a "Wet & Wild" one and a glow-in-the-dark one.  For the wet & wild hay ride, a select few rode around the campsite spraying campers.  We were told to feel free to "fight back" and luckily, my youngest happened to have her squirt gun in the car!

The other hay ride was after dark, but the kids wore glow sticks or brought their flashlights which was pretty cool.  Oh and Boo Boo the Bear rode with us.  Yay!


Cindy Bear also made appearances throughout the weekend.  My girls noticed that Cindy Bear usually was the one that showed up when there were sweets involved.  Cindy Bear was the one who delivered milk and cookies to the campers that signed up for them.  And she was the one who was there for the decorating of doughnuts and for the ice cream social. 


Speaking of food, there is a snack shack onsite as well as an ice cream shop. There's also a coffee shop for those of you who need that caffeine nudge in the morning.

 

 

There are also a bunch of restaurants in Oak Creek. (Less than 10 minutes away,  remember?) There's a Noodles & Company, Subway, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panera, Papa John's, and also a Starbucks.


Now if you're like me, you'd want to point out that part of the camping experience is grilling your own food.  True.  But hey, if you get tired of grilling, there's no law saying you can't leave the campsite to get some food!


If you decide you want to stick with grilling though but then run out of food to grill, no worries!  There is a full-service supermarket called Woodman's nearby.  They've got meat, veggies, fruits, candy bars for Bingo, and liquor...  Everything you need to get your camping party going!

 

Oh, while you're at Woodman's, might as well pick up some laundry detergent.  I don't know about you, but I hate re-using wet towels! I know, I know, we can hang our towels to dry on a make-shift clothesline tied to the trees, but Jellystone has washers and dryers!  Might as well use them, right?

Besides, those towels and blankets are starting to smell like wet dog.  Which reminds me...


Jellystone is a pet-friendly camp resort.  They even have a little doggie park where you can let your canine companions run around. 

 

What did I tell you?!  Fun for the whole family!!!

Jellystone Park is a wonderful place for families, because it mixes the right amount of camping/outdoor experience with modern amenities and enjoyable activities.  It may not be for die-hard, true-blue campers, but for those of us with little ones (and not-so-little ones), this is the ultimate place for family fun!

Life is short; enjoy it, enjoy your family, be a happy camper! :)

 
 

Our 1st Ever Metra Train Ride Takes Us To Highland Park

My girls and I have never ridden the Metra train ever.  Until today.

 

I don't know why it has taken us this long, but we have finally tried it.  Yay for 1sts!


Today was one of those spontaneous days.  We didn't have anything planned and we wanted to explore.


So explore we did - me, my three daughters, and my middle daughter's friend Josie.


We decided to ride the Metra train to wherever.  We randomly picked a city (Highland Park) from the list of stops on the train station's wall and then off we went. 

No expectations, no plans. 


My daughters didn't even want me to ask Siri about places nearby or look things up on my iPhone.  They wanted to just see what was around and discover things ourselves.


We lucked out.  The train station was right next to downtown Highland Park so we didn't have to walk too far. 


One of our first discoveries was a toy store.  How about that?!

It was a fun place called Beanstalk with beautiful dollhouses and playhouses and trains and all sorts of cool stuff.  My youngest daughter enjoyed the boathouse/ball pit and the different toys.  My middle daughter and her friend were immediately drawn to the giant stuffed animals.  And the oldest was content with lounging in a comfy bean bag while the other girls played. 

I, too, was content with lounging - especially since I needed to sit near an outlet and charge my phone!  But then I got called over for a tea party, so I had to abandon my nice cushy spot!


After we wore out our welcome at the toy store, we decided to explore some more.  We soon found ourselves in front of a shop called Highland Pop.  It's a popcorn shop with a slew of different flavored popcorn.  But what actually got our attention was the sign for Italian ice.  Today was a pretty hot and humid day; the perfect day for Italian ice!  Although, my two younger ones opted for frozen bananas instead.

 
After we finished our tasty treats, we kept on walking.  We passed by a gelato shop which my girls wanted to go into, but since we had already feasted on Italian ice and frozen bananas, we regretfully had to forego the gelato.  Maybe next time.

The girls' disappointment didn't last long though, because a shop had caught their eye and piqued their interest.  It was a store called Paper Source and this turned out to be my girls' favorite place for the day.

 
My girls are artists, so this was right up their alley.  I think we ended up staying in this store for a couple of hours.  The staff there was very accommodating and friendly.  A sweet lady named Kim taught them how to use an embossing heat tool and made sure they had enough materials to work with.  Later, another lady named Donna also helped the girls.


My youngest daughter told me that this was her favorite of all the places we visited in Highland Park.  Yes, she enjoyed this place even more than the toy store!


My middle daughter now wants to have part of her birthday celebration here.  And that's not even until spring!


Well, I'm just glad that our 1st Metra Train adventure turned out well.  Despite our lack of plans or even knowledge of our destination. 


Today's adventure reminds me of Life.  Sometimes we don't have a clue where we're heading, but we just have to enjoy the ride and when we get to our destination we just have to explore and try to find the things that give us joy.


Life is short; enjoy it!