Atlantis is absolutely amazing, the grounds are breathtaking and there is something for everyone. There are water parks for all ages and size, remote control car race trucks, a Build-a-Bear workshop, kids’ play rooms, a video game room, cooking classes, dolphin and sea lion encounters and a movie theater. The negative part about all this is that you pay for everything separately, and just like in Vegas money runs fast when kids are at play.

On our first night we stopped by a local store and loaded up on soft drinks and snacks, which was much cheaper then buying at Atlantis. There are very nice restaurants in the Marina Village section of Atlantis, but most of the food places near the pool and beach area only had burgers and fries, so by day two my kids were sick of that kind of food. It was also hard for kids to walk around the place since everything is so spread out. We had to stay in one area for the first part of the day and enjoy another in the evening.

Nassau (the island next to Paradise Island where Atlantis is located) is a very safe town and has a great Pirate Museum, which we visited and spent a day trying local foods. The kids loved it.

With all that said, our kids took part in many new activities; our 3 year old even won three car races. We caught up on kids’ movies like “Tooth Fairy” and “The Spy Next Door” (the movie theater was the only free activity). Our kids met and played with real dolphins. Over all, our vacation was a big success; even if it was NOT our usual all inclusive lazy-type of vacation. We learned two things form this experience: #1 visit Atlantis after reaching 48” in height, #2 we are not ready to go to Disney World.

We arrived in Maryland (20 min) from Baltimore Thursday night so that we could start our program early in the morning. We stayed at Hampton Inn & Suites Arundel Mills BWI Hotel www.arundelmillsbaltimore.hamptoninn.com it included breakfast which was a great time saver.

Day one:

We started our day at http://www.portdiscovery.org/ it’s an unbelievable place for kids to visit with a 4 story high climbing monkey gym, which all of my family members got to experience (some by choice others out of nasality). We also got to meet Curious George Live. We spend about 4.5 hours at the Port Discovery and got lunch. Since the venue located in downtown Baltimore there was no shortage of kids approved restaurants near by.

After lunch we check out a Submarine and a Rescue Boat the boats were parked near the Aquarium and visitors could clime in and check out the inside. There were more boats to check out but it was time for nap. (If you are planning to visit the Aquarium in Baltimore buy tickets in advance on line especially for the dolphin show)

After a good nap at the Hotel we went out for dinner to http://www.medievaltimes.com/.

Day two:

B&O Railroad Museum www.borail.org was out day two adventure. Not only that the kids got to see all the miniature train models and clime the big trains, they also got to ride a real train, which for my kids what a first. The museum will be celebrating a Tomas event on April 23-25, April 30-May 2 where kids will get to meet Thomas http://www.borail.org/DOWT10.shtml (if you’ll be in the area don’t miss it).

After lunch we headed for the Ocean City MD. However we could have spent another 2 full days doing just Baltimore activities.

Ocean City MD

OC has all the usual activities of a beach town to offer: carnival parks, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! www.ripleys.com/

Our trip took a total of three days and the cost (food, hotel, gas and entertainment included) was about $1,500, interestingly enough the cost for a family of 4 (food included and all) at out family camp trip May 22 – May 24 is $500 Family weekend at Berkshire Hills-Emanuel Camps http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=app_2344061033&gid=384231932570#!/event.php?eid=359907488955&index=1.

Places that we missed in MD:
Assateague State Park – wiled horses park
7307 Stephen Decatur Hwy
Berlin, MD 21811 (410) 641-2120 dnr.state.md.us

Frontier Town: Campground   - www.frontiertown.com
8428 Stephen Decatur Highway, Berlin - (410) 641-0880

Any child (ages 0-18) that has a library card is eligible for the program.
How does it work “When you register for RIF, you will receive a free book. Whenever a library is offering a RIF program, stop by the RIF desk with your library card and two library books you are about to borrow or return. After reading and returning six books, you can choose a free gift RIF book.”

Check your local library for your RIF days, in New Utrecht 1743 86th St. at Bay 17th St. Friday is RIF day. Enjoy your reading.

Start Time: 14:00
Date: 2009-10-25
End Time: 17:00

For example, the other night my 5 year old wanted to read “Harry Potter” and me 3 year old still likes “Good Bye Moon”.

In the beginning of the school year my 5 year old was very unhappy so I directed my energy towards him and signed us up for several activities because everybody told me he needed my attention. Now I look at my 3 year old and see that he would like to get some attention too. It is so hard to find a balance, especially since they don’t want to share my time; they both want to do activities with mommy, no brothers involved.

How do those families of 3+ kids give their kids individual attention? Not to mention the fighting that goes on between them, whether it’s play fight or a real one, I end up taking them apart … and I only have two hands.

I was watching a special on Fox News about public schools and the current situation regarding the dated textbooks that are being used. Due to luck of funding, the schools have no choice but to use old books with false information in them. But what really scared me is the crazy “political correctness” that goes into what teachers can and cannot say in class when it comes to topics like religion and sexual orientation. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that a textbook cannot have a picture of a woman cooking because that is in some way degrading but could have an image of a woman with a hammer. In California, one of the mandatory reading books in the first/second grade is a book about two gay penguins that are raising a baby penguin. I have nothing against our gay brothers/sisters but I don’t think that this topic should be taught at a first/second grade level. I agree that homosexuality should be discussed somewhere during sexual education classes, but it is not something I want to explain to my son in the first grade. The same goes for religion; in the public school system there is supposed to be a separation between church and state. While it is important to cover types of religions in school, religion itself should not be tough in a public school. I remember when my brother took world history back in the 8^th grade he had a fight with his teacher cause the teacher wouldn’t accept that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel (because the book was from the early 1960s).

I’m not against political correctness and not offending people, but some how every good idea is always taken overboard. What kind of world are these schools preparing our kids for?

As a parent I am planning to get very much involved with my son’s school through the PTA or any other sources that are available. And I would probably cut on the funds we donate to public charities and pass a share of our donations towards our public school.

Any thoughts?

As many of you know, the Foundation for Jewish Camp with the generous support of the Genesis Philanthropy Group is launching a nation-wide initiative that will create opportunities for children and teenagers from Russian-speaking families to have a transformative experience at Jewish overnight camps across the United States and Canada . In order to create the best possible programs that would respond to the unique interests of the community, we would like to learn as much as we can about Russian-speaking families and their perspectives on camp, informal education and Jewish identity, as well as their specific needs.

Please help us distribute this quick online survey to as many Russian-speaking parents as possible and encourage them to respond, making their opinions really influence the programs at hundreds of Jewish camps in North America. Below please find a short message and the link to the survey.

We value your opinion and need your help in creating the most interesting and meaningful camp programs for your children! We would like you to share your unique perspective by filing out this quick online survey – upon completing the survey you can enter a raffle for a $250 gift certificate!  We also would love to hear from your friends, so please pass this on to other Russian-speaking parents (the top 5 people with most referrals get $100!!!)– the more voices we hear, the better we understand the specific needs and interests of our community. 

Looking forward to learning what you think! Please click here to fill out the survey http://deploy.ztelligence.com/start/index.jsp?PIN=15TTHGL5QXVB6

Alina Bitel, Program Director, Genesis Camp Initiative
Foundation for Jewish Camp
t 646-278-4533 f 646-278-4501 www.jewishcamp.org

After I put him down for the night I decided to do some research. This was not the first episode of laziness that we’ve had, and in the past these episodes did not only pertain to homework. What I was trying to figure out through my research is where this laziness is coming from and how to fight it. I came across an interesting article, which, although originally published in 1916, totally applied to my current situation.

The article suggests that children need to understand what is “in it” for them.  “It is the children who have been driven to do the unpleasant things that have no meaning for them who resort to ‘laziness’ as the only escape from the disagreeable tasks.” After reading this, things began to look a lot clearer to me: I need to stop giving my son things when he asks for them and instead make him earn the things he wants.

The article concluded with an interesting thought: “Finally, there are a few children who naturally take to the contemplative life—they are dreamers, poets, philosophers. They have their uses even if they do not do ‘useful work.’” As much as I found the idea that my son might fall into this category and become the world’s next great philosopher reassuring, I don’t really want to test this theory to find out that it may not be true. So instead, I will try to act now and make my son’s homework more rewarding; we’ll see where that gets us.

http://www.oldandsold.com/articles08/children-21.shtml

On the first day of camp we were given a meal menu which included all the snacks, breakfast and lunch menus. However, when I asked my son what he actually ate from this elaborate list, he said, “I ate bread; I like bread.” This was when I decided that cafeteria food was probably not going to work for us. I started researching different lunch box options and was able to find a few good ones that could store both hot and cold lunches.