Week 1 of Summer – Cape Fun
We started the summer off with a bang! A trip to the Red Jacket Resort in Yarmouth, fireworks on the beach. Back home for a bit and swim lessons. Then to the cape again for the 4th and more fireworks on the bay!
Red Jacket Beach Resort Video Review
We had so much fun last week when we stayed at the Red Jacket Beach Resort last.
Here’s the kids and I telling you all about it. Don’t mind my hair – it was hella humid, mkay?!
I’ll be adding our tour video soon here as well!
read moreSensitive letter writer strikes again
We are about to set off for Mexico on an Anniversary trip. That means NO KIDS. I am conflicted. I reeeeeeeaaaaaaaallllllly want to go but I’m nervous to leave the kids. I know their in good hands, but I will miss them. I worry. I’m crazy!
I think my daughter could sense this. She gave me this letter. I promptly put it in my suitcase to bring with me. Because that’s what neurotic mothers do.
She has become an epic letter writer. I see journalling in her future!
Seacrest Hotel Romantic Getaway
Over the summer I spent A LOT of time with my children, mostly on my own. Then school started and we got into our fast-paced routine. Then dance lessons, karate practice, soccer games all began in full force. Then we took the kids away for a couple of weekends, and you all know that’s not a vacation.
So I felt like my husband and I were due. We were due some time alone. I remembered that we were supposed to go to the Seacrest Beach Hotel over the summer with the kids but we just couldn’t make it work out. So I called them up and I said how about I try romantic getaway? And they said come on down, we’ll take care of you.
This was November 1st, which is fine. My husband and I were born and raised in and around Boston so we know what November can be like around theses parts. However, what we expected to do was to maybe, you know, get on the beach for a little while to hold hands for a walk. That lasted for all of five minutes. There is some photo evidence of it below. But then it was an all out freezing rain/ sleet/snow monsoon. It was CRAZYTOWN.
So we had to stay in for most of the time, which wasn’t terrible ;-).
The Sea Crest hotel started out as a theater in 1929. It was destroyed by a fire in 1936. The only structure to survive was an old prohibition era gambling and drinking establishment called the Old Silver Beach Club. Then those remaining buildings were destroyed by the hurricane in 1938. In 1942 a new owner named Lou Walters opened the Latin Quarter. It became one of Cape Cod’s most popular hotel and dinner theaters. Oh, he also has a very famous daughter named Barbara who grew up right there on Old Silver Beach :-)
During World War II the military took over the resort to use for housing staff from Camp Edwards/ Otis Air Force base. After the war, the summer resort activities resumed until 1962. At that time a trio of owners purchased the resort, one of them being Red Auerbach! The bar and restaurant at the hotel is called Red’s. Lots of great memorabilia and quotes from Red along the walls.
Sea Crest is now a part of Scout Hotels. They have other hotels in Nantucket and Florida. The staff at the Sea Crest are knowledgable, helpful, and super friendly. Scout clearly invests in it’s people. Today the Sea Crest is not only a beautiful hotel on Old Silver Beach, but a wedding venue and a conference center. The restaurant is good enough to go to without staying at the hotel. I can’t say that about many hotel restaurants I’ve eaten at.
We hope to get there in the summer this year as well. The kids would love it and we’d like to be on the beach without wearing a winter jacket and nearly getting swept away. Or maybe another romantic getaway for New Year’s Eve? Nana??
http://www.seacrestbeachhotel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SeaCrestBeachHotel
http://www.seacrestbeachhotel.com/specials/new-years-eve-package
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I was given a complimentary hosted stay at the Sea Crest. All opinions are my own.
Red Jacket Mountain View Resort Review and Giveaway
Last weekend the Red Jacket Inn Mountain View Resort hosted the ViolaCay family! The kids were um, excited to say the least.
And natch, we made a video…
The Red Jacket Mountain View Resort is in North Conway, New Hampshire. The White Mountains are beautiful, there is outlet shopping , and of course Storyland is there.
For the last couple of years we’ve gone to Storyland and looked up the hill longingly at the pretty hotel that sat way up there. The kids knew there was a water park up there too. But alas they had been too little to go. Fans of the Red Jacket Mountain View Resort, and there are many, will tell you it’s quaint. Critics will tell you it’s a little dated. It’s both really. It’s quaintness shined through and it’s datedness fell to the background for me. Yes it’s true, there are lots of stairs and there are LONG hallways with lots of doors. But, that didn’t phase me much. I just loved it. What, or who rather, really shines at the Red Jacket Resort is the people.
From the general manager checking in on us all the way through to the cleaning staff. Just good people.
- As soon as we got to our room we could see that we needed a rollaway or another mattress or something for child #3 up in the loft. The kids wanted to go to the water park like, RIGHT NOW. My husband called down and they said they’d take care of it. When we returned there was a mattress in between the beds, all made, with his blankie and stuffed Nemo perched on the pillow.
- The front desk gal Teresa who assured my daughter that “Of course the tooth fairy comes to the Red Jacket, honey” after her brother knocked her tooth out in the water park (Daddy saved the tooth)!
- The poor boy at the water park desk who couldn’t find a bandaid right away for me. He was clearly the maintenance guy that I had caught off guard while the regular desk person had stepped away. I made him blush when I said I could just a hold one of those tampons on the boy’s skinned knee as I pointed to the other supplies on the shelf. :-) He rushed away quickly to the supply closet to get more band aids.
- The very patient staffer who lead a group of kids in a craft on a rainy day as they waited anxiously for the water park to open!
- The waitstaff at breakfast who took care of us, and took our boy’s allergies seriously. Getting a chef to come out and take Theo’s breakfast order personally and then went to make it herself. Toast and sliced apples made to order :-)
We loved our stay and hope that you do too! Yes, that’s right one of you lucky ducks is going to win a 2 night stay at the Red Jacket Mountain View Resort! Woooo hooooo!
Red Jacket Mountain View Resort & Kahuna Laguna Viola Cay Family Vacation Giveaway!
Includes: Two-night stay for a family of four at Red Jacket Mountain View Resort in North Conway, New Hampshire and passes to Kahuna Laguna Indoor Water Park. Restrictions: Not available on holidays, holiday weekends or school vacation weeks. Valid through October 2015. Other terms may apply.
Please visit my lovely cohosts at
Diane at Dollops of Diane
Kim at Family Friendly Boston
Jodi at Family Travel Magazine
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Disclosure: This post (and my sharing on social media) was inspired by my participation in a program with Red Jacket Resorts. I was given a complimentary stay at Red Jacket Mountain View Resort. All opinions are my own.
Red Jacket Kahuna Laguna Freak Out
Yep he’s at it again. This time the other two get their freak on too!
I love surprising these kids!
Stay tuned for some awesome giveaway news!
read moreAbout Me
Hot wife, Mom of 3, Human to #jojothedoodle.
They said WHAT?