This past September I thought to myself, I should be making a plan for a family get away. The last time I wrote about such a get away several Four Seasons of Great Notch residents approached me and said I was nuts. I was told “at this stage of the game, THEY should be taking you”. I guess that’s true, but what if THEY can’t, or are so busy with work and kids that by the time they figure it out, either every place is booked or your paying “through the proverbial nose”
So, getting back to September, and trying to figure out what and where.” WE” is not such a small “we” – WE are 14 so I have to be very selective in what I should or could do. For the past 3 years I was taking everyone to Woodlock Pines in the Poconos. We always had this beautiful cabin by the lake. Everyone loved going there. The thing is it was getting harder and harder to go anywhere because 2 of my grandchildren are in college, some of my step-grandchildren live in NYC and are working, and some have sport commitments – what a headache this all gave me. So many were on different schedules and needs, getting together these days is no easy task. But truth be told, I myself look forward to even 4 days surrounded by all my kids, so I was determined to not have anything get in my way.
Woodlock Pines was becoming stale. It’s a fabulous family resort. Expensive, but really good for families with younger children. My children were all too old now, and the amenities were just not relevant for them anymore. I felt December is the only time, right before Christmas because everyone is home from school, sports is on hold till after the holidays and making a plan in September allows the working crew to get time off. So where do I go with such a large group? The Islands are out. Who can afford airfare and hotels for 14? Not me. We can’t go to any of the many beaches in NJ because it’s the dead of winter. So with the help of my son in law, we started searching the web. We worked on this for a few days, and then found a cabin in the Poconos that seemed to fit “the bill”. This cabin is only about a year old and located right in the heart of ski country. Not only did it have a huge kitchen and great room (with large screen TV’s everywhere) but also had an indoor heated pool, enough bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate my crowd, but also had a game room, video room, movie theater and huge outdoor deck with a full outdoor kitchen that we were able to BBQ on. All the kitchen amenities and linen requirements were included.
I booked it for 4 days and sent out the word to all to reserve the date. On the day we were allowed to start using the cabin, I stopped at the local Costco and bought enough food and snacks for all of us for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had so much fun playing games every night, swimming and watching movies that no one child ever thought to leave. The
laughter is still ringing in my ears, and so are the last words my grandchildren whispered in my ear…“grandma, you did it again!!”