Back to blogging and Oglebay

It’s been a crazy few weeks here sorry for the interruption. We had a long weekend trip away with Grandma, then home for four days. Just enough time to do laundry and repack for a vacation at the beach. Then we were gone for another 10 days. I came home to a mountain of laundry and just four days to get ready for school. The kiddos still had one more summer activity to attend and I had to shop for school shoes.

Now with one more little birdie out of the nest and off to Kindergarten and the big girl loving second grade I guess I need to get myself back to the blog (among other things). I’m still trying to adjust so be patient with me.

I’ll tell you about the beach trip soon. First let’s go back a few weeks to the resort weekend with Grandma (aka Mimi).

Mimi wanted to have a trip with the kids so after some thought we came up with a plan to go to a local resort. It’s not far from where we live and could be a day trip. Since the kids love the novelty of staying in a hotel and after the fun of our February trip we planned a stay at the lodge for a long weekend and made a mini vacation out of the trip.

We went to Oglebay in Wheeling WV for three nights. I had been there before but not since high school. Boy, things can change in a hundred years. It was the perfect place for a family getaway. Not too long in the car, which is good being that the kids start asking if we’re there 2 minutes into the drive. The whole place was full of kid and adult friendly fun. Never a dull moment.

The whole stay put me in mind of scenes from Dirty Dancing. It was picturesque from every angle and there were events and activities all day everyday. The 1700 acre estate turned resort has a spa, a golf course, driving range, tennis courts, riding stables, hiking trails, an indoor and an outdoor pool, mini golf, a playground, pedal boats, fishing, a mansion museum, a glass museum with glassblowing demos and workshops, and a zoo with a train. On top of all that they also plan daily activities in various locations throughout each day. They offer tiny tot book break for 5 and under, story hour for kids 5-9, art exploration, bird watching, butterfly watch, nature walks, culinary demo/workshop, tea time, wine tasting, a light show on the water fountain and an evening campfire complete with s’mores.

If you stay at the lodge most of the activities are free for the guests and they have a trolley to take you from place to place that runs through the park all day long. And you get to start your day with an amazing breakfast buffet. The rooms were small but had everything we needed. We did have to request a refrigerator but it was delivered in minutes and came to us already cold. The lodge was rather large but the way things are laid out and with so many trees around you really felt like you were in a small country estate. The lodge rooms open inside to the main hall to go to the event rooms, restaurants and the indoor pool. Each room also has it’s own door outside to a courtyard. This was great for the kids. I could open the door and they had so much extra space to run around while we got ready to go or had an evening cocktail on the patio.


Our fisrt day we started things off with the zoo. After checking out the meerkats and the reptiles we went to feed the goats.

Although that was exciting, we moved on to see what else was to encounter.

I have never seen a black swan before.

Yes, they were really that close. I did not need to zoom in for the photos.

There were planty of other animals too. Zebras and Otrich to name a few. After we walked through the zoo we decided to ride the train through for a second look.

Little man was thrilled to be on "Thomas".

The girls were happy to be sitting down.

The next day we hit a few of the other activities. I quickly decided to move the blonde up front with me so I could keep a better eye on her.

Note to self... Never give a long metal stick to a two year old. ALSO, never give a rock hard ball to a two year old.

While Mimi and the little man took a nap Dada took the girls fishing. My big girl caught her first fish like a pro.

My other cutie looks a little concerned with her catch. Nonetheless there were some perturbed fishermen that didn't get such nice trophies. (They did get the left over bait.)

On our last day we strolled the gardens and visited the mansion.

It was a very busy three days.

Thanks for the good time Mimi!!!!