family activities

[Reid]

So in the past year ive had a 2yr old girl come into my life.

We (the mom and i) have been doing adventure sundays, every other sunday (custody arrangements and work schedules is what dictate that sunday is our only day for this)

Running out of ideas. We like to get out doors. i'll go over the list of our usual adventures and see if you guys can offer any new ideas. Some of these we have been able to do multiple times, but as she ages she is getting bored with doing the same things over and over.

-NC Zoo (childrens museum membership provides half off discount)
-Dan Nicholas park
-Winston Salem Childrens Museumn(this has provided fun on several trips and are able to go during the week too)
-Greensboro Childrens Museum
-Sci-Works
-Fair when it was in town
-Tanglewood park
-Hanging rock
-Various city parks for playtime and picnics

Future trip planned for the transportation museum in salisbury (trains)

Through no encouragement of my own...she is into jeeps. So i plan on doing some uwharrie trips just so she can watch the jeeps play. shes too young to be on the trails still so its just gonna be some park and watch trips.

 

[VortecJeep]

Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville. If you become a member, you get in free to all the places that are members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (such as NC zoo, NC Aquariums, Discovery Place, etc). I can't remember how much it was, but it was reasonable, we've had our membership since our daughter was 2 and we renew every year. After you get in to one or two of the places free, you've more than made up your money.

Some other favorite places of ours:
Lazy 5 Ranch near Mooresville (drive thru in your own car or take the wagon ride thru all the wild animals.)
Discovery Place in Charlotte.
Carolina Raptor Center near Huntersville.
Sheep Dog Trials at Rural Hill near Latta Plantation in Huntersville.
Tiger World near Rockwell.

 

[trailhugger]

It isn't far to Raleigh for the museums here and the flea market is every weekend at the NC state fairgrounds (except during the fair, of course). There is also the museum of life and science in Durham. L & S has lots of outdoor exhibits and a train to ride... The museum of art has lots of outdoor space, also, that connects to the greenway* trails. Then there is Umstead park, if you don't mind carrying her on some easy hiking trails along the water.

 

[Mulishajoe]

X2 on lazy 5 ranch ans tiger world. My 3yr old nephew loves those places.

 

[1-tonmudder]

I dont know if u have any around you but u might try Chuckie cheese or the like.My son always liked that place.

 

[Paul]

Take her wheeling. The people i run with are the most kid friendly i have ever seen!
Nice that you are being active in her life.

 

[Reid]

lots of good ideas. thanks guys. keep them coming.

 

[R Q]

Discovery Place in Charlotte
And she's not too young to take wheeling. My son has been riding with me since he was out of diapers.
And don't try to knock it out of the park every time, she will probably remember the trip to McDonalds as much as anything! Lol

Edited for omitted words.

 

[drkelly]

Lazy 5 Ranch near Mooresville (drive thru in your own car or take the wagon ride thru all the wild animals.).

x3 on the lazy 5 ranch. We took the wagon ride, and I would highly recommend it. You will probably want to wait till spring unless you catch the odd nice weather day during the remainder of the winter/early spring. The wagon ride lasts maybe 1-1.5 hrs. There is also a wooden ship playground setup there that my boy and his cousin loved playing on after the wagon ride.

We go to a lot of the same places you mentioned. My boy doesn't do well with long (over 1 hr) car rides though, so it makes it tough.

We are going to try the Tweetsie railroad here in the spring when they open. My boy seems to love trains.

I have a toddler seat on the back of my bicycle, and my boy loves to go for bicycle rides on the greenways in Greensboro. I've been riding him on the back of my bicycle since he was 12 months old. Typically, we ride a while to a playground, then stop and let him play for 30-45 minutes, then get back on the bikes and continue for a while and head back to the van.

I also have a back pack that I put him in and we take him hiking up at Hanging Rock, Stone Mountain, and other trails on the parkway. At 33 lbs, he makes it a good workout for me, lol.

My boy is 2 yrs 3 months for reference.

 

[VortecJeep]

We love Lazy 5, but a fair warning; we've driven our own vehicle thru multiple times, but once one of the animals put its front hooves up on the door and scratched it pretty good. I think we'll try the wagon next time.

 

[GONOVRIT]

DPG March 9th, there will be big twucks evwyware!

 

[Reid]

We love Lazy 5, but a fair warning; we've driven our own vehicle thru multiple times, but once one of the animals put its front hooves up on the door and scratched it pretty good. I think we'll try the wagon next time.

i think she'd love the wagon. also think shed love the animals climbing over the jeep as well. whats a few hoof prints in with the trail damage.

DPG March 9th, there will be big twucks evwyware!

Yup... i really wanted to take her to see the "biiiig jeeps" but unfortunately she will be at her dads that day.

 

[Reid]

Tiger world looks like its gonna be the next trip. mommy loves big cats and its not too far from Dan nicholas park (mini zoo, train ride, carousel, parks etc.)

 

[Dylan W.]

Bring her and some rubber boots to our house and I'll get Ella(2 yrs old) to take yall on a creek walkin' trip. Best free fun ever!

 

[Reid]

lol, yeah...she'd probably love that. cant keep her outta the water.

 

[NCJeeplover]

I agree with Paul on this one. Take them wheeling. I have 3 kids and they all love wheeling. I made a deal with my wife that when they turned 15 months old they could go wheeling. My oldest is getting ready to turn 5 and his first trip was to Mt.City when he was 15 months. Now I cant even move it around the yard without him wanting to ride. My twins went on there first wheeling trip last fall at Uwharrie. They loved it! I took my buggy apart to build a Cherokee just to ride the family with windows, heat, and air. The twins went to the farm when they were younger just to watch. This year were buying a camper so we can go a lot more. Surprisingly enough, they sleep through a lot of it!! Never understood that!!

 

[Lizooki]

Emerald Hollow Gem Mine in Hiddenite. Play in the creek and find pretty rocks!
Kids love it, take extra clothes tho'.

Matt

 

[mysterync]

Tweetsie, grandfather, docs rocks are all up on the mountain. Docs rocks is THE BEST gem mine and museum I've ever seen.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[NASH-TY-AMC]

ashboro zoo is a awesome event

 

[trailhugger]

UNC tv is doing their fundraising drive... Apparently there is a new children's museum of alamance county in Graham.

 

[OH9JK]

UNC tv is doing their fundraising drive... Apparently there is a new children's museum of alamance county in Graham.

The Alamance children's museum is actually pretty nice. It's not huge but good for a few hours of fun. All of the people we have run into there are very nice and let the kids...well, be kids.

 

[mommucked]

How bout getting her a cheap pushbutton kids fishingpole and take her fishing? most come packaged w hooks and bobbers and i've seen them in pink too!. Get some worms or crickets, and a picnic basket and have some fun and maybe catch dinner. I would wait a while and let it warm up some though.

 

[Kamel]

shes too young to be on the trails still so its just gonna be some park and watch trips.

This is False. My oldest son was around 6 months his first off-road adventure, albeit short. She would be fine on most all URE trails.

 

[benmack1]

The Alamance children's museum is actually pretty nice. It's not huge but good for a few hours of fun. All of the people we have run into there are very nice and let the kids...well, be kids.

I agree. We were there a couple weeks ago and it's very nice. Not really a 'museum' I wouldn't say but more of a well supervised and educational play place. They have several stations for the kids to paint, mock cook, build stuff, climb etc. I think admission is something like 5 bucks each of so. We had some freebie tickets so I am not totally sure on the price. Good for probably 2 or 3 hrs I would say. I couldn't have taken much more than that but I bet my kids could have. It's just a block or two away from the old Graham courthouse round-a-bout area.

Now that I mention Graham, the other neat place in town there is the movie theatre. I don't recall the name but they have very cheap movies and typically are family type movies that are re-shows (not the latest stuff). We say Beverly Hills Chihuahua there a few years ago. All the popcorn you can eat included if I remember correctly. Good (and cheap) time.