Virginia is for Kids!

Wintergreen has a lot to offer kids – even without skiing.

Ridgely’s Fun Park offers kids a safe place to play in the snow and a gentle hill for tubing.  Offered for ages 2 and up, sessions are in 1 hour increments with $10 for 1 hour and $18 for 2 consecutive hours.

Ridgely’s Fun Park is open weekends and holidays only and tickets can be purchased at The Dome.

The Plunge! is Virginia’s largest snow tubing park.  At speeds up to 30 mph, this is not your grandfather’s sledding.  There is a convenient conveyor lift to transport you and your tube up the hill for more and more tubing enjoyment.  The Plunge! is recommended for ages 6 and up and kids must be taller than 42″.  2 hour sessions are $18 midweek and $25 weekends.  Tickets can be purchased online.

Wintergreen also offers many kid-friendly ski packages which incorporate skiing with other fun play.  You can read more about that by clicking here.

Wintergreen is located adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway in central Virginia.  Driving times are approximate and as follows:  Richmond 1.5 hours, Washington DC 3 hours, Virginia Beach 4 hours, Roanoke 2 hours.  Click here for the Google map link to the resort.

Want a Wintergreen brochure?  Click here.

Things to keep in mind:  kids can get a full day of tubing, skiing and/or snow play in just 2 hours.  Don’t plan a full day on the slopes with them unless they are used to it.  Allow time for snow play – the kids will remember you taking the time to have a snowball fight with them instead of the expensive lift ticket!

PLANT A SEED. SUPPORT A FIELD IN NEED. AND HELP KIDS EVERYWHERE BE THEIR BEST.

Please support this field so it has the chance to be rebuilt by Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes® cereal. They’re on a mission to rebuild run-down fields across America, because kids need places where they can work hard, play hard and be their very best. Let’s help this field be one of them.

The baseball fields at Azalea Garden in Norfolk, Virginia have hosted many Challenger League events along with t-ball, softball and baseball.  These are the most heavily used fields in Hampton Roads. (Hampton Roads includes:  Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Suffolk, Newport News, Poquoson and Portsmouth.  Azalea Garden fields are the only baseball fields in the area to host Challenger Tournaments as well as the Challenger Worldwide Jamboree.  Challenger Leagues are for disabled children 5 -19 years of age.  It is important to keep these fields in great condition not only for special needs children but for all children.  Without programs such as Challenger League, these children would not be able to experience the sport of baseball and interact at such a level with others.
This field is important to the community because ti gives children, including those with disabilities a chance to enjoy the sport of baseball, learn teamwork, enjoy the outdoors and sunshine, and exercise.  There are too many kids today who stay inside playing on computers or video games.  They do not have the opportunity to learn what team sports have to give, which is sportsmanship, confidence, teamwork, exercise, and friendship.
This field is in poor condition and the fields are in need of expansion due to more and more teams needing space to play.  Improvements needed include not only the fields, but also the dugouts, bleachers and other items which also need to be handicap accessible.  The little league has been trying to keep registration dues to a minimum to allow more children the ability to play.  Due to the current economy, donations have dropped significantly and this league has always relied on financial support from the community.
This field’s restoration will help the community because it will provide a safer and cleaner environment for the children to play and enjoy while also adaptng to their special needs.

Please vote for the Azalea Garden Fields by clicking here.

My office, located in the Virginia Beach resort area, has one of those brochure racks you often find in touristy locations. Everyday, I walk past this rack and pay it no attention. A few weeks ago, my son was with me and became enthralled with the bright colored brochures as we waited for the elevator to arrive. One of the brochures he insisted on pulling out of the rack was the brochure for Presidents Park.

Being a fan of Presidential history, I thought it would be a good idea to take a ride up to see Presidents Park this past Saturday. I figured that since it’s the off-season, there probably won’t be any crowds and the kids can explore to their heart’s content (my son had a friend over Saturday).

Unfortunately, disappointment is the only word which comes to mind right now when I think of Presidents Park. I can’t even tell you much about it because we were discouraged from going in!

The website states that the Park is open November – March 9am until 5pm. We arrived at 2:45pm to find that the Park closed at 4pm (and opened at 10am). Even though they were still open when we arrived, the woman at the front desk advised me that it “wasn’t worth” going in for an hour. Being that the tickets were $13.75 for adults and $8.50 for kids, that would have been an expensive hour. Maybe she was having a bad day, but customer service was not this woman’s forte. She acted as if our arrival was more of an intrusion than that of an invited guest.

The hours for Sunday are incorrect as well. The park doesn’t open until noon on Sunday and closes at 4pm.

Fortunately for us, there are plenty of other things to do in Williamsburg on a brisk Saturday afternoon. The kids had a great time walking through the always-pleasant Colonial Williamsburg and Merchant’s Walk.

Maybe someday we will try again at Presidents Park….but it’s not high on the list.