Family Getaway / Kalahari Resorts

There's nothing better than escaping the cold and going to a fun destination with your entire family. In all honesty, life is so much easier when you drive places.. to a winter escape, mini vacation, a staycation, whatever you want to call it, we all need a little escape.. can I get an AMEN?. 
Especially if 'Happiness' is less than two hours away from home! 

My family and I (including my younger sister, Emily) had the privilege of visiting Kalahari Resorts & Conventions in the Pocono Mountains. Kalahari Resorts & Conventions has 3 water parks across the country, one in Wisconsin Dells, WI; Sandusky, OH; and the newest location in Pocono Mountains, PA.

To us, this was all new. We've never been to a water park before and didn't really know what to expect.

Once we arrived, we immediately checked-in and headed to our connecting rooms. It was two rooms, two bathrooms and a small living room space with a tv, beautiful fireplace and a patio.. not too shabby :) 
 I was super impressed by the quality of service, attention to detail and very friendly staff. 

Once we settled in, we met at the lobby with Natasha Lucke who is the interior designer and family member of Todd Nelson (owner of Kalahari Resorts and Conventions). She gave us a private tour of the entire resort so we could get familiarized with the place. We chatted with Natasha for a while and she told us the unbelievable story of how she and her family (including Todd) went to Africa to hand pick every piece of art for the resort. They wanted to not only bring Africa to the Pocono Mountains but, also bring business to the local people in Africa and I thought that was amazing. More reasons to love this place.


note: Kalahari is a desert in southern Africa. The Nelson family wanted to be unique and decided to make the resort theme, Africa. 

In the shops aside from selling bathing suits and other thing you may have forgot to bring, they also have jewelry and other items for sale which were hand made by local artisans in Africa. 

After the tour, we had a little pizza party in The Adventures Club. This is a really fun area where kids can go daily for fun activities like crafts, finger painting, cookie decorating and so much more.

While the kids enjoyed the cheesy pizza I couldn't help but notice the mind-blowing art on the walls. Of course, I asked Natasha about it and got a surprising answer. She said the walls were painted by an incredibly talented Artist from Africa. 

I think it's so cool that every piece of art at the Kalahari Resorts has a beautiful story behind it and you know what's even cooler? The fact that there's a video of the entire journey available in your room. 

Here at 'The Last Bite' they make all desserts fresh and on the premises. My girls actually got the opportunity to be little bakers for the day. Take a look at the two ice-cream sandwich seats below! I honestly wanted to take them home.









The arcade was a place my husband and I simply couldn't stay away from (don't judge). We thought we were responsible adults, until we landed here! It was like Las Vegas for kids, and by 'kids' I mean, me! They had everything from mini bowling for kids (w/ small, lighter balls), neon mini golf, every arcade game imaginable and sooo much more. This was one of my favorite places in the resort.. no doubt about it.

Now for the main attraction, the water park!



My girls are kind off big now and may not need the guidance or attention as babies. Yet, one thing I noticed is the amount of lifeguards on site. I felt completely safe and comfortable with allowing my girls to have fun without worrying every 2 seconds about their safety.

Another thing, I loved how the park has closed-off sections for babies/toddlers and big kids. This is so no big kids will accidentally hit your baby while they're playing. In the big kids area, theres a bunch of hoops in the middle of the pool to play a game of basket ball.

If you're not into pool activities, just enjoy a drink at the Thirsty Turtle (pool bar) or ride on the lazy river like I did. You can probably see from the video how much fun I had doing that:) 







One thing I always do with my girls right before bed is read them stories.
Since we came to a resort, I didn't think of packing a book. Thankfully, right before bed Benny and Kya read my girls a few bed time stories. It was right by the grand fireplace and afterwards we headed to our room where we found milk and cookies. It was an unexpected sweet surprise.







The next day we were invited to have lunch at Brandberg which is one of the restaurants in the resort. Here we got to meet and chat with the chef about the food served. After this meal I asked the crew if I could move in? haha. Everything was so fresh and delicious I didn't want the meal to end.

This was just one of the many restaurants in Kalahari Resorts & Conventions. Kalahari offers a huge variety of food for everyone.

note: Brandberg is the name of the highest mountain in Namibia. 








That evening we dropped off the girls in the Adventures Club for a sugar scrub class. Meanwhile, my husband and I headed up to the penthouse for a group cocktail hour where we got to unwind and take-in the incredible view.



After the girls made sugar scrubs and decorated pumpkins, we picked them up and went straight into more fun!

Like I said before, all desserts are made on site and the girls got the chance to not only meet the amazing bakers like Santina, from 'The Last Bite' but also got creative decorating candy apples. I must admit, I was a little tinsy bit excited about this activity. My girls get to make fresh candy apples and I get to eat them, yess!







There's something called flow rider? Apparently there is! Ok, so I didn't know this even existed! I know surfing,  waterskiing, skurfing and other water sports.. but, I never knew about Flowriding until now!

The night before our departure we booked a private flowrider lesson scheduled with two amazing and very patient instructors, Dion and Darrien. Before arriving I of course googled 'flowriding' and was instantly excited. I've always wanted to go surfing and this was the perfect practice opportunity for me.

We first learned the basics which to me seemed imposible because I'm terrible at balancing.  Then after a few falls and bathing suit malfunction, I finally got it! (checkout my victory face below). Then, it was Zareena's turn. Believe it or not, she got it right the first time and she ripped me to shreds! After the basics we moved to fun tricks and I even got on my knees (it's harder than you think). Overall, it was an unforgettable experience for my girls and I. In other words, I found my new favorite hobby. 

I also forgot to mention that Kalahari Resorts & Conventions aside from everything else I mentioned above, also has a full-service spa and salon, outdoor activities and so much more.

Something that I found really interesting is that the Spa offers services exclusively for brides.   Such as bridal showers, bachelorettes, etc. The perfect place to unwind while the kids have fun.

It was so hard to say goodbye to this place but, we knew it wasn't goodbye only 'see you soon'. While the girls sung the resorts theme song "I want to go to the Kalahari, I want to swim at the Kalahari" my husband and I enjoyed the scenic drive back home. This trip was a needed mini vacation only two hours away from home.. which we will never forget.



& THESE WERE THE GIRLS AFTER HAVING WAY TOO MUCH FUN!

Next time you plan a family trip, think about visiting Kalahari Resorts & Conventions. It was a lot of fun! 

P.S. This makes a great holiday gift:)

 

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