For our summer vacation this year, we decided to mix things up - a few educational things the kids have been wanting to see or experience, and a few pure amusement things for all of us. I could wax poetic for a while on the benefits of home schooling, but suffice it to say that with our year-yound approach, the kids are still enjoying the act of learning.. and we're reinforcing their enthusiasm as best we can.

Our first stop will be in New York's Central Park to visit the statue of Balto (the dog that 'saved' Nome Alaska). Ever since the kids read about Balto, this has been on their list. We'll end the day at a nice campsite in New Jersey just a couple of miles from Six Flags.

I'm taking Rebecca and Jacob on the Six Flags Safari in New Jersey: an up-close and personal visit with some creatures like giraffes and elephants. I'm sure there'll be more - it's a 2.5-3 hour affair. Reasonably expensive, but as my wife and I discussed, we think it's a small price to pay if the kids really get something lasting out of it. Who knows... with their penchant for biology already, this might put them on the path of becoming scientists! Or, it could end up being just a very pricey T-Shirt. We'll see!

Other stops on the trip will include the Maryland Zoo, the Liberty Bell (we'll be eating at Geno's too), Washington D.C. (standard faire: Lincoln Memorial, White House, etc., but the kids will enjoy it), a nice looking aquarium (Adventure Aquarium), and also some Crystal Caverns.

Our 'final' destination is Virginia and Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, where we'll be camping and doing day-trips - Fishing and what-not.

In any case, we're all looking forward to this! I'll try to blog (or at least Twitter) daily. We'll see how this works out, though: wireless hotspots might be hard to find.