Favorite Holiday Destination with Children

New York City is a wonderful place for kids. Central Park is a huge, open place where your son could run around to his heart's content. There are lots of different museums that even the youngest kids can enjoy. If you like zoos, NYC has several. Depending on your son's activity level, he may even sit through a children's show on Broadway like "The Lion King." When my son was a toddler, he loved riding on buses and other public transportation. It was a unique experience for him because we didn't have any public transportation where we lived. Subway trains were especially fascinating. The NYC subway system is very safe. Forget the stereotype of rude New Yorkers. When I was there, the locals were so much friendlier than my fellow tourists. Wherever you go, have a great time!

There are so many places localy. However, if you want to get away you could try taking the train up to Santa Barbara or Ventura County. The weather is a littl cooler there (about 10 degrees) so you can beat the heat a little and there are so many options. You can do the spa type thing in Ojai, the beach thing in Ventura or Port Hueneme, the shopping can be found everywhere it just depends on what you are looking for. There are also all kinds of outdoor activities.

Have fun on you vacation!

It depends on what kind of vacation you want. Sounds like you are wanting a beach type of vacation. DH and I have been to the Club Med at Cancun twice and LOVE IT! It used to be for adults only but I recently got a brochure saying that they have turned it into a family destination. They also have a few other family destinations across the globe (I heard rave reviews about the Turks/Caicos one). We live in Poway so it's still two plane rides to get there, but they are short rides. We are planning to take our two kids there in a couple of years for our 10 year anniversary.

Another cool place to go that is very family friendly would be Rapid City, South Dakota. Definitely not a beach resort, but they have a bunch of little cabins along the stream/lake, lots of open space for kids to run around (we love Lake Park), and lot of cool free or inexpensive kid friendly things to do (Reptile Gardens, Story Book Island, Dinosaur Park, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Bear Country...oh the list goes on and on!). We just took both our kids (age 3 and 1) there in early May to visit the in-laws. We stayed at Lake Park Campground in a 2 bedroom cabin for $75 a night. We were 1/4 of a mile away from Lake Park where they have 4 very nice playstructure areas for the kids to play, ducks to feed, and a nice walking trail/path. My 3 yo son LOVED having so much open space to just run and run and run! And my 1 yo daughter had fun crawling all over the park on the grass. And don't forget all the cool things to do in the Black Hills (like driving through wild buffalo and the casinos). Plus a lot of the hotels in Rapid have kid friendly play areas or even indoor waterparks. It was really a fun and mostly relaxing trip for us.

Good Luck!

How fun! It depends what time of year your going and what you want out of your vacation. My husband and I went to Puerto Vallarta last month and loved it! I can't wait to go back and take my kids. The downside is you would need to get passports and you have to change planes in Phoenix. But, it was only 2 hours from Phoenix. I also love Hawaii but right now its too long of a flight for the kiddos.
If you haven't looked at Trip Advisor it maybe worth a shot. Lots of great info and a forum to ask questions.
Good luck!

We took our daughter when she was 18 months old to Maui, and it was awesome. We stayed there 16 days, and we swam, explored, and played on the beaches. We did stay in a condo which made things a lot easier because she was able to take naps in a separate room while we watched TV in the living room, we were able to do laundry and also cook pretty much most nights. That was a great vacation, one that we have always looked fondly on. And it's only a four hour flight from LA which was good...we just drove up there with a rental car...dropped it off, flew four hours to Maui...had a rental car for the return trip. It was simple and fun! Cheers, C.

Since my baby was 1 month old she has been everywhere we go. When she was a month old we went to Lake Cachuma near Solvang to camp with many family members. At 6 month old she rang in the New Year with us in Las Vegas. At 9 months old we went to Maui which was great. We did stay in a condo which made things very easy. We took her to the pool and the beach. She even experienced a wonderful boat ride while we all took turn snorkling. We also had the pleasure of attending a Luau which she totally loved watching the traditional Hawaiian dancing. We are getting ready for our big trip Scandanavian cruise for 10 days. Your baby will be happy no matter where you go especially at that age. There idea of fun is to be able to run around and get dirty. I suggest maybe one of the Hawaiian islands or Beaches Jamaica. Both amazing tropical islands. Have fun!!!