Unless the entire vacation is going to be spent locked in a hotel room and lobby, chances are, the family is going to encounter some local wildlife.  Fortunately, the vast majority of wildlife is harmless.

The most dangerous animal in the world, statistically speaking, is the mosquito.  Most breeds of mosquito come out at dusk and remain active throughout the night.  Mosquitos can spread encephalitis, deng fever, and most commonly, malaria.  When travelling in areas with lots of mosquitos, make sure to use a good repellant (test it first for allergic reactions), loose clothing, and netting over the bed.  Pay special attention to the ankles, because tube socks can prevent quite a few mosquito bites.

Other dangerous insects include scorpions and spiders.  Make sure your children know not to go flipping rocks and rotten logs hunting for treasure, because the treasure they find might bite!  Fortunately, most scorpions and spider stings are not deadly.

Other insects, like fleas, ticks, bees, and ants, are generally more nuisance than dangerous.  The exception to this is allergic reactions.  If your child is allergic to insect stings, be prepared for it with antihistamies or epi pens.

The second most dangerous animal in the world…is the dog.  Don’t let children pet or play with dogs they don’t know.  Besides the risk of rabies, some dogs might have a short temper, and dog teeth can do quite a lot of damage to small hands.  Cats and kittens, too, can do damage or spread disease with scratches or bites.

Make sure your children understand the difference between Winnie the Pooh and the family of bear in the wilderness.  Sure, the cubs look fun and playful, but they can still do a lot of damage, and there’s always momma bear to contend with.

Under no circumstances should children approach a bat.  More than half of the rabies deaths in the last thirty years have all been traced to bats.

Disneyland is a very popular destination for families, and there are an incredible number of things to see and do at the park.

For many young children, the highlight of the trip is the chance to shake hands and pose for pictures with a favorite character, like Mickey Mouse.

Some of the first things that come to mind in Disneyland are the rides.  Disney rides range from extremely tame, like the Bug’s Life play area in California Adventures, to the unusual, like “Honey I Shrunk the Audience,” to the really fast, like the Matterhorn Bobsled and Space Mountain. 

Many of the rides have height limitations, which means one adult may be left at the end of the line with the smallest child while the other adult takes the older children onto the ride.  Fortunately, the park has a policy that keeps it fair: when one adult is forced to wait for the other, the ride staff will give them a free pass that allows the second parent to go to the front of the line.

Start the day by arriving as soon as the park opens. Then, before the crowds arrive, hit the most popular rides, like the Indiana Jones Adventure and Star Tours.  In the afternoon, when the lines get long, abandon the rides for a little while, and hit the stage and theater shows, like Honey I Shrunk the Kids, the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the Country Bear Jamboree.  When evening arrives, be sure to catch Fantasmic, a spectacular show that takes place on the lagoon.

After Fantasmic, and the evening fireworks, the crowds will start to thin.  If the youngsters are up to it, this is the perfect time to go hit the rest of the popular rides, like Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.  In fact, after midnight, it’s often possible to dash from ride to ride to ride with no lines at all, before the staff begins shutting everything down at one AM.

If you were traveling with children in Europe, wouldn’t it be nice to have a “home base” to start from?  That place would need large, family friendly lodging, with plenty of activities for both kids and parents for those “stay in the hotel” days, and a staff fairly fluent in English.  It would also have to be affordable, and located pretty near the spots you’re thinking about visiting.

Amazingly enough, such a place does exist.  Center Parcs has a chain of twenty locations spread across Europe, with resorts in France, England, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.  They haven’t done much advertising in the United States, so most American travelers don’t even know they exist.

The distinguishing feature of each of these resorts is the big dome that houses the kid’s activity area, restaurants, shops, spas, and pool–though “pool” hardly does it justice, since it has water slides, kiddie pools, wave pools, and more.  The restaurants cover the full range from fast food to gourmet specialty, and there’s even a supermarket.  

Each resort offers a variety of kid-friendly activities.  They have activities like Baluba and Experience Factory, which are a roomful of play equipment and toys to climb on, plus petting zoo, pony rides, climbing walls, and even snorkeling.

For adults, each resort has shopping, saunas, bicycle and hiking trails, swimming and skiing, and more.

All of the resorts are located fairly near to landmarks and cities (like Waterloo, Antwerp, the Hague, and Paris), so they make a perfect “home base” from which to explore Europe.

What’s more, the cottages at each resort are roomy and comfortable, because they were designed to handle a three-generation family.  Most have fireplaces, widescreen TV, children’s beds, and private balconies.  As a special feature, families can even reserve a room with a puppet theater, circus tent, baby bath, and collection of toys.

For sheer variety, there aren’t too many places that can beat Northern Arizona for landscape and beauty.

 First off, select a home base–a place to return to after driving around all day.  The Northern Arizona sights are relatively close, but “relatively” still might mean a few hours drive.  One of the best home bases is Sedona.  It’s got quite a collection of shops and restaurants, and also has Slide Rock, in Oak Creek Canyon, just a few minutes outside of Sedona.

Slide Rock is a canyon carved out of the red rock by Oak Creek.  The algae covering the rocks makes them especially slippery, so swimmers can actually slide right on down the river, like a naturally formed water park.  It’s a very popular destination, but be sure to check with the park in advance, because they will close the creek to swimming if the algae level gets too high or the water level gets too low.  Oak Creek is also great for fishing.

With a comfortable home base, the family is ready to make their expeditions to the other Northern Arizona sites of interest, starting with the world’s biggest hole in the ground, the Grand Canyon.  Carved out of bedrock by the Colorado River, the canyon is a scar across Northern Arizona, and offers some of the most incredible views in the state.

Between Sedona and the Canyon is Flagstaff, one of the few places in Arizona where you can go skiing.  That’s always been an attraction for Phoenix dwellers–the possibility of driving to Flagstaff at dawn to ski all morning, then driving home to jump in the backyard pool.

There are several other sites of interest within a few hours’ drive from Sedona, such as Meteor Crater, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, and Montezuma’s Castle.  All of them are worth the trip, and make Northern Arizona one of the most attractive areas in the country.