Fern Resort In Orillia Delivers Perfect Family Fun

This past weekend, my family and I were lucky enough to spend a few days at Fern Resort in Orillia, Ontario.  Fern Resort is an all inclusive resort that does an outstanding job at taking care of families and making sure that they have an unforgettable vacation.  I am fortunate to have access to a cottage on both sides of my family, but Fern can't be compared to going to a cottage.  That's like comparing apples to oranges. For parents, Fern Resort offers you a break from cooking, cleaning and being the social entertainment planner for the kids.  At the cottage, I still have to do all those things. You really get to relax at Fern and spend some time as a family and as a couple and get alone time too (there is a spa, tennis courts, golf, a fitness centre and a jogging track too!)  - Fern really is the best of all options when it comes to all members of the family feeling like they got a vacation.

Check out more pictures of the resort here.

When we got up the next morning, the kids really wanted to hit the pool.  Lucky for them, Fern Resort actually has three pools!  After a delicious breakfast in the main dining room, we changed into our bathing suits and hit the pool deck.  All of the pools are surrounded by inviting lounge chairs, even the kiddie pool has kid sized lounge chairs.  While we were in all three of the pools, the favourite was the small wading pool that was nice and warm and very shallow.  After working up an appetite, we grabbed lunch pool side.  The kids had choices of hamburgers, tacos, hot dogs, wraps, pizza and there was lots of fruit and veggies to choose from as well.  And let's not forget the dessert station which offered ice cream sundaes, freezies, tarts and cakes too!

My littlest succumbed to an afternoon nap on Saturday and that left my son and I some time to explore the resort a bit more.  In one afternoon he tried several things he'd never done before.  First up, we relaxed for a bit in the hammocks by the lake.  Then we tried our hand at fishing (those sneaky fish stole our worm twice but the two kids next to us were having lots of luck!) and finally the trampolines and then the low ropes course. Yup, all that stuff is at Fern Resort for kids to do plus so many other options and I haven't even gotten to the Play Village yet!

Left to Right - Climbing the low ropes course, playing life size checkers and walking across the suspension bridge

The Fern Resort Play Village is  really quite amazing.  I have not come across such comprehensive children's
programming at an Ontario resort before.  Just take a look here at a sample of their weekly program.  One morning, my kids got to make their own superhero mask and have a pony ride!  They went back in the late afternoon and had fun with motorized jeeps (my 4 year old son was in absolutely heaven).  The Play Village has secure indoor and outdoor areas to play and breaks down the programming by age.  They will take infants from 2 weeks of age!  And what did Mom and Dad do while the kids were having a blast in the Play Village?  Well, we had a quiet coffee by the lake, we did Archery and tried out a dual pedal bike and even got to have dinner alone while the kids watched a movie with the Play Village staff.  The resort has done a great job at thinking of every last detail to make being away from home with kids easy and enjoyable.

Motorized Jeeps!  

My final note would be to say that Fern is not just your summer vacation destination!  This Halloween weekend package caught our eye and be sure to find out about their New Year's family friendly celebration too!  Check out all Fern has to offer on their website, you won't regret it!  Momstown members always get a 5% discount off of any price too!

Combining Focus And Feelings For Business Success

It's been one week since the entire momstown team gathered together for our 7th National conference.  We were lucky enough to be hosted again by Fern Resort, an amazing family resort in Orillia.  After settling in on Friday night, the work really began on Saturday as we talked about finding focus in our businesses and about how feelings can contribute to the success or failure of your business.  Do you think feelings play a major role in your career choices and overall successes?

Starting with focus, the momstown team headed out to Fern Resort's archery area to take aim at our targets! This was a great interactive and hands on activity and had me thinking about what I was going to picture on the target as I lined up my bow and arrow and took aim.  One of the most challenging things about being an entrepreneur, in my opinion, is trying to keep focus.  Entrepreneurs have to be a 'jack of all trades' and while that is sometimes part of the excitement, it can derail businesses who lack focus.

Next up we had the pleasure of working with Jen Bodenham, owner of career & life Coaching business Gleaming and Dreaming.  Jen took us through lots of thought provoking work and at the end of our session, each momstown team member had compiled a list of core desired feelings (based on Danielle Laporte's Desire Map).

I'll be honest, this was the third National momstown conference I have attended and this one was by far the hardest!  We really drilled down into some tough topics and forced ourselves to focus and admit what we were feeling.  The result?  A renewed sense of commitment, motivation to stay focused and execute our plans and work towards the brave goal to 'stand in your own truth'.

Among the hard work though, were the things I like very best at our National conferences.  Tons of idea sharing (we had best practices presentations which were incredibly helpful), creation of more programs for momstown members and time to leverage the amazing resources we have - our team members and our momstown leadership team.  And of course some fun and goodies thrown in there too!  Many thanks not only to Fern Resort, but to our other awesome conference sponsors as well.

Mattel Game On
Quaker Canada 
Twistos 
Goody Canada 
Mabels Labels
Barilla Pasta
Post Cereal 
Walmart Canada
Adult Essentials

Have you tried the new Quaker quinoa bars?

We all got one of these awesome jam packed loot bags!

The process to honour my core desired feelings has been a bit slow, but things are starting to move full steam ahead and I couldn't be more ready or more excited.  As always, the momstown National conference was full of key learnings and time well spent focusing on my business and its success.  I am so grateful to have a team of inspiring business owners who are on this journey with me.  Whatever you are working towards in your life and in your career, keep pushing and don't stop before the miracle happens!

Leading Canadian Event and Media Company Heads to Fern Resort for Fall 2012 National Conference

Orillia got a little bit bigger this past weekend as 25+ team members from momstown, the leading Canadian event and media company that connects and supports local moms, headed to Fern Resort for our Fall National conference.  As the momstown Oakville owner, I was lucky enough to be a part of this amazing weekend.  Huge thanks to Honda Canada for sending us up to Fern Resort in style - we got the chance to test out the Pilot, CRV and the Accord.  Everyone loved the smooth rides and I know it was a sad day when they had to be given back!  We were also spoiled with swag bags that included books and a few other goodies from Scholastic Canada and a box of Nestle's Black Magic chocolates - immediate hits will all of the conference attendees!

I am pretty familiar with the Orillia area (I grew up in northern Ontario) but had never been to Fern Resort.  I can honestly say that my first visit will definitely not be my last.  What an amazing, family oriented place! Their core brand really comes down to  genuinely wanting your family to have a wonderful vacation.  They have thought of everything in terms of keeping the kids busy (motorized jeep day, crafts, zip line, ropes course, beach front and even a special teen hangout cabin) and provide a wonderful balance between family time and giving mom and dad a chance to relax while the kids are happily entertained by their amazing staff.

Fern Resort main building and the beautiful view from right outside my cabin

Huge kids area!

What else sets them apart?  They get to know your family by name and after a day or two know what kind of juice your kids like at breakfast.  Amazing.  Kids cry when they leave this place!  We all enjoyed getting to know such an awesome Ontario family vacation destination. In addition to all the wonderful things they do for families, they are also a perfect conference location.  From team building bonfires to lots of space for team meals and nice, bright rooms for us to meet in, it was a wonderful place to spend three days. Huge thank you to Fern Resort and their amazing staff!

Three days?  What did we do up there for three days you may wonder?  Well, each day was jam packed with planning sessions for 2013 and brainstorming sessions on how to make our company even better.  We talked strategy, marketing and branding, social media, team collaboration and so much more.  And of course at the heart of it all is figuring out how to give local moms the best opportunities to connect and feel supported.

momstown is a National event and media company and so its only twice a year that we are all in the same space together and sharing all of our successes and supporting each other to up our game again and again.  This is one amazing team.  Before I left of the conference, I wrote about the passion, purpose and power that comes from this group and I believe it even more now than ever before.  We are so ready to achieve our goals for 2013 and we've set the targets high!  But I know we can do it.  And I know that I have the support of more than 20 other business women which is an incredible resource and we are lucky to have each other.

So many great conversation over dinner - the food was delicious!

Our next conference will be in May 2013 and I am already counting down the days.  Until then, I am so excited to start putting my plans for 2013 into place.  I feel so lucky to have found rewarding, meaningful work that helps my community and allows flexibility for me as a mother of two young children.  I searched for something like this for a long time and found it, plus about a thousand other amazing things, with momstown.

Wondering how you can join our awesome team?  Click here for information.