The Lake of the Ozarks boasts over 1,100 miles of shoreline and is an amazing place to take your family on a vacation. Even though I’m not a fan of commercial campgrounds, I was surprisingly happy staying at the Cross Creek Campground in the Lake of the Ozarks, as it had plenty of fun-filled activities for the family, just a stone’s throw away from our site. And you’ll discover this is very common for the area, making it a premier visitation destination.

Even if you don’t visit during the high season, there are still plenty of off-season things to do atthe Lake of the Ozarks, like visit the Ha Ha Tonka Spring, go bowling at the Tan Tar A Resort, or have some amazing frozen custard at Randy’s Frozen Custard. No matter how old your children are, you’ll find that there’s a little something for everyone. Here are a few other things you can do with your family:

When fall rolls around, I always gets a hankering for ham. It just screams "the holidays" to me, and I love to make all kinds of different dishes with it. When I was approached by Frick's Quality Meats and asked to be in their blogger recipe challenge, I jumped at the chance to try some of their delicious meats. I was set a few different products to test out and use in recipe creation, and man were they a huge hit with my family!

You always have a choice when it comes to your vacation. Some people are able to stay with family while traveling, while others regularly use a favorite chain of hotel or motel. When you travel with your family—especially if you have children—it’s always nice to stay somewhere a bit homier than a sterile hotel room. It’s also great to find a place that your children can run around in without fear of waking up whomever is on the other side of the wall. For this reason and many others, booking a vacation rental home may be the best option for you.

It might feel like yesterday that you and your child were blowing bubbles, but now they have a limited driver’s license or learning permit. Teaching your teen to drive is an important processfor their safety and others. Even if your teenager does not listen to everything you say, do your best to teach them how to drive safely. Your efforts could give them the practice and experience to become a responsible new driver. In this post, we will cover useful lessons for teaching your teen to drive safely and responsibly.