We splurged for a week at the Black Oak Casino for our friend’s birthday. The park was pretty nice, and the amenities were incredible! I was on call for work, so we had a lot of fun sticking close to the park. We went to the splash pad and pool several times over the week, where Kai and Reya had a lot of fun (they’re going to be splash pad, pool, and playground aficionados by the time we stop traveling). We did do a local hike at the West Side Railroad Trail. This was a trail running along the side of the mountain where old railroad tracks still live. There were so many beautiful wildflowers along the trail that we had fun looking at. Dustin did science class while explaining about some of the plants to Kai and Reya. It was truly beautiful and so peaceful.

Back at the casino we took the kids out for pizza and bowling with another family. I don’t believe Kai and Reya have really been bowling before, so this was fun to watch. Reya had SO much fun. Every time she sent her pink ball (slowly) down the lane she would clap and twirl. She didn’t care about the score or getting all the pins down. Kai had less fun because it was noisy and there were a lot of people in nearby lanes. We’ll try again with some headphones for him! We also visited the arcade at the casino. Both kids really enjoyed it! There was a lot of the racing game and a lot of a VR roller coaster game that Kai particularly loved. The kids also got some pretty cool prizes, including claw machine stuffies.

We also visited Elevate, which is a trampoline park at the casino. Kai and Reya loved jumping around and climbing with friends. Kai and Dustin even did a game of jumping dodgeball. So as I said, the casino amenities were great! We can’t comment much on the casino itself since Dustin and I don’t gamble, but it seemed like a typical casino atmosphere. We really enjoyed our time here and would recommend it to those looking to stay in the area.