We received a complimentary family weekend at Izatys Resort for this review. All opinions are mine.
Last weekend, the family and I packed up to take a road trip just over an hour north of the cities to the town of Onamia, MN. Right on Mille Lacs lake, you’ll find Izatys Resort. A quaint little village really, filled with families just looking to get out of the cities and spend some quality time together.
We checked in on Friday, along with the other bloggers who attended the family weekend with us! Our room was awesome (and very much air conditioned, I was very thankful for this as it was a good 90°F outside.) The crew at Izatys had put together an adorable little beach bag for little miss, it was full of beach toys, sunscreen, swimming goodies and more. And for my husband, they left him some golfing goodies plus some bottled water. So sweet! And the two of them acted like it was Christmas morning for them.
It was really nice that the room felt comfortable, the beds were comfortable, and our little one slept through the night BOTH nights. She had so much fun each day that she literally wore herself out. By nighttime, she was spent. Parenting win.
The rooms were equipped with A/C, wi-fi, flat-screen TV’s, cable television, beautiful views, nice showers and sink areas, a bench and coat rack (it was really like having a nice mud room as soon as you walk into the room) to store all your shoes, coats, bags, etc. The only thing it didn’t have was a mini fridge, which wasn’t a problem – just remember to bring a nice cooler, they have plenty of ice there to keep it all cold 🙂
After we checked in, we had a little time before it was time to meet up with everyone for appetizers/dinner, so we decided to check out the pool. I think I could end this post here, because really all my daughter wanted to do for the rest of the weekend was swim in the pool! lol but naturally, we were a little more adventurous than that. But the pool was definitely the selling point for her!
There was also a hot tub there, an outdoor bar area with seating, and a neighboring volleyball court that seemed to be getting a lot of traffic with families playing a game or two. The pool area was monitored by servers who were available to bring out food orders, drink orders and the like, so that you can sit pool side and just relax.
Appetizers and dinner at Izatys Restaurant was ahhh-mazing. We found out later that they also do weddings and events, but we’ll get back to that. They had an assortment of delicious apps for us, and my little picky eater also decided she wanted to order a pizza (that night, the next night… she also tried to order it for breakfast but that was a no-go from mom here).
After dinner and apps, we all headed back to the room to get a good night’s sleep. Little miss was so tired, she fell asleep before I even managed to brush my teeth and wash my face. I’d call that a good first day!
The next morning, we had breakfast at Izatys Restaurant again. They had really tasty omelettes, and my daughter ordered chocolate chip pancakes. The hash browns were awesome, and the omelette was so filling!
Our loosely planned morning brought us from breakfast, to the pro shop to take out a golf cart and go for a little ride around the resort. It’s actually a pretty big facility, outside of the Inn area that we stayed, they also have villas and townhomes that families rent that overlook Mille Lacs lake. The scenery is absolutely beautiful though no matter where you are staying.
Out on our golf cart ride, we also discovered pickleball courts and a playground. It really did feel like a small village! It had everything you’d need inside the resort so we never had to leave the whole weekend long.
Of course after playing at the park and going on our golf cart cruise, my daughter decided that we definitely needed to swim some more. So off to the pool we went to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine and cool water.
While we were swimming, my husband joined a few of the others to adventure out on a Polaris RZR tour. Little miss was a little too young to go with, so we just stayed and swam and let him have some ‘bro time’. He had an absolute blast and came back covered in mud! (He tells me that’s the sign of a great ATV adventure.)
While he was out getting muddy, we found a little thrill of our own. A parade started passing by the pool and she wanted to grab her beach bucket and check it out! The parade was for the 4th of July, and was a fun little experience for the kids. Plus, Mom had candy for the rest of the weekend 😉
Then… back to the pool for 3 more hours of swimming! I’m telling you, she couldn’t get enough. I did get her to head back to the room at about 3pm though, and even more of a success, I managed to get her to take a little cat nap before dinner.
Saturday night’s dinner was a fancier meal in their private dining hall that overlooks Mille Lacs lake. It’s typically where they host the events/weddings that I talked about earlier. We had a fantastic meal there with fellow bloggers and their families. I ordered the New York Strip with a baked Hasselbeck Potato and grilled asparagus. My husband had the Boneless Braised Short Ribs with mashed potatoes. Little miss had (drumroll) pizza.
After dinner, they took us on a sunset pontoon cruise. It was understatedly beautiful. We went at 8:00pm which was the perfect time to go, the sun was setting and it was a beautiful sunset along the horizon.
The kids loved it just as much as the adults did! We even discovered a rock island covered in birds.
At the end of the cruise, the sun had set and it was the perfect lull to transition her to an early bedtime. It was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend. We had such a blast and it was so nice and relaxing, which I feel is rare to find because usually you’re running around trying to fit everything in but everything was so chill that it all just seemed to flow. That’s the sign of a wonderful family vacation. No shoes, no stress, no problems.
A special thank you to Izatys for hosting us on an amazing family weekend. We had a total blast and will definitely be back again. Little miss is already asking when we can go back and swim lol!
Safe travels, and stay cool this summer!
Sarah
P.S. Did I mention they have golf course there too? My husband was able to sneak out early in the morning to hit the links before we ever even woke up. He said it was a great course, and loved being able to golf on vacation.
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