Family Friendly Hostels in North America

My wife and I are both in grad school and love to travel. But there are two issues we face: a lack of money of two kids (2 and 6). The idea of staying at hostels appeals to us but I understand that many aren't geared towards families. Can anyone suggest some good ones in Canada, US or Mexico. I've heard the HI-Chicago is good.
Any other suggestions?

In the States we didn't find a single good family hostel - but we gave up looking pretty early on in our trip, so I'm sure others will be able to recommend better.

However, in Canada we found some fine hostels - in fact, pretty much everywhere we went in Canada we found good hostels - private or HI.

Vancouver's got a choice of 3 HI's - the best family ones get booked in advance, so pick early.

In Banff the HI hostel has got a great setting, and there's a new wing which is much, much better than the old one (ask for it if you book there).
In Jasper the hostel is quite a way out of town - we stayed in a homestay and for a little bit more got much, much better accommodation - find details from the Tourist Office (sorry, don't know a weblink)

We found SameSun hostels to be pretty good - fondly remember the one in Revelstoke (a wooden building with solid oak floors, nice staff and friendly guests)

We also enjoyed our stay on Saltspring Island, reached by ferry between Vancouver and Victoria Island.

We didn't stay in the hostel there, as it was full - but would have loved to stay in it's treehouse or tipi.
We actually stayed at Lakeside Gardens which was a small campsite with wooden huts on the shores of a lake. The whole Saltspring experience was fantastic - we raved about it for ages afterwards, and can recommend the whole place.

The lazy lizard in moab, utah has always been a perennial favorite for my family and friends, including kids (I have a 2 year old whose seen 4000 miles and over a dozen hostels and countless hotels in mexico, western US, canada. mexico- cheap, they love the kids- weve had a 4 person room at the cost of 2 people, all to ourselves, so we can have room for kids. sometimes in the bigger cities (ie San Francisco) travellers can be a bit snotty, like "ohh...kids...how quaint and stranger, only single people travel...) but often people are really cool and even amazed by it. we far prefer hostels to hotels for meeting people and the general vibe. the kid has actually helped, and when you met others with kids in the hostel its so cool- they play together, its a natural topic to chat about... pm me with more questions if you have any...any place that has a private room is usually cool with kids (unless everyone drinks and screws till 5 am than it sucks, but that a story for another time)

We stayed in a great hostel, an old farmhouse near concord MA.
http://users.rcn.com/friendly.ma.ultranet/index.shtml<BR><BR>It has loads of character and was really cheap. Concord is a lovely town too. Lots of history, Walden pond etc.

we've only stayed in the hostels located in jasper and banff national parks. all were great and they all catered to families. shared kitchens and bathrooms are the norm but thats hostel life. also the alpine club of canada have some good ones as well although we've only stayed at the lake o'hara hostel. which by the way is fantastic if you can get in. it's very popular and you need to be a member of the A.C.O.C. book in advance but you won't regret it. i highly recommend this hostel. have a good trip and merry christmas.

The hostels in the Canadian Rockies are beautiful (Banff and Jasper)...but of course I am going to say that cause I live here. There is TONS for families to do as well!