First Stop: Hershey, PA

Yes Hershey, as in the chocolate.

We are going to chocolate world and tour the factory, make some of our own wrappers and designs and ride a trolley on a tour through the place. We are not going to do the theme park tomorrow mostly because we can't ride the rides and it is quite expensive.

I need to get some sleep so I can wake up early to work out before heading toward chocolate heaven:).

Vacations On A Budget

The Urban Dictionary defines a staycation as

A vacation that is spent at one's home enjoying all that home and one's home environs have to offer.

Well, my hubby and I were planning a vacation. An actual family vacation for once that didn't involve traveling for a wedding or event or holiday to see someone, but was actually just to sightsee and relax.

We have so many things we've never see or been to around here since we just moved to the East Coast last summer that we figured we could easily pick something to do and planned something within a 6 hour radius.

Then we decided we would probably be moving out of our place this summer and wanted to save money. The first thing to get chopped was our optional vacation.

We decided on a compromise and have since found out our compromise actually has a name...a staycation.

We are going to stay at home and experience things around here or near to here. We will turn off our cell phones, computers, home phones. We are going to ignore housework and our to do lists and just have fun.

Not only did this decision seem more fun (because it took the stress of coming up with a lot of money out of the equation) but we have so many ideas we are not sure where to start.

The nice thing about doing this with little kids is that we can have the accommodations of home for sleeping. Some people actually check into hotels, but we aren't planning on it except maybe one night at a city we may visit a few hours away.

We are going to enjoy a few meals out, not all, which is what we do when we travel anyhow. We are not going to have any long car rides and no ridiculous high gas bills. Both my husband and I each get a day to pick whatever we want to do. We can't wait! We are so excited to enjoy our Memorial Day weekend that way. Who knows, we may even head toward the shore a day:).

I think this works well for us because we are new to this area, but even if you have been living where you are for awhile, there are always fun, new things to discover and I think it would still work then.

So Happy Memorial Day weekend. I'll report on how it went when we "get back."

A Break

The last six months have been so busy, I am happy to report nothing new is happening:). Life has been bland and boring and predictable - which equals WONDERFUL! I feel like we are getting a much-needed break and pray it lasts a little bit longer at least.

I am still catching up on thank you notes and budgets and dealing with other household related things that were pushed back when our baby was in the hospital. My older son just turned two and the baby turned six months so we had nice little celebrations for them.

I am so looking forward to heading to the shore this summer, hanging out with friends and watching my boys play together.

My husband and I have really been enjoying a lot of little things lately too. We got to go on our first date without any kids since October. Our TV broke down, which was actually very nice and we have just been enjoying hanging out a lot.

And we have been laughing....a lot. Last week my two-year-old was getting a little rough with his trucks and trains. Our friend was holding the train and he hit the train on the top with a car. When we asked him to apologize (to our friend) he said, "Sorry, choo-choo." We couldn't stop laughing.

I may post in spurts this week and then not for awhile, but please keep praying for the baby. He is stable right now and looks like he may stay that way for awhile - we are praying he does and can gain strength in his lungs before our next winter. I think God knew we really needed a break so no matter what is in store for the future, we are truly enjoying our non-eventful days right now.

Happy Mother's Day

I hope all my friends and family who are mother's had a wonderful Mother's Day. Ours was a little hectic, but very, very nice. I got to hear, "Happy Mama's Day" about 400times from my son who just turned 2 last week.

I enjoyed listening to my husband explain to the 2-year-old how they had to go on a "little bye-bye" while breakfast was being made because something didn't quite turn out as planned.

I was also blessed to talk with my mom and one of my grandma's as well as my mother-in-law and share a piece of mother's day with them.

I am so grateful for my husband who honored me by serving me today and allowing me a day off - probably the best gift there is to any mom.

Happy mother's day to all those who are mothers - it is the most important job you will ever have. Even though I get tired from the seemingly constant needs of our two boys, all the work is worth hearing my little man say "Happy Mama's Day," just one more time.

Thrifty Thursday Bonus: Stamps

So for everyone who hasn't heard or who has forgotten, the United States Post Office is implementing another rate hike beginning May 12. Not really news of notice imho. What is though, is that they are offering stamps called the "forever" stamps. It came out in April 2007.

You can buy the stamps at today's prices and use them as long as you have them. Now that may not make a difference today or a year from now, but since they are steadily raising rates and likely will continue, they can be stored and used at any time. It saves the hassle of trying to get new stamps and a few bucks depending how much you use them.

Who knows? With the increasing costs of fuel, they may be worth double in a few years... I really hope not because that means we will be paying a lot for them, but who knows?

The USPS says they will continue to sell the forever stamps after the hike, but the price to buy them will increase with each additional rate hikes.

Thrifty Thursday: A May Freebie

I love using redbox. With two little boys, we rarely get to the movies or even watch movies that often and the $1/ night movies are right up our alley.

Well they apparently have a free movie Monday promo where they text you a message with the free code each Monday. During May, they are also offering free movie Wednesdays.

You can sign up on their site by clicking here.

You can see what movies they have and even rent online and pick up later at their web site http://www.redbox.com.

The best part is that if you really don't like a movie, you only spent a dollar and you really can't beat that:). Also you can rent at one location and return at another, which is great when I am running errands. We often rent in one state and return in another because my husband works in one and we live right next door in the neighboring state.