Mommy Octopus

This year, we’re just growing a few things in the gardens.  I’m very happy to finally have our first year with lots of blueberries!  They aren’t quite ready yet, but they are finally growing!  It took a few years for them to grow into something more than a 3 blueberry producing bush.  Can’t wait to see them turn a nice shade of bluish purple and turn them into blueberry jams, muffins, pancakes, and whatever else I come up with.

We also have grapes growing for the first year ever!  They are so cute watching them get bigger from the little tiny “are those grapes??” clusters we originally saw.

And lastly we have a mishmash of tomato plants.  I wasn’t going to do any this year but saw some clearanced and droopy outside of Publix and decided to bring them home to love.  They are doing pretty good as well.  I love fresh tomatoes!

So there you have it!  That’s all that is growing this year.  What is growing at your house or what do you wish you could grow?

It’s been one dreary day today and my kids have been rather grumpy with the weather.  Grumpy kids make for a grumpy mom, so before we all turned into grump-monsters, I decided to put some fun into action.  This morning I asked on the Mommy Octopus facebook page about your favorite dreary day activities. Here are some of those ideas:

• We build forts, have a movie showing at some point. NAP(my fav) and if no thunder or anything I let them go out and just PLAY ~ Jennifer 
• Fingerpaint, baking cupcakes,dancing in the living room! ~ Rene
• We will crawl back in bed and watch movies and Ill make us a big snack tray to munch on all day. Sometimes we will throw in some board games. ~ Haley
• Crank the movie up loud and have the dance as silly as they can ~ Casey

Taking a vacation with the family doesn’t have to break your bank.  There are many ways to take a wonderful trip and still stay within the budget.  Here are some ideas that my family has found helpful.

When planning a trip, first choose your destination.  It helps if you are flexible on dates or locations.  You can look online for free travel brochures.

Hotels:

Once you have an idea where you’d like to visit, go to Groupon and signup for that city’s deals.  We were recently able to get many deals for our trip to Savannah such as discount photography, half off smoothies, discounts to Paula Deen’s Store, and more.  I’ve also seen most of the cities offer some sort of hotel deal.  You also can use this to find great deals on restaurants and other attractions in your destination area.  There is even an entire Groupon Getaways section.  Browse through that and see all the places you could visit on a discount!  These deals change weekly, so check back often.

Another place to check out for hotel deals is Priceline.com.  This can help you find good rates without having to call a million different hotels.  If you do decide to book through Priceline.com, be sure and click through Ebates so you can earn cashback on your trip.

Consider staying at a cabin in a State Park.  We have done this many times when we travel.  It’s cheaper plus they usually have good playgrounds for the kids to unwind.

Dining:

Now that you’ve figured out where you will be staying, time to think about the next necessity- Food!  This doesn’t have to be much of a worry if you plan in advance.  Our family typically brings our food along with us, allowing to dine out maybe once or twice on a vacation.  It’s much cheaper for us since our kids are very hearty eaters.  Some ways to frugally dine out while traveling is to take along gift certificates.  You can purchase some from Restaurant.com or also from Groupon.  Also consider doing a search for daily deals in that city.  There are TONS of daily deal sites where you can purchase deals.  Also, I frequently talk on my blog about joining survey sites and Swagbucks.  That’s where these sites will come in handy!  On some of them, you have the option to cash out for a prepaid visa card or for gift cards to restaurants such as Long Horn, Chili’s, and Macaroni Grill to name a few.  A few weeks before you take your trip, cash out so you receive your prize in time.

Attractions:

I mentioned using Groupon above, but there are also other ways to save on attractions during your vacation.  Before you leave home, do a search for coupons, discount codes, etc on the attractions that you plan to visit.  Check out their facebook page to see if they are running any promotions.  Call and ask them if they have any coupons out and how you can obtain one.  You may be surprised at all the options out there to make your visit cheaper.

These are just some ideas that I thought up about how we make our vacations more affordable.  Do you have any ideas that I’ve missed?  Leave a comment and tell me what your tips are for dealing with vacations on a budget.

For this weekend’s Boredom Buster, be sure and check out Craftsy, where you can download free patterns and find other goodies!

Craftsy is the fastest growing online community for Crafters – with over 500,000 monthly unique visitors, having just launched in May 2011. This rapid growth results from two primary offerings which Craftsy users love:

• Terrific online classes from amazing instructors for beginning, intermediate and advanced quilters, knitters, crocheters, sewists, jewelry makers, and other crafters.
• Astonishingly good deals on crafting supplies: organic yarn, lovely fabrics and fat quarters from top designers, high quality needles, etc…

If you love Crafts, be sure and sign up for Craftsy for some amazing Daily Deals.  You never know what incredible deals you will find!  I found an entire section of FREE patterns, including the one pictured below.  Can’t wait to make some new things!

We got back from Savannah/Tybee Island late last night after spending 2 nights there. We had a great time visiting the beach on Tybee Island, touring downtown Savannah, eating at the Crab Shack, and visiting Fort Pulaski!

We wrangled alligators

Shot cannons

And just had a couple days of fun and cuteness.

A great trip and thanks to everyone that told us to visit the Crab Shack.  Such a neat place!    I’m playing “catch-up” now and hopefully will be caught up by the end of the weekend.  Hope ya’ll have a good one!