Disney

So it's been cloudy and cold all week here. Ugh! But yesterday Jon sent me an e-mail with Living Social's Escape and it was to Orlando and Daytona.

Calgon, take me away.

The Living Social Escape is for $295 for 4 people, 3 night's in Orlando at the Kissimmee Country Inns & Suites. They offer a shuttle to and from Disney parks and free breakfast. Then, 2 nights in Daytona at Inn on the Beach. On. The. Beach. My kids would be sold. They also offer free breakfast.

So, naturally being curious, I looked into hotel prices. Of course, depending on what time of year you're looking at, the prices fluctuate. If you look for next month, they start as low as $30 a night including breakfast. That is a 1 star hotel. So 3 nights at $30 is $90 for Orlando. They do not offer shuttle to and from Disney, so if you're flying you'll need to rent a car.

Hotel prices in Daytona were a little more. $51 per night including breakfast. It was not oceanfront, though, as LS's hotel is. So then you have $102 for Daytona. That would make the total $220 for 5 nights after tax.

Here are the minus' that I can see. You'll need to rent a car, if you fly, to get from Orlando to Daytona. That may be fine if you do a day of Disney before you head to Daytona, though. Check out of the hotel, put your suitcases into the car and use the shuttle to and from. Another thing I would wonder about is how 'available' the dates are.

So bottom line, I would call the 1-800 number at the bottom of the deal with all questions you may have, and your dates in mind. I talked to my mom to refresh my memory on how much we paid for the hotel when we went 2 years ago. For 3 nights where we stayed, the LS deal is still cheaper. And you get breakfast! Remember to factor in all the costs though. The cost of the flight, the car, the theme park tickets, food and the hotel before buying the deal.

And now I'm off finish cleaning my house. The bathrooms need my undivided attention. Again.

The Final Chapter

So this is the end. It's a long last chapter too. So get comfortable and enjoy!

After leaving Tennessee, we headed up to Iowa for a surprise visit to my family. They were definitely surprised. Although, my brother asked my mom if she liked her surprise before she even got it, kicking her Nancy Drewness into overdrive. My sister apparently cannot lie, so she admitted to Mom that we were in fact there. Siblings.

THE GOOD OF IOWA-
Well there was a whole lot of good. My family and grandparents were totally excited. The kids got to spend lots of time with their grandparents and at the houses' of my grandparents. I think the highlight for the girls would've been the Chinese restaurant my dad took us to Thursday. All you can eat sushi. 2 plates each. My girls get their money's worth at Chinese restaurants! The next best thing, they saw a heifer being born. Well, on Isabella. Liana saw her about 5 minutes after she'd been born. They wanted to name her Princess and Keisha. We always love visiting family.

THE BAD OF IOWA-
There wasn't any bad! There was only catastrophic, so I'll skip the bad.

THE UGLY IS EXTREME-
I. Lost. My. Phone. How I cannot tell you. All I know, is I remember reading a text from my friend Laura Mae on Saturday after we got back from the farm and then I couldn't find it. It has all of the pictures and video from the girls riding their horses. It has so many pictures from our entire trip. And no, I didn't have them backed up. We left Sunday morning late because I was still desperately searching for it.

Then, about an hour and a half from our house, our truck broke down. Brilliant. What a day. Luckily we were able to make it off the interstate and the first restaurant was Pizza Hut. I'd been craving their breadsticks for the last 100 miles. God was taking care of my smallest desire. It was perfect. So we ate pizza and waited for our ride.

THE GREATEST PART-
The icing on the cake came Tuesday when I got a text from my mom saying that my Grampsy was cancer free. It's not something I've shared freely, but he was diagnosed with it back in November. It's been an extremely tough road for the family, and was part of the decision to head up there last week. You have to enjoy the time you have left! So for him to have a scan and the doctor tell him there is no cancer in his body is a great feeling. God is awesome! And doctors are pretty cool too.

Our food total was *drumroll please* $162. Overbudget! Our meal while we were waiting actually was about $20 more than I would've spent at the grocery store on the way to the house for dinner, but whaddya do?! We are so glad to be home! I've been spring cleaning this week (ugh) and am ready for my long run (still training for my half marathon!) and enjoying time in the garden this weekend.

Tennessee Edition

When we left camping, we headed to Tennessee to spend time with some close friends. Living in Oklahoma (which is flat where we are) makes you really appreciate the beauty of the mountains of Tennessee.  We ended up staying in a hotel while we were in town that had breakfast. For our family, that saved us a minimum of $10 a day. When you're booking a hotel, keep in mind how much it will cost you for breakfast, a decent breakfast that won't make you hungry in an hour. If your room including that is less, than that's a good deal! And less of a hassle for you.
THE GOOD OF TENNESSEE-
Living in Tennessee for 6 years (Jon lived there 8) we forged some pretty amazing bonds. Some live in our city, some stretch out across the country and world, but some remain in Cleveland. It was so wonderful to spend time with people that we love so much. I got to hold a baby (which made we want one), see a friend's new house, eat delicious food, spend girl time with old and new friends and catch up on the latest. The city has grown a lot since we lived there! 
The kids had a wonderful time making new friends, showing off, being spoiled by Mimi, riding horses and riding the train. We have heard nonstop about horses and trains. They were so sad to leave, that they cried when we told them it was time to go.

Konnor's train ride

THE BAD OF TENNESSEE-
Was there any bad? Maybe my leg muscles feeling like jelly after running 4 miles (hills are not easy) which I felt I had to do after the delish caramel pecan cake I ate. Maybe being sent home with a quarter of the delicious cake who's frosting I could eat for every meal.

My name's Carmen. I love sugar. Especially frosting.

On a serious note, though, my friend Janna had strep. So I only saw her...maybe for 3 hours total? We were looking forward to early breakfasts with all our kids and coffee, late night laugh fests, kids enjoying each other and the list is endless. Next time!

THE UGLY OF TENNESSEE-
There's no question what I'd put here. Lydia Garrett. My friend whom I haven't seen in almost 2 years, whom I love dearly and whom I never got to hug and have coffee with. Next trip, I will hug Lydia!!!!

It was such a great leg of the trip. The kids really adore our close friends there and made new friends of their own. It was neat to bring them back to the place where it all began for our little family and share with them the people that were so much a part of our lives and remain such. They are already begging to redo the trip!

I haven't forgotten about my $150 food challenge. I will put that at the end of tomorrow's post!

Another Vacation Deal

Yet again, I'm going to sing the praises of a little research.

I'm sure you read my post about the horseback riding lessons for the girls. Right? If not, we'll chat later. So the very same man (my awesome hubby) that found the great deal on the girls' horseback riding lessons, struck again!

Isabella riding Imp

Liana riding Zip

It was an hour of pure joy for the girls. Apart from every couple of minutes Isabella was distracted by something, and Liana kept saying 'Ew, gross. I see it's b**t' for the first 15 minutes. Oy vay!

Konnor was feeling a little left out, because he was too little to have a lesson. I was fine with that, he can't have everything! Plus he's not quite 4, and we all know you start to get everything you've ever wanted when you turn 4 (sarcasm noted). But this is spring break and our first 'family vacation', so we wanted to do something each child would love. The girls were easy, with their horse love lately. Konnor was actually easier, but more expensive.

This past year, Konnor has become quite the tall tale teller. He tells all kinds of stories about going to Mex-i-clo when he was a daddy, and how he used to be a daddy then grew to be a little boy. More recently stories about a cat scratching him on the next and his eyes breaking out. I could write a book from this boy! But one story that has always stayed true, is that he wants to go on a train trip with Daddy across the world.

There happens to be a train ride that lasts about an hour, in Chattanooga. Which, if you don't know, is about 30-45 minutes from where we are depending on what part you're going to. It was going to cost $24 for Jon and Konnor, which isn't bad. If all 5 of us were going...well all 5 of us probably wouldn't go. Then Jon goes and searches for a coupon code and found one that made Konnor's ticket free. That bumps the total down to $15.

I am doing my happy dance right now. I'm glad you can't see it.

Save While Travelling

I have said over and over how planning is key (in my opinion) to making your budget work. That can be extended to almost every area.

Yesterday I posted how we are going camping, then to visit friends in Tennessee. We want this trip to be extremely fun packed, but don't want to spend outrageously. When I posted about websites I like, I mentioned Living Social. Again, a Groupon kind of deal. What I love about these websites, is they feature deals for cities all over the US. Living Social even posts vacation deals.

I have seriously been tempted to buy. $995 for 4 nights in Cancun for 2 people? Yes please!

Well, knowing where you are going to be can help you save money on the fun activities. Jon looked up Chattanooga, TN for deals on Living Social and they have a horseback riding lesson for $15 for 1 hour. Our girls have really been into horses lately, so they are going to flip when they find out they get to have riding lessons!!! And for 50% of the normal cost, I can be just as excited with them!

So if you know you're going to another city, and want to try and plan some activities, start having these websites send you deals for that city as far in advance as you can. You may just get lucky like we did!

Keep us in your prayers as we head out on our journey.

Movie Night for $9

Right now on Living Social (click here), you can buy 2 movie tickets for $9. This is a great deal!!!! I got a deal similiar to this for Jon and I to go on a date. We saw the movie on IMAX 3D which was amazing!

Details to Know:
You have to buy the tickets off Fandango.com when you go to use your deal (it is actually through them) so there can be a convenience fee. When I got this deal before, I paid $11 for the two tickets. Sometimes the total value is applied (in this case it would be $30) but not always. So be prepared to pay $2-4 more than $9.

The first day you can use the deal is tomorrow, so keep in mind you can't go tonight.

Remember, if you buy the deal then forward it to 3 friends that buy it too, you get yours for free!

Go get it!