Roadside Attractions

Our family went on vacation last month, to Myrtle Beach, SC. I had all the big stuff booked and paid for before we loaded the car but its a long drive from Central Florida to Northern South Carolina and my kids get antsy. Before we left I went online and I found 3-4 free roadside attractions where we could stop and stretch our legs. Did you know that there is a giant pink elephant in Hardeeville, SC? I've seen it. So I was thinking, why not take my travel tips for leg stretching fun and plan some silly day trips around some of these free roadside attractions. No, for real, hear me out, these are all silly, free things that are totally worth a detour!

Kissimmee, FL: 10 minutes from Disney World, 20 minutes from Universal studios, and home to the monument of states. This 50ft statue, that houses rocks from all 50 states, 21 foreign countries, and several international corporations, is the patriotic brainchild of Dr. Charles Bessler-Pettis. In 1942 just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the doctor was inspired with the tidal wave of patriotism sweeping the country. He started writing letters to state governors imploring them to send him rocks.  Today the monument still stands at 300 E Monument ave.

Winter Haven, FL: I'm really not sure if this entirely qualifies as a roadside attraction, but it is worth a detour and totally free! The Cypress Gardens Water Ski Team puts on a show every 3rd Saturday of the month.The preshow (which stars their newest skiers) starts at 5pm and the main event begins at 6pm (they do change the time when daylight savings hits so check their website HERE to confirm exact times). Don't forget a lawn chair! The show is located at Martin Luther King Jr. Park: 199 lake silver dr in Winter Haven. There is a restroom but no permanent seating. They also generally have hotdogs and snacks for purchase!

Lake Wales, FL: Spook Hill! The legend of Spook Hill is ripe with Native American lore and details the battle between a Seminole Chief and a giant alligator. I'm not sure if my car rolls strangely because a noble Chief is protecting his village of if the ghost of a long dead gator is trying to eat me for breakfast. All I know is that for a few seconds my car defies gravity and my children giggle uncontrollably, never fail. No reservation needed, just park your car at the white line, throw it into neutral and let the spirits move you the wrong direction! I've turned this into a science lesson. First we read the legend and then we found the scientific explanation. Either way its a neat phenomenon. Located at N. Wales Dr, Lake wales, FL its a stones throw from here to Bok Tower (which is not free to visit but is totally worth an afternoon!).

Daytona Beach, FL: To be honest, I am not a huge fan of Daytona Beach, but I do find the idea of a drive in church service, very fun! My kids love to go to our local drive in movie theatre (yes! We have one!) so why not church? The Daytona Beach Drive In Christian Church offers two services on Sunday mornings (8:30 and 10am). There is even a 9:45 kindergarten-high school age children's church!

Christmas, FL: Feliz Navidad! Buon Natalie! Jouyeux Noel! Mele Kalikimaka! Merry Christmas! If you are ever out near Christmas, FL do yourself a favor and check out the tacky Christmas decorations (mail your Christmas cards from their post office for a Christmas postmark)!

Christmas is also home to the self titled, worlds biggest alligator-which is really a huge alligator shaped building in front of Jungle Adventure. Seeing the giant gator is free but Jungle Adventure does have an entrance fee.

Kenansville, FL: This one has an expiration date!! Wild Florida (3301 Lake Cypress Rd) is offering free admission to their gator park until the end of 2017 to celebrate their anniversary!! The free admission is just to their gator park so you will have to pay extra for a ride on an airboat- but worth it! 

Tarpon Springs, FL: The sponge docks of Tarpon Springs are really neat! They are surrounded by Greek restaurants and attractions centered on the sponge fishing industry. So take a walk on the docks and see the big fishing boats bring in their catch. Go during the Arts and crafts festival (this year it is Labor Day weekend) or the Christmas boat parade (12/1/17) and check out this fun family friendly atmosphere!

Pensecola, FL: So from central Florida this one is probably more of a weekend getaway than a day trip. The National Naval Aviation Museum is on base in Pensecola and is free to visit! You do have to go through base security so give yourself some extra time especially if there is a Blue Angels practice session happening that day!!

These are some of my favorite silly, free, roadside attractions. What are some of yours? Send me a message or find us on facebook and let me know what I missed! There is a world of things to experience with your children out there that wont break the bank! So, Go! Have an adventure!

Chicken Taco Pinwheels!

Just a quick post with a recipe that my kids love! An intern, at my day job, gave me this idea and it has quickly become a family favorite! The kids can even make it on their own!

First- Ingredients- There are a whopping 4 ingredients to this masterpiece!!

 1-Flour Tortillas: Any size really. This smaller size was on sale at the grocery store this week.
2- Taco Seasoning- This recipe requires one packet. I usually buy the bigger containers (or make my own) just because my family has a lot of Taco Tuesdays!
3- A standard 8 ounce brick of cream cheese.
4- About 10 oz of chicken breast, shredded or canned works (if I make grilled chicken breast I always make an extra with just a little salt to season so that I have it the next day for this recipe).

Second step- Mix the cream cheese (make sure its room temperature so that you don't have to be the Hulk to mix it together), chicken and one packet of taco seasoning in a decent sized mixing bowl. I usually use a hand mixer for this but when the kids make it themselves they just use a a big spoon.

After it's all mixed together- spread it evenly on a tortilla.

Then- roll the tortilla (You can also throw a layer of cheddar cheese or diced tomatoes on before you roll this up if you are feeling fancy!)

After I have all the tortilla's rolled (you should have enough chicken mixture for several of the small sized ones) I usually stick them in the refrigerator for half an hour or so just to make them easier to slice).

Which leads me to our last step- Slice the rolled tortillas evenly. You may want to help the kids with this part. 

Hope you guys like these! They're great on picnics and for mid day snacks! 

Summer Bucket List Ideas for Under $20

Entertaining kids this summer is going to be expensive- there is no way to sugar coat that. I really cannot comprehend how the little cherubs make it through an entire school day without fourteen snacks and seven complete meals. It is baffling because they certainly demand that much food now that they are home all day. So, here is my short, sometimes silly, sometimes serious, list of $20 or less summer activities to fill those long lazy afternoons!

1. Board game night- starting off with an easy-peasy no-brainer!
Dust off your Monopoly board, Life, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Uncle Wiggly.... etc etc. Or take a $20 bill to your local Walmart and let your kids pick out a new game! Be sure to prepare a giant bowl of popcorn and make a batch of grandma's cookies for sustenance. Play teams: kids vs. parents, for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie prize! When baked goods are involved competition gets fierce (and fun)!

2. See a parade or some fireworks- The Fourth of July is coming people. Get your fingers moving and google local events! Stop at Target and grab a couple packages of glow sticks from their dollar bin- trust me- they're so much fun! Check towns nearby withing comfortable driving distance- for me that radius is about 60-90 minutes.

3. Have a Campfire- $3.00 for hotdogs, $0.89 for marshmallows, $2 for graham crackers, $0.99 for hot dog buns, $3.00 in chocolate or reese's peanut butter cups and you have a campfire meal! You can also purchase metal skewers to cook your hotdogs and marshmallows on  but I prefer a stick. (Sticks are free!) And FYI: you can generally find bundles of firewood for less than $5 at local grocery stores.

4. Go to the Library- I can tell you with 100% certainty your local library has something planned for this summer! Every county in central Florida has a children's reading club or other activities to engage and entertain children and they are absolutely free! I wont go into detail because I wrote a blog about this last year (you can find it here).

5.  Backyard Olympics- We have dubbed this the Dollar Store Olympics in our family! Pool noodles are readily available at any Dollar Store and can be used to create a plethora of outdoor games.We call the game pictured below the "Don't-hit-your-sister-toss." Seriously, it should be an olympic event! 25 points if your pool noodle javelin goes through a green hoop, 20 for a blue hoop bulls-eye, 15 for orange, and negative 50 if you hit your sister. There were a lot of giggles and a lot of negative scores!  I got the idea from an article in an old family magazine but you can use this page for reference. There are ideas all over pinterest.com as well!

6. Build or Create something- yes! this can be done for under $20, you just have to know where to look! I have several arts and crafts and boredom-busting ideas on my pinterest page that either use items you already have in your home or cost very little. You can also register your child for a free Home Depot Kids Workshop (Here). The next event is on July 1st- your kids can build a bug house!

7. Learn something- My third grader is working on her cursive handwritting. Our school does not teach cursive anymore and I am a mom who would like my children to be able to read the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and a million other historically significant documents for themselves instead of having them transcribed to print. She does most of the work on her own with silly little workbooks that I found on amazon.com for a few dollars a piece. So take that prime membership out for a spin and find something to keep little minds working this summer. (This is the link to my daughter's favorite practice book. It is $5.50 of which I do not get a percentage for recommending to you). We also have a dry erase board on which to practice individual letters.

8. Go to the Movies- Movie theaters can be expensive. My family of six can visit our local drive in for $14 ($12 if it's a Thursday night). If you aren't fortunate enough to have a drive in near your home- make one. Check to see if your local library has projectors available to borrow and watch a movie on the side of your house. Invite the neighborhood kids or cousins or best friends and have an outdoor movie night. Lots of local public pools offer "Dive-in movies" that can be a lot of fun as well. Regal theaters across the country are also offering children's movies for $1 per person on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10:00am. The regal summer movie express shows hit children's movies of the past year and a portion of the proceeds go to benefit the Will Rogers Institute which supports neonatal intensive care units around the country. As the mother of a preemie and the auntie of a micro-preemie, we wholeheartedly thank you for your contribution!!

9. Read a book that you love- My favorite book is, was, and always shall be Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I gave my 7 year old a copy of it this summer and told her to find me when she got to the sad part. It's a story about a little orphan girl who accidentally gets adopted by a brother and sister who meant to adopt a boy. Anne is a dreamer who sees the world in a thousand colors instead of simple black and white. It deals with birth and death and all the pieces of living in between. I love it and my children are old enough to read it on their own. I'll let the girls make their own decision on rather to love or hate the book but the point its: I'm sharing it with them. So find a copy of Charlotte's Web or My Side Of The Mountain and let it bring joy to the next generation.

10. Volunteer- Points of Light is a nationwide organization that connects people of all ages with volunteer opportunities in their areas. Check them out! Also check out your local library, hospital, churches, schools, VFWs.... Volunteering is for every age. Volunteer your time. Volunteer
your talents. A five year old can easily sort cans of fruit in a food pantry or pick up trash on a beach. Start them young and encourage them to give their time as they get older.

11. Binge a TV show or have a movie marathon- I know, we try, as parents, to limit the amount of crap that our children watch on TV but there will be rainy days. There will be days when you just cannot fathom leaving the house this summer.... and that is OK. Find something on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime or whatever streaming service you subscribe to and eat popcorn while you binge watch. If you want to make it educational I suggest Julie's Greenroom or either of the Bill Nye: The Science Guy's series on Netflix. I have been on a quest recently to expose my children to classic movies. My 12 year olds are currently obsessed with Audrey Hepburn after I took them to a revival of Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's currently raining cats and dogs outside my office window and I am about to abandon this post to go watch The Parent Trap with my daughters (the Hailey Mills one)! And yes, there will be fresh, hot popcorn with M&Ms mixed in, involved in our evening!

Money Savers: Summer Essentials!

So I was walking around Publix (a major grocery store here in the southern United States) and I started thinking about summer break. I will have four hungry kids running around the house demanding that I feed them. And not just your three main meals! These minions will want snacks! Lots and lots of snacks!! The realization: that we only have about a month of school left, made me see that I need to start stocking up on summer time essentials ASAP! Today, in the by one get one free sales at my local Publix I started my summer stockpile of things like cereal, crackers, and juice. 
I know what you're thinking, "but mom, how does your local grocery store sales save me money?" Well....While I was shopping I starting flipping through the money saving apps I keep on my cell phone. I have a few favorites that definitely help with my summer food budget:

My favorite couponing app is Ibotta (we both get a few bonus dollars if you use my link to register!). Ibotta is a digital couponing app. When you get home from shopping you go into the app and select all the items you purchased. It makes you watch a ten second commercial or asks you a multiple choice question about the product to unlock the coupon but it's worth the few seconds. Once you've unlocked all your coupons you will scan the bar codes on the product packaging with your phone, and take a photo of your receipt. Within 24 hours the money appears in your account and when you reach $20 you can cash it out into a paypal account or select from a bunch of different gift card options. Super easy! There are a ton of other coupon apps out there. Ibotta seems to have the best selection and easiest user interface, at least for me, but here are some other links for coupon apps I pair with ibotta. Sometimes they'll have the same discount and you end up getting items for free once you submit to each app!
Checkout 51
Saving Star
MobiSave

Aside from coupon apps there are quite a few more that will end up saving you money. Walmart has their Savings Catcher feature that allows you to scan your Walmart receipts and they then look for local stores with better prices digitally. Then they refund the difference between the better price and the one you paid onto a Walmart gift card. Of course, this limits your spending of that money to just Walmart but we all stop there on occasion. I have about $30 in my Walmart account right now (I save this particular app for a rainy day- like when I pick up a nail in my tire and have an unexpected repair).

Receipt Hog lets you take photos of your grocery, gas, and other receipts in exchange for points. You then turn your points into cash, amazon gift cards or magazine subscriptions. Quick and easy!

ShopKick is a pretty neat app! You open the app before you go into the store and it gives you "kicks" just for walking in! Then it gives you the option to scan a few random items within the store to earn more "kicks." You trade the "kicks" in for gift cards and merchandise. It also gives you bonus "kicks" if you purchase any of the random items it has you scan. Pretty simple and the gift cards add up! It funds my occasional visits to Starbucks!

If you do not currently use Ebates! Go download it immediately! Seriously- what the hell is wrong with you? Why don't you already use this site?!? This is the GOAT (greatest of all time!!) of money saving apps!! If you shop online, if you book rental cars or airline tickets online, if you are a Groupon addict, like myself, then you NEED this app! When you log into the app it has lists of companies that offer small percentage refunds when you purchase via Ebates! On our last vacation we booked our rental car, airfare, and hotel online and when we got back I had a 7%-9% refund in my Ebates! account (about $100). I know that 9% doesn't sound like much but it adds up fast! Ebates! deposits your savings every three months into a paypal account. My checks are generally between $25-$100 depending on how much shopping I do online. 

I have one more suggested app for you that I have just recently started using. It's called Raise. It allows you to purchase gifts cards at a discount. You can also sell unused gift cards to them. I purchased my first gift card from them last week and it worked perfectly. I save 10% on an itunes gift card which I then used to renew my husband's MLB at bat subscription. They offer gift cards to most major retailers- iTunes, target, walmart.... etc... etc...

Do you guys have a favorite money-saving trick? An app you absolutely love? Let me know!!

I hope these help you guys save a little bit of cash to fund your next adventure!

My Kids Are Dreamers

My kids come up with the craziest shenanigans imaginable! They are dreamers- they live by the rules of Shel Silverstein and they believe the unattainable is not only possible but probable. I encourage that and I wish that for your children as well.

I spend my time searching for activities to cultivate the "I can" attitude in my children. Rather that be an ability to use tools safely in their quest to become a carpenter (Kids workshop information), buying a $3 children's cookbook so that my 8 year old can live out her Chopped fantasy (try your local library first or the Salvation Army generally has books for less than $1), or letting my oldest daughter commune with nature in her quest to save every animal on the endangered list; I am going to do my best to make it all happen. That's the reason I started this little blog. So we find ourselves here- listening to me ramble about how wonderful local events are and suggesting activities that will make our children grow into the adults we wish we were, while, hopefully, keeping them children just a minute longer. It's a balancing act. 

Why aren't you out exploring our national parks?! We spent a day, last week exploring Joshua Tree National Park, in southern California, and my children still haven't stopped raving about climbing rocks and "Dr. Seuss trees!" If you have a fourth grader then you have until August of 2017 to get a free pass for your entire family. I know I have talked about national parks before but I don't think enough of you are listening! I saw very few children at the park with us that day.... and it was spring break! No excuses! I have some day trip blogs for national parks in the works, as I know they can be a little intimidating with their sheer size. Google is your friend and there are tons of bloggers just like me who have wonderful ideas and day plans for you to follow! I did my research and I saw photos of the Joshua Trees. We read Dr. Seuss's the Lorax while we ate our picnic lunch (though, in our family, Seuss is law and we can all recite the most important passages from this story. "I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees for the trees have no tongues,"). Teach your children about conservation. 'Environmentalist' is not a dirty word. If you don't live near a national park, your child can still become a Junior Ranger and learn about our world HERE. There are free resources and printable workbooks available for you!

Maybe you're indoor folks... that's cool too! I live in Central Florida and it's getting to be that time of year when stepping out my front door means melting. The television is not your child's enemy. My 7 year old is a little outside the target demographic for Julie Andrews' new Netflix endeavor but she loves it! Loves it! If you aren't a Netflix subscriber there is a free month waiting for you HERE (maybe save that free month for this summer- or wait until late fall/winter depending on where you live). She is inspiring another generation of kids to get interested in the arts.

I guess the moral of my story today is to talk to your kids. What do they want to be when they grow up? Let them dream!! My littlest monster has told us for years that she wants to be a Blue Angel. We've taken her to several airshows and toured countless military museums. My middle daughter wants to play Olympic level soccer. We put her on our local youth league team- she has to start somewhere! My oldest wants to be an actress. A week of summer day camp at our local children's theatre for her! Some of this stuff is costly, some of it's free. For summer camps and local clubs, I always look into scholarship assistance. The scholarships are offered for a reason and if you qualify don't be ashamed to apply. Most summer programs offer payment plans as well- start looking into these programs now! The earlier you plan, the longer you have to figure out the money. I know my blogs have been pretty spaced out but I am out there living! So go! Have an adventure!