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Going along with my previous post about why family vacation is important, I decided to participate in this blog program from TwitterMoms about 10 creative and affordable vacation ideas. Family vacations may be important, but everyone knows money is tight right now, especially with a new baby in the house! So what can you do? Here are my ideas…

1. Drive. Skip the flight this year and drive to a closer destination. We’re in IL and we love just going into Wisconsin and enjoying the lakes and trees! But nearby we also have Chicago, MN, Iowa (where we both went to school!) and new places we’ve never been yet: Ohio, Indiana, Missouri or even Michigan!

2. Make somewhere familiar something new and fun. For example, Steve’s family owns a lakehouse in WI and we’re there all the time in the summer. But Steve and I were planning a weekend getaway this weekend for our anniversary and decided to save money by going to the lake. Now, it’s not new, but we’re going to make it exciting by spending the day in the city, eating out somewhere nice, and relaxing together at the lakehouse. Perfect vacation!

3. DEALS! When I’m booking a trip, I spend days on every travel site searching the best deals. Sometimes it’s cheaper to book hotel and flight together, sometimes it’s not. Some sites are cheaper than others and sometimes you can find specials. Gotta search around!

4. Along with searching around, make sure you clear your cache on your computer! If you go to a travel site and see a flight for $250 and you check it the next day and it’s at $350 you’re thinking, oh crap! I better buy it now! Well, you just fell into their trap. They know you visited their site recently and jacked the prices. If you clear your brower’s cache and reload the travel site, chances are prices will be back down (this doesn’t work every time, but it’s a good bet).

5. More deals– make sure you’re following your favorite travel companies on twitter! They’ll often tweet about specials, sales, or even discount codes.

6. Travel around the season. If you can plan your vacation in the off-season, you’ll save money.

7. If you can’t travel in the off-season, try to at least fly on weekdays. Monday-Wednesday flights are usually cheaper and weekday nights at hotels are less expensive.

8. Get a hotel room with a kitchen. Buying eggs and bread, etc for cheap meals made yourself can save LOTS of money over eating out all the time.

9. Visit relatives and stay for free! It’s a good reason to get in touch, right?!

10. Travel with friends and save money by booking as a group or sharing a hotel room. Vacations with friends or extended family can be more fun anyway–the more, the merrier!

Do you have any awesome cheap travel tips??? We’d love to hear them! Like I said, we’re going to the lakehouse for a mini-vacation this weekend, but would love to be able to go somewhere this summer too!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the Toyota Sienna and TwitterMoms blogging program for a chance to get a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Affordable Vacation Ideas

Toyota Sienna

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(this was supposed to post yesterday, but apparently something went wrong.. so here it is, a day late )

Technically this is my second mother’s day because I was a mama last year when I was pregnant, but… I had a wonderful “first” Mother’s Day The hubby knows how I like to be pampered: he took Ryan and I slept in till 9am, we went out for brunch, and I got flowers and a Starbucks gift card — YUM! It was a good day!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the other mamas and mamas-to-be out there!

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When I was little (well, up until the end of high school), we took a family vacation every year. In the early days, it was just up north to a cabin in Wisconsin. A few times it was to Florida. Eventually we started visiting a new state every year… Colorado, Wyoming, Tennessee, California… and then we added in some other countries… Canada, Bahamas, Aruba, and Norway.

Norway — 2003

No matter where your destination, I think family vacations are really important. They offer quality time together, without stresses of work and home. They also expose you to other ways of life, new people and different cultures. As a kid, family vacations were SO exciting and fun–even if it was just up north to Wisconsin. It was “our” time. And I can’t wait to take Ryan places.

How long did you guys wait for a family vacation? I mean, I want Ryan to remember them so taking him to Disney World when he’s two might be a bit too early, yea? But I can hardly wait! I already have a list of places I want to go in my head… definitely “up north,” Disney, Colorado to visit his uncle, and someday to Norway because that’s where he’s from and my grandpa, before he passed away, told me I had to take Ryan there.

I am writing this post to participate in the Golden Inn Resort “What is the importance of a Vacation” sweepstakes for a chance to randomly win a full conference ticket to Blogher 2010. You can learn more about the Jersey Shore Resort and contest at their bloghttp://www.GoldenInnResort.com/vacationtips.

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In honor of Mother’s Day coming up, I wanted to share these videos with you. Everyone has heard of the Planet Earth videos, right?! They’re incredible. Well, the makers of Planet Earth have created a video called LIFE.

At this site, you can watch 4 exclusive clips from LIFE of a mothers incredible dedication to her young. “Narrated by Oprah Winfrey, these clips lovingly illustrate the mothering techniques of four very different species that have one thing in common — the unbreakable bond between a mother and her child.” LIFE just aired on the Discovery Channel and is available on DVD June 1st! Go here to watch the videos: BBC America: LIFE.

I’m posting one of them here… it’s my favorite of the 4 because I think it’s funny that the “grandma” has to step in to show how the job is done, haha! Love it! But the other ones are cute too–the frog one is pretty amazing.

*Nope, I didn’t receive anything for this post, nor was I paid. Just wanted to share some cute mama and baby videos with you! *

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We just moved into a new house.… okay, 3 months ago… but it was a completely full, lived in house (Steve’s grandparents’ house). We spent forever moving all their stuff out (to the basement) and our stuff in. Our stuff is still all over. Plus all the things that come with having a new house.… our “honey-do” list is never-ending!

TwitterMoms teamed up with ServiceLine (read about it here) to hear about “5 Things On Your ‘Honey-Do’ List That Never Get Done.” Here’s mine:

1. Rip down the wallpaper is Ryan’s room and paint it! (I swear, this will NEVER get done.)

2. Plant a fruit and veggie garden

3. Empty our storage unit we’ve had through 3 moves now (and pay $50/month for!)

4. Move a massive china cabinet out of here (to the basement or just sell it! But it’s super heavy).

5. Make (or more realistically BUY — if I can find one I like) a crib skirt for Ryan’s crib!!! You have no idea how frustrating it is to have a 4 month old whose nursery isn’t finished yet! (okay, I’m sure some of you probably do) It’s driving me crazy!

*Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and ServiceLive blogging program to be eligible to receive $100 in ServiceLive Bucks. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

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First, let me say that I’m AMAZED that in one day we’ve already raised $70 for Cora’s Story. You guys are incredible, seriously. I can’t wait to see the end result on May 30th! Maybe we can try for at least one donation every day?! Even if it’s just $1. We’ve gotten some great prizes donated already including: skin and makeup products (Sephora and BeautiControl), a gift card (Target), a Cushie Pushie, a gorgeous 8x10 flower print, Wix-and-stix, a Twitter for Business autographed book, Barefoot Books, various etsy shop items, etc. (and I’m still accepting more! Let me know if you’d like to donate something) and be sure to donate some money for a chance to win these awesome gifts!! Cora’s Story Fundraising Giveaway

Next… I got this in an email today from my mom and wanted to share it with all of you awesome moms too:

Before I was a mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn’t worry whether or not
my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind
and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because
I didn’t want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn’t stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn’t know the feeling of
having my heart outside my body.
I didn’t know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn’t know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment,
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

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You know you’re all my favorite people, right? (yea, that’s my attempt at kissing butt to get you to help me out) Little Remedies is having a contest… The top 20 blogs that get the most votes get prizes and the #1 blog wins $1000!! I want it. (Obviously).

but YOU can win too! Every time you click this button below to vote for me, YOU get an entry into a separate contest, which is also giving away prizes and $1000 cash! And you can click to vote for Baby Dickey once a day! That’s lots of entries into the contest for you too.

AND… if you vote for me (every day) you can get extra entries in all my current giveaways too. K? Just go leave a comment for the giveaway saying you voted in the LR contest and the date.

How much more incentive do you need?!! Ok, everyone gets a unicorn!!!!! Just click the button below, spin around 3 times with your eyes closed, jump once and then scream. Wallah. .…… what? it didn’t work? That’s because you need to do it every day until the contest is over!

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