10 Creative and Affordable Vacation Ideas

It's all about tip sharing today!  Twitter Moms is bringing you the best tips from the bloggers in their community to help you have fun and save money.  Of course you can find more tips at the link above.

We travel a lot and I'm pretty frugal so it wasn't difficult to come up with 10 creative and affordable vacation ideas.

1. Look for coupons.  Before you get to your destination search the internet for coupons or discounts to use on attractions and restaurants.  They are out there for virtually every place you might visit.  From Buy 1 get 1 to % off discounts you will save money. 

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Guest Posting at Midday Escapades

I'm the "Top 5 List" Guest Blogger at Midday Escapades today.  If you want to read my Top 5 reasons to

take a Disney Cruise, head over to Lynn's blog leave a comment, and then head back here to see some more pics and other posts related to all things Disney!

A Virtual Spa Journey Right At Home!

If I could travel all the time, I would ☺.

One of the things that is really appealing to cruise travelers (like me!) is the on board spas. Their treatments and products are luxurious, and when on vacation the extravagant prices are sometimes justifiable ☺. Of course we all can't getaway all the time.

So if you have the hankering to take a spa visit and get away to an exotic locale but are unable to, you must check out MySpaShop.com's Virtual Spa Destinations. From places in the United States to Europe and beyond, the best spa destinations are now only as far away as a mouse click.

I personally am all about the Caribbean. Living in the Northern Plains brings a longing for sandy beaches and turquoise waters. So my choice of a virtual spa journey was Anguilla.

After reading about my destination as well as viewing photos that took me to where the beach meets the ocean, I was introduced to products that would reflect a spa experience in my chosen locale.

MySpaShop.com sent me some TARA Sun Therapy products to engage my senses and my skin for my virtual spa journey to Anguilla, while I was able to stay right here in South Dakota.

The TARA Sun Collection, is an aloe-based line formulated with sea algae extracts, and was born out of and Aloe Rehydrating Wrap treatment specifically used for desert and tropical climates. In addition to offering sun protection the products offer healing, soothing, nourishing and hydrating benefits for sun-exposed, dry and irritated skin conditions.

The Rehydrator Lotion made with Rosehip and Aloe goes on silky, just like the ones at the spas. Oh yeah, and let me tell you when I used the Recovery Gel and closed my eyes, the scent and sensation carried me off to the Caribbean, well until Amber banged on my bathroom door wondering when she was going to get dinner.

If you're in the need of a getaway and the only way you're going to get one right now is virtually, I encourage you to head over to MySpaShop.com and check out one (or more) of their 16 virtual spa journey destinations. It just might give you that "fix" you need until you can really take a vacation or hit the spa ☺.

Car Boredom Breakers

Turn the "Are We There Yets" into Giggles!

You make sure you have blankets, candles, matches and flares, but every travel survival kit should also have Rand McNally's Boredom Breakers. Because when traveling with children, inevitably the "Are We There Yets" will spawn. The passable hours getting from Point A to Point B can be made enjoyable for the whole family with these traveling games.

Three of the Boredom Breakers we received to review were:

Story Starters - this CD features 72 minutes of different styles of audio entertainment, combining the best of radio style drama and audio to get families telling stories together.

Travel Card Games - don't require a flat surface and are perfect for any road trip. 3 decks of cards are included featuring: 30 Second Interview, I Saw It First and Tough Choice.

Car Game Countdown - try and beat the clock with 18 car games and activities. Old favorites like Padiddle and Alphabet Hot Potato are combined with new car games destined to become classics. Included is a car shaped digital timer with electronic sound, and ten laminated dual sided game cards on a clip ring.

We had a lot of fun reviewing these, and they definitely will be coming with us on our trip up to Canada in October.

We used the Story Starters first, which has so many activities on it. particularly we liked the "Finish the Story", it's amazing what the imagination will come up with when you tie a turtle to a skateboard....

Also fun is the "I Saw It First" from the Travel Card Games. Anything competitive in the car makes the miles (or kilometers) go by quicker! The rarer the item that you spot, the more points you get!

Two other Boredom Breakers are Car Karaoke and Magnet Message Makers.

Moms and Dads if you are planning on taking a Labor Day road trip or perhaps have plans to take the vehicle out over the October long weekend, pick up a least one of these Boredom Breakers, your wiggly kids transform into giggly and happy ones!

Turtle Photo Credit to Psyberartist and Skateboard Photo Credit to Hive.

A Trip to the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Museum

Last Thursday we took a little day trip and went to LeMars, Iowa to visit the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Museum. It was a neat experience with much learned about one of my favorite treats!

The drive through the rolling hills and farmland of eastern South Dakota and western Iowa was beautiful. And we stopped to take a look at the Dordt College Campus as well, one of the colleges that Amber is looking at applying to in a few years.

If you would like to see more photos and information about our field trip to the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Museum, check out my post at The Homeschool Classroom:

http://tiny.cc/iscream

Yummy Alternative for Motion Sickness

When I heard about Queasy Pop Kids, a natural way to ease motion sickness, I was instantly intrigued and asked Three Lollies if I could feature them on my blog.

With all the traveling we do by car, plane and ship, it's inevitable that sometime during our vacation either Amber or myself gets motion sickness.

Since I already take prescription pills for a number of physical ailments, I really try to limit the amount of over the counter medications I take. Amber, in general, just has problems swallowing pills, plus I really try and limit the amount of medication she takes, pain relief or otherwise.

Here is a bit about Queasy Pops from their website:

I had requested them in time for a day trip that I knew we were going to take yesterday. We took a car ride in which we drove for about 1 1/2 hours each way. Now generally that's not a problem, but in summer with the sun beating in the windows and a tummy filled from breakfast out, I was anticipating hearing from the back seat "Mom, I don't feel very good". With that expectation I had the Queasy Pop Kids ready. Of course, that didn't happen (rolls eyes).

Fortunately for the sake of this review, after we arrived home a few hours later, bellies filled with ice cream now, I had the chance to give Amber one of the Queasy Pop Kids. She chose a cola flavored one, and right away gave the taste a thumbs up. I assume that the properties that allow it to be effective in easing motion sickness worked as we had no sickness incidents due to a queasy tummy.

Queasy Pop Kids come in 7 flavors; Peppermint, Cinnamon, Natural Cola, Natural Green Apple, Sour Raspberry, Sour Lemon, & Papaya. You get one of each in a box. They have a store finder on their website, or you can purchase them online as well. They have an mrsp of $3.95 a box, which is right in line with the cost of most motion sickness pills.

I know that Queasy Pop Kids will always be with us when we travel in our car or on a plane. I surely will take them with us on the ship next year as well as we sail across the Atlantic, I'm anxious to see whether they can hold us up for 14 days to alleviate the motion sickness!

I would like to share a box from the samples that Three Lollies sent to me.

To enter this giveaway just tell me which flavor you think your kids (or you!) would like best?

For extra entries you can: (leave each as a separate comment)

1. Follow me on twitter and tweet this giveaway (you can do this daily)
2. Follow my blog publicly
3. Subscribe to my RSS Feed
4. Add my button to your blog

This Giveaway will end on August 6th, 2009 at 11:59 pm cst, and is open to US and Canadian Residents ages 18+.

Camera-Critters #46

This is who you might find greeting you on a mini-golf course in Cozumel! He rolled out the "green" carpet for us anyway!See more Critters captured on Camera at Camera-Critters - this meme is active each weekend. You may even get your picture in the spotlight for a whole week!

Wordless Wednesday - What Is It?

Hey little girl - do you know what the purpose of this mine cart was?
Well why don't I give you a closer look....
That's right, it's an original Port-A-Potty!!

Wordless Wednesday - Snakes? I Hate Snakes

Just the kind of sign you want to see at the side of the walking trail......

Wordless Wednesday - The Victorious Knight Chooses His Queen

Tuesday's Tip Jar

Do you like to send postcards to friends and family when you're on vacation? Maybe you don't do it though because it's such a hassle to drag around and address book and then have to write it out, get stamps etc.

My Tuesday Tip is: Buy your stamps before you leave home. Think of the people you want to send cards to, Grandpa and Grandma, neighbors, friends. Type out their address on labels. Then cut them in strips to the size of a small envelope. Put the stamps and labels in the envelope and keep them with your camera case, or in your purse. When you reach your destination and find just the postcards you want to send, you'll be all set to write them out and mail them. Now you just need to find a mailbox. The real trick is seeing if the post cards arrive home before you!

For more Tips from Jar check out Blogmommas.

Wordless Wednesday - Let Me Out!

Wordless Wednesday - Youngest Astronaut Ever

Land's End Giveaway

I had not mentioned up to this point about the new banner at the top of my page. Yep, when we were on our past cruise, we booked a Transatlantic Cruise for 2010 where we will leave from Port Canaveral and sail all the way to Barcelona, Spain on the fabulous Disney Magic!

That will mean some new luggage requirements though, as we simply don't have enough for a two week journey like that for the three of us, and the stuff we do have right now is looking kind of ragged.

Lucky for me, I entered the Land's End Giveaway at Petit Elefant blog. The winner will have their choice of three different items (hee hee, sounds like my blog!), one of which is a rolling duffel bag, which would be perfect as a carry on for Genius on our next vacation.

Hurry though the contest ends at Midnight EST tonight!

I'm Back!

Hi Ya'll! I'm back from the magical vacation! Our flight came in at 8pm tonight, and I'm just getting caught up on my email. Between catching up on reviews and laundry, I'll try and post in the next few days about all the fun we had. (Did you notice the change in banners at the top....yep....counting down to another one! More on that in another post!)