Yesterday was officially the first day of summer for us because the kids were all out of school and the King was back at work. Being that this week is a holiday completely free of any camps or mother's day out programs, I have all 3 kids all to myself all week long. So, I thought...why not have a blow out week where I let the kids pick out whatever they want to do and we just do it! So, last week we made a list of all of the possibilities including: Chuck-E-Cheese, Kart Ranch, Incredible Pizza Company, The Children's Museum, the gym (to swim of course), and so much more. So, I decided to pull money out of their savings account for the week and just let them have a blast. So off to the ATM we went and pulled out $220. (The extra $20 is for summer workbooks). Anyway, when I pulled the money out, my frugal side finally kicked in and I thought...this is a lot of money....I wonder if I could stretch this out over the entire summer?
So, first things first, we went to the educational supply store to get some summer workbooks. With a 25% off coupon my total was $25. So, already a big dent.
Then, we went to the tourist information center. I thought that maybe we could find some free attractions that are both educational and fun for the kids to help fill in the gaps in our schedule. I let the kids pick out all of the pamphlets that they liked, but very few of them were actually free. However, I did get a ton of coupons there. The ladies at the tourist center gave the kids come bread to feed the fish and the ducks, so we ended up spending part of our day the the center just walking the grounds and feeding the turtles and fish. We talked about the trees and the wildlife. Great trip! $0.
Then off we went to Chuck-E-Cheese, their choice for the day. We ate lunch before we left so we didn't have to buy any food there. We also brought our Chuck-E-Cheese souvenir cups so that it wouldn't cost us any extra for drinks. (If you buy a 'souvenir' cup from Chuck-E-Cheese you can bring them back and drink for free.) I used a coupon for tokens which was $15 for 100 tokens, so our total spent was $15 even. Again, I was thinking about stretching the $220 so that it could possibly last all summer, so when I got the tokens I divided them in half in 2 separate cups in hopes that we could make another trip out of it. Within the first 15 minutes my first cup was looking pretty skimpy, so I was worried that my plan wasn't going to work. I didn't want to hold out on the kids either because they were having so much fun. Finally my oldest figured out that there was a whole other stash of tokens, so they started disappearing! I looked at my watch and realized that we had to leave soon, so I started rounding the kids up. So we were actually left with about 30 more tokens, which will work for a second trip. YAY!
Then came the drama. With three kids there is always drama. The baby was missing in Chuck-E-Cheese. Of course, I didn't really panic because he runs off pretty often, but this is a huge place, he is a small child, and here I am bogged down by my purse, diaper bag, sippy cups, tokens, and game tickets. It was an impossible task. So, I told the guy at the door that there was a missing baby in the restaurant and out of the wood works came the Chuck-E-Squad. All of a sudden there was a team of guys huddling together asking me for a description and off they went to find the baby. It took all of 60 seconds. He was standing next to the skee-ball game watching another kid play. He wasn't the slightest bit concerned.
So, now we are out of the door. I am still bogged down with our gear and trying to hold onto the baby. We finally get to the car and I have no keys. NO KEYS! So, now I am standing with the baby pinned against the car so he won't pull another one of his stunts and run in the street. I looked everywhere...NO KEY! I check the diaper bag, the purse, the car, and everything that I am carrying, but they were not there. So, I pick up all of the gear again, plus the baby, and the other two kids...and we go back in to Chuck-E-Cheese. AHH! Fortunately, the same guy was at the door and he found my keys. We turn around, go back to the car, get the kids and all of the gear in and we are finally on our way home. Phew.
Today, there will most certainly be another adventure in my $220 summer. So stay tuned and I will keep you informed. I have no idea if I can make the money stretch that long...but I am willing to try. I have $180 left, so we'll see what happens. I'll write again soon.
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