Home Sweet Home

Well, we are back home from our fabulous San Diego vacation.  I'm sorry I didn't post while I was gone.  I had every intention to try to post....but it seems I left the CORD for my tablet at home!  Go me, right?  I remembered the wall plug for it, and forgot the cord, so I couldn't charge my tablet.  Needless to say...all my games suffered too LOL.

I will do a longer post later and talk a bit about the vacation and what we did, and I'll include some pictures too (those are still on the camera!).  I just wanted to get a quick post in to let you know why I didn't post any while I was gone.

I am happy to say that we saved $367 on our vacation thanks to coupons!!  We belong to choice hotels, so by booking in advance, and paying in advance we got a lower hotel room rate.  Then we used coupons to save on our admissions to Seaworld, Legoland, the USS Midway, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Look for my posts about our vacation, and my May savings in the next few days!  We're getting ready to head out to my husband's works Spring Picnic, and that will take up the rest of the night.

Fun in the Sun in San Diego!!

I am so excited!  We are spending our family vacation in San Diego this year!  I use to live in San Diego many years ago...in fact, my daughter Jaidan was born at Balboa Medical Center.  For years she use to tell people she was born at the zoo LOL, since they are both located in Balboa Park.

We are heading out Sunday morning, and then coming back home Friday afternoon at some point.  Today marks 8 years since my husband and I started dating.  Our first date was at Joe's Crab Shack in Pacific Beach, and then watching the sunset over the ocean.  So this Sunday, when we first get to San Diego we are going to take the kids and eat dinner at Joe's Crab Shack <3.

We are going to take the kids to Legoland, Seaworld, and The Wild Animal Park...well, I guess now they call it the Safari park.  We have never been to Legoland, but it is someplace I have always wanted to take the kids, so I am excited to go there.  You just can't go to San Diego and not go to SeaWorld, it's one of my absolutely favorite places to visit.  My Mother's day present is being able to do the Dolphin Interaction that they have!  I am so excited to get in the water with the dolphins, it is a bucket list item for me!!!  For my hubby, for Father's day, he get's to do the Penguin Encounter, Penguin's are his second favorite animal, behind Otter's.  The last time I did the Wild Animal park, my 10 year old daughter was only a few months old, so we are heading back there to check it out again.  As much as I love the Zoo, we are skipping it (it's my favorite zoo ever!!).  I swear I went there 3 times the month before I left San Diego LOL.  We took the older kids there when we first moved back to California 3 years ago, so we decided to skip it this time, so we could do things we haven't done or they don't remember doing.

We'll also be hitting up the 2 hour harbor cruise.  The first hour will take us down by 32nd street Naval Base.  My older 2 kids dad, and I were both stationed there, so I thought it would be nice for them to see the ships.  The second hour goes up by Point Loma Sub Base, which is also where I was stationed.  Hoping they get to see a sub....even better if the ARCO has a sub in Drydock!!  the ARCO is where I spent my last 2 years in San Diego.  I am excited to grab some Carne Asada Fries from Santana's over in point Loma...best Carne Asada Fries EVER!!! LOL

We'll also hit up Mission Beach and spend some time in balboa Park.  We're going to go to Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, and the Botanical Gardens too.  there is just so much to see and do at balboa park.  I'm also going to show the kids around and show them where we use to live.

I am so excited to be going back to San Diego even if it's only for a few days.  It was my favorite place to live, and if it wasn't for cost of living, that is where I would love to live.

Are you going anywhere special on vacation this summer?

Ireland Bound!

First a bit of background.  When my husband and I got married I was looking at us going to Ireland for our honeymoon.  I did a TON of research and it wasn't really that much more expensive to go to Ireland over Hawaii, so why not?!  But after paying for the wedding we just couldn't afford it, so instead we had a phenomenal honeymoon in San Fransisco, a place we had both always wanted to go to.  Back then I told him that I would like to try to go to Ireland for our 5 year anniversary.

A few weeks ago I reminded my husband about wanting to go to Ireland next year for our 5 yr wedding anniversary.  October 13, 2012 will be 5 years.  He said I could look into it and start planning, but he wasn't making any promises.  I was totally fine with that, because if I could budget it well, I knew he'd say yes.  I've been researching, and bookmarking stuff.  I'm going to Arizona over Labor day weekend and was going to tell my best friend what I was planning.  I called her yesterday to chit chat and she asks me if my brother had said anything to me about the rave in Dublin the 2 of them are going to go on, which he hadn't.  So she drops the bomb that she is planning a family vacation to Ireland in the summer of 2013.  So of course I dropped my bomb about 2012.  Needless to say being best friends one thing led to another and we hung up with me saying I was going to talk to Josh about postponing our trip til 2013 and all of us going together.  Which of course he said yes to, how awesome is my husband?

So, here we are, my best friend and I planning family trips to Ireland in the summer of 2013 together!!  Her two teenagers and my older two will be going with us, so 8 of us in total.  My 2 toddlers and her toddler twins will stay with family.  Now I am even more excited about going to Arizona over Labor day weekend!!

When my husband and I got married, we had a traditional ceremony, but because I am Wiccan, we also had a handfasting, which my best friend performed for us.  When we go to Ireland, she is going to renew our vows for us!! I am SO excited!!  Plus....August of 2013 will be 20 years since we became best friends!!  What a phenomenal way to celebrate our friendship!  I can not wait!

Erin Go Bragh!