budget
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Inflatables!
Has any one seen the Inflatable Anthem with the Holderness family? I love all of their videos and parodies. Any time I see an inflatable at Christmas time, I think of their video. Last week, I promised my 3 youngest some fun when they accompanied me to get my haircut 1 hour from the house. We ate a great lunch at Whole Foods and then did 18 holes at a fun little mini golf place. This was a great budget activity for less than $30 for the 4 of us. We had some great laughs and thankfully it wasn’t freezing cold: maybe upper 40s? The inflatables made the course a…
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Hayesville, North Carolina
I had never heard of Hayesville, NC until I booked our rental, but the area turned out to be a delightful area to spend a week in summer. The weather was pleasant, nature was just beautiful (that combination of mountains, trees and fields is gorgeous) and there was lots to do. Today I am sharing the tiny town of Hayesville and a few pictures of our cabin and surroundings. Hayesville is a small town with a population of about 450 and is about 20 min from Hiawassee, GA and Murphy, NC. While waiting for our pizza to be ready that first evening, we walked around the square and admired the…
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Nooga Lights and Chattanooga Choo Choo Ice Skating
After spending the day at Renaissance and Coolidge Park (see my post here), we checked in at our hotel and headed out for dinner. My friend Rachel was great with her recommendations for our stay. We ate at Fiamma’s pizza for dinner and I thought our wood fire pizza was very tasty. We then drove about 25 minutes to Chester Frost Park for their Nooga Lights Show. The week after Christmas was $23 per car, and you were able to do the loop as many times as you wanted too. I did think it was overpriced (I think it should be $15 at the most), but we did enjoy it…
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Chattanooga Parks: A Must Do with Children
My friend Rachel introduced me to Renaissance and Coolidge Park in Chattanooga. These 2 parks are right next too each by the river and near all the food and shops. Parking is fairly inexpensive and is easy to get too. On our overnight stay during the Christmas break, this was our first destination. I had spoken to the boys about the hill where you can slide down on carboard boxes and they were excited to see what I was talking about. This hill is in Renaissance park and it took us a few tries to figure out how to get going and how big the carboard piece needed to be…
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Coolidge Park, Chattanooga
When I met up my friend Rachel (My Faux French Girl) in Chattanooga at the end of July, I couldn’t believe I had never taken the time to go to Coolidge Park while visiting the city. We met up and park (for a very low $2) on the street and let the boys enjoy the fountains before eating a picnic lunch. My boys, ages 4, 8, and 11 had a ball! They didn’t want to come out of the fountains and asked to come back when possible. I am not sure we will find the time before the fountains close for fall but if nothing else we will come back…
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A Hike at Stone Mountain Park, GA
We hadn’t visited Stone Mountain in quite a while so I took advantage of meeting up with a new Instagram friend nearby to plan a hike. Now, going up Stone Mountain on the hottest week of the start of summer might not have been the best idea but we came prepared with water, snacks and gatorade. We also made sure to wear hats and wear sunscreen. We also make sure to walk in the shade as much as possible. For the first part of the hike, we were able to do that by sticking to shade of the pine trees. Stone Mountain boast the largest exposed mass of granite in…
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Fainting Goat Winery in Jasper, GA: Staycation
Last year, for our anniversary, my husband and I spent a few hours at the Fainting Goat Winery (read post here). For our last adventure with my brother and family (as well as my parents), we decided to take them there as I knew even the boys would enjoy it. Our visit did not disappoint. Once again, I packed a lunch and my brother treated us to a bottle of wine and a charcuterie tray. This is how much wine I had: I have never been much of a wine drinker and rather enjoy fruity drinks and wine coolers. I love the fun logo of the fainting goat. Of course,…
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Oatland Island Wildlife Center
After visiting Little Tybee Island, we stopped for lunch at the Crab Shack which I recommend before heading to our next adventure: Oatland Island Wildlife Center. Our meal at the Crab Shack was definitely a splurge as we ordered the Captain Seafood Platter for 3, an appetizer and some kids meals. However that seafood platter was delicious. We also spent some time looking that the alligators (which have been mostly born in captivity and listening to them roar)! It was pretty cool. All of the alligators were small in size. This adventure is very budget friendly at $3 per person (we had to buy our tickets online to reserve a…
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New Echota Cherokee Capital State Historic Site
A couple of months ago, I decided to get the annual pass for the Historic Sites in Georgia as there are many we haven’t visited yet and quite a few within an hour drive. So this past Sunday after church, we stopped by the New Echota Cherokee Captital Historic site. The land and town was the site of the Cherokee National capital from 1825 to 1838 (all my information is from the flyer for the self guided tour). After the removal of the Cherokee tribes the town disappeared and the land was turned into farmland. In the early 1950s the land was purchased by some local citizens and deeded to…
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Frankfort, KY: the State Capitol
My husband travels the Southeast of the United States and Kentucky used to me one of the states he traveled to regularly for work. When we decided to spend a day in Frankfort, visiting the state capitol was on top of our list. Unfortunately because of Covid, we couldn’t go inside (it looks really grandiose in pictures) but we were still able to walk the grounds which are very impressive too. The current building is the 4th permanent build since Kentucky became a state in 1792. The earlier state capitol building (1830) is still in downtown Frankfort. Because of the size of the new state capitol it could not be…