The Washington Monument

Did you know that it's free to get into the Washington Monument?

Tickets can be obtained for free the same day you visit, but they do run out.

If you want an assured ticket, you can order them ahead of time for $1.50 a piece, plus shipping.

We visited the monument last week, and we were happy that we'd gotten tickets ahead of time. Our scheduled time was for 2:00, and all the other tickets for the day were gone by then.

We drove to the closest metro station, then took the metro to the stop just a couple blocks from the monument. It was a fun little adventure and makes me much more willing to explore DC some more. I do not enjoy driving in the city (way too many cars and people), but taking the metro lets you skip all that. You do have the expense of the parking garage and the metro tickets, but the trade-off of less stress is more than worth it for me.

Packing peanut fun

A few months ago I was at Hobby Lobby and saw a package of pastel colored biodegradable packing peanuts. The packaging touted them as fun for crafts and such. I think they were charging $7 or $8. I remember thinking what a racket it was.

Yesterday a box full of 20 embroidery hoops for a project for LMS's room arrived. After unpacking the hoops, I was about to throw the packing peanuts away when I realized they were the biodegradable kind, and I remembered the packing peanuts I'd seen in the store.

I also remembered (from my UPS driver days I think?) that they're biodegradable because they're made of cornstarch. So if you get them a little wet, they'll stick together, and if they get too wet, they'll dissolve completely.

I put some water in a bowl and stuck the peanuts and the bowl in front of LMS and turned her loose.

It took her a couple tries to figure out how much water not to use- you only need a tiny bit- but then she had fun.

We spelled our names.

It was lunch time after that, so we didn't do anymore, but we'll definitely play with these again.

The best part? They were free- I didn't pay $7 or $8 for them in the store.

Drive-in movies

Whenever we move to a new area, we try to find a drive-in theater. Why? Because they're fun! They're also usually cheaper than a regular movie theater.

A couple weeks ago I went online and found that we actually have two theaters that are each about an hour away, though in different directions. We were going to go last weekend to watch Toy Story 3, but then I realized if we waited till this past weekend we could watch Toy Story 3 and Eclipse. Since I would rather watch Eclipse than Prince of Persia (the second showing last weekend), it was a no-brainer to wait a week.

LMS climbing through a tunnel on the playground, not quite looking at the camera

The theater we went to was actually built just a few years ago, and was quite nice. They've worked hard to make it family friendly, and I think they succeeded. There's a playground for the kids to run around in while waiting for the movie to start

having fun on the teeter-totter

and the concession stand had really good prices (nothing over $3.50). We got huge snow cones for $1 each,

LMS spent a good 30-40 minutes working her way throught that giant snow cone!

then went back just before the movie started for a soda, M&Ms, and 2 tootsie pops (25 cents each!) and only spent $2.75 for those. $2.75 might get you a drink or a small box of candy at a regular theater, but that's it. And I don't remember the last time I saw a $1 snow cone, big or small. Oh yes, and we only paid $7 to get in. That's two movies for $7! Technically they should have charged me $3 for LMS, but the kid at the gate didn't make me pay for her. Score!

Altogether, we paid less than $12 for the whole experience. Considering the prices theaters are charging these days, we would have paid a lot more for just one movie. And we might have had to leave early because I don't think LMS has ever sat still through an entire movie (unless she's buckled in her car seat). She was able to climb around, sit on me, snuggle in her blankets, stand up, and so on, all without bothering other people.

We brought cushions, pillows, and blankets, and were nice and comfy the whole time.

Since you need to arrive early to get a decent spot, we ended up arriving around 6:10, so we had almost three hours to kill- good thing they have the playground! The only real downside was that the first movie didn't start till 9 pm (when it got dark), the second didn't start till after 11 pm, and we were driving home at 1:30 am. I hate driving in the dark. Other than that, it was a ton of fun and we'll be doing this again!

Have you ever been to a drive-in?

Free entrance to National Parks

Did you know that April 17 through 25 you can get into more than 100 national parks for free?

We decided to take advantage of this, so after soccer this morning, we drove to Shenandoah NP and drove part of Skyline drive. The Appalachian Trail (the AT) crosses it many times, so we got to see the trail markers

and tree blazes.

We saw lots of beautiful trees and hills. I know they're called mountains out here, but after living near the Rockies and the Wasatch mountains, it's hard to call these mountains. And yes, I know they're older and more worn down, and all that, but it's still not the same. They're beautiful, and I love all the trees, but they feel like the foothills just before you get to the mountains. Mr. S thought that too.

It was a beautiful day, we got to see more of the area we now live in, and we got to scope out whether it's worth getting an annual pass and coming back. An annual Shenandoah NP pass would be paid for in two trips, but I think we're going to get the interagency annual park pass so we can get into all national parks as well as national forests and sites managed by the BLM and other agencies. It's not that much more expensive, and we'll get our money's worth.

We're definitely going back and doing some hiking- I'd like to hike part of the AT. I have no desire to do the whole thing, but a day hike, and possibly an overnight trip, would be fun. There's many trails, so we could go every weekend and still not hit them all. Not that we will- we have too many other commitments. LMS was quite upset when we said we weren't going hiking today- she was all ready to go!

I also want to go back in the fall when the leaves change- it should be beautiful then- all those tree-covered hills changing colors.

Since we didn't have to pay the entrance fee, we only had the cost of the gas for the trip, and since it's not actually that far away it's something we can do again.

Frugal fun: 5 cent ice cream cones & Friday night movies

Today a local ice cream parlor had 5 cent ice cream cones all day. After Mr S got home from work we headed over, expecting to get a kid-size cone for our 5 cents. Nope! We got full size cones! 

So, for the cost of gas to drive the 4 or 5 miles from our house to the ice cream parlor plus 15 cents we each got a regular size soft serve cone (or cup, in my case). Yum!

We then came home and had homemade gluten free pizza while we watched a movie on Netflix.

Fun and inexpensive!

Frugal Fun: Family Outings

There's quite a few things (this is certainly not an exhaustive list) you can do as a family that cost little or no money.

We like going to Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops. LMS likes looking at the fish and all the stuffed animals- there's always lots to look at. I think both places have scheduled fish feeding that people can watch, and sometimes help with (LMS got to once and thought it was great). They also have an inexpensive shooting gallery (Mr. S likes these). This Christmas we took LMS to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa. We got a free photo of her with Santa (not a great quality photo, but it was free), and there was a bunch of different games and such that the kids could play for free. If we'd gone on the weekend, there would have been free crafts and cookie decorating, too.

We also like hiking, and have found that LMS can often walk a good portion of the hike. This is usually free, unless there's a fee to get into the park.

Another activity to do as a family is going for bike rides. We bought a trailer on sale at REI about two years ago and have gotten a lot of use out of it, and will continue to do so. These can be found on craigslist, ebay, and so on, so they don't have to cost a lot. When LMS gets a bit older, we'll get a trail-a-bike (it's basically a kid's bike minus the front tire and fork, that attaches to the rear of an adult bike) so she can keep up with us on longer rides. We won't be paying full price- we'll find one on craigslist or ebay.

We also like to go for walks and runs together. I have the most practice at it, so I usually push LMS in the BOB jogging stroller that we found for a steal on craigslist. We've gotten lots of miles out of that stroller, and there's still many left. We like exercising together- it sets a good example for LMS, and though she rides in the stroller for most of the way, we have started having her walk the last bit home, and will continue to extend the distance.