Free Vacations

I have to admit, we have a pretty sweet setup when it comes to vacation.  Every year, hubby's company sends us to Myrtle Beach so that he can work two days at a convention.  They cover our hotel cost for the days he works, plus they give us a per diem rate for those days to cover food and other expenses, and we get reimbursed for the gas {which is a huge deal nowadays!}.  We still have to cover the hotel for the rest of the time we decide to stay, but it's definitely a great deal.  Plus, he doesn't get charged vacation days for the two days we travel or the two days he works.  Because of that, he's got lots of time accrued.  He decided to take off this week to use some of that time, but instead of going away, we're taking a variety of day trips within a several hour radius all week long.  We're trying to see how many free or very reasonable activities we can do that are still lots of fun for our whole family.  Here's how today went.

The weather forecast this week looks questionable at best.  Chance of storms and/or rain every day.  We woke up to rain, drizzle, and fog, so we decided to forego our original plan of picking strawberries and go to Storyville instead.  It's a really cool part of the library program in a county close to us; it's like a hands-on museum with all kinds of different rooms and activities just for toddlers, but it's FREE!

Here's Little Crafter learning to be an architect.

Doot doo doo doo....SUPER LC!

LC and Daddy in the theater.

Little Crafter had a ball doing all the different activities and was reluctant to leave even when we promised him lunch at Panera.  That's when you know it's serious! :)  By the time we left Storyville, the weather was a complete 180 from this morning; the sun was shining and it was getting downright hot!  Right now it's 83 degrees and I think it was even warmer then.  We decided to head home after lunch and call the Pick-Your-Own hotline at Baugher's Orchard to see if the strawberry picking conditions were good.  They were!  Hooray!

LC loved riding the wagon pulled by a tractor to get out to the fields.  He kept saying, "I rode a BIIIIG tractor today!" :)

We taught him to look for berries that were red all over.

Got one!

Putting the berries in the basket...he was a very good picker and only ate one in the field. ;)

Our loot.  They ended up costing us about $10, but for all those strawberries, plus the entertainment, I say it was a great deal!

We've had a fantastic first day of "vacation."  Hope you're having a great day too!