Hi! I just wanted to share with you all about my very fun "vacation day". Recently I gave my notice at work that I will be quitting to become a full-time SAHM. Of course, within the week of giving notice, my husbands commuter car died. It has over 200k miles and is really becoming unreliable. Since he commutes 150 miles, round trip, to work each day, it didn't make sense to have him drive my SUV (especially with the high gas prices )
So we finally broke down and decided to buy a newer, more dependable car. Unfortunately we got one with payments. The payments are manageable and the loan isn't too long, but the down payment had to come out of our vacation money. We were going to take a trip for about 7 days and had rented a cabin, but, with me quitting my job and my husbands car dying, we thought it didn't make sense to spend all of that money on an "optional" expense like vacation. (Not to mention the lost wages!!!)
Obviously we were bummed about not having a vacation this summer, so we decided to have a "day vacation". We live in Colorado about an hour from Estes Park, which is a very nice tourist destination. We went up to Estes Park after breakfast this morning. We went to a great local pizza place for lunch, walked around all of the quaint little shops and had homemade ice cream at a local candy shop. We also drove around Rocky Mountain National Park. The nice thing was, we were able to be home by naptime. Since it was our "vacation day", my husband and I took a two hour nap while our kids did. Sure the lawn needed mowing and I could've done a load or two of laundry, but who mows or does chores on vacation, right? After the kids woke up, we ordered in dinner and relaxed for the rest of the night.
It's amazing how even a "day vacation" can relax you. We had great quality time together!! I truely feel as if I had a "real" vacation.
We also decided to allot $100 for our "trip", as $100 is a fraction of what our other vacation would've cost. We ended up spending only $78 total, including a beautiful bracelet that I bought in Estes as a gift for my sisters birthday next week! WOW!!!:happy dance:

Sounds like a great time!!!

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~Happiness is a large family~

You need those days in life! Especially when something bad (like the car dying) happens!

it sound like you got more out of this Vacation than maybe the Long one!!

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Kelly mom to 2 gymmonkeys!!!

Sounds like you all had an awesome day and made alot of memories!

Good for you!! That is a great example that you dont always have to go out of state or clear across the country to have a vacation. Many of us live in a state that has some great attractions or parks to go to that are within a few hours from home.

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Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.
Jon Bon Jovi

good for you guys i'm glad you have fun...we do this two times a summer since big long vacations are reserved for every couple years.

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Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money.

congrats on being a stay at home mom!!!

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Crystal Ann

I'm glad you guys had fun!! Also, congrats on becoming a SAHM!