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Moolanomy’s Family Vacation Wrap Up

July 11, 2008 :: Life, Family, and Health :: 17 Comments

Wow, time flies when you are having a great time. I was hoping to share our family vacation story yesterday, but I was busy putting together the Money Hacks Carnival #19 due to a last minute problem with the carnival host. In short, the vacation was excellent considering we have a 2.5 years old and a 7 months old with us.

Here’s a wrap up of our vacation.

Day 1: Thursday, July 3rd — Travel Day

Not much happened on July 3rd. We spent most of it on the road traveling from NYC to Alexandria, VA. The only excitement was a little mishap with our EZ Pass — I forgot to stick it on the windshield so our car didn’t register on the way in to the NJ Turnpike. I think I’ll be paying the full fare for the entire length of the turnpike instead of the partial fare we were supposed to pay. Live and learn.

The drive was about 7 hours due to traffic, but we were able to join up with my sister’s family in time for a relaxing dinner.

Here’s a photo of my son and nephew. My son is the smaller one.

Frugal Vacation Tip #1: Staying with a friend or family during your a vacation could save you a bunch of money on hotel costs.

Day 2: Friday, July 4th — Governor’s Land

This is the second leg of our travel. In a two cars caravan, we headed down to Williamsburg, VA to my brother-in-law’s mother’s house. The house is located in a beautiful community called Governor’s Land. Every time I visit this house, I feel like I am staying in a model home out of a magazine — it’s gorgeous.

We got there just in time for July 4th dinner at the Country Club. The dinner was a standard fare for July 4th with all you can eat hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ chicken, Carolina Style pulled pork, etc. The only low light was missing the local firework due to the thunderstorm, but we did manage to catch the live event in DC on television.

Here’s a photo taken outside of the clubhouse overlooking the Chickahominy River, which opens to the James River. You could see the overcast sky in the photo.

Frugal Vacation Tip #2: Traveling with a GPS can save you a lot of time and a bit of money on gas. If you don’t own one and are planning to drive a lot in unfamiliar places, I highly recommend getting one.

Day 3: Saturday, July 5th — Jamestown Settlement

We spent the morning at the Jamestown Settlement. I’ve been there twice before, but this is the first time for my wife, mother-in-law, and our son. I love history, so I always enjoy going there — especially with my sister’s father-in-law because he’s a history buff.

Here’s a photo of my sister and nephew with her husband and mother-in-law talking to a “Powhatan Indian” lady.

And as per the ladies wishes, we spent the afternoon at the Prime Outlets. Perhaps someone can clue me in regarding the difference between outlets in VA and the ones in NY. I don’t understand why we have to go shopping while we are on a vacation. I guess I will never understand.

Frugal Vacation Tip #3: Avoid shopping during your vacation.

Day 4: Sunday, July 6th — Busch Gardens

At first, I was concerned about the prospect of taking a small child and a baby to a theme park. But I found Busch Gardens to be surprisingly family-oriented. Each main area (named after a European country) contains rides for both children and adults, as well as stores, a theater, and other amenities.

We started the day riding the Loch Ness Monster (a cool old-fashioned steel coaster), then visited the Clydesdales in the barn, and a couple of kiddie rides. Then we took the train from Scotland to Italy. In Italy, we rode the Apollo’s Chariot, the Battering Ram, and the Tea Cups. At this point, we stopped for lunch and watched the Viva Italia show at the Teatro Di San Marco.

Another train ride took us from Italy to France. In France, we went on the Le Scoot Log Flume and the Griffon (this coaster features two 90 degree drops while you are looking directly at the ground — see my face in the photo below), and watched the American Jukebox show at the Royal Palace Theater.

Then it was a short walk to Germany to ride the Alpengeist (probably the best coaster in the park) and the Carousel. To cool off, we went to the Das Festhaus for some beer, soda, lemonade, and the This is Oktoberfest show. To wrap up the day we took the Skyride back to England to catch the Pirates 4-D show at the Globe Theatre (my wife and I missed the show because our baby woke up and started to cry).

Overall, it was the most exciting day. The only bad thing was my fixation on life insurance every time we went on a roller coaster ride. Here are a few photos from Busch Gardens:

Frugal Vacation Tip #4: Take your time to enjoy all the extras offered at each destination. You’ll be getting more for your money, spend less time driving around, and ended up with less stress.

Day 5: Monday, July 7th — Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

Next we headed to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel so that my wife and mother-in-law could see one of the modern marvels. Here’s a little info from their web page:

The Bridge-Tunnel project is a four-lane 20-mile-long vehicular toll crossing of the lower Chesapeake Bay. The facility carries US 13, the main north-south highway on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, and provides the only direct link between Virginia’s Eastern Shore and south Hampton Roads, Virginia.

On the bridge we stopped for lunch at the restaurant. Everyone loves the food there — very fresh and tasty. Here’s a photo from the CBBT.

We drove further about half way through then we turned back to go to Virginia Beach. It was a super hot afternoon so we only spent about an hour on the beach. Here’s a photo of my wife, baby, and mother-in-law hiding in the tent I bought for $20 (we could’ve rented a much bigger one for $20).

Frugal Vacation Tip #5: Sometimes it’s good to spend money to buy rather than rent. For example, we’ll be using this little sun tent again in the future.

Day 6: Tuesday, July 8th — Hollins Hill

We are back at my sister’s in Hollins Hill. To cool off after a long drive from Williamsburg, we went to the community pool. It’s my baby first time in a swimming pool. He was really good and had a blast riding his floating duck.

Frugal Vacation Tip #6: You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a great time.

Day 7: Wednesday, July 9th — An Old Friend

On the last day, we visited one of my childhood friends. His wife just gave birth to a cute little 5 lb baby girl on July 4th — how cool is that….and no, her name is not Independence. Anyway, I’m glad to see them doing so well with their new house and the baby.

The rest of the afternoon was spent driving back to NYC. I tried to drive at the speed limit at 65 mph when I could, but there were a couple of times I had to speed up due to some over anxious truckers who felt it was okay to drive 2 feet away from my back bumper. In any case, I did manage to drive at 65 mph most of the way. It looks like I can save about 1 mile per gallon if I slow it down from 70 mph to 65 mph.

Frugal Vacation Tip #7: Plan your trip to minimize travel time and maximize your time at the attractions.

For more vacation tips, please check out these articles:

Backpacking through Europe, Australasia or North America at Plonkee Money
How Not to Honeymoon (and how to!) at Mrs. Micah
Vacation Savings Account at Single Guy Money
Vacation in the Off-Season to Save Money and Avoid Crowds at Cash Money Life
Riding The Rails With Amtrak at My Two Dollars
5 Great Travel Reward Credit Cards at The Dough Roller
Low cost summer family vacations at Gather Little By Little
9 Vacation Tips and Ideas at Moolanomy
Getting Deals on Airline Tickets at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…
Frugal Vacation Ideas at Being Frugal
Be Flexible and Save at Plonkee Money
Finding The Good Deal at My Two Dollars
Are season passes for amusement parks worth it? at Gather Little By Little
If You Have An Emergency at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…
Tips for Traveling with Children at Being Frugal

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Moolanomy’s Past Articles By The Number

July 3, 2008 :: Money :: 6 Comments

My family is going on a vacation for a few days. We’re going as far south as Virginia Beach on this trip and I look forward to see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and neighboring area. I will be resuming my normal schedule by July 14th. I wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July weekend.

Here are some past articles by the number:

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June 2008 Site and Net Worth Review (-7.23%)

July 2, 2008 :: Money :: 6 Comments

Net Worth Review

Wow, June was a terrible month for stock investors. Bad economy, Midwest flood, inflation, high oil price, among other factors added up to an -8.6% drop for the S&P500 — from 1400.38 to 1280.00! According to NetworthIQ, my net worth went down -3.04% — mostly due to my retirement and stock investments, and net investable assets went down -7.23%, or from 24.34% to 22.59% of $1 million goal — looks like I will have to re-evaluate that goal this year.

Highlights

This month, my 401k, IRA, and stock investments took the blunt of the blow at -8.90%
My alternative income from blogging improved by 64% this month — cool!
There’s not much change for my peer-to-peer investments:
- Prosper grew from $425.55 to $649.33. I am now up to 11 loans at average of 11.61% interest — so far, so good.
- Lending Club went down slightly from $473.40 to $460.80 due to withdrawal because I cannot make a new loan and there’s no interest for idle fund.
My house value, based on Zillow dropped by another -0.95%. I believe this downward trend will continue through the rest of the year.

Overall, this was a tough month for my net worth and investments. I am just happy that my alternative income streams are improving.

Blog Review

June was a strong month, but not quite as good as May. The biggest contributor this month was The Consumerist who featured my alternative income article in their post: Four Ways To Make The Most Of Unemployment.

As always, I owe the success of this blog to the support from my readers and fellow bloggers. Thank you!

Performance

I didn’t expect to meet my 10% improvement goal this month due to strong May, but I am happy with the outcome.

Subscribers grew +10% from 1,534 to 1,681
Search traffic dropped -2% from 9,577 to 9,422
Visitors dropped -21% from 44,071 to 34,606
Page views dropped -15% from 68,754 to 58,255

Top 10 Referrers

I wish I could list everyone that sent visitors, but it would be an impossibly long list (922 entries). I do appreciate everyone’s help, regardless of how big or small. Here are the top 10 referrers this month:

* Indicates the winner of 125×125 banner ad spot.

Some Notes

First, I’d like to congratulate Gibble and wish him a happy 1-year blog anniversary. You can read about it in his post: One year of gathering little by little.
Second, I have been partnering with various companies to provide you with value-added content. If you haven’t noticed the free magazine and credit cards database features, please check them out.
Lastly, I am currently running eFinPLAN financial planning software giveaway. The “secret code” was posted over the weekend. Please enter if you are interested in winning a 1-year subscription valued at $98.

Again, thank you to my readers and fellow bloggers for your support.

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