What an Awesome Time on Our Vacation / Staycation...

This week, we were on vacation / staycation, depending on how you look at it...
We went to a very nice, family friendly, beach side resort that was less than an hour from our home.
Dear Hubby got a great rate through work...which made it all the sweeter, as it did not break the bank nearly as much as if we would have had to have paid full price for the suite.
We had a wonderful time!

The weather was perfect...hot and humid, but yes, this is Florida so that is expected...still nice and sunny every day...the boys were so relaxed that one day, they fell asleep while on their floaties in the Gulf...pretty cute, huh?
We were right there with them and let them soak up some rays before carrying them back to the cabana...

So fun to get to hang out and relax at the beach with the family.
We alternated between spending time on the beach and at the pool.

If you have not tried a staycation yet, suggest that this is a great option for those who want to get away but are trying to be conservative with their spending.
This was our first staycation...think we will grab the chance to do another in the future when the opportunity arises.

There are some great deals out there for staycations...the one we got is a perfect example of such a deal.

In addition to getting great rates for staycations, another tip is to start saving so that if the opportunity arises, you can jump on it and go.

We had been saving for such an opportunity, so things worked out nicely.

We did not go out to fancy restaurants, nor did we buy much on our trip...plus, our suite had a kitchenette in it, so we first stocked up on some food stuffs at the grocery store.
We ate breakfast in each morning and then, headed out for lunch and dinner.
Juice boxes, bottled water, milk boxes, Cliff and Nutrigrain bars, small boxes of cereal, and some snacks really helped to defray the cost of eating out and paying overly inflated prices for such items at the resort.

If you homeschool, then you have even more options, as you can pick up and go when the rates are lower, which is just what we did. Instead of going over Memorial Day weekend, we checked in on Memorial Day.

Then, instead of checking out at the end of the weekend, we checked out before the weekend...so again, it helped with getting the best rates... plus nothing was crowded at the pool, the beach, or the restaurants.

Even though we have wrapped up our school year, we still brought a bin filled with books and supplies, in case the boys felt like doing something...
We also brought some Legos and some sand toys, so they had a nice variety of things to choose from while we were there. 
We took in the scenery and spent time talking about sea grass, sunsets, waves, the planets, clouds, fish, crabs, snails, drawbridges, sand, conch fritters, cabanas, shells, sting rays, sea turtles, dragonflies, para sailing, pelicans, boating, skim boarding, and paddle boating to name a few...

All in all, a great time...
Gotta love living in the Sunshine State!