Free Habit Tracker Download

It's been a while guys! I have been all over the place with homeschool, planning our next trip, and trying to get this holiday season started. But I just made this habit tracker inspired by one I saw on Instagram and I just had to share it with all of you. I'm excited to start developing good habits next year. I want to work out regularly, not go months without creating, and making sure I blog every week.

I'm not sure if you're like me or not, but one thing I love is checking a box. I make a ton of lists and checking something off my list is just so satisfying. It's gotten to the point where I start my list with 'finish making list' just so that I can check it off when I'm done. Pathetic, I know.

Anyway, just in case anyone else would like to join me on my path to better habits, here is what I came up with: Click here for a fully editable version

I Dyed My Hair Purple!

So, there I was, sitting in my living room, looking at the pictures I had just posted on Facebook from a weekend away when I scrolled past one of those Overtone ads. In case you don’t know what Overtone is, it’s like a hair dye. But you dye your hair crazy colors (like pink or purple or blue). And it looks like hair creme as opposed to normal hair dye. And before I knew it, I was dreaming of crazy colors.

Ah! I’m 29. I’m not some teenager that can just do whatever they want to their hair...right? Well, I’m an adult. I CAN do what I choose. And I choose to embrace the crazy in my life and go for a new color.

Backstory: I haven’t touched my hair with dye of any kind in over 10 years. I used to highlight, lowlight, full on dye my hair whenever the mood took me when I was a teenager. I never did anything crazy. They were always natural colors. But then I got pregnant and I had heard that you’re not supposed to dye your hair while you’re pregnant. So I didn’t. Then we were poor. Then some woman that was cutting my hair made me feel disgusting because my roots were too far out to just need maintenance, but not far enough out to look like it was done on purpose. Needless to say, I never went back there again. And I decided I just wanted natural hair so that I didn’t have to worry about it. So I grew it out. And I grew it out. And I grew it out. My hair has been completely natural from root to tip for over 5 years.

But the desire has struck! I need that dye job. So, I decided to go with something a little low maintenance (so that when it grows out, it DOES look like I did it on purpose). Here’s where I decided on a Balayage.

But I had some questions. And I needed a new stylist. The one I had gone to for a couple years just wasn’t doing it for me. Seriously, I have the worst luck with stylists. They either complain about how much and how heavy my hair is or they just don’t talk that much. Some of them simply don’t know how to work with my hair (it’s super thick and fairly long) so the cut they put in it, doesn’t work for me. And while some have clearly been worse than others (hello, woman who told me my dye was terrible), I just haven’t really connected with anyone. And while the lady I was with for a couple years did an okay job with my cut, I had ZERO confidence in her ability to dye my hair properly.

I looked. I researched. I found pictures of hair people had done before, and I settled on a couple girls from Fringe in Bloomington, IL. They seemed young and modern and willing. So I called to make an appointment for one of them to just cut my hair first. I went in, and got a couple inches taken off. The girl was so nice!! And she did a great job on my hair. I asked questions and she seemed knowledgeable. So we started talking about the dye job I might want done. She gave me some advice. And I booked my appointment for Wednesday, September 18th at 11am to get my hair done.

This is what my hair looked like before I went into the salon that day:

She highlighted my hair and then put a lavender toner on top of that. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, 3 hours and $300 later, I was done. That may sound extravagant to some, but I have some crazy thick, long hair. And it was totally worth it! Check it out!

Even though I loved my hair, it wasn’t exactly what I had asked for. In reality, I wanted an ombre look and I for sure didn’t get that. Lucky for me, I did like the way my hair looked in the end. However, I was incredibly disappointed when all the purple was gone after only 3 washes. I payed so much money! And for what? Not what I asked for and the purple was gone only a couple weeks later. Well, I decided to order Overtone (you’ve probably seen the ads on Facebook). Check out that post in a couple weeks to see how it works.

Making the first day of homeschool special

First, let me just wish my husband a wonderful Happy Birthday! He never reads my blog, but I just appreciate him so much!

Now, since this was our first full year doing homeschool, I wanted to make our “first day of school” special. And I think it worked! We had a great day getting the hang of things. Here’s what we did:

We started with a mini photo shoot. You know, your typical “first day of school” pictures with the parents.

Then, we headed out to The Original Pancake House for breakfast. Owen was thrilled to have chocolate chip pancakes before our school day started.

When we finally made our way down to our classroom, I had put streamers up on the doorway and filled the room with balloons. I hung a poster that said “Welcome to 4th grade”.

We started with a welcome letter that I had written to him to tell him how excited I was about this upcoming year. I wanted to have a printed letter that he could stick in the front pocket of his binder so that he could look at it any time he wanted.

While we did spend most of the day learning, I wanted to have some fun breaks in our day with a couple useful crafts. The first one was a bookmark that he could decorate to use in his book for morning reading time. He loves to draw and color so I thought this would be a great break between lessons. The second craft he worked on was a little pouch that he could glue together and color to hold his reward dollars that he will earn throughout the year to buy fun stuff.

Overall, we had a great day! It was a great introduction to our school year. It was a special day that deserved to be celebrated. And we did just that!

A Day In Southern Illinois

Our last stop before we headed back home on our 2 week road trip was in Southern Illinois. I use that term because we kind of travelled all over the place in our 24 hours there.

Our first stop upon returning to Illinois was the Garden of the Gods. We decided to take the half mile observation trail. It was a very short hike, if you even want to use that term. To be honest, it was more of just a walk for me. My son, on the other hand was climbing all over the place. He was climbing every rock he could get his hands on. Clearly, we were very cautious and I held my son’s hand when necessary because in this area, you are very high up and every year, people die from accidents on these rocks. The views are just stunning from here. And we had so much fun finding the camel and monkey rock formations. Even though the main path is only a half mile, we spent an hour here. Partially because we spent a lot of time off the main path on the large rocks and partially because we took the time to sit and embrace the beauty of this place. There were plenty of people that stayed much longer than we did. It didn’t feel crowded at all, but we visited at noon on a Wednesday.

Owen’s Notes: “I really liked that I got to climb around a bunch. There were so many rocks that I got to climb up, down, and over to. There were also so many sights to see like the camel and the monkey.”

We stayed in the Best Western in Marion for the night. The biggest reason I chose this hotel was because we had enough points to stay here for free. It was clean and nice enough. It was nothing extravagant, but it was exactly what we needed. They had a pool and a hot tub, which we did swim at. It was a perfect way to end our trip. They also had free wifi, free breakfast, a mini fridge, and a microwave. Plus, the hotel was right next to the highway so it was a great location for us.

The next morning, we drove over to the Rolling Oak Alpaca Ranch. I had made a reservation for a tour online in advance. It cost $10 per person. Our tour started at 9:30am and lasted about an hour. We were able to hang out with the alpacas and feed them. We also met a couple goats. It was great to learn all about the alpacas. Plus, since our tour was just myself and my son, we could ask any questions we wanted and take as many pictures as we wanted. Then, we learned all about how yarn is made. I just love the couple that owns this farm. They have such positive attitudes and were such a pleasure to be around. We truly had a blast and it was just the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

Owen’s Notes: “I really really liked all of the alpacas. I also liked that I got to see goats. My favorite alpaca was Little Num. I got to hug her.”

There are so many things to do in southern Illinois. We definitely could have spent more than a day here, but alas, we had to head home.

Visit to Nashville, TN

One of the last stops on our Mother/Son roadtrip was Nashville. This is frequently our last stop on roadtrips. Nashville is such a fun place, even if you only have a day to spend here.

We drove into town and immediately went to Hattie B’s Hot Chicken to stand in line and get some awesome food. Parking is crazy in Nashville. We’ve never had trouble finding a spot, but it comes at a price, that’s for sure. This place is so popular, you definitely need to get there 30 minutes before they open on weekdays and possibly an hour early on the weekends if you want a table. I ordered chicken strips (medium heat) with pimento mac and cheese and potato salad. Owen got the kids chicken strips (southern, which means no heat) with fries. We also really enjoy their lemonade. I think it’s made in-house and it’s absolutely delicious. They’re not over-priced and the food is definitely worth a trip. It was hot outside and the indoor seating is incredibly limited so we did have to sit outside. However, it at least is covered and has fans.

Then, we headed out to the Adventure Science Museum. The cost was $28 for my son and myself. It was amazing! I’m kind of over children’s museums because they all have the same exhibits. So, once you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all. But this is so different. First of all, it’s not just for little kids. There is a section just for them, but I feel like this “museum” is geared toward the older child, which is a welcome change. We played music, defeated germs, walked on the moon, hung out among the stars, climbed a spine, and slid down the digestive system. It was seriously amazing. We only spent about 2 hours here, but it was a fun 2 hours.

Owen’s Notes: “Oh my gosh! My favorite thing that we did there was doing the moon gravity thing. There was a machine that picked me up, lifted me into the air, and then put me back down again. I had to try to walk over to a flag on the ground and walk back. It was so fun, but way harder than it sounds.”

When we were done at the Adventure Science Museum, we headed downtown again to check out the Johnny Cash Museum. The cost was $20 per adult and $16 per child. It is ranked the number one music museum in the world. This museum is fairly small, but still worth a visit. We only spent about an hour here, and even that was pushing it. It seemed crowded, which was a shame, but we still had a great time. There was a ton of memorabilia and informational text you could read, outfits from famous moments and records displayed. But my favorite thing about the entire museum was that there were performances you could watch, a video history of Johnny Cash’s career, songs you could listen to with headphones, and a couple places where you could sit to do these things. They also offered a green screen photo you could buy. Overall, it was a decent museum that I’m glad we visited, but I don’t feel the need to go again during our many trips to Nashville.

Owen’s Notes: “My favorite part of the Johnny Cash Museum was taking a picture in front of the green screen and then getting a picture of me with Johnny Cash.”

Then, before heading back to our hotel, we popped into the Goo Goo shop to pick up some Goo Goo Clusters to bring back home with us. If you’ve never heard of a Goo Goo Cluster, you’re missing out. They are a regional treat that we discovered on our travels and we keep going back for more. It is a disc-shaped candy bar that contains marshmallow nougat, caramel, and roasted peanuts and then covered in milk chocolate. My family’s favorite is the peanut butter, though. Basically, they replace the marshmallow nougat with a soft peanut butter nougat. The Goo Goo shop is located right downtown across from the Johnny Cash museum so it’s pretty convenient when we’re in town. You should give them a try if you’re visiting the area. They also have a little cafe inside their store.

Owen’s Notes: “I love Goo Goo Clusters. We bought the peanut butter ones!”

Our hotel was the Wingate by Wyndham out by the airport at 1 Century Blvd. They have free wifi, free breakfast, a mini fridge, and a microwave. What else you could you want? It was clean and perfect for our needs. We always stay out by the airport when we visit Nashville. It may be farther from the action, but it is significantly cheaper. And saving money on our hotel allows us to spend money elsewhere.

Our trip to Nashville was a great one. I will always suggest this place to people planning a weekend getaway or as a destination on a roadtrip.

Visiting Knoxville, Tennessee

Towards the end of our Mother/Son roadtrip, we decided to take a couple stops in Tennessee. First stop, Knoxville.

We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott Knoxville Downtown at 210 W Church Ave for 2 nights. I chose this hotel because it’s so close to downtown. It’s close to public transportation. They have free wifi and a mini fridge. And I’m so glad I did. This hotel was pretty nice! It was probably one of the nicest places we stayed during our trip. Self parking costs $15 a night, which is what we did. There is no breakfast included, but I think you can purchase some. However, we decided to go to a place just a couple blocks away.

We ate brunch at the French Market Creperie Downtown. We started by waiting in line, which was fairly slow moving. After we ordered, we found ourselves a table and waited for our food. It did take a couple minutes, but that’s because it’s made from scratch! I had a mushroom, spinach, bacon, and swiss crepe while Owen ordered a s’mores crepe. They were both delicious! But I don’t think any kid could sit there without a huge smile on their face while being presented with that awesome s’mores crepe.

Owen’s Notes: “I love crepes and when I had a s’mores crepe, I just thought it was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had in my whole life. I want to go there again!”

Then, we walked to the visitor’s center to watch some live music. Every day, they broadcast live on the radio from this location so it was fun to see the two acts perform, knowing that we were watching something that other people around the world were listening to. We really enjoyed the Bird and the Bear. They were pretty good. Inside the building, they have bathrooms, brochures for things to do around town, and a local gift shop. There’s also a great mural on the side of the building that you should check out before or after you see the acts.

Next, we headed off to the Knoxville Zoo. It cost us about $37 for my son and myself. Parking was $5 (but we paid for that at the gate along with our tickets so I’m not sure what’s to keep people from lying and saying that they didn’t bring a car). It didn’t seem to be too busy, but we were only there for a couple hours in the afternoon due to the heat. We saw so many great animals! It was an absolute blast. Owen even got to ride a camel. The elephants were inside, but Owen bought himself a wax one to bring home. They had these wax animal machines all over the zoo. My favorite part to walk through was definitely monkey area. There were multiple different levels to walk through so it was like you were up high with them swinging on branches. Overall, we had a great time. I would definitely recommend a stop if you’re in town.

Owen’s Notes: “Knoxville Zoo was a great zoo. I loved that we got to see so many animals. My favorite one that we got to see was the sleeping tiger. He was so cute. He kept opening one of his eyes.”

Then, we decided to go for a hike to the Bluffs. So, first of all, I was super confused where I was supposed to park. I had heard that you’re supposed to park in one place (so we did) and then, after walking a ways, I learned I could have parked closer. That was annoying. I would definitely recommend googling the bluffs in Knoxville to find out where they are. There are a couple things you should know before going though. The road/path is large rock gravel. So, even with tennis shoes, it was painful to walk on. It’s not a very long hike, but it was pretty uphill so at the end of our day, after we’d already walked A TON, this was a little difficult for me. However, the view that you get is beautiful. Now, while I don’t necessarily recommend going past the sign that says not to go any further, that is what we did to see the amazing views. And clearly, almost everyone else does as well.

The last thing we did that day was to catch a free trolley to the Sunsphere. We took an elevator to the observation deck and walked around it a couple times. The Sunsphere is a free attraction and there is a ton of informational things to read while on the observation deck. Plus, it gives amazing views of the city. There were a couple other people up there at the same time as us, but I definitely wouldn’t say it was busy at all.

Owen’s Notes: “Sunsphere! At first I was really scared because I’m afraid of heights, but once I got used to it, I really really liked it. You could see the whole city from up there. So cool!”

We decided to walk around the World’s Fair Park for a while before walking back to our hotel. We took a couple pictures with the water. Owen’s favorite part was definitely the fountains. He ran through them multiple times and got completely soaked! He was just so happy, though, so how could I possibly complain. Then, we decided to walk back to our hotel and call it a night.

Owen’s Notes: “My favorite part was when I got to go through the fountains. I went through the fountain like 15 times. I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to get even wetter, but I had to stop.”

We were definitely exhausted from our day and slept really well that night!

Hickory Nut Falls

My son and I started our two week road trip visiting cities and going to the beach and hanging out at a theme park. So, to change it up a bit, we decided to go hiking between visiting my dad in North Carolina and visiting Knoxville.

We really only had time to go to one place, so I chose Hickory Nut Falls, which is located in Chimney Rock State Park. Something I didn’t know before we went is that it does cost about $20 to drive into the state park. There are 2 options to parking. You can park down below and take a shuttle to the top, or you can drive all the way to the top. The road wound around a lot. It was weaving back and forth up the mountain and at times, it was very difficult to see if other cars were coming. However, I was happy with my choice to drive all the way up though, so that I didn’t have to wait for the shuttle.

At the top parking lot, there is a building where you can buy souvenirs. There are also restrooms. It’s a nice area. I guess that there’s usually an elevator to take you to the top of Chimney Rock, but when we were there, it was out of order. And to hike up to Chimney Rock was climbing up 500 stairs. There was no way I was going to make it so we just took in the views from the benches set up in front of the gift shop. It was seriously beautiful!

We took our time during our hike to Hickory Nut Falls as we climbed down a set of stairs and took the amazing mile long hike to see the 404-foot waterfall. It’s not necessarily a difficult hike. I’m sure some people classify it as an easy hike. However, it’s not flat. There are some stairs. There are some logs to step over. It does go uphill. There are rocks to climb over. It was a great little hike though. I would definitely recommend it to people that are only mildly into hiking. When we arrived at the waterfall, my son had a great time climbing down to the rocks and playing in the water at the bottom of the falls.

It definitely took way less time to hike back. That is, until we reached the hundred and seventy some steps back to the parking lot. Those sucked. But I made it. And I loved the hike. I would absolutely do it again. And you should check it out too!

Owen’s Notes: “It was pretty exhausting to get there, but once we got to Hickory Nut Falls, it was beautiful! I got to climb around on rocks to get to the bottom of the waterfall. I got soaked!”

Virginia Beach

During the two week road trip I took with my son, we visited cities, mountains, the country and we went whale watching, did a factory tour, visited a theme park, went hiking, learned about history, etc. My point is that I tried to really put a little bit of everything in this trip. So we couldn’t get through this trip without visiting the beach. I looked around and decided on Virginia Beach.

After seeing how much a nice, beachfront hotel cost, I lowered my standards! So, I just needed a clean, close to the beach hotel. That’s when I found it. We stayed at the Days Inn by Wyndham Virginia Beach at the Beach at 1000 Atlantic Ave. They have free wifi, free breakfast, mini fridge, microwave, and coffee maker. Plus, it’s right across the street from the beach. While the room did look a little dated, it was pretty clean, so I can’t complain. Overall, it was a decent place to stay, especially since we only stayed for one night. And I would absolutely stay here again. But it’s definitely not a 5 star hotel. Or a 4 star hotel. Or a 3 star hotel. But you get what you pay for, right?

When we woke up in the morning, we got our swimsuits on, packed our bag of beach stuff, and headed out the door. We crossed the street, walked across the boardwalk, down the stairs, and across the beach to the ocean. It was a little chilly, but we got used to it. The water itself isn’t very clear here like it is in the caribbean, but it’s still fun for kids. There weren’t very many people there at 8:30 in the morning. However, when we left at 10am, it was starting to get pretty packed. I’m not big on spending hours upon hours at the beach so we left pretty early. Plus, I wanted to get back to the hotel and take a shower before we had to check out.

Owen’s Notes: “Shells! Beach! Sea! The waves were really strong there. Some of the waves, I dove under and sailed away with it. I really liked that.”

We then made our way back toward the beach to find Cherie’s Bike Rental. It was right between the beach and our hotel. The company actually has 15 locations along the boardwalk. We rented a surrey bike! It cost us about $25 for the hour. We rode up and down the bike trail that runs along the boardwalk. There were a lot of groups on surrey bikes on the trail so we were definitely not alone. It’s super easy to drive, especially when multiple people are pedalling.

Owen’s Notes: “It was actually pretty hard to pedal all that way. It was pretty tiring. I also liked it.”

After we returned our bike, we decided to eat lunch at the place right next door called Calypso Bar and Grill. Seriously, we never travelled any more than a block to do anything! It was great. We decided to sit outside so that we could be close to the beach and still see the ocean. That was definitely my favorite part. I ordered crab hush puppies as an appetizer. They were really good. I’m a huge fan of hush puppies though. They basically tasted like a regular hush puppy, but with a piece of crab in the middle. For my main meal, I ordered the lobster mac and cheese. It was a huge portion and there was no way I was going to eat the whole thing, but it was absolutely delicious. If you’re in the area, for sure check this place out.

Overall, we had a great time in Virginia Beach, even though it was a short visit. I would absolutely return and choose these same activities again!

Hershey's Chocolate World and Hershey Park

On our 2 week road trip in early August, my son and I made a stop in Hershey, Pennsylvania to visit Hershey World.

Our Hotel: We decided it was too expensive for us to stay onsite, so we chose the Comfort Suites Hummelstown-Hershey at 320 Milroy Rd. It has free parking, free wifi, and free breakfast. What more could we ask for? The room seemed clean and the staff was friendly enough. Our breakfast was pretty standard (waffles, fruit, eggs, sausage, cereal, muffins, etc.).

We decided to head to Hershey’s Chocolate World before heading to Hershey Park. Well, little did I know that this was going to be the highlight of our time in Hershey. Seriously! It was amazing. Right away when you walk in, there are multiple photo opportunities. We were even lucky enough to bump into Miss Hershey Kiss herself! It was great. I love a good meet and greet. Then, we walked over to the Hershey Tour Ride. It’s like a mix between a slow amusement ride and a factory tour. Clearly, you’re not really in a factory, but you definitely get the idea about how chocolate is made.

We walked over to the ticket counter to add some fun to our time here. We chose to do the Build Your Own Chocolate Bar experience and the 4D Mystery Movie.

First was our Build Your Own Chocolate Bar experience. And while we still had to wait in a fairly long line even though we had tickets (everyone had tickets), it was still an awesome experience. It isn’t cheap, but I would definitely recommend doing this one! You start out by putting on a hairnet and an apron. It’s a really great look for absolutely everyone! (sarcasm) Then, when it’s your turn, you are led to a screen where you decide what you want in the chocolate bar you’re creating. I decided on a base of dark chocolate with pretzel bits, chocolate cookie bits, and butterscotch chips topped with sprinkles. (I just ate my chocolate bar recently and first off, it was huge and secondly, it was delicious!) Then, you wait in another line and when it’s your turn, they cue up your chocolate bar to be made. (I think they do it like this so that 1. You can watch your bar being made and 2. To keep families together.) Then, you walk along the line, watching the machines add all the pieces to your chocolate bar. It was fun to see it get filled with the items we chose, covered in milk chocolate, and then dashed with sprinkles. After that, you walk over to another set of screens where you design the wrapper. It’s so cool! You can put your name on the front, add stickers, change the background, and so much more!

Then, you wait for your chocolate bar to come out of the cooling rack. It is packaged, put into a Hershey tin, and then wrapped in the custom wrapping you designed. My son had the time of his life at this experience. Plus, when we walked out of the “factory”, Reese was there, so we were able to get a picture with him.

Owen’s Notes: “Chocolate Bar! I really really really liked making my own candy bar! It had a dark chocolate base with chocolate cookie bites, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and crisp rice and on top, there are sprinkles! I loved it. I loved making it.”

Then, we went to the 4D Mystery Movie. First, you stand in line. Then, you stand in a little room, waiting. Eventually, you do go into the theater. But let me tell you something, there really is no reason to get there early. It’s a theater so there aren’t really bad seats. And everyone that purchases a ticket will get in. Besides, there’s no reason to stand for a long time, especially with kids. The show itself was a fun, interactive mystery. I won’t spoil any of it for you. You’ll just have to experience it for yourself. Plus, it’s a great time to sit and relax if you’ve had a long day or know that your day is going to be exhausting like us.

The last thing I’ll say about this place is to continue looking over by the Build Your Own Chocolate Bar area for meet and greets. It rained on and off while we were at Hershey Park and we didn’t see a single character out so before we went to our car to leave for the day, we stopped back in Hershey’s Chocolate World to see if any characters were out and about. We were able to find Jolly Rancher. And where? By the Build Your Own Chocolate Bar area!

We eventually made our way over to Hershey Park. The forecast wasn’t looking so great so we tried to get in as many rides as possible before the rain came. I’m not a huge fan of walking around wet. It’s just not comfortable. Here’s how our day went:

Tilt-A-Whirl: This was the first ride we rode (mostly because it was right by the entrance, but also because it was a good way to ease into rides). I love a good classic ride.

Reese’s Cupfusion: We happened to get to this ride at a great time! At first, we didn’t want to go to this ride yet because the app said the wait was 2 hours long. But we decided to chance it anyway and wait. Well, not 15 minutes after we got in line, it started raining. And not just raining, it was pouring! Lucky for us, 90% of the ride line is covered! We didn’t get wet at all. And to top it off, even though the app said the wait was 2 hours, we really only waited about an hour. And the ride was so much fun! We really enjoy the shooting games where you try to collect as many points as possible so this was sure to be a winner for us. And it was.

Trailblazer: This was the only rollercoaster my son would ride so we clearly had to ride it three times!! It was a blast though. I’m a big fan of this coaster. It’s probably the most tame one in all of Hershey Park so if you have a child that is a little scared of coasters, start here for sure.

Kissing Tower: This was a nice little ride that takes you pretty high up in the air while rotating slowly, giving you great views. I recommend this ride as a nice break from everything else to just sit and see the views. Don’t forget to give your loved ones a little smooch when you get to the top!

Coal Cracker: We went on this ride twice. It was one of Owen’s favorites! It was just a fun little log flume ride with a nice drop at the end. We even got this awesome photo.

Tea Cups: It had just started lightly sprinkling when my son decided he wanted to be on this ride so he actually got to ride it all by himself! But he had a blast. It’s a small, little kid ride, and it’s tucked back in a corner, but it’s still cute.

Pirate: Our last ride was a good one. My son and I both really enjoy these types of rides. They’re the ones that swing back and forth and give your tummy that funny feeling as you drop back to the other side. We rode this one twice as well.

We did end up buying one of those refillable cups where you pay once and get free refills all day. (including ICEEs!)

Owen’s Notes: “I really liked this roller coaster called the Trail Blazer. It twisted around a bunch. We went on it three times. I also really liked this shooting game called Reese’s Cup Fusion. Hershey Park was the best place that we went on the trip!”

For the record: I am a large, plus-sized woman (size 24 pants) and I had no problem fitting on any of these rides. That being said, I did look up what others had said and didn’t even try to ride the ones that people said were tight fits.

We didn’t spend a long time at Hershey Park, mostly do to the rain, but the time we did spend, we had a lot of fun! I definitely recommend giving this place a visit!

Spending A Day In Boston

Out of all of the stops my son and I made on our 2 week road trip, Boston was one of our favorites! We did so many amazing things and I seriously can’t wait to tell you all about it.

So, there is no good (i.e. cheap) parking in all of Boston! That may be an exaggeration, but it really feels like it. We ended up parking in a garage that was a couple blocks from our hotel. The hotel then gave us a voucher that made the parking slightly cheaper (but still super expensive, about $39 a night).

Our hotel: We stayed at the Harborside Inn at 185 State Street. It was a great room with high ceilings, a fridge, and free wifi. It felt very modern and the location just couldn’t be beat. Usually, we stay at chain hotels, but I’m glad we made an exception this time. We only stayed there for one night, but it was a pretty good one night. There is no breakfast or pool. But there is a nice seating area and restaurant on the first floor.

Since parking cost so much, we thought the best way to get around would be to use public transportation. Well, I did a little research and found that Boston has an Old Town Trolley. I enjoy this company when we travel. Right now, they are in 7 cities around the country. So, what the Old Town Trolley Tours offer is a tour around the town. But it’s not only that. Our guide was very funny and made our trip very entertaining. Plus, you can get off and back on as many times as you want. We only got off and back on once during our trip, but it made the journey there so much better! We learned so much and really got to see the city. It was a bonus that one of the stops was just a block from our hotel.

Owen’s Notes: “It was very unique. I don’t think I’d ever been on a trolley before then. I liked it.”

The stop that we hopped off at was the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. I’m not big on history, but everything about this place sounded fun. First of all, every employee here stayed in character at all times. They wore period clothing and spoke in period accents and answered questions as though they were really there. We were given identities as people from that time period in a meeting house. Some people had lines. This was definitely an audience participation time. We were taken back to the meeting where the Boston Tea Party was planned. It was a lot of fun, for old and young alike. There was yelling, both of agreement and of disdain. You really have to experience it for yourself. Then, we were taken to a ship where we were shown below deck to get a sense of what the ships were like for people back then. We threw tea overboard. We were given time to look around the ship and take pictures. Then, we were taken to a dock that had some interesting historical facts. And finally, we were taken through a series of rooms that had videos and voices to tell us about what life was like after the Boston Tea Party occurred. After everything was done, we were dropped off at the tea house. You could get food and drinks here. Or you could walk back to the main building where there was a gift shop. I would have loved to look around, but unfortunately, we had to be moving to our next destination.

Owen’s Notes: “I really liked that we got to throw little tea boxes overboard. I also really liked that we got to go into a museum where things seemed to come to life. The paintings started talking!”

So we got back on the Old Town Trolley and ended up back at our starting point.

Then, we were off to our next adventure. I had already purchased tickets to go on a whale watching boat tour. We got some ice cream from the Ben and Jerry’s nearby and then stood in the long line that was forming. When the line started moving, they started scanning out tickets so that we could then wait in another line. I wish this line had been covered. I was almost concerned I was going to get a sunburn just standing in this line. Eventually though, it started moving again. Then, we were taken to the boat.
Tip: If you’re one of the first people on the boat, find a spot quickly. There are quite a few options, but there are so many people on these cruises, that there’s hardly enough room for everyone, and if you get up, expect that people are going to take your seat.
We sat in multiple different places while on board, and most people were incredibly rude when you asked if the 6 seats they were saving were taken. With all of those negatives out of the way, let me tell you what I absolutely loved about this tour. First of all, I liked that they had food and drinks for sale. Because we really needed a snack. Somehow, we had forgotten to eat lunch. And since you start and end the tour with a long ride to and from your destination, a good snack is just what we needed. We got a soft pretzel, some chips, and a gatorade.
But clearly, the best part was the whales. We were very fortunate to be able to see 6 different humpback whales on our journey. They were huge, amazing creatures. They were feeding so we got to see their tails in the air preparing to dive frequently. It was seriously amazing. You really have to experience it for yourself and I highly recommend that you do.

Owen’s Notes: “Whales! Whales! Whales! I love whales! Whales! Whales! Whales! Whales! 6 whales!”

After we got back, we decided to get dinner from Legal Sea Foods, which happened to be right across the street from where they let you off the boat. There are so many things all in that one area! It was just the two of us and we were there around around 5pm so we were seated right away. Then, we ordered our food. I got a cup of clam chowder and a crab cake. The crab cake came with a small salad. Altogether, my meal cost around $26. Owen got chicken fingers. He said they were good. But the real reason you go to a seafood restaurant is to get seafood. And it was delicious! There is a reason this place is famous. It was very delicious. I would absolutely return and order these items again.

Owen’s Notes: “I tried a new food there. I’d never had clam chowder before and I liked it. I was surprised!”

We headed back to our hotel and rested from our long day. The next morning, we checked out of our hotel, brought our bags the 3 blocks back to the car, paid for our parking, and then went on our way. Before we left Boston, though, we had one more activity we wanted to do.

I had bought our tickets for the Fenway Park Tour the day before. We got there about 20 minutes before our tour time and parked on the street right outside of Fenway. I still had to go to the ticket booth to exchange the tickets on my phone for paper tickets. Then, we were told to wait by some steps for our tour guide. Right at 9am (our tour time), our guide showed up and took us on an amazing tour of Fenway. I like baseball, but I’m not a huge fan. But I have been on multiple ballpark tours and I always find them to be a blast! I definitely recommend them to anyone that even remotely enjoys the sport. And even though we consider ourselves Cubs fans, it was still great to tour where the Red Sox play. We were able to visit multiple different places including the Green Giant, the red seat, the press box, the garden (where they grow their produce used in dishes at the ballpark), and more. We ended in a room filled with memorabilia. It was a blast and I would absolutely recommend a visit.

Owen’s Notes: “Even though the Red Sox aren’t my favorite baseball team, I like baseball. I even got to go up on the Green Monster! I also got to see the Fenway Gardens.”

I know this was a long post, so if you made it all the way to the end, you made it! This is it! We had an amazing 24 hours in Boston and I would love to go back and visit again. There were so many things we didn’t do. Let me know in the comments below all the things we should do on our next visit!