I firmed up our plans for this weekend. We're headed to Santa Cruz on Saturday, and taking M's 5 year pictures at the beach. I'm excited, since we'll also take some pictures of the boys, as well as the family. Its been a year since we've seen the ocean, I know the older ones will like playing in the sand, have plenty of sand toys to take with us. I'm packing us lunch and dinner, or at least enough food to get us started on our journey. We'll spend the night at my sister's apartment, and then head to Happy Hollow Zoo in the morning. We may hit up another park too, just depends on temperments and what the boys enjoy at the zoo. We'll pack a picnic for the zoo, so that'll be nice too. It should be a frugal weekend, even if we decide to eat along the way-using our Entertainment book (or my sister's one for the Bay Area) has come in handy, we can often find a place to feed all of us for under $20 (w/ a coupon).

In other news, I've decided to join the Stretch Your Dollar Community Challenge w/ Ivillage, geared as "You work hard for your money, so make your dollar work hard for you. Join the Stretch Your Dollar Community Challenge and starting May 4 you'll get a four-week action plan to save big on home, food, family" I've put the link at the bottom in case anyone is interested in doing it too-I'm betting that although we've done well cutting back our expenses, this pay show us other ways we can accomplish our goals.

http://challenges.ivillage.com/stretch-your-dollar-community-challenge

Everything is stable at home right now, we're taking a free picture at Sears this afteroon and getting a free collage print. Normally I wouldn't do these type of thing, but plan on using the print for M's scrapbook. I'll bring some coupons I found online, but am ambivilant over whether I'll order any other shots. It'll break up the day, and that's a good thing. Otherwise, its another day at the park, with a picnic lunch in tow. I'm hoping its warmer than yesterday-the wind was kicking up here, and making it a bit uncomfortable for me. Hope everyone has a good day!