Day 7 was the last full day of our vacation before we start travelling home. I was determined to get to see the JFK Museum (on the inside today). Also, while looking through the Kids on the Cape travel magazine (found in local store foyers) I came across a coupon for the HyLine Harbor Sightseeing Cruise. Usually the cost of the cruise is $14/adults and $7/children. The coupon said kids ride free and $2 off adult admission. With three kids, I thought that was a great deal. So even though I hadn't originally planned on doing this excursion, I decided to [View Full Entry]

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The local weather channels had been warning all week that we'd have severe thuderstorms Thursday. So I saved all of the indoor activities I wanted to do until today. I really wanted to window shop at Mashpee Commons a large outdoor mall with lots of interesting boutiques. I figured if it was raining too hard, I could just duck into another store. I also knew that my children would not want to participate in such an activity. Conveniently, the Cape Cod Children's Museum (www.capecodchildrensmuseum.org) is also located in Mashpee. So my husband dropped me off at the Commons and [View Full Entry]

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They say no visit to Cape Cod is complete without a visit to one of the islands; Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket. We chose to do Martha's Vineyard on this trip for several reasons: the ferry ride was shorter, there was more to do with young children, and the ferry tickets were cheaper. We left the condo around 7am this morning, drove into Falmouth and parked, then took a bus to the ferry terminal in Wood's Hole. We were a little early getting to the terminal, which is what I planned because I wanted to try out this great little bakery called [View Full Entry]

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We have had fanstastic weather this week on Cape Cod. The last few days have been a regular heat wave. The family was all exhausted after the whale watching trip so we slept in on Day 4. I let the husband sleep until 10:30, after all it's his vacation too! When everyone was finally up, we walked across the street to Craigville Beach. The kids really enjoyed running in and out of the water and trying to build sandcastles. Craigville Beach is one of the nicer beaches on the Cape from what I've read on Tripadvisor.com, and I can see why. [View Full Entry]

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Day three of our Cape Cod vacation was devoted to whale watching. I had researched the big 3 companies on the Cape; Portuguese Princess (www.princesswhalewatch.com) and Dolphin Fleet (www.whalewatch.com) out of Provincetown and Hyannis Whale Watcher out of Barnstable (www.whales.net). We decided to go with Portuguese Princess for several reasons. First, they didn't charge admission for my 4 year old. Secondly, they offered a family discount rate of $90 for two adults and two children. That made sailing with them about $50 cheaper than sailing with the Hyannis group. Fi [View Full Entry]

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Day two of our budget vacation started off with beautiful breezy weather. We slept in and my husband got up and made everyone pancakes. I packed lunches in our cooler and then we were off to Hyannis to take part in the Pirate Adventures Cruise on the Sea Gypsy (www.pirateadventurescapecod.com). According to the website, the pirate cruise leaves from the harbor and is geared towards ages 3-11. Reservations are required, but truth be told, I called them the morning of the cruise at 8am and was able to get a same day reservation for the 2pm sailing. I didn't want to [View Full Entry]

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Our family of five, two adults and three children under the age of 7, are on vacation this week in Cape Cod. I am determined to spend less than $1500 and have a fabulous time. After finding cheap accommodations, my next budget conscious decision was to drive to the Cape instead of fly. The travel time from Buffalo, NY is a very managable 8 1/2 hours. I've allowed $200 for gas on our trip. On the first day of our vacation, we woke up early and left home by 5am. The kids slept in the car and we stopped for breakfast [View Full Entry]

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Doing Cape Cod cheaply means finding the right accommodations. I have rented vacation homes/villas before; once in Orlando and once in the Hamptons. Having had great luck with them, I decided to give it a go again. The websites I poured over were www.vrbo.com, www.cyberrentals.com and www.weneedavacation.com. These all have homes, villas, or condos for rent by owner which is sometimes much cheaper than going with a rental agency which tacks on a fee. The vacation home owner usually holds a security deposit which is refunded after your stay. Sometimes you will be required to sign a rental a [View Full Entry]

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This is my first try at blogging, so it might be a little rough around the edges. Do you ever wish your family and friends at home could see what an awesome vacation deal you got? That is the reason I'm starting this blog. Not to brag, but to show my friends and family what kind of deals are out there. I know a lot of people who rarely take vacations. I think they are overwhelmed by the planning or think it might just be too expensive for them to go. I want to show them with a little planning, that [View Full Entry]

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