Family Night Out

Due to our schedules, mostly John's work schedule, family nights out are few and far between, so when we are able to go together and do something special, we consider it like a family trip, a mini-mini vacation if you will.

Yesterday we got to have a family night out, after Kevin's basketball game, we went out to eat and to see a movie.

We ate at Zaxby's chicken place. I only discovered Zaxby's this past week...I mean, I knew about Zaxby's, and John and Ryan had ate there before, but me or Kevin hadn't. Last week we had to go to a sports store in the next town to find Kevin some soccer cleats and shin guards, and when we were hungry and wanted to get something to eat, someone, probably John, suggested Zaxby's and we agreed to give it a tryout. The food in their commercials looks very good. I had the boneless chicken wings, and really liked them!

Yesterday morning John and I ran some errands, and it got on about lunchtime and we were hungry. The Waffle House was too crowded, and we didn't want to drive way out of the way to find somewhere else, but there was a Zaxby's there, so we agreed we could eat it again. I got the boneless wings again, and really liked them again!

In the meantime, Ryan was really put out with us for going to Zaxby's without him - twice - so yesterday evening, when we were deciding what to have for dinner, he said "I want Zaxby's!". So, we passed one, and I said, there's a Zaxby's, back up!

I think I've probably had enough Zaxby's to last me for awhile now, lol.

After dinner we went to see Clint Eastwood's brand new movie, Gran Torino.

Ryan had gone with his friends to see the movie when it was first released and he really liked it, and said he wanted to see it again. I kept hearing (reading) good reviews about it from others on message boards I visit, and thought it sounded like a movie we might enjoy seeing.

It was a mostly good movie. Could have been great, but.....that's all I'm going to say about that.

But we had an enjoyable family night out together. I recommend every family get out and do something fun together - movie, bowling, mini-golf, whatever - every so often.

Shopping for Vacation

One way to save money for vacationing is by shopping at thrift stores. You can get some really nice clothes, often name brand, at thrift stores for not alot of money. I'd say probably 98% of my regular everyday wardrobe comes from thrift stores.

Once a month for two days one of our local thrift stores has a 50-cent clothing sale where you can buy clothes for .50 each piece. Today was one of those days. Coldest day in like 10 years (10*F this morning!) and I was shopping for shorts, tshirts, and sundresses, lol.

But look what I got for $5.00; 1 sundress, 5 short-sleeve tops, 3 cami tops, and a pair of blue jean shorts:



I think this is my new favorite shirt. My son says it looks tres French. I just think it's cute.



Another nice thing about being able to get clothes so inexpensively is with the airlines now charging extra fees for checked luggage, I figure I can leave my clothes behind - maybe donate them to the room maids - and have the space in my suitcase to bring back my souvineers instead.

Hotels Are Booked

We decided to spend the first couple days of our trip at the Embassy Suites Hotel Niagara Falls. We booked the "2 Queen Premium Fallsview 2-Room Suite with Breakfast". The room will be located between floors 28 and 36, and overlooking both the famous Horseshoe falls and the American Falls. There's a free breakfast buffet included, and an indoor swimming pool, which the boys always enjoy.

Click on Pic for Hotel Details

We booked the Embassy for it's falls view and proximity to Niagara Falls, where we'll be spending the first couple of days of our trip visting the falls attractions like Maid of the Mist Steamboat, Journey Behind the Falls, White Water Walk, the Skylon, and taking MILLIONS of pictures and video.

Then, after a couple of days at Embassy, we're going to pack up and move to the Country Inn & Suites on the other side of town.

Click on Pic for Hotel Details

There's no Falls views, but it's walking distance to the waterpark, Clifton Hill, and the Rainbow Bridge.

We've stayed at Country Inn & Suites at other locations on a few other trips, and have liked them everytime. Free breakfast, free internet, microwave/fridge in the suite, and also an indoor pool.

I was going to say, we're going in June, the "indoor" part of the pool won't be a big deal, "any" pool would be good. But then I got to thinking, we're going to be used to 80-90*F temps with humidity by mid-June...The average 65*F temp in June up there is going to feel cold to us!
I better remember to pack some long-sleevers.

Trip Planning

Suddenly, trip planning isn't as fun as I remembered.

Oh wait. Now I remember. I don't think it ever is.

There is a saying - which I can't recall at the moment - something similar to 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder', but different. I apparently knew the saying at one time because I remember once, after we'd returned from one of our vacations, a friend asked how our trip had been. I told her to give me a couple weeks of distance from it and ask me again.

After which time, the trip had been great. Seems this same theory applies to trip planning. A few days ago I was so excited about trip planning I couldn't go to sleep at night. I stayed on my computer for hours, days, researching information.
At the time, my point was a general search of hotels and attractions and such to be able to draw up a idea of what the trip might cost. So, not extremely in depth.

With the decision to proceed made, now we get down to the serious stuff. I start with finding the hotel room.

If we're going someplace where the attractions are scattered out, or something we'd have to drive to anyway, then I'll pick a hotel on the outskirts of town, or maybe even on into a nearby town to get more value for my money. You can find nice hotels for less cost a little further away from the attractions.

On the other hand, if the place we're going is the attraction, for instance Niagara Falls, then I consider the hotel room as part of the attraction.
Why would you make the trip to Niagara Falls and not stay in a fallsview room? That would be like going to Las Vegas and not staying in one of the famous casino/hotels.

Which is what triggered my memory in regards to the trip planning not being as fun as I'd thought.

We went to Vegas in April 2007. I already had in mind that we'd want to stay at the Excalibur hotel/casino on account of the boys liking all the Midevil stuff. But I never stay anywhere without having first checked the reviews out at Hotels.com, so I looked it up, and, although there were good reviews, for some reason the bad ones stayed with me more.



At any rate, I was scared that we were going to end up spending our week in a shoddy, old, out dated, smoke-stinking room. I still wanted us to stay there, for the boys, but in order to lessen the what I was afraid would be the horror of it, only booked us there for a couple of nights, and then the remainder of our time in Vegas at the Treasure Island.

Turned out our room at Excalibur was gorgeous. It was large, and clean, with a big flat screen tv, large closet, big spa-like bathroom. We had a wonderful view of the New York New York and MGM across the streets. We loved it, and could have easily spent the whole week there without complaint.



But now, I am right back there again. In researching the hotel in Niagara Falls, I compared the options, and settled on the Embassy Suites Fallsview Hotel. The place looks great, the rooms have 2 queen beds and a sleeper sofa in the sitting room, which my boys like because they don't like to share a bed, and free breakfast.

Then I started reading reviews. Now I'm not an overly picky person, and I can generally overlook some complaints that were posted by obviously overly picky, critical people. But some issues kept coming up over and over again, and some of the things the people weren't complaining about but just mentioning that didn't seem to bother them, but I think would bother me. Or even if it was something I could deal with, I'm afraid my sister and/or her husband might be upset or aggrivated.

So now I'm second-guessing my first choice. Checking out other hotels, or considering spending part of the week at the Embassy, and the rest somewhere else.
Then I remember Vegas and tell myself I'm just doing that same thing again, and I'm sure the hotel will be fine.
But then again, what if I'm wrong?

Go here to view my Las Vegas/Hoover Dam/Grand Canyon vacation Photo Album.