Family Vacations Part THREE

Once we got used to the heat kicking in every half hour and the VERY idea of putting on our jackets/sweaters/sweatpants/jeans before hitting the beach, we moved on to the easier stuff.

Like spending $400.00 PLUS on food for the week. The $400.00 bill only including 3 full breakfast mornings, 4 hearty dinners, and desserts...for 13 people. The other 3 mornings, 2 dinners, all lunches, and all snacks...we were "on our own".

DUDE!!!

My 5 kids and 1 husband

are used to eating cereal for breakfast almost every morning...lunch at school ($2 a head and Dean eats leftovers), and a crock pot beef roast ($4 clearance from Food Lion) with green beans/rolls/rice, and MAYBE a scoop of ice cream for dessert! We totally have the LOWEST food bill per week of anyone I know! But MY portion of the grocery bill was a good chunk of change, as you can imagine!

I can't count the number of times my Mama wet her pants over the grocery bill! She laughed until I thought we'd have to do CPR. And that was BEFORE we left for the beach! Mind you, I packed EVERYTHING I could that I knew we'd use for our 3 full breakfasts, 4 hearty dinners (here's to YOU, Amanda), and desserts. That way, I wouldn't spend my TJ Maxx money on sausage, spaghetti, and chocolate! Of course, I forgot to cash a refund check I'd received the week before (isn't God good to send me some beach money just in time!!!)...for $125.00...so I was SOL, anyway. Ahhhh...sweet memories!

Hey...you don't need spending money at the beach, anyway. What you really need is a coat and a house with central heat...

We ate good...that's for sure! We had Mexican night...my favorite! Everyone loved what I fixed for Mexican night, until they had to potty. Then they didn't think it was all that good...

Steak night...until we came up one WHOLE steak short, and had a steak sacrifice to make sure my brother got some steak (I'm not a big steak eater, anyway!!!).

Shrimp boil/stew night...which turned out well, despite the fact that my Mom used FOOD LION FROZEN SHRIMP instead of fresh shrimp! After all...we were only AT THE BEACH!!!!

And potato soup/salad night...which, by the time us girls got back from our "Girls' Day Out", all the potatoes had been eaten and we enjoyed the broth from the soup (which was YUMMY!).

See what I mean by ADVENTURE? We'd think something was wrong if anything about our family was "normal".

keep reading...I think I'll make my point in the last entry (part FOUR)...