Our sort of vacation in Wildwood, NJ

We all know how costly a family vacation can be these days, factor in your children’s after school activities , it can definitely be a little harder to save for that really nice family get-away. This post is all about our sort of Wildwood Vacation.

Why sort of? Well, you see, all three of our children are on a dance competition team. Being on a team is a huge commitment, time wise and money wise. Every year their dance studio goes to a Nationals Competition, it’s usually at the end of June/beginning of July. So what we try to do, depending on where the location is, is make a family vacation out of it. We know that they are there to compete as a team with their friends, but you gotta work with what you have.

We stayed at The Seagull motel, which was two blocks from the beach and boardwalk (a big plus so we didn’t have to drive and pay for parking). Our room had a small kitchenette, a huge plus, because we were able to use the money we would have spent eating out three meals a day and put it towards two fun nights at Morey’s Pier on the boardwalk. The motel also had a pool, which we used almost everyday. Oh, and they also had a bbq on site, how cool is that!! We also took advantage of the free beaches, which was within walking distance, a couple times during our stay as well. The room was just the right size for our family of five. It was very clean and cozy, perfect for a week away from home.

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The only time we ate out, not including the few times we got delicious custard from Kohr Bros, and Polish Water ice, was when we had to drive our girls to compete (that was in Cape May Courthouse, NJ). I was able to go to a local Acme a few clocks away to get the essentials needed to make meals for the week (it was basically the perishable items, we brought the non-perishable items with us from home). We did eat out once on our last night in Wildwood as a special treat since we were able to save money by not eating out everyday and making meals in our room.

In between the days they had to dance, we managed to go to the amusement parks, at Morey’s Pier two times. That was probably the most money we spent during our time in Wildwood. We wound up purchasing 3 ride cards that had 65 tickets on each. That was a good deal for us because, well we have three kids, and an unlimited bracelet was out of our price range. The girls had so much fun! They went on roller coasters, the ferris wheel (which I couldn’t watch, it was too high and knowing they were that high, I got a little anxious), the music express, rides that went up and down, and some other rides too. We loved watching them have so much fun. It’s a good thing that we didn’t get the unlimited rides bracelet, they all had tickets left over on their ride cards, so we gave the cards to a random couple to enjoy (we didn’t want the rest to go to waste, that would have been like throwing away money).

right before take off

 

One of the most memorable parts of the trip for me, playing Go-fish and garbage in our room with a deck of cards I brought with us from home. We all sat at the table, as a family, laughed and had fun together. That’s so rare with the girls getting older and hanging with their friends a lot more. Just a deck of cards, so simple, yet so memorable. Another memorable part, walking on the boardwalk as a family at night, not knowing there would be fireworks!! It was absolutely beautiful, what a surprise,  and we got to share that moment together! Being with my husband and three girls during that moment was really special and I will never forget it!

 

Oh, I almost forgot!! On our first day (before checking in to our motel) we went to The Cape May County Zoo (bonus: it was free!! but we did make a donation on the way in). It was a really nice zoo, the animals were absolutely beautiful! The only downside to our zoo experience is that it was a little hot out so some of the animals were hard to see because they were either in the shade or in their dens keeping cool. We really enjoyed walking around seeing all the animals and reading about them and how zoos like that one were working to help certain animals that are on the endangered list. That’s so important. Although we couldn’t get a lot of pictures, I did manage to snap a photo of the giraffes, absolutely beautiful.

All in all I would say we had a really great, fun sort of vacation. You know what, even though we were there for the girls dance competition (they were amazing, but that’s another post for another time), it really did feel like an actual vacation. We had lots of fun swimming, seeing the sights, going on rides, playing cards, eating together, laughing together, that’s what a family vacation is all about right? We may not have spent a lot during our week away, but that’s okay, you don’t need to spend a lot on a family vacation to make it memorable. Memories are made by just being together, experiencing things together (like fireworks, or going to the zoo or beach), spending each moment you have together and making it special.

I hope you all enjoyed my photos and reading my post. Until next time, make each moment memorable. Feel free to like, share, follow and comment!