Boats, roller coasters, and beaches… Oh my!

2022 Summer Vacation #1: Lake Okoboji, Iowa We took our second family adventure to Fillenwarth Beach Resort at West Lake Okoboji a few weeks ago and it was EVEN BETTER than it was when we went to visit in 2020! We got to see so much more of the area, visit Arnold’s Park Amusement Park, AND visit […]

BIG NEWS GUYS!

I have joined Elite Travel Concierge, LLC as a travel agent and can now OFFICIALLY help you guys plan and book vacations.. I will still keep my eyes open for awesome travel deals as I find them, but can now find and book THE BEST PRICES on international destinations, cruises , all inclusive resorts , air/hotel packages , […]

Find Your Winter Fun in… Cabo San Lucas!

As 2021 wraps up, (hopefully) we can start getting excited to travel again! The kind of travel that involves resorts and airplanes NOT more trips from the home office to the backyard… #sorrynotsorry. I am the kind of person that LOVES to go somewhere warm in the dead of an Iowa winter, and if you […]

Best Family Roadtrip: From the Cedar Valley to Des Moines to Kansas City…

A lot of families plan vacations over the summer months, but we are planning our BIG family vacation to a tropical destination next winter. This left me wondering what we could do with the kids this summer, that is within driving distance, won’t take a whole week, and won’t cost a ton of money. If […]

Family Fun at Lake Okoboji!

I have to be honest with you guys… I have lived in Iowa for 15 years (give or take) and have never been to Lake Okoboji. *gasp* I know. It is absolutely beautiful, there is tons of fun stuff to do, and it is only 3.5 hours from my house. However, we have just never […]

Family Fun in Dubuque, Iowa!

Am I the only person that hasn’t taken their kids to explore Dubuque yet? I mean, we have driven through several times heading to Illinois or Wisconsin, but have never actually stayed there or explored all they have to offer. It’s a solid 75-90 minute drive from most towns in the Cedar Valley and certainly […]

Travel Woes 2020

Well guys, I went pretty MIA during the pandemic… I didn’t know what all I could say about travel, restaurants, and attractions when MANY of them were closed. I had several trips cancelled this year (which sucked pretty bad) and now our COVID-19 numbers (in my area) are on the rise again, which I am […]

Cancun – Family Style

Villa del Palmar Cancun is our favorite resort in Cancun AND our favorite Villa Group resort (so far). For our 3rd trip to Cancun, we decided to take the kids along. It was our first time travelling internationally and I wasn’t sure how it would go. But they did AMAZING! The kids loved the resort: […]

Travel Hacks – Road Trip!

You guys, we took the longest road trip of my life this past summer (not including the move halfway across the country when I was 19): Eastern Iowa to Deadwood, South Dakota… with 2 kids (13 and 6 year old boys). We were planning to stay in a large cabin with a huge group of […]

Mystery Shopping is no longer a mystery…

What is mystery shopping? How do you do it? How much do you make? Is it a scam? These are all questions that I have heard when I tell people about my mystery shopping assignments. So I’ll start with saying: it’s legit and I like doing it. If you are interested, here are some of […]