13 Fun (Free) Things to Do This Summer in Atlanta

May 29, 2008 By 7 Comments


This week edition of my Thursday Thirteen is up a bit late. But better late than never..

Here are list of things you can do with your kids during Summer for free or very affordable in and around Atlanta area.. or even other states. Since we can’t just live by the beach all Summer long.. :)

1) Free Family Films Festival @ Regal Cinemas – Check out Regal Cinema for your local theatre for a free kids friendly movie all Summer long. Movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday from Jun to July.

2) $1.00 Movies for Charity with AMC Summer MovieCamp – It’s not free but it’s for a good cause. For a dollar, you get to watch movie with your kids at AMC theatre. Their shows are on Wednesday at 10AM. Check AMC website for your local participation theatre.

3) Free Family Films @ Movies 400 – This one is closer to home. It’s in Cumming area. Every Tuesday & Thursday at 10AM all Summer long you can watch free movies with your kids. You can also get good discount during the show for $1 popcorn and $1 drink. Or bring a can of food to support their food drive and receive a free popcorn. Check Movies 400 site for schedule.

4) Free VBS class at your local church for one week – Check out Lifeway VBS Outrigger Island program for the free one week VBS program at your local church

5) Go to your library – Most library will have Summer reading program with story telling. At Forsyth county, they offer a program every Thursday at 10AM and 1:30PM and also every Saturday at 5PM and 6PM (for some of the week). Check out the website for event of the day.

6) Swimming at your local park – We live not too far from Gwinnett county. I have to say I’m impressed with their Park and Recreation area. The aquatic center there is a little water park by itself without the same cost of the high price water park. We did it recently and will be going back there again all Summer long.

7) Pick your own strawberry – It’s the season of picking berries. Check out this site for your local pick-your-own farm. The Washington Farm that we went was fun and we wouldn’t mind going back there again.

8) Fishing at Rainbow Ranch Trout – I have never been there but got the information from my friend. I drive pass by it all the time. It looks like a fun day out. There are picnic tables that you can enjoy your lunch and a little fishing. Your kids won’t be disappointed as fish there is quick to bite the bait. Check out their website for direction and pricing.

9) Dairy Tour at Mayfield Dairy Farm – For a short drive go to Braselton, GA to tour the milk operation. But if you are an ice cream lover, you might want to check out their Athens, TN location. Check out here for direction.

10) Hiking to the Amicalola Falls – Just a short drive from downtown Atlanta and even shorter drive from my house. I haven’t been back since last year to see if the water has come back yet. But the trail is easy enough and there are several entry points to accomodate different level of hikers. Then you can enjoy a picnic at the park or drive up for a lunch buffet at the lodge.

11) Water Tubing in Helen – With less than 2 hours drive from Atlanta, it’s the perfect day trip for a quick change of scenary and fun summer day. The water tubing is one thing that we didn’t get a chance to try when we went there recently. This Summer it’s high on our to-do list.

12) Picnic in your backyard – Pack things up and trek back to your own backyard and enjoy a nice day out in the backyard.

13) Visit Miniature Petting Zoo @ Tanglewood Farm – Kids will love to see over 100 miniature farm animals and enjoy the trip back to the past. Located in Cherokee county it’s a fun day out for the whole family. Visit their website for more detail.

Filed Under: Day/Weekend Trips, Family

Water Park in My Neck of the Wood

May 12, 2008 By 1 Comment

We are going to our vacation in a few days… Woo hoo!! One would ask why do we need to go to a water park. Truth is we want to test our new underwater camera and also our snorkeling masks. Well, we got to test our camera but they don’t allow snorkel in the pool. So I guess we will test our masks in our tub then.

Since we are not officially in Summer yet, most of the pools are still closed. Fortunately, there are several in-door pool facilities (mostly in Gwinnett county) that have year round swimming pool. I have heard so much about Bogan Aquatic Center. This park is not too far from us. It’s in Buford and has indoor water park. Of course, you can’t compare with Disney Typhoon Lagoon but for $4 per child and $5 per adult I think it’s one of the best park for the price.

There is a playground structure in the kiddie pool area. It was a really fun structure. There is a small slide, a tunnel and various wheels for them to turn on and turn off the water. The water also falls from the roof of the structure. I’m gonna tell you a big secret here.. It’s the best massage in town. Just make sure you don’t ‘ohhhh… ahhh’ too loud. Otherwise, the lifeguard might escort you out for imappropriate behavior..

Don’t worry big kids, there is a big slide and lazy river for you to enjoy. Mr. Rojo is one of the big kid who isn’t afraid to try it out. He enjoyed not once but twice on that ride.. His excuse was that he wanted to try out the video capturing during the ride. He sure did capture it.. I would show it if I can figure out how to post it here.. :)

We spent a couple hours there but I’m sure if I packed lunch and dinner.. we will be there all day. The nice thing about this park is that there is an outdoor picnic area that you can enjoy your break throughout the day. The facility is nice and clean.. Miss J and Mr. Z can’t wait to go back. So I guess you can tell where we will be during hot Summer day…

Check out Gwinnett County website for more aquatic centers near you here.

The address for Bogan park is
2723 North Bogan Road, Buford 30519

Enjoy your swimming!!!

Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Family

Pick Your Own Strawberries

May 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Spring time means an abundant supply of Strawberries. My kids love strawberries and I love the idea of picking your own berries. There is a farm about 40 minutes from our house that has Pick-Your-Own strawberries. The Washington Farms are family owned farms. There are 2 locations for their farms. The one that we went to is in Loganville which is a smaller farm near Lawrenceville . Basically, it’s just a strawberries farm for you to pick and that’s it. No gimmick, no fancy other stuffs for you to do. So if you want something more then you might want to head to the one in Watkinsville.

It was a beautiful Saturday for us. Clear sky, not too hot and no rain.. We got there around 10:30am and the parking lot was already packed. I was worried that there won’t be any strawberries left for us to pick. But I was relief to find that there were more than enough for us to enjoy. The process was rather simple. We headed to the booth and pick up our bucket. It costs $8 per bucket and if you have your own bucket to transfer the berries home then that’s it. But if you don’t then you can take the bucket with you for $1. Not bad..

Then we headed out and started picking. At first Miss J and Mr. Z weren’t sure how to do this.. Soon they got a hang of what to pick and how to pick it.. They went to town with the strawberries. Note to self, bring diaper wipe since eating strawberries can be messy for kids (or adults). We did enjoy fresh from the stem strawberries. It was a fun day out indeed!!

If you plan to head out there, make sure to check their website ahead of time or call ahead. This is another one of great low-cost activity to do with your kids.. Get out there and enjoy fresh strawberries!!
Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Family

Stepping into another whole new world…

May 6, 2008 By Leave a Comment

We were busy bees this Saturday. Not only we went to Home Deport Kids Workshop, we also went to the outlet mall, Discover Mills Mall. I love this outlet. There are so many great stores but so little time this trip. At this outlet mall, there is one particular that we have never visited, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World… It’s a really a whole new kind of store for us. We don’t camp (I’m working on Mr. Rojo everyday on this one). We don’t fish. We don’t hunt. So everything in Bass Outdoor World doesn’t seem to be appealing for us until now. We figured snorkeling is kinda outdoor activity as well. So we went in there to check out some of the snorkeling gears.

I visited Bass in Illinois a really long time ago. The only thing I remembered was we ate Bison burger. Everything else was a blur.. So I was in awe to see this two story waterfall in the middle of the store with Moose and Mountain Lion there. It was neat!!! And we didn’t even half way into the store yet. I can tell that this will be a fun store for the kids to just walk around and check out stuff. It seems to me that there are way more gadgets than in Circuit City.

Towards the end of the store, there is a freshwater fish aquarium with native Georgia fish. It was really neat for the kids to see the fish in the tank. We enjoyed watching different kind of fish swimming by and trying to identify what kind of fish he is. It wasn’t that hard because they have a sign with picture and fish name. It was fun and educational at the same time.

We got to follow the fossil footprints around the store and discover different type of animals displayed all over the store. We would have spent more time there if we didn’t have to rush home for a potluck. So I’m sure that we will be going back there soon.
Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Family

BOA customer – Free Museums admission

April 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

In today’s economic climate, it’s hard to find good deals or freebies that are of any use. Fortunately, I found a bank that is willing to buck this trend.

I’m actually not a customer of BOA. I already have too many credit cards to count in one hand so I don’t need another one to give me more headaches. Although, Bank of America does have a tempting offer.

As a Bank of America customer, you can take advantage of their promotion: “Museums on Us 2008“. This program is sponsored by BOA to give you the opportunity to visit over 70 museums nationwide.

As for Atlanta, there are 3 museums as part of this programs. They have included: Atlanta History Center, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, and Atlanta Botanical Garden. Not bad at all. With May coming up soon, summer vacations are right around the corner. It’s a good way to spend some quality time with your children instead of plopping them in front of the TV or video game du jour. Check them out and plan your weekend to take advantage of this free admission.

Just to clarify, you don’t have to own a high interest rate credit card from BoA to participate. You can have a regular bank account with them to be classified as a customer and participate in these deals.

Thanks to Free 2 Be Frugal for sharing this great deal.
Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Saving, Travel in North America

Songkran in Atlanta

April 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
This past Sunday we headed down to Decatur for a Songkran Festival in Thai Temple in Atlanta. Songkran is a traditional Thai New Year that celebrate by all Thais on April 13 and the festival is lasted for 3 days. It likes a Christmas of Thailand. People will go home and celebrate with their families. The festival in Thailand is a combination of religious practice and party. In the morning, people will normally go to temple to give the offering to the monk and receive the blessing from the monks. Then they will go out and celebrate by giving water to each other. In my youth years, it was all fun. We would pack a water balloon and waited out by the street and threw it to the pass-by pedestians or vehicles. It was a fun and wet day indeed.
We went to Wat Buddha Bucha (which is the only Thai temple I know in Atlanta area) for the Songkran festival this year so that my kids will get to experience Thai culture. I have to say that I was overwhelming with the crowds and we didn’t get to spend much time there. The place was rather small. I guess being from Florida where there are a rather large group of Thais there. The temple there has more supports and donations so they can build a rather authentic Thai temple that reminds myself of Thailand.

In the morning, people lined up to offer food and other necessary items to the monks and receive the blessing. We walked around to check out some of the local Thai food. I was rather disappointed at the quality of the food. The taste wasn’t as good as I expected. Plus the varieties are minimal at best. However, I managed to pig myself out for the whole morning. What can I say.. I can eat anything even if it’s not that great!
Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Food Around the World

Get out and enjoy free admission in Atlanta

April 9, 2008 By 1 Comment

There are a lot of things to do around Atlanta that doesn’t cost much. But when they give out free admission on the special day it’s even better of the deal! I have found several free admission days for several popular attractions around Atlanta. So clear your calendar and plan your Summer or weekend accordingly.

Imagine It! Children Museum - Target Free Second Tuesday : This is a year long promotion sponsored by Target. Every 2nd Tuesday the Children Museum will give out free admission from 1-4pm. I went there this past Tuesday. It was a long wait but it was fun! Check out my experience there here.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden – Earth Day in the Garden (April 22) : Celebrate Earth Day in the Garden with free admission to the Botanical Garden all day long. There will be series of fun and informative activities throughout the day. What would be better than start your Spring outing in the Garden?

High Museum of Art – BOGO ticket on Mother’s day (May 11) : Take your mom out for a day in the High and save the admission fee by buying one adult ticket and get one free.

High Museum of Art – Target Free Family Fun day (June 15) : Celebrate Father’s day with your dad in the High and free admission for the whole gang.

So that will get you busy for a few days. :)

Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Saving, Travel in North America

The rundown on Helen's trip

April 8, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Now that we are in the budget mode. I want to look back at our weekend trip to Helen and analyze our spending.

Lodging for 2 nights : $358.76

Food & Dining : $174.39

Shopping & Entertaining : $101.55

Total for this fun family weekend : $634.70

A weekend with your kids and new puppy : PRICELESS

Filed Under: Day/Weekend Trips, Georgia, Saving, Travel in North America Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Miss J got I.N.K.

April 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday was Miss J’s field trip with her kindergarten class. This trip they went to I.N.K. This is her 2nd trip there already. She went there last year with her Pre-K school. I have yet to make it there… What is I.N.K you asked?

I.N.K is for Interactive Neighborhood for Kids. It’s a children museum in Gainesville, GA. The location is perfect as it’s about 30 minutues from us and being in the suburb the admission price is more reasonable than says if it will be in downtown Atlanta.

The admission fee is $8 for any human being. Same price for adults or children. Fair enough. :)

As the name said, it’s an interactive children museum that allows kids to be kids or even pretend to be adults if they desire. Miss J loves it there. I plan to take Mr. Z there one of this weekend. Since I’m sure he will love spend hours at the train section with 2 Thomas train tables. I know.. We have more than enough Thomas trains at home.. But I think it must be something about playing with others toys that more attractive than your own.
Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Travel in North America

A day in Helen and beyond!

March 31, 2008 By 1 Comment

Our adventure in Helen continued today. The morning started off earlier than usual since we had to check out at 11 am. We had our big breakfast and started packing up. Surprisingly, we got done by 9:30 am. We headed to town and I think it was too early for this bavarian town at this time. Plus we didn’t see any horse buggy rides yet. Hmm.. Start to feel panic now since we promised the kids the ride today. A return visit maybe in the horizon?

So we decided to drive around and head to Unicoi State Park. We checked out the lake and took some pictures then drove into the park. It looked very busy with a lot of campers in the park. I mentioned it to Mr. Rojo and he wouldn’t want to hear anything about it. But maybe.. maybe if we rent an RV we might get a chance.

Then we continued our adventure to check out the Anna Ruby Fall. It was next to the Unicoi State Park. We drove up and saw some pretty sites there. There seems to be more water up here than where we lived. Unfortunately, the visitor center is currently closed due to the renovation so we couldn’t get the stamp. The walk up to the fall is about 0.4 mile but we weren’t properly dressed for it. So that will need to wait for the next trip. Plus I think when the weather is warmer it will be more fun.

As we headed out of town, we stopped at the Hansel & Gretel Candy Factory. Good place to refill your energy with their chocolate and candies. Plus got sugar free chocolate as a gift. We talked to the lady there and found out that the horse buggy rides are there everyday. So we headed back in town again.

It was almost lunch time so it’s time to get a quick bite. Our destination today was Cafe International. Everyone there was so nice. We were able to eat outside with Java. The food was great! Mr. Rojo had another Bratwurst and I had Bratwurst on Bun. Yum yum!!
The best part was the Black Forest Cheesecake. Don’t feed that to children though. I can really taste the rum in there. Hmm.. No wonder I feel sleepy afterward.

Next stop was what the kids were waiting for – the horse buggy ride. We got on and took a real nice and leisure ride until Mr. Rojo dropped his camera and decided to jump out of it to grab the camera. Gave the lady a scare that she thought she had dropped the kids. After it was all done, the camera was ok and the kids were intact.

A walk in the town today was much nicer as the weather was warmer and I will say less crowd. hehe.. But technically, it wasn’t that crowd over the weekend either. We checked out different stores and just hung out at the main street. The weather was nice and the kids enjoyed hanging out by the water fountain and Java enjoyed the attention he got.

Overall, it was a great weekend trip. The kids loved the cabin and we promised them that we will go back when the weather gets warmer. There are so many things we would love to do. The kids love it so much that when they got home, they even create their artworks for the cabin vacation! That’s my Picasso in a making!
Filed Under: Adventures & Vacation, Day/Weekend Trips, Georgia, Travel in North America Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

From Romantic Weekend Getaway to Family Weekend Trip

March 30, 2008 By 1 Comment

We started off Saturday as we prepared our weekend getaway trip but things changed by 11 am. Java threw up and we had to rush him to the vet and the diagnostic wasn’t that good. The vet even mentioned the possibility of Distemper – a fatal disease that hasn’t been around for years! How could that be when he already had 3 shots of the vaccine. Anyhow, long story short we ended up putting him in the clinic for an IV shot and waited to see if his situation will improve later in the evening.

Finally by 4 pm we picked him up and he was still weak but the vet thought it’s safe to let him go home. We could still need to bring him to an emergency clinic if his condition is worsen. We decided to bring everyone with us to the cabin for the night. For one, we couldn’t cancel the cabin for the last minute. Eventhough the management company at Cedar Creek was very accomodating and even waived the pet fee for us. We also wanted to keep an eye on Java and there is no reason we can’t do it at the cabin. The fresh air might help too. ;)

We headed to Helen around 5pm. We got to the cabin around 6:30pm. After we found the cabin, we headed to town so that we could pick up some grocery.

Our first stop was Betty’s Country Store. It is the only grocery store in Helen. It is really nice store with pretty much everything you need. But being shopping on coupon for a while, I got quite a sticker shock on the price. But that’s to be expected. I got bags full of grocery for $70 which provided us for 2 breakfast and 2 dinner. Well worth it!

The first night we just took it easy and had dinner at the cabin. The cabin is really nice. It is something we would love to have it for ourselves all the time. The kids don’t want to come back! But next time, if we will go as a family I will probably book a bigger room. Technically, this is supposed to be for the two of us. So I guess in the sense it worked out.

The next morning we took it easy again. :) It’s our motto this trip. ‘Take it easy’… So we didn’t head out of the cabin till almost noon. Oh! gosh! how we were under-dress! It was coooldddd. So first mission, we need to look for sweater. I packed jackets for the kids but forgot ours! Go figure!

Once we got our sweaters, we walked to north of downtown which is pretty much one block to Hofer’s. I guess weekend is the busy day for business here. The line was out the shop. We got a few pastries for the kids to hold them down and waited for the table. The food was great. I had Weiner Schnitzel and Mr. Rojo had Bratwurst platter. Ok.. Now we were ready for a nap! For one, we had another baby waiting at the cabin so we needed to head back. The kids wanted to ride the horse buggy but we promised them after we got back to the cabin.

Back to the cabin and it was another nap. OH! How great it was to just sleep!!! By the time we woke up, we were too lazy to go anywhere so another dinner inside the cabin then a movie. That what I called ‘vacation’.

Well, the next day was full of activities The Q Family style. So don’t expect much! ;)

Filed Under: Adventures & Vacation, Day/Weekend Trips, Georgia, Travel in North America Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

We gotta eat…

March 27, 2008 By 1 Comment

So 1 more days before my little weekend getaway to Helen and I have been hard at work checking out on what and where to eat.

First step, I need suggestion from my food expert friend at Kelly-Licious. She gave me a few suggestions on a must-eat for German food.

“Bratwurst – sausages ..you can’t eat Germany food without that. Schnitzel, breaded & fried lamb meat. Then in Thailand they always have deep fried whole leg of pig. Super crunchy on the skin and yummy meat. But will pack you about 5 lbs if you eat the whole thing”

Thanks my dear but at this time I don’t care if I pack 5 lbs. hehe.. Maybe we can go walk in the park or hike up to the waterfall to shed that off after the meal.

There are several restaurants in the area that I have read about.

Hofer’s of Helen comes highly recommended for an authentic German bakery. They have very good selection of bakery for morning delight. Hmm.. This might be tough as I’m not the early bird type. So we might check them out for sandwich at lunch time. Or pick up some pastries for some afternoon sweet.

The Cafe Internation seems to be a nice place for lunch or dinner as well. The location is great. The restaurant is situated by the Chattahoochee River with a large deck for outdoor dining. Based on review they have extensive internation menu. So that will help with the picky eater (Mr. Rojo). :)

Hofbrauhaus is another restaurant that I have read so many reviews about. My mouth waters just to read their menu online.. How can I resist the Black Forest Cheesecake!

Who would have thought that this small town will have so many selections in dining! I don’t know if we will be able to try them all but I will try my best. :) Stay tune for our trip update!
Filed Under: Adventures & Vacation, Day/Weekend Trips, Georgia, Travel in North America Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Things to do in Helen, GA

March 24, 2008 By 5 Comments

When our friends heard that we will stay in Helen for 3 days/2 nights for our anniversary trip, they thought we were crazy. What can you possibly do there for 3 days? It’s just Helen!

But for us, the first priority is to relax and heck we might not do anything at all. :) Being quite a savvy traveler myself (as I want to think), I let my fingers do the work again. There are actually several activities that we can do in or around Helen. I have to put a disclaimer here that if you are expecting to shop in the high-end store then you are in the wrong place. This is a small town and aim for get-back-to-nature vacation type.

Here are some of the things we can do there. I might not do everything. I might even go back there again. (Gasp!!! Why would you want to go back!) For one, there are things you can do during different seasons.

1) Anna Ruby Fall – A waterfall in the Chattahoochee National Forest park that’s a popular visit when you go to Helen. With a short drive and also easy access to the fall, this one makes it one of my top to-do list.

2) Helen Downtown – Of course, I think it might be an overstatement to call it ‘Downtown’. But one of the attraction to Helen are the Alphine Village feel.

3) Unicoi State Park and Lodge – We can go hiking, paddle boating, biking or just check out the lodge and have lunch. The nice thing about this site is that it’s very close to Helen.

4) Alphine Mini Golf or Pirate Cove Adventure Golf- Well, we didn’t have time and money to enjoy golf as much as we would like. So I will take any mini golf anyday. Plus it looks very interesting. I think it will be a fun, relaxing day. Both of these places look very interesting so I will keep it open and see what feel more interesting when we get there.

5) Cool River Tubing – Of course, I won’t be able to do this right now. The water will be way too cold. But I can’t not mention it since it looks too cool to pass it up if we have a chance to go back during Summer.

6) Woodys Mountain Bike Rental – Ok.. Me? Mountain Bike? I know.. It might be out of the left field here. But it looks fun and we probably wouldn’t be able to afford to buy our own mountain bike or dream of getting one if it will sit in the garage. So I think rental is the way to go.

I also want to leave free time to let us explore in our term… Next I will want to check out what and where to eat. It’s a must for us. :) Good food = Happy Couple.

Helen Things To Do

Filed Under: Day/Weekend Trips, Georgia, Travel in North America Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »