This past spring break, we decided to head to Orlando for our family vacation. A couple of years ago we did the major park that is in Orlando. We decided this vacation was going to be a little more laid back and we would just hit SeaWorld as our major highlight.

The last time I visited SeaWorld, I was a eleven years old and went with my parents and my brother. My mom always said we had the best time visiting this park. In those past 20 years or so, SeaWorld has expanded quite a bit!

On a nice Tuesday morning, we decided to head over to SeaWorld. We didn’t get up super early to be the first people in line and as I will talk about later, I felt like this was actually an advantage as we did the opposite of what most people do. Sleeping in, relaxing, and hitting the park around 11 a.m. seemed to work for us.

At first we weren’t sure we would actually make it to the park. About one mile from SeaWorld, our youngest daughter (5) got sick all over our rental. Luckily, there was a grocery store just half a block from where this started. Going into super mom mode, I was able to go in and buy a few supplies and get the mess cleaned up. She had told me she didn’t feel good earlier in the morning but if we didn’t go anywhere anytime someone in the household felt sick, had a headache, said they had a broken bone, we would never go anywhere. I just kind of brushed it off when she told me since she didn’t appear to have any other symptoms of sickness.

Despite this little setback, she said she was fine to go to the park. Luckily, she was a pretty good shot and didn’t get a drop of anything on her. We were good to go.

By purchasing your tickets online, you can save $10 off the retail price of a SeaWorld ticket. No coupon code necessary. This is a great deal and when you multiple this by the number of people in your family, it can be significant savings. SeaWorld did provide us with a few tickets for our family so we could experience it for ourselves.

While we were in line, picking up our tickets, one of the first things I noticed was a speaker system telling people which line was available. This sped the ticket queue so there was very little waiting. However, if you only purchase online at SeaWorld.com, you not only save money but you can skip the ticket purchasing area and go directly to the gate entrance.

The first thing you will want to do after entering is check out the current schedule for the shows and special events during the day so you can plan your day. For us, our day just seemed to work out seamlessly after our little car ride incident.

We first hit the One Ocean show with Shamu. The kids were very enthralled with this show. As we were waiting for the show to start, you could text a message to a number to have your name or your kids names show up on the screen.

There is so much for kids of all ages to do at SeaWorld. The older kids whose ages range from 10 – 13 had a blast riding the roller coaster rides such as the Kraken and the Manta. The whole family was able to enjoy the Journey to Atlantis, which is a log type ride, which is more than your typical log ride. It also had these really cool family dryers you could pay to dry off in this giant fan booth.

Since we arrived late, we weren’t tired out at 5 p.m. like the majority of the park and were able to ride some of the major rides numerous times as the lines started to dwindle down around this time.

Another favorite was Clyde and Seamore take Pirate Island. This show was funny for kids and adults.

The younger kids rode every single ride in the children’s area. Shamu’s Happy Harbor,  at least once. This was a perfect area for them. I would caution if you let them play in the net climb to stick with them if they are really young as there are multiple exits.

I’m not one for picnicking while at amusement parks so we rarely bring our own complete meals, though this is a great way to save. I did bring in a few water bottles in my bag and some snack bars to tide us over. We decided against the All Day Dining deal as we didn’t think we would eat dinner at the park since we had a late lunch. Since it’s so hard to find things that satisfy everyone, we ate at a Terrace Garden Buffet for lunch, which consisted of pizzas, salad, pasta, and a dessert buffet. Everyone left with full bellies!

The All Day Dining allows you to eat your way around SeaWorld at numerous participating restaurants for just one low price for the entire day.

The kids and parents had a great day and were still even smiling near the end of the day….

Remember, you can save $10 when you purchase your tickets in advance at SeaWorld.com.

Disclosure: Some tickets for my family were compensated by SeaWorld. No other compensation was received. Rest assured, this Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor. Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life from www.Phase4Films.com is now on DVD and digital video. This PG rated, family friendly movie is great idea for a family movie that you will comfortable with the entire family viewing!  Plus, right now it is available on Amazon for just $9.99 ($29.99 SRP.)

Jeremy Fink receives a mysterious wooden box a month before this 13th birthday with the words “The Meaning of Life.” He is to open this on this 13th birthday. But where are the keys to open the locks? Jeremy and his best friend Lizzy use their imaginations to search throughout Manhattan for clues. They meet all sorts of interesting characters on the way.

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life is based on the beloved book by Wendy Mass. The movie is directed by Tamar Halpern, who gives an answer to why specific actors were chosen for the movie:

What made you choose these specific actors?

Maxwell Beer, who plays the title character, was an easy fit because he IS Jeremy Fink.  Awkward and adorable, he embodied the role.  Ryan Simpkins, who plays Lizzy, is a strong actor who could handle the sassy lines with ease as well as be openand vulnerable to help bring the film to a deeper level.  During rehearsals, as we worked on the scene where Jeremy destroys the time machine, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Ryan delivered her lines. The same is true every time I see thefilm.  Max and Ryan had incredible chemistry off screen as well and the proof is in the hilarious blooper reel on the DVD.

Mira Sorvino is an incredible actor to work with because she made beautiful suggestions that resulted in a page one rewrite of Elaine, Jeremy’s mother.  Mira gave me the freedom to develop a mother-son relationship that was much more like my own relationship with my son.  I love the scenes between Jeremy and Elaine and incidentally, my son wrote the music for the emotional last scene between Jeremy and his mom, where they talk about the Shel Silverstein book The Giving Tree.

Joe Pantoliano was a lot of fun to work with as he brought a whole layer of magic into Oswald and improvised some great lines that stayed in the film (“Have you ever read Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now?”).  A lot of his lines were improvised which was a credit to our editor, Maria Cataldo, who made those scenes really work. Michael Urie (Ugly Betty) was a perfect choice to play James, the mysterious limo driver who watches over the children and reveals all the secrets at the end.  He’s a friendof mine as is Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad), who plays Madame Zaleski, which is the only scene in the film that makes grown men laugh out loud! Betsy’s an extremely talented comedic actor who I’ve worked with many times.

The older kids understood the plot of this movie but all of them enjoyed it! I would recommend as a family friendly movie!

I received a screen copy from Child Play Communications. Rest assured, this Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor. Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

Old Navy is one of our top stores to shop at to get the latest clothing trends yet stay within our budget. With boys who seem to grow out of their clothing before the season ends and a five year old daughter who loves to wear dresses and skirts, we love having a one stop shop for all of the kids.

Growing up, I absolutely hated wearing dresses and skirts and to this day, I am still not fond of dressing up. However, my youngest daughter loves to wear skirts and dresses as she says they are more comfortable. It doesn’t stop her from playing rough, though. I playfully tell her she’s weird since I hate wearing them and she responds back, “That’s just how God made me.”

I was excited to see these frilly, fun skirts and dresses from Old Navy for the spring with Sofia in mind. Skirts or dresses, Sofia doesn’t really care either way but skirts are a little more versatile and the look can be changed depending on her top. For Christmas, her meme bought her a knit dress from Old Navy that looks adorable yet is casual.

 From now until February 22, 2012, get styles from $5 at The Funtastic Kids & Baby Sale at Old Navy. Plus, you can get $10 off your $50 purchase.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Old Navy. The opinions and text are all mine. 

The big game has came and went. The team we were rooting for won and we were able to get down and experience a little bit of it in Indianapolis last weekend. Luckily, we didn’t have a party planned on Sunday as I was in bed all day with a awful cold. 

Even though, we didn’t have guests over, there are so many ways to have a successful party on a budget for game day events and other parties. First of all, keep it simple by planning ahead. Depending on the number of people you have invited, keep the number of food items down to a reasonable number.

Yes, we all saw the stadium replicas on Pinterest. However, these probably aren’t realistic for most of our parties. They look really cool but who wants to eat something that looks that cool or have food go to waste because it was overboard. 

My next tip is to have a few ready to bake items on hand. Tyson Any’tizers are perfect because you can simply pull from the freezer and pop in the microwave or oven. The meat eaters in my family love the Buffalo Boneless Bites, Buffalo Popcorn Chicken, and the Fajita Seasoned QuesaDippers. These are quick and easy. There are often coupons for Tyson Any’tizers. 

Right now there is also a mail in rebate offer regardless of the game! When you buy 4 bags of Tyson Any’tizers snacks, you can get $10 in Sporting Goods Cash. Make your purchase from January 1, 2012 until February 17, 2012. 

Finally, add some fresh fruit and veggies to the mix! Serve water and tea with fresh fruits like lemon, lime, or berries to keep your beverage costs down. 

Tell me what tips you have for hosting a successful party for friends and family for the Big Game and be entered to win a 42” LG flat Screen TV!

Tyson Any’tizers are a great snack that satisfies your kids on game day or any day! 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tyson Any’Tizers.  The opinions expressed by me do not necessarily reflect the view of the Tyson Any’Tizers Brand. Official Sweepstakes Rules

I’ve been waiting for a good stain to do my review on Tide Coldwater laundry detergent. Surprisingly, it has never came. Yes, huge surprise. I guess we have more stains in the winter and fall when the kids are playing outside instead of mostly indoors. Since I didn’t have anything significant to show you, I didn’t want to stain something up just for the sake of testing it out! :)

We didn’t have any particular horrible stains but we did have LOTS of stinky boy clothes!

I normally crank up the temperature of the water when we do have something that requires a little extra work like stains or even just stinky, smelly clothes, which we have more than enough of.  The fact that this Tide Coldwater works extremely well to get the “stink” out in cold water is a selling point for me.  Not only does this save energy, it also helps prevent some clothing shrinkage from the hot water.

Switching to cold water washing is just one little step you can take towards conserving energy. In the process, you will also save money and get clothes that are clean and smell wonderful. 

I received compensation including a Tide Coldwater sample from Tide via  She Speaks to facilitate this review. Rest assured, this Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor. Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

During the holidays, you may be getting and sending quite a few packages. I do quite a bit of online shopping so I’m receiving packages almost every day. Often I’m not home to accept these packages and worry about the packages getting stolen or damaged by the weather. Though, usually more worried about the packages getting damaged by the weather.  So, I was excited to hear about UPS My Choice service.

UPS is committed to making the on line shopping experience better for shippers but also for the consumers who receive packages at their home. UPS has a revolutionary new service called UPS My Choice.

With UPS My Choice, you can give UPS the authorization online to deliver your package without a signature when you know you will not be home. You can also sign up to receive proactive notifications via text, phone, or email the day before a delivery. It also allows you to request your packages be delivered to The UPS Store near you for free pick up or redirect your packages to be delivered to another address for a $5 transaction fee.  These are all handy as it is very disappointing to see the sticker that indicates UPS tried to deliver a package but they could not do so because you weren’t home.  Whenever this happens to me, it seems like I just miss the delivery by a few minutes.

In addition to the free benefits I discussed above, you can upgrade your UPS My Choice account to a premium membership for $40 a year. With the premium membership, you will receive all the benefits of the UPS My Choice membership as well as gain access to an online delivery calendar which shows the status of UPS home deliveries. For a $5 transaction fee, you can request a two hour delivery window so you know it will be delivered when convenient for you. The $5 fee is only charged upon successful delivery of the package within that two-hour commitment.

Try it out and see what you think. I encourage you to sign up for the UPS My Choice service for free.

I received compensation from UPS in the form of a gift card to participate in this campaign promoting the UPS My Choice delivery service. In addition, UPS provided the gift card I am using as the prize in my promotion (giveaway coming in a separate post!). Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

I dread Christmas decorating. It’s not that I dislike the decorations. I love the decorations, the lights, and the nativities. Christmas is one of my favorite times. 

However, I dislike, hauling all the boxes down from the attic, untangling the lights and wrapping them around the tree, hauling the boxes back up, and then having to put everything up again. As I child, I loved decorating for the holidays with my mom. Now as a mom, it just seems like so much work! 

This year the kids were able to harass dad into putting the lights on the tree, which is my most disliked task about decorating the tree. The kids then finished up the tree, even though, Sofia likes to put all the ornaments in the exact same spot. Really, I didn’t care because I didn’t have to do it and it still looks beautiful even if there are quite a few ornaments clumped near the bottom of the tree. ;) 

Our stockings are very special. My aunt made these for everyone in the family using pieces of my grandpa’s old shirts.

Need some Cheer in your home? You don’t have to wait until after Christmas for the sales as Sears has 40% off Everything for Christmas this week!

Now I’d love to know, how do you spread real cheer with your holiday decorating? Show me with your photos! Click “Add me” in the Cheer Tree below to upload your holiday decorating photos and share them with your Twitter followers and Facebook friends. Be sure to click on “Special Offers” to unwrap the hidden coupons and deals exclusively from Sears. Keep checking throughout the holidays–new deals are unlocked every day! For all your holiday decorating needs and solutions, don’t forget to visit Sears and discover real deals, real cheer!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sears. The opinions and text are all mine.