Quoth The Raven: Cheap Cheap Cheap

Well, yesterday was Sunday, and I was planning to enjoy the Sabbath by playing some Wii or watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with the kids.  But my husband came down with some sort of nasty stomach bug, so the kids and I decided to vacate the premises fast. (That was part self-preservation, part kindness…after all, any noise we made was annoying!)

But this isn’t a post about how men are babies when they’re not feeling good. No, it’s a post about what to do with a 12 year old and a six year old when you only have a twenty in your pocket and it’s already 2 pm (thanks to losing an hour, doncha know?).  It seemed like the choices were rather limited…

But before I left home I (quietly, as not to annoy) checked out the Web site of the National Park Service to see if I could find a Junior Ranger project to engage the kids.  And I found a great one – The Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site at 7th and Spring Garden. We paid our $4 to cross the bridge and found the site – with free parking right across the street. You can’t beat that!

Admission was also free, as is the whole Junior Ranger program (which my brother, one of the world’s most thrifty men, turned me on to when he was visiting Philly with his two boys last spring). The kids received age-appropriate workbooks which they were to complete during their visit to the house. First up: an 8 minute movie about the life of Poe (in which my little one learned that she has the same first name as “Eddy’s” mother, which thrilled her so much she made us sit through the movie twice).

We also did a self-directed tour of the house, completed the project booklets in the “reading room” (which also had some audiobooks of Poe works) and followed a timeline of Poe’s life. We read about cultural references (the kids wanted me point out “Eddy” on the Sgt. Pepper album) and dug through an old fashioned truck to find personal items of the era. The kids got a certificate and a Junior Ranger badge upon completion of their booklets (also cheap – and a great souvenir of the day).

In fact, we still had enough money left to get ice cream….now if only I had my Baskin Robbins BOGO coupon with me.  But alas! We had to settle for cones….and a great day on the cheap.