Rock n Roll Race Sale, June 1st ONLY!

Source

To commemorate National Running day, the Rock 'n' Roll running series is offering discounts on their races.

• Full Marathon: $26 off
• Half Marathon: $13 off
• 10K: $10 off
• 5K: $5 off

Go here for more details.

I'm running Savannah on November 5th (luckily I haven't signed up yet, but I will now). If you sign up for the full marathon, it will actually be cheaper than the half with this discount ($95/full and $85/half). Yet another reason to prove to yourself just how cruel to your body you can be by signing up for the full marathon.

Read to earn tickets to Alabama Adventure

If you live in the Birmingham area, check out the Vestavia Library in the Forest's summer reading program. We went today and picked up bags (with lots of coupons for freebies in town) and got the low-down on the reading program. For every 50 pages you read, you get a ticket. You can combine tickets to earn prizes that are worth between 2 and 15 tickets. The best part of the program is that if you read 300 pages, you get a ticket to Alabama Adventure in Bessemer. So fun! I couldn't find any info for this reading program on their site, but they may be updating at some point. And the part about the park tickets wasn't listed on the materials we got, so I don't know if they have a limited supply or what. Question mark. If you go and get any more/new/different info, let me know, but for now, my kids are super stoked about going to the closest thing to Disney World in Alabama.

Our cheap summer plans

Since many small people in my house have been vomiting a ridiculously large amount, I decided to think about the joys of summer and make a list of what free/cheapish things we can do in our community this summer.

1.  The gardens: Aldridge Gardens and Botanical Gardens are both free and make for nice walks, exploration and picnic lunches.

2. Running: This is for me, as I don't really expect my kids to start training for a marathon (until next year). Moss Rock Preserve and Boulder Fields, Oak Mountain Park, Greenway Trail, and Veterans' Park.

3. Animals: The Alabama Wildlife Center and Birmingham Zoo (which isn't free, but since we purchased a pass, we will be getting our money's worth).

4. The great outdoors: Ruffner Mountain nature sanctuary, Rickwood Caverns and Meyer Planetarium.

5. History: Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Southern Museum of Flight, Sloss Furnaces and 9/11 Memorial Walk.

6. Fire: Watch July 4th fireworks from my brother's house/awesome view of fireworks.

7. Food: Birmingham Farmers' Market and The Peanut Depot.

8. Art: Birmingham Museum of Art.

9. Water: Free splash pad in Gardendale and The Bama Belle (sunset boat rides, which is what Enoch really wants for his birthday).

10. Parks: Kelly Ingram Park, Homewood Park, Railroad Park, Wald Park, Wildflower Park and Veterans' Park.

11. Movies: Free movies at the Rave on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and free movies at Homewood Park on Friday evenings.

12. Reading: Hoover Library summer reading program and Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program.

What's something cool and cheap are you doing this summer?

Free 8x10 Walgreens Photo Collage

Just picture a tiny baby at the other end of this freaky Winona stare.

Available until tomorrow, May 7th. Give your mom something at which to do the mom stare. You know what I'm talking about. You're riding along in the car, and suddenly you feel her eyes glued to you. It's the mom stare, and shouldn't she be driving? I already do it to my own kids too. Maybe my kids will get this for me. So type in FREECOLLAGE at Walgreens online photo center.