We went to the most expensive kids' birthday party I have ever been to on Saturday. A classmate of DS's from last year just turned 4. She had a really fun magic party at a brand new place. They saw a magic show for about an hour, then had pizza and ice cream cake. At that point, the party was officially over, but the kids were allowed to stay and play on the indoor gym equipment. My son had such a good time, I picked up a brochure thinking we would have his party there. Not thinking that anymore! The price: $395 for up to 15 kids, each additional kid $16.95, birthday child free. She only had 13 kids at the party (not including the BDay girl) so that works out to over $30/kid, not including tip and goody bags! FOR A 4 YEAR OLD!!! Given that this is the new place in town, I'm sure there will be a bunch more there this year...I'm guessing at least 3 or 4. Can't justify that at all...

Anyway, after this really fun party, we went to the museum. Parking was $21, and tolls to get over the George Washington Bridge were a whopping $6, but everything else was free. The Magic School Bus was cool...they took all the seats out of the bus and filled it with little interactive science experiments, etc. We also looked at the regular dinosaur exhibit and the planet stuff. They had a special dinosaur exhibit that's in town for a few months. It was really interesting, highly recommended for anyone in the NYC area, but the kids were a bit tired by that time, so they didn't get as much out of it. I decided I will definitely renew my membership. It expires in September, and costs $100 (tax deductible) for a family, but tickets to all these special exhibits are free. In the case of the dinosaur exhibits, it would have cost about $50 if we had to purchase them, and we definitely visit a few times a year, so it pays for itself. (Not to mention being educational and a good cause). It's always a fun day.

Sunday we had the barbeque. That was fun, though steamy, and as expected we have a ton of food leftover. I froze enough meat to last for 7 meals for DH and me, not including what I left in the fridge for tonight. Good deal...

So now I'm back at work for the beginning of another quiet week. DD has soccer tonight, and that's about it for the week. I also decided to stop the daily tracking. After religiously doing it for over two weeks, it's obvious to me that I spend a lot of money on tolls and gas, and unnecessary money on food when I'm at work or on the go. So now it's time to figure out how I'm going to get motivated to change that...