Hi Everyone!

I am in need of your help, as you may know, when I am not busy being a mom or blogging about being a mom, I am busy being a marketing evil genius. Right now I am conducting some market research for one of my clients who has a math tutoring software.

If your child has ever struggled with math, we would like your insights through this survey. The survey will take about 10 minutes and you will be entered to win a $100 Amazon gift card!

Here is the link to the survey!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/parentpanel

Surveys must be completed by midnight 7/30.

In addition, we will also keep your email on file (but will not share it with any outside or 3rd parties) and you may be sent free trial versions of my client’s math tutuoring software as an additional thank you for your time and help.

Thanks again in advance. I am so please to always get the chance to work with such great parents like yourself and I look forward to your feedback!

Here is a “sweet” way to beat the heat and have fun with the kids at the same time and it is so really simple!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup salt (The bigger the granules, the better. Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine.)
• Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)
• 1 pint-size ziplock bag
• 1 gallon-size ziplock bag

Instructions

1. Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly.
2. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it’s done.
3. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add mix-ins, Serves 1 really large portion, 2 medium portions or 4 kid size portions.

Life’s A Beach…
First and foremost the best reason to visit Virginia Beach this summer is just that! The Beach! The Chesapeake Bay, Resort Area and Sandbridge make up 35 miles of Virginia Beach’s Coastline.

There is any sort of water activity and beach fun that you can imagine! Just the same, don’t feel bad if your goal is to lounge and do nothing while on vacation…the beaches were made for doing just that!

History…
The history buff in me loves to visit historical places along the east coast and Virginia Beach has its own history to share as well. There are lots of different historical sites and tours that you can take to learn more about this historical part of our country’s heritage. Definately check out the King Neptune Statue
Proudly welcoming local residents and visitors alike, a 34-foot, cast bronze Neptune statue stands at the gateway to Neptune Park and the threshold of the sea.

Busch Gardens
Of course one of the most poular off the beach things to do is Busch Gardens, plan to carve an entire day out of your vacation to go enjoy great coasters, food and entertainment.

Great Shopping!
You will want to have some new clothes to go with that great tan that you get on the beach and VB has loads of great shopping options at their mall, along the boardwalk and throughout the quaint beach towns that line the coast.

It’s all about the Kiddos..

Sure shopping is wonderful, so are historical tours, but that was life before kids right? So for those of us with a hard to please crowd – Virginia Beach a fabulous choice for families!

They have ever sort of water activities imaginable available! Virginia Beach is a key destination choice for tweens and teens looking for ways to kill the boredom factor!

In addition to the beach activities, there are state parks to enjoy biking and camping, the Virgina Aquarium to help fill in on those rainy days and the Boardwalk!

Here is the lowdown on great places to take the kids!

The Boardwalk

The three-mile boardwalk is a great way to spend the afternoon having fun and checking out all the great shops, food and biking or rollerblading along the beach! Learn More

State Park
Hiking, biking, camping, picnicking, a boat launch, cabins and 19 miles of trails on 2,888 acres.

Mount Trashmore Park

• Once a landfill, it now has tons of great ways to enjoys the outdoors for the whole family Learn More

The Food…
As a novice foodie, when I go to a beach town – one of the things I look most forward to is getting to enjoy fresh seafood. Here is Northeast Ohio we do have the great lakes, but we are literally limited in how much we should each from our lake and of course the types of things found in lakes aren’t nearly as tasty to me as sea fare…

Click here for the Virginia Beach Dining Guide!

Fun…

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Virginia Beach Tourism blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here