Year: 2012

Our Next Vacation to Hamburg for Miniatur Wunderland?

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For the most part I do not read any “forwards” that people send me. Despite even telling certain people in my life that I have no interest and just delete them, one friend continues to keep sending them to me and they usually just end up directly in my trash folder. However, one just so happen to catch my eye the other day.

With two young boys, our family is inundated with all things with wheels. At the top of that list is trains, followed by Cars from the movies, and somewhere at the bottom of the list is a wheel barrel for yard work (somehow they seem to miss that subtle hint in the garage). On top of it, both papas happen to also be train lovers and have extensive collections and layouts. So trying to “lure” the boys over to a grandparents is not quite as hard as it is to get them to leave.

So when a forward came across my screen of Miniatur Wunderland, located in Hamburg, Germany, I knew my future travel plans might show some potential. Before I say anything, just watch the video.

Ok, now that you are blown away and really impressed, how do I convince someone to sponsor us on an educational trip for the sake of the blog? Only problem, I guarantee I can not fit in the seats inside those miniature planes.

InACents One Year Anniversary

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1st Anniversary Cupcake

Today officially marks the one year anniversary of the first post on InACents. This site kind of all happened by accident on that cold, winter day. I own a laundry list of website names, but never did anything with them. As my full-time job slowed down, I decided to finally purchase hosting services and randomly chose InACents to start experimenting around with the various software. Slowly and organically, the site began to evolve into two of my hobbies, or lifestyles, money and travel. Here it is a year later, and we continue to learn about the technology and software, share our personal stories while incorporating some of the latest offers, and network with other bloggers and websites. I have met, online, some incredible other people who share very good information and share the same passion I do for developing our sites and businesses.

I have loved every minute of the blogging and the networking process. As we continue into 2012, we look forward to continuing to grow the site and interacting with new people. The past year has not only allowed us to show the fruits of our labor by running monthly recaps of all the miles and points we have been able to acquire by various methods (most being free or really cheap), but also being honest and justifiable with our finances, and showing the rewards we have been able to accomplish in our travels.

Who knows what the next year of InACents will bring, and things have evolved beyond what I even thought possible with the site. So Happy Anniversary to InACents.

Do you have any goals you would like to see accomplished over the next year? If you do not already, please consider following us on Facebook or Twitter, or even subscribing to the RSS feed in the upper left side of the site. Thanks!

2012 Lego KidsFest Tour Dates Announced

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Lego Lightning McQueen

Lego Lightning McQueen

I am excited to announce the release of the 2012 Lego KidsFest tour dates. Our family attended the 2011 Cleveland Lego event, and we were all more than impressed, as the show was better than we ever expected. A couple of tips we recommend are as follows:

1) If you want to be sure to get lots of free Lego items to take home with you, I would strongly recommend going on the first day, and early before the crowds start to build. I assume they have enough to hand out for the entire multi-day event, but I do not know for sure.
2) However, if you want to be able to see some of the larger displays towards their completion, we recommend possibly going on the last day and near the end of the event. There are several large builds that start at the beginning of the event, and as people continue to add on to the build, they become more impressive.
3) If you are looking to purchase Lego sets, I strongly encourage waiting until the Lego KidsFest as there are lots and lots of sets we never really saw available in traditional stores. In addition, they were blowing out several series on pretty great sales. When we were at the Cleveland show, they were selling 4 or 5 sets of the Prince of Persia sets together for $35. People were grabbing them like crazy, and I do not know if they lasted all weekend.

Below is the 2012 list of scheduled events that are currently on sale.

Cincinnati, OH: March 23 – 25, 2012
Duke Energy Center

Denver, CO: April 27 – 29, 2012
Colorado Convention Center

The following shows go on sale February 15, 2012

Milwaukee, WI: June 15 – 17, 2012
Frontier Airlines Center

Austin, TX: August 31 – September 2, 2012
Austin Convention Center

Detroit, MI: October 12 – 14, 2012
Suburban Collection Showplace

Want to save money on your admission tickets to Lego KidsFest? At least for the 2011 shows, Groupon has been an invaluable tool to help guests purchase tickets at discount. Traditionally, tickets have gone on sale at the respective Groupon page anywhere from a month to two months ahead of the event. Therefore, it is important for guests wanting to attend the 2012 events to keep an eye out on their Groupon page. In addition, purchase your tickets early once they show up on Groupon. All of the events in the past have sold out.

For historical reference, here is some of the information I gathered on the 2011 events.

Minneapolis, MN
May 20-22, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale about 4/12/11 for $12 each (up to $20 value)

Pittsburgh, PA
June 17-19, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale about 5/3/11 for $12 each (up to $20 value)

Raliegh, NC
Oct. 7-9, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale about 9/11/11 for $12 each (up to $20 value)

Cleveland, OH
November 4-6, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale 9/14/11 for $12 each (up to $20.50 value)

Hartford, CT
Dec. 2-4, 2011
Groupon tickets went on sale about 10/15/11 for $12 each (up to $20.50 value)

I will try and watch the respective cities Groupon pages if the Lego KidsFest tickets appear. If for some reason I do not see them, please feel free to notify me and I will get them added. Thanks!