This is a sponsored post in partnership with Chase Freedom Unlimited. all opinions are my own.
Last month I revealed how our family goal this year was to spend more time traveling together. Not only have we already started working towards that goal, but we are celebrating taking our first trip together! For my son's 9th birthday we headed off down the road to Dallas, Texas. I will talk more about that in a minute, but first I want to share about how we celebrated after the trip.
The birthday trip was amazing, so amazing in fact that we did something that we've never done before. We made some fun cookie art as a family to talk about how the trip went, and what our kids' favorite parts were. You see, part of what spurred this goal on was realizing how important it is to experience moments together. So, we thought, why JUST experience the moments, when we could take time to celebrate them as well? That is where the idea of the horse cookies came from. They will forever be linked with our trip to Dallas. If you want to make horse cookies with your family, keep reading to the end!
Even though Dallas has been the first step in our goal of more family travel, it took much more planning than just jumping in the car and heading four hours south. Remember in my last post how we unboxed the package that included the Chase Freedom Unlimited card? We have been putting that card to work since it arrived!
The thing about this goal is that it isn't going to be accomplished with one big trip, purchase, or event. It takes discipline and planning the whole year through. You don't go from making hotel reservations, to celebrating your experience with cookies, all in one day. We started using our Chase Freedom Unlimited card to get cash back on everyday purchases such as gas and trip planning purchases like tickets to the discovery center that we eventually went to in Dallas!
This strategic spending has been especially helpful because of their 3% cash back offer, up to $20,000 spent in the first year. Since Chase Freedom Unlimited rewards new card members with 3% cash back on purchases for the first year, I'm dedicating 3% of my day towards reaching my goals. These goal trips take planning, and 3% of my day is 43 minutes. I'll be putting aside that time to planning destinations, routes, stops along the way, and of course, snacks we'll make to celebrate. I am super excited that I have a tool like this to use responsibly. Part of the planning is buying things that we need for the next trip, so we are able to buy them now, and pay off the balance of our card each month. But it doesn't stop there.
We used the card on our first trip to earn cash back for our next trip. So when we stayed at our hotel, enjoyed the pool, the view, snacks, and more, we were actually earning cash back for the next trip we will take.
When we paid for my son's birthday dinner with our Chase Freedom Unlimited card, we were earning cash back for dinner on our next trip! By the way, did you look closely at the receipt to see who our waiter was? Yep, when you are visiting Dallas you have to check out the Magic Time Machine to see which character will serve your food!
Needless to say the first part of reaching our goal was tons of fun! Dallas was fantastic and we made memories that my family will be talking about for years to come. From museums, to amusement parks, to fun and (sometimes) healthy food, it was definitely a trip worth celebrating. Which reminds me, it's time tell you how we made our celebration horse cookies!
Horse Cookies
Ingredients: Long cookies, small round cookies, chocolate chips, candy eyes, chocolate frosting, gummy string candy.
Directions: Secure small round cookie, chocolate chip ears, and candy eyes to the long cookie with frosting. Draw nostrils, mouth, and hair on horse with frosting. Finish by placing gummy candy above nose for reins.
So have fun this summer and remember to celebrate your progress and let me know which goals you are working on!
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