Ben's 28th Discount Birthday

Ben turned 28!  Woot woot!  This year's birthday theme was "free" and/or "discount."  Ben did his research and found out what you can get for free on your birthday . . 

We started the day at Denny's where you can get a free Grand Slam on your birthday - all you have to do is show them your ID.  Since I was along for the ride on all of these adventures, I needed something too.  So, we added extra scrambled eggs to the free Grand Slam for $1.29, I got the bacon from Ben's meal, and with tax and tip we paid a total of $3.00.

Our next stop was IHOP, where you can get a free short stack on your birthday (I think you have to sign up for their birthday club by email for this one).  But, it happened to be National Pancake Day, as well as Ben's birthday, so with a donation of any amount to the Children's Miracle Network it was free short stacks all around!  Baby appreciated that.  ;)  We made a donation of $5.00 so that was our grand total there.

After breakfast(s), I came home for a nap and Ben took off on a three-hour 50-mile bike ride.  So that was free, obviously.

Then I met Ben at Jamba Juice in Manhattan Beach where he had just picked up his free birthday 16 oz. Jamba!  (Sign up via email for that one.)  We hung out at the beach for a while (parking: $3.75) but it was honestly just a little too chilly for me!  So we headed to a triathlon shop that Ben has been wanting to check out for a while and meandered around there for a while.

Then, Cafe Rio!  This was Ben's choice for dinner no matter the price, but can you believe it - it was $5.00 Tuesday!  Haha!  All of their entrees were $5, plus $1 for an enchilada style burrito, so our total there was $11.99.  Cracked us up.

After dinner we headed home, and stopped at Baskin Robbins for Ben's free birthday scoop (sign up via email).  It was dollar night there, so my ice cream was cheap, but I paid with a gift card so our grand total was $0.00!  Such a funny day.

With other coupons that are good for more than just your actual birthday, Ben still has a free sandwich and drink from Jersey Mike's, a free burger from Red Robin, and a BOGO from Coldstone (that's the one I'm most excited about)!  He cracks me up!

Then we opened presents.  I bought Ben a new waffle iron . . with a gift card - haha!

~*~*~*~

In other news, Ben has been working SO hard at school and at networking/recruiting these first two quarters and has secured himself an awesome internship for the summer!  I am so proud of him.

As soon as he finishes third quarter finals in June, we are off to Minneapolis, Minnesota for a marketing internship with General Mills!