Budget travel

I have only one picture of yesterday (we opted to shop on Michigan Ave, not very photo worthy) so I thought I would do a quick blog on budget travel!
I've always been a budget person, but now supporting two kids on a small income, even more so now.  First I prioritize whats important to my family, a roof over their heads, and food on the table clearly come first.  But giving them the experience to travel and see all that's out there for them is invaluable to me.  And we do take trips often, I recently received quite a bit of criticism from a certain someone about it.  These are some tips on how I budget and can make this happen:
Planning for the air/ hotel combo takes me several days, I search out all options, such as different days, flight times and different hotels.  I take notes as I search and what website I am finding what on.  On this trip for example to keep costs down while traveling with 2 kids one of my requirements was a hotel with breakfast (I find the price does not vary much for this option), then I go back and book the best deal.  This trip I actually found staying one extra day was $140 per person less.
Someplace like Chicago I look over the City Pass, and if it looks like we will use at least 3 of the 5 attractions we go for it.  It should be noted too if you have a city pass you bypass the long lines and gets you into special attractions at each exhibit, well worth it when traveling with kids.
A typical budget savy day for us looks like this : Big breakfast in the hotel, plus we grab some fruit for later to take with us, we usually don't do lunch, instead I travel with my messenger bag fill up 2 reusable water bottles (refill at fountains throughout the day), I pack Z Bars, Lara bars, fruit, nuts, snacks that provide some type if nutritional value and keep us fueled, and then an early dinner!
This room also has a mini kitchen, so we made a stop at Trader Joe's and stocked up on some snacks and drinks for the room.  This place also has dinner, we've done a couple here when the kids are tired and not wanting to eat out.  I did want them to experience Chicago style pizza and some other local foods.  But being a fish eating vegan, limits most of my eating out meals to salads so eating dinner here seems just fine, one night it was a baked potato bar and last night was a sandwich bar.
Also public transportation.  The bus fare here is$2.25 for Luke and I and $1 for Lo.  It doesn't take all that much longer than a cab, they run pretty often and you get to meet so many other interesting people, again its all part of the experience!

The bag and it's goods...it does however get heavy after several hours!