Sticker Shock

~Every time I go out now I have to fight to keep myself from freaking out.
This weekend we took our 6 and 8 year old to their first ever movie at the theater. $33 for two adults and two children at the matinee. :ack: I hadn't been to the theater since December 2005. I think tickets were $6.50 then.
I never buy snacks but we had free popcorn coupons and I wanted my kids to have a special memory so I stood in line to redeem my coupons. I watched 30+ people move through the lines paying $4-9 for popcorn and $4-6 for drinks. I think my eyes were as big as dinner plates by that point.
I also took my 6 yo to the beach over the weekend. There are still a few free beaches so we went to one of those. But gas cost $12. Sunscreen was $2 higher this year too. We stopped for an ice cream cone on the way home. Prices have gone up! $6 for two small soft-serve cones. :thud: And this wasn't an ice cream stand at the shore, so it wasn't tourist trap inflation.
I feel so ooooooooold. I'm already griping about how bread used to be $.39 at Aldi. What's it gonna be like 30 years from now? I'm trying to take a positive attitude, like I've resigned myself to paying $2.50 a pound for meat now and I'm ok with that. When it goes less than that I do a double-take and a happy dance but I don't expect or often see sales like that anymore. I'm more diligent than ever about getting good deals.
It just seems like every time I try to buy something I haven't picked up in a while I get depressed. *sigh* ~