shalom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2010
So, are we crazy? 
To be honest, feedback indicates we’ve always been a little off.
Maybe we are crazy to go on a vacation when hubby’s losing a job – my mother certainly thinks so! 
And of course some part of it is just that we’ve been to Orlando twice now, doing stuff Geek dad and the kids wanted to do, and it’s my turn, doggone it! 
But mostly it’s that we’ve long seen this trip as the last, and in some senses, first, big vacation we’re going to be able to take as a family. When the kids were young, we simply didn’t vacation; hubby’s vacation time was used visiting family with a few days here doing projects on the house or helping friends or just taking the kids to a Big City museum on a weekday. There were a lot of reasons for that, but one big one is that we don’t live in the same state as any of our relatives, and we wanted the kids to know their grandparents!
And we don’t regret that. Life is short, family is important.
OTOH, we really enjoy vacationing with all five kids, which is a totally different experience than visiting relatives with them, and we really didn’t start doing that until a few years ago.
Also I remember how it worked when I was a kid --- oldest kid hits their late teens, and that’s it for visiting distant relatives as a whole family for some years, let alone vacationing, because it’s just about impossible to coordinate when you’re working around all the projects and events and part time jobs/new career. Ballet Girl has already missed one vacation before because things came up, and this past week she got an opportunity to go somewhere she doesn’t want to pass up, but she’ll only have the “excused from ballet days” she needs if she doesn’t go with us, so she’s going to miss our next vacation, as well!
Plus a lot of our vacations we enjoy ourselves muchly, but they’re kind of laid back and similar to stuff we take the occasional day off to do at home and thus blend a bit in the brain, while Ballet Girl sees the other stuff as one time opportunities (which the current one probably is). And I can see her point.
So our thinking is, if we want to have our last, big, blow out vacation where everyone gets to come and create Special Memories of Family Fun, this is it. It’s not going to get any easier, especially if Geek dad is going to be job hunting and going back to “new job” type vacation time right along with the older two!
Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe our older two will still be lounging around the house two, three, five years from now, with plenty of free time to vacation with us. Supposedly 85% of graduating college kids move back in with their parents, and there are tons of people still living “at home with mom” when they’re in their thirties, so who knows?
I’m thinking not, though. Geek dad would get a job delivering pizzas before he’d stay home living with his mom, and I think Mr. Cool is a chip off the old block in that department. Actually, I can see the Hermit still being here in five years if we don’t give her a boot
, but Mr. Cool is going to be on his own a.s.a.p., and vacationing with his siblings is not going to be a priority with him again until he has kids of his own and wants the cousins to get to know each other!
So I say, if we can swing it without going into debt or biting into that severance package, we are going to Disney World. I sometimes suspect hubby is only good with that because he knows the last Orlando vacation I didn’t get to WDW because I was indulging his interests, but whatever his motive, he’s good with it.
On the upside, if future WDW vacations don't involve all the kids, we might get down to what we consider a DVC-sized family!
Always a silver lining.
To be honest, feedback indicates we’ve always been a little off.
Maybe we are crazy to go on a vacation when hubby’s losing a job – my mother certainly thinks so! And of course some part of it is just that we’ve been to Orlando twice now, doing stuff Geek dad and the kids wanted to do, and it’s my turn, doggone it! But mostly it’s that we’ve long seen this trip as the last, and in some senses, first, big vacation we’re going to be able to take as a family. When the kids were young, we simply didn’t vacation; hubby’s vacation time was used visiting family with a few days here doing projects on the house or helping friends or just taking the kids to a Big City museum on a weekday. There were a lot of reasons for that, but one big one is that we don’t live in the same state as any of our relatives, and we wanted the kids to know their grandparents!
And we don’t regret that. Life is short, family is important.
OTOH, we really enjoy vacationing with all five kids, which is a totally different experience than visiting relatives with them, and we really didn’t start doing that until a few years ago. Also I remember how it worked when I was a kid --- oldest kid hits their late teens, and that’s it for visiting distant relatives as a whole family for some years, let alone vacationing, because it’s just about impossible to coordinate when you’re working around all the projects and events and part time jobs/new career. Ballet Girl has already missed one vacation before because things came up, and this past week she got an opportunity to go somewhere she doesn’t want to pass up, but she’ll only have the “excused from ballet days” she needs if she doesn’t go with us, so she’s going to miss our next vacation, as well!
Plus a lot of our vacations we enjoy ourselves muchly, but they’re kind of laid back and similar to stuff we take the occasional day off to do at home and thus blend a bit in the brain, while Ballet Girl sees the other stuff as one time opportunities (which the current one probably is). And I can see her point.So our thinking is, if we want to have our last, big, blow out vacation where everyone gets to come and create Special Memories of Family Fun, this is it. It’s not going to get any easier, especially if Geek dad is going to be job hunting and going back to “new job” type vacation time right along with the older two!
Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe our older two will still be lounging around the house two, three, five years from now, with plenty of free time to vacation with us. Supposedly 85% of graduating college kids move back in with their parents, and there are tons of people still living “at home with mom” when they’re in their thirties, so who knows?
I’m thinking not, though. Geek dad would get a job delivering pizzas before he’d stay home living with his mom, and I think Mr. Cool is a chip off the old block in that department. Actually, I can see the Hermit still being here in five years if we don’t give her a boot
, but Mr. Cool is going to be on his own a.s.a.p., and vacationing with his siblings is not going to be a priority with him again until he has kids of his own and wants the cousins to get to know each other! So I say, if we can swing it without going into debt or biting into that severance package, we are going to Disney World. I sometimes suspect hubby is only good with that because he knows the last Orlando vacation I didn’t get to WDW because I was indulging his interests, but whatever his motive, he’s good with it.
On the upside, if future WDW vacations don't involve all the kids, we might get down to what we consider a DVC-sized family!
Always a silver lining. 
But worries just multiply the pain, and you can't change what's going to happen, I guess.
Nothing made me go back to school quicker. LOL!!
When he was a kid just out of high school, he told his dad that he figured he'd skip college and be a farmer. He'd been a farm kid his whole life, and worked pretty hard, too, and he figured he could hack it. College, OTOH, was scary. His dad eyed him for a long moment (his dad wanted him in college), then said, "Great, then I can back off and let you start taking over!", and then his dad started working him harder than he's ever worked before or since. After a week or two, dad finally said, "You know, maybe I should give college a shot after all." 
Also maps. But I digress.
But Id sure prefer it if it was a nice place at VV@P. 
And I hope it bites the boys, and Warrior Girl, as well.
, but if we paid for parking at the gate then he got the money back when he traded the voucher in for his pass.
Totally should have stopped in and given her kudos at customer relations (or whatever it’s called) on our way out, but of course we were late for meeting the troops and ran off before I even thought to get her name. FAIL. 
I told her I am totally not responsible for her backpack. We raced back but by the time we got there, it was gone. 
), but the main reason I'm way excited about the Fantasyland expansion is the new water features.
, but Downtown Disney and the 
on the lifted photos of Vacation Villas. The place looks lovely, even with the ugly bedspreads. 
When do you think you'll decide about staying there and commit to the ressie? I've heard good things about Bonnet Creek also (I think there's an entire thread dedicated to the love of it down on the Orlando board).
And I’m picky – I cook at home, so I know how a lot of foods “should” be prepared (and, on occasion, I know I like it better prepared “wrong” 
And when I did hear about it, it was in the Theme Park board – don’t know how I missed it in the Restaurant one!
After I had kids, I started doing bagged teas, and if it wasnt up to par, I just threw sugar and sometimes even milk or cream in there and, although I still dont like Liptons, Im fine with some of the generic brands. If its at least brewed instead of powdered, Im happy, pretty much. Having kids took the tea snob right out of me, Im tellin ya. 
