heaven2dc said:
Thank you for a very delightful trip report - was very worried when your anniversary arrived and didn't see anywhere that your husband acknowledged it
. But glad to see you had a wonderful anniversary dinner
Gifts have never been DH's strong suit, haha! Don't get me wrong- he's a loving, giving, wonderful husband, but after 14 yrs of marriage, I've come to terms with the fact he's just more practical than romantic, I guess. He's afraid of getting me anything that I wouldn't like or that wouldn't be of any use... (sentimentality is not something he understands!) Flowers die... he's afraid of buying ANYTHING in women's clothing... we're typically not big dine-out folks... and I'm not a big jewelry person (working as a chemist, I wear fairly minimal jewelry... it's a safety thing, more for the sake of the jewelry than for me!) Once, he did buy me -- to my utter surprise -- a Valentine's gift in Victoria's Secret. I guess my post-3rd baby blues made him think he needed to show me he thought of me as more than "Mom" to his progeny....but I really had to stifle a laugh, though, when I opened it! I knew good and well the only way he had the opportunity (and nerve) to buy that gift was to haul all 3 kids into the store with him... the idea of my DH standing there grabbing swiftly, blindly at the first thing he could find with 3 kids in tow (ages 5,4, and infant at the time!) just made me giggle, for some reason! The fact that it wasn't the right size or really "me" made no difference -- I knew what courage it took for him to do that, and that was my "gift", really!
Am always intrigued at reading trip reports with children - we stayed at BWV in 1997 (12 of us - me, my kids ages then were DS 19, DD 17, DS 14 & SIL, BIL, DNce, DNeph & another SIL, 2 friends of my DS both 19). We had a great time but remember grumpy times even by me as I had planned the whole trip (and paid for) and felt SIL&BIL were ungrateful at times. My youngest 2 (DS 4 & DS 10) didn't go - which was in part to my SIL's urging that they nor I would enjoy the trip. My SIL & BIL were grumpy about the bus trip over to the Whoopdidoo Revue (I had sent them on a trip the year b4 when they stayed at POR and they said bus service was much better). They could tell I was upset mostly because if it weren't for my brother's inheritance (he had died the prior year) I could never have afforded a luxurious trip like this and here they were complaining. An earlier recap of our life: (My hubby, me & our 5 kids had taken a trip from Oregon to DW in 1994 but he died of a sudden heart attack at the hotel in Kissimmee before we ever ventured to the parks. We packed up & moved to Wheeling, WV to bury him (he grew up there.)
Anyway wanted to throw in my 2cents about how fun it is to be with family on trips but can at times be exhausting - enough of my long saga
Wow-- with that kind of history, I'm amazed they would have the gall to complain AT ALL!
I enjoy the family trips, but don't paint our vacations as post-card perfect by any means! Like ANY trip, it had its ups and downs, and people-conflict comes with the territory, especially when you have more than one family traveling together. However, I just couldn't see the point in making that a highlight in my trip-report. For starters, I don't think people are always aware of how they may come off. THings that may have gotten me miffed may have had a logical explanation, if I had bothered to press for one. But since I didn't, it didn't seem fair to bust on that person in a trip report, where the DIS world could form an opinion about them without them even having a chance to defend themselves! (And besides, then they would have the fair game of writing a report about ME... and I'd just as soon pass on that as I would a barium enema, thank you kindly!)
I've been working 2 jobs this year in hopes to take my youngest 2 now ages 12 & 18 and stay again at BWV (except this time I'll use my head and use DVC points). My youngest's main wish is to go to the Living Gardens at Epcot and put his dad's and uncle's names in the memory tiles which I think is awesome for a 12 year old.
Your report was so detailed and a delight to read - truly was emphatic of all the times that seem to test the best of us and you came out a real trooper!!!
I think the memory tiles is an incredible idea, and even moreso coming as an inspiration from a child. It's certainly a testimony to how well your family has kept your husband "alive" in your hearts all these years, especially for a young child who lost his father so long ago. I was 11 when my father died suddenly -- and I make it a point to share every bit of those 11 years (and every bit of history I know prior to that!) with my 3 children, so that their Grandpa Don is as real to them as the relatives they know here on earth.
Hope a most magical, wonderful trip to WDW is in the very near future for you and your family!
