Tubthumper's Reward is Universal!!

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

How's that for a catchy, cryptic title? Get it? Like the song by Chumbawumba? Oh, nevermind.


I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey.
*Cue the Time Warp*

A year and a half ago, I was a homeschooling mom in Indiana planning a Disney vacation. Then all heck broke loose. Our trip was cancelled (no harm, no foul; the kids, being kids, were easily distracted with Six Flags Season Passes).

Fast forward to now: the heck that broke loose seems to have (mostly) passed. so I'm back to planning. Because I want a vacation like a normal family. Because I like planning trips. And because, darn it!, I like a challenge.

Disney is off the table for now, until 2012. I'm going back to school in 2 weeks, on top of having 4 kids (5 if you include hubs), so I've devised a system of rewards for our family, based on how well we handle this new part of our lives. Our Universal trip is the reward for me completing half my credits in 1 1/2 semesters (I don't recommend it!), my youngest starting 4k, and all of us adjusting to relocating to Wisconsin (where me and the 3 older kids are originally from).

We adapt. But I digress. Our group consists of ONLY hubs, me, and the kids. This will be important later.

There's:


Me 36: <---No, I'm not a hippy. But this DOES look a little like me, if I was yeller. I am the planner extrordinaire, and a future AODA counselor. I am also fairly sarcastic, funny, nerdy, and conservative. I am woman, hear me roar. Call me mom.

Dh 35: <-- Will never look like this, because he is colorblind. I'm wondering how he'll do the 3-D shows? Anyway, dh is my buff construction worker, Brad Paisley-with-glasses lookin' man. We'll call him Daddy cuz he likes it (plus he's a red-neck, so I call him Daddy half the time anyway. We're so trailer! LOL).

And the kids, who are in for a surprise:

Ds 15:Kota <-----The bestest teenager in the world

Ds 8: Joshy <--- A manly boy who suffers no fools (like his younger siblings)
Dd 7: Kai (pronounced "KIE") <---- This picture doesn't even BEGIN to explain her princess-ness

Ds 4: Mike, also known as Bubba <---- He's my piglet, my sweet Baboo.




This will be a Lo-o-o-o-ong pre-trippie time-wise--6 whole months, so feel free to come back in a few months. Personally, I hate waiting for the next installment of a story (darn Septimus Heap books!).

Up next: The Plan. It'll be a real hootenanny.

Link to this trip report's other half: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=39324062#post39324062 (In 3 pages, you'll see why this makes sense!)

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

Ok, maybe this won't be as long and drawn-out as I warned you. The thing is, once I start school June 14th, time will be at a premium. So the planning, hair-ripping, and sweating of details will be condensed into what free time I have. Plus it takes my mind off these last 2 weeks of waiting. I'm as excited about college as I am about surprising the kids with a trip to Universal!

So, what I've got so far is December 26th thru the 30th. Dh has vacation that week, and the kids and I are off school. I know, I know, a crazy time to plan a vacation, big crowds and all that...but hey, this is me. What are a few thousand people more or less?

I LOVE the surprise idea. We always do Christmas on Dec 24th. My dd7 and ds4 will have their Christmas program at school around 5-ish, then our traditional visit to the Chinese restaurant, then over to Grandma and Grandpa's to open presents and surprise the kids. I haven't quite figured out how I want to surprise them yet, but it'll be great--until my mother realizes she's not part of the equation.

You see, in 5 years of marriage we have NEVER taken a vacation without at least 1 of my parents coming along. It's a bit annoying really. But we're taking them to the Wisconsin Dells for a weekend this August, so I'm hoping Ma will see reason. She hates theme parks, hates long car trips, and she needs a double knee replacement, so she can't walk long distances. I'm not dragging her to Florida to lay by the pool for 5 days and complain. It's just not happening.

We're so dysfunctional.

Anyway, we're driving down. If we leave early the 25th, and plan to stay at a hotel somewhere in Georgia overnight, we'll arrive on the 26th.

The 26th-the 30th are park days, with the lovely Meal Deal, then the afternoon of the 30th we're heading to my in-laws in Tennessee to impose on their hospitality for the night.

The 31st we'll hit Evansville, IN, pick up my step-daughter, and stay at a hotel with a pool. Then the 1st, we'll drop her back off, and head back to Milwaukee. Fun for everyone. I hope. It sounds good on paper so far.


Next up: My favorite Orlando hotel, and a few flashbacks.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

I very nearly ruined it. My finger was hovering over the "link to my facebook" jobber, when I suddenly remembered that my 15 yr old, Kota, is on my facebook friends list. That would have been bad.

---No flames, please. I monitor him and his friends list like a hawk. ---

Sooooo....my favorite Orlando hotel is the former Days Inn and Suites, now called Celebration Suites. I'm a sucker for a murphy bed and purple shuttle buses. Boy, I hope the buses are still purple. Not that it matters, but they were cute lil things.

Hopefully I'll make it to and from the shuttles with no...um, incidents this time.

Last time we stayed there, our 2nd day into the vacation, I had a klutzy moment and skinned both knees en route to the bus from the lobby. Then-6-yr-old Kota just shook his head, and I got the glory of walking around with band-aids all week, like the world's biggest kid. Not cool. Then again, I also looked like a child abuser, because Kota got a black eye the day before our trip. People on the plane looked at him, then me, and I KNOW they were thinking, "Nice, Mom. Beat the crud outta your kid, then make up for it with a Disney trip." I could see it in their eyes. Or maybe I'm just paranoid.

Anyway, back to the suite. We had an armadillo on our patio last time. I don't know what it was doing there, but it was a heck of a lot cooler than the possums we get around here.

I have to remember to request a patio room. My hubs and balconies don't mix. He tends to get hysterical if the kids so much as LOOK at one, and I don't want him freaking out the whole time.

So that's my update for the day.

 

[Magpie]

I just want to say that I'm enjoying your pre-trip report very much, and I'm looking forward to hearing about your vacation!

And I can definitely sympathize on the parental front!

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

I just want to say that I'm enjoying your pre-trip report very much, and I'm looking forward to hearing about your vacation!

And I can definitely sympathize on the parental front!

Thanks! I appreciate it.

I thought I was mostly talking to myself here. Not that that's ever stopped me before. I'm always intrigued by what I have to say.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

I had an epiphany last night. Actually this morning at 2:30 am, while playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook.

My family, God love 'em, will never be one of those normal Disboard families of which I've read so much.

I'm normal...except for the fact that I just spent 5 years as a Stepford wife. You know what I'm talking about: the kind whose world revolves around husband and kids, in that order. ---insert zombie smilie---

I loved being a stay-at-home mom. But I married a stick in the mud (no offense, hon), so my title was actually "never leave the house mom". Literally. This is part of the reason I insisted on moving back to Milwaukee. At least here I have civilization within walking distance.

So now my kids are happily installed in our church's school (what a great invention!), instead of being taught by me. They have more friends. They are loving it.

I had a choice after I enrolled the older 3, since Ds4 is old enough to go next fall. I could either get a job for minimum wage this fall, or go back to school. I chose school. And I chose to start this summer to get it over with. This will be good for me--I'd become so low-maintenance before our move that I was lucky to get dressed in the morning. So now I'm Miss Career-Track. I never guessed I was a feminist.

I may regret sharing all this later, but I do have a point here. I promise.

The epiphany: dh doesn't WANT to go. He doesn't like theme parks on a good day. And if he's not happy, ain't nobody happy.

This struck me, as I said, while playing Bejeweled Blitz. There I sat, happily clicking away, when dh woke up and started an argument. For the record, he had to get up anyway to be at work early. But he was mad. He NEEDED me, apparently, to go to sleep at 7 pm when he did. Because I didn't (the kids were still up at 7, for Bob's sake!), I had to listen to him stomp around and mutter until he left for work at 4 am. I can deal with the crabbiness issue at home, but I am NOT paying $5000 bucks to bring it to Orlando. If that makes me a bad person, then so be it.


So he's out of the trip report. He's a good guy 99% of the time, but I'd spit in the devil's eye before I'd let someone ruin this for the kids.


Now, once I deducted him...I had a BIG problem. My kids are awesome. I love them to death. But they are not angels. No way am I taking 4 kids on vacation by myself. Josh and Kai are 11 months apart in age, and they fight like cats and dogs. Mike is a champion whiner thanks to watching Calliou, the whiny brat show. And Kota is...well... he's Kota. You know that guy from Police Academy? The one who makes all the weird noises? That's Kota in a nutshell. He's a one-man symphony. On the plus side, he's also the only 15 yr old I know who'll still hug his mom in public of his own accord, so I really can't complain about the endless noise.

So what we've come to is Plan B: divide and conquer. I will split money and kids in half, and take 2 separate trips.

The plusses will be: actual quality one-on-one time with each of them, rather than just herding all 4 of them at once. We can fly now, instead of driving (the kids will LOVE that!). Plus we can actually stay on site, since we've gone from a family of 6, to 2 partial families of 3, who can easily fit into a regular resort room. I will also avoid all the kid-fighting. Kai and Mike get along perfectly, and Kota and Josh do too. Plus each pair likes the same kind of rides.

This is sounding better and better the more I think about it. Dh wasn't thrilled about going anyway (as I said, theme parks aren't his thing.). If I can just plan the trips sort of back to back, so the 2nd batch of kids doesn't have to wait too long, this could really work out well.

Best of all, I can easily make this a tailor-made vacation for both our groups. No making the older kids go to the baby stuff, and no roller coaster lines with the younger ones. I should have done this eons ago!

I'm also thinking the younger pair would get more out of Disney World than Universal. Does this mean I have to split up my pre-trip report too? I hope not.


Up next: Bravely continuing my saga after baring my not-so-perfect family to total strangers.

P.S. Dh DID leave me a very sweet apology letter before he left, which I just found. He'd be the perfect man if it wasn't for his brain. LOL

 

[Magpie]

Okay, I now officially think you are made of awesome!

FWIW - my husband isn't bipolar, but the kids godfather is and my best friend is a unipolar depressive (she just goes down, and down, and down... ). My friend and I have joked about taking her to a theme park - and just parking her semi-comatose in the child swap area!

Honestly, vacations should be for the people who enjoy them. Not an ordeal for people who don't. I think your solution sounds perfect, and I hope your family sees it that way, too.

It's so nice to get one-on-one time with the kids, without all of them always being in a pack!

P.S. My husband - normally a relatively sane man - also sometimes goes into a sulk if I don't go to bed with him, or if I abandon him to watch TV alone in the evening. What is it with men?

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

Okay, I now officially think you are made of awesome!

FWIW - my husband isn't bipolar, but the kids godfather is and my best friend is a unipolar depressive (she just goes down, and down, and down... ). My friend and I have joked about taking her to a theme park - and just parking her semi-comatose in the child swap area!

Honestly, vacations should be for the people who enjoy them. Not an ordeal for people who don't. I think your solution sounds perfect, and I hope your family sees it that way, too.

It's so nice to get one-on-one time with the kids, without all of them always being in a pack!

P.S. My husband - normally a relatively sane man - also sometimes goes into a sulk if I don't go to bed with him, or if I abandon him to watch TV alone in the evening. What is it with men?

Thank you! I was just waiting for someone to tell me to spend the money on a shrink, rather than a vacation!

I'm sure everyone has weird families. They just hide it better than I do. LOL

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

I went into panic mode last night. Almost.

I'm taking 4 classes this summer, 2 of which are online. Last night I logged into my school email, and saw that one of my online professors had already posted the syllabus for my Drug Use and Abuse class. TONS of assignments to complete within the 6 week class period, including a 15 slide power-point presentation.


When summer school ends, I have exactly 2 weeks before the fall semester starts. Then I'll be taking 9 classes, which end 3 weeks before we are scheduled to leave on trip 1. This is not condusive to planning, so I really need to sort this all out between now and June 13th.

This must be where insomia comes in handy, because I swear I'm just down to the details and actual bookings now. Here goes:

Jan 7th-10th 2011-- take Mike and Kai out of school (just Monday and Friday) for a 4 day weekend. We'll be staying off-site after all, spending 1 day at Animal Kingdom and 2 days at Magic Kingdom. The extra day will be for shopping and swimming at the hotel. I'll be renting a car for this trip for convenience, but we'll use the shuttles for the parks. We'll also be flying there and back.

Jan 14th-17th 2011-- take Kota and Josh out of school (just Monday and Friday) for a 4 day weekend. Staying at the same hotel, with 4 day/ 2 park passes to Universal. Rental car and shuttles, again for convenience. And Josh will get to realize his lifelong dream of riding in a plane there and back.


Our budget is set, right down to housekeeping tips and the kids' spending money, and I still have decent buffer for emergencies.

Right now my big decisions are where to eat at all these parks, so I'm researching our options. I'm also planning the surprise part of it, which will be taking place on Christmas Eve--that part hasn't changed.

I'm also working on our trip binder tonight. I made one way back in 2001 for our Trip Extravaganza (Dakota, me, and my Dad, with my mom showing up in time to ruin our day at Magic Kingdom with her big purse!), and it REALLY helped. We spent 4 days at WDW, 1 day at Universal, 1 day at Seaworld, and 1 day shopping and riding airboats. I think my dad was really impressed by how organized I was, considering it was the 1st family vacation I ever planned single-handedly. We had our tickets when we needed them, maps galore, and showtimes carefully marked and coinciding with which area of the parks we were in when they started. The only fly in the ointment was my mom flying in on the 4th day. She's one of those people who is late for everything, and makes eveyone else late. Otherwise we had the BEST time.

 

[Magpie]

Oh... I'd love more details on how you create your trip binder!

I think I'd like to make one myself... it'd give me something else to do besides secretly knit Hogwarts House Scarves.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

Oh... I'd love more details on how you create your trip binder!

I think I'd like to make one myself... it'd give me something else to do besides secretly knit Hogwarts House Scarves.

I cheat. I went to the DISigns board and lifted a ton of planner pages. I'm not even remotely crafty, but if I hang out there too long I find myself planning to make tshirts and all that. I'm sure if I acted on that impulse, my kids would end up looking like refugees. I'm that bad.


I'll post some pics when I get 'er done.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

I just spent an HOUR updating, and my pc crashed. I even copied it on the off chance that should happen, but it won't paste. I may cry.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

Apparently vacations turn me into a big, fat drama queen.

After I so "rudely" dumped dh from our trip, he mentioned it to my dad, who ratted on me to my mom. After many apologies to dh, 20 phone calls and some not-so-subtle hints from my mother, we're ALL going now. Including dh, who wants to go after all. And my dad.

(In other words, all but my mom, who still can't walk.)

So now it'll be:

Jan 7th-10th--Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom

me 36:

Kai 7:

-and-

Mike 4:


January 14th-17th--Universal, Gatorland, and (oddly) Downtown Disney

me 36:

dh 35:

my dad 56: <-----that's how he looks when my mom makes him go on vacation without asking if he WANTS to

Kota 15:

-and-

Joshy 8:



This should be interesting.

Have I mentioned that we've never gone on anywhere without at least one of my parents? The day before dh and I eloped, my mom found out and hustled herself and my kids (who my sister was babysitting) down to our "wedding" in Indiana, dragging my poor father in her wake. She even sprung for adjoining rooms on our "honeymoon". At least she was nice enough to keep my kids in HER room.

And on that note, here's another flashback from my last (aborted) pre-trip report, circa 2008:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We've hit a small snag. My mother called today and said she'd like to go with us, if she can talk my dad into it. I may have told her the TINIEST of white lies, by omission. I said we were going in May of 2010, which is absolutely true. I neglected to inform her of our March '09 trip. I'm a horrible person, aren't I? I have my reasons, though.

When I took my oldest son in 2001 (then 6 yrs old), my dad went with us for the whole trip. I love my dad to death, and we had a great time at Epcot, AK, and (then) MGM. It was the best time ever. In the middle of the night before our 4th day, MK day, my mom arrived in all her luggaged glory.

My mother, for reasons I will NEVER understand, insists on bringing every bill, every tax return, every minute piece of paper that means anything to her, EVERYWHERE SHE GOES! On the trip I'm referring to, she brought with her:

1) A SUITCASE full of papers, etc, in case she "had time to go through" them.

2) A suitcase full of pool toys, beach balls, and water wings (she heard there was a pool at the hotel)

3) An "adult disposable diaper" box -- 4ft x 3ft-- full of water noodles and 4 various sized life vests....for 1 kid! (That box was particularly FUN to lug through the hotel. I couldn't explain to the starers that my mom works in a nursing home, and is a bag lady. )

4) A suitcase full of clothes, including extra clothes for my dad, and 3 swimsuits for her. I might add that she didn't actually swim while she was there.

5) Her purse. It is a large, black affair. We call it "the mothership" because she sometimes carries smaller satellite purses as well. Her purse has been known to hold everything from oranges to a doorstop (I kid you not!), and weighs about 60 lbs.

Her purse is the main reason I'd rather she didn't come with us. I'll tell you why.

Picture this:

We get up at 7:30 am to get to MK, since none of us has been there before. The park doesn't open till 9, so we decide to eat breakfast at Waffle House.

We get done eating and head for the car--all except my mom, who suddenly feels the need to go use the payphone to check in at work (she was and is security supervisor at a nursing home). After rummaging for 10 minutes through the mothership, she comes up with enough change to call Cuba. She makes her phone call, and proceeds to stay on the phone for 45 minutes!! The rest of us are broiling in the car, and muttering dark words at her by the time she gets done.

We arrive at the park at 9:50. Grr. Then we spend another 45 minutes at bag check, because the mothership contains scissors, nail clippers, a pocketknife, and God knows what else. All I know is it took forever, and she complained the rest of the day about her crap getting confiscated. (Honestly, they just made her put the stuff in a locker behind the counter. It's not like she didn't get it back, or anything. )

Then, because she walks like a turtle, we all have to walk slowly through the park so she can keep up. We were on bad terms that day, my mom and I.

At one point I took her purse for a minute, so she could go to the loo without it. Aside from the fact that my arm almost fell off, I was amazed at her sudden burst of speed as she headed to the restroom. Then I put 2 and 2 together--the purse was weighing her down.

It took us SO long to get through the park, that at closing time we still hadn't seen Pirates or anything else in that area of the park. I was MAD! To make matters worse, it rained for an hour in the middle of the day, and mom insisted on sitting in Liberty Tree the whole time. We had just eaten, so what was the point?

All in all, it was a bad day. The next 2 days she spent with my aunt, who'd recently moved to Orlando. My dad, ds and I spent the 2 days at Universal and SeaWorld and saw EVERYTHING.

7 years later, I still hold a grudge.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make that 9 years later. Wow, I didn't realize I sounded so...negative... when I wrote that. I'll have to work on that.

Up next: our itineraries

 

[nmartin]

Your mother certainly sounds like a character. To funny! I too take my mother on a lot of my family trips. I love her dearly and I love the memories that I have made with having her on our trips but when your in the moment I can understand your frustration. The image of box of pool toys in the adult diaper box and the big black purse is priceless.

 

[Magpie]

I shouldn't be laughing at your pain, but I can't help myself.

You're making me feel a lot better about my decades-long refusal to travel with my mother. I felt rotten the last time she invited me to come with her to Europe. I tried to explain that I love her too much to put our relationship under that much strain - for goodness sakes, we can barely make it through dinner and a concert together and still be civil by the end of the evening! But she still cried. I hate it when she does that!

On the other hand, I felt better about it after I got over feeling sorry for her and realized that of the two of us - she's been to Europe many times, while I've never been at all. So it's not like SHE's missing out on the experience. Just my company - which I know perfectly well she wouldn't enjoy by the time we got to our first plane connection.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

I shouldn't be laughing at your pain, but I can't help myself.

You're making me feel a lot better about my decades-long refusal to travel with my mother. I felt rotten the last time she invited me to come with her to Europe. I tried to explain that I love her too much to put our relationship under that much strain - for goodness sakes, we can barely make it through dinner and a concert together and still be civil by the end of the evening! But she still cried. I hate it when she does that!

On the other hand, I felt better about it after I got over feeling sorry for her and realized that of the two of us - she's been to Europe many times, while I've never been at all. So it's not like SHE's missing out on the experience. Just my company - which I know perfectly well she wouldn't enjoy by the time we got to our first plane connection.

I don't think my mom really WANTED to go this time, but she knows that I can't say no to my dad. I think our problem is that she and I are too much alike.

And deep down, I don't think she trusts me.

When I was 23, I took my 18 yr old sister to Ireland. Everything went smoothly until the 2nd day, when we missed the last ferry to our hostel on the Aran Islands--not really my fault; this was before the advent of online schedules. I called my mom from the boatdock and asked her advice, because all the hotels nearby were full. She went berserk on the phone, so I hung up on her and found a nice local who drove us to a wonderful bed and breakfast (with no phone). When I called her the next morning, I found out she'd called the Embassy or whatever and was told to settle down, that it's rural Ireland, not Chicago.

The rest of our trip was perfect, but I don't think she ever got over it.

She was also mad that I took my sis to pubs every night, but to be fair, 18 IS the legal drinking age there, so I don't see what her prob is with that.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

Your mother certainly sounds like a character. To funny! I too take my mother on a lot of my family trips. I love her dearly and I love the memories that I have made with having her on our trips but when your in the moment I can understand your frustration. The image of box of pool toys in the adult diaper box and the big black purse is priceless.

Life with her is never boring.

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

It's so nice to come look at my countdown ticker when I'm not buried in homework. Sigh.

I just keep reminding myself that my reward for all the work is vacation. It's a coping mechanism. And, darn it, I deserve a reward--I just spent 2 days writing a psych paper on why my teacher sweats when he goes on dates. I kid you not. So much for my lofty dreams of academia.

Anywho, back to the update....

I have decided that since the first trip will be just me, dd7, and ds5, we'll definitely be staying at ASMU. I'm giving up the rental car, so we're doing the whole resort/ WDW experience and skipping the rest. Kai has entered the "Drama Queen" stage big time, and I don't need to chase her all over Florida if she gets mad and stomps off.

For the 2nd trip, it'll be the opposite: all Universal, all the time--with a bit of Orlando thrown in. I looked into the Universal resorts, but I'm still all about off-site.

Dh is un-thrilled about flying there, so I may end up knocking him out Mr T style (a la A-Team) to get him on the plane. (He has a BIG problem with heights, so I have the perfect excuse for taking the window seat for myself. )

More later. My brain hurts from all the writing I've done lately. LOL

Up next: Itineraries and fooooood!

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

I'm sure Disney has a great reason for not letting people book a year in advance. Sigh. I'm waiting impatiently for August, so I can get everything nailed down for January.

I DID book our suite for the Uni trip yesterday at Celebration Suites. And I got 20% off $55.95 a nite for paying in full in advance. $171 for 3 nites isn't bad at all.

I also bought the plane tickets for the first leg o' our trip (ie, the Disney leg). It almost killed me to spend such a big chunk of money at once cuz I'm such a penny pincher, but I got THE perfect flights. We leave Milwaukee at 7:35 am and arrive at MCO at 11:15 am on the 7th. On return, we leave MCO at 7:39 pm and get to Milwaukee at 9:29 pm on the 10th. That gives us the whole 4th day to do Animal Kingdom, and the better part of the 1st day to do DTD and the resort stuff. Maybe we'll even hit Wilderness, just to check it out.

For the Universal trip...I'm kind of at a standstill. I still need to get tickets for Uni and Gatorland, make ADR's for T-Rex at DTD, and buy plane tickets. Oh, and rent a car. But all of this is on hold until I know for sure whether or not my dad is going with us. I asked my mom, and she had clearly forgotten about it. My dad reminded her right quick tho. He's not an guy who shows his feelings by any means, but he seems excited about this trip--or maybe it's just that it gets him out of the house.

I have the kids' Christmas surprise all planned. They will be forced into a scavenger hunt as a team for their respective trips. *evil laugh* I even wrote goofy little poem-y clues to lead them to their gift bags full of loot.

The only fly in the ointment is that, stupid me, I keep forgetting that Mike isn't a baby anymore--dh and I talk right in front of him, as if he doesn't speak English. Now he keeps saying, "When are we going to Disney World?" I'm hoping our August trip to the Wisconsin Dells will throw him off the scent. Not that the older kids really listen to him, but if he repeats enough, they could catch on. That would suck.

More later!

 

[reelmom]

Oh My Gosh...............I am laughing so hard. I feel like I am reading about my life. Dh is a workaholic. He owns his own business so I understand that he is all about work. Dh gets so grumpy on vacation because he is not working. Makes my life miserable. Our last trip in June to WDW was my breaking point. I lashed out at him and said maybe next time he should stay at home. I really hurt his feelings but at the time it felt good because he was ruining MY trip. So now he's invited to the next one.
My Mom always comes with us to Orlando. Somehow she got it in her head that since we invited her to go for the boys first ever trip, the invitation was open for the rest of the trips. I love my mom but I don't like staying in the same hotel room with her. We usually stay at the Buena Vista Suites, which has a seperate living room with a pull out couch. This past time we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside....all in the same room! I thought I was going to kill someone. My Mom refused to go anywhere without us. When we went back to the room for a mid day break, she wouldn't stay in the parks without us. So she complained and made noise while we tried to take naps. EVERYDAY! We told her to stay or go back to the parks on the bus but she would just tell us that she would wait for us. We are planning on going to Universal in April but she is going to have to book her own room. I have mentioned it but she keeps talking like we will all be together in one room again. Anyways, too make a short story long, I love your pre-TR and can't wait to read more.