My husband wants us to go to Las Vegas. Neither of us have ever been. We've never traveled west, only north and south. So, I did some research. There are quite a few luxurious hotels with theatres and entertainment. I don't want uber expensive though. Clean and in a safe area is good with me. Any suggestions?
We made vacation arrangements to see my stepson graduate this spring. We were going to their state for a few days for his graduation and visit my family and then after the graduation ceremony, we are to drive north to visit my husband's parents (we haven't been there in three years). My SS finds out we are heading north to his paternal grandparents and asks to go with us. I was a little surprised (figured he'd have grad parties to attend) but OK, no problem, sure.
A couple days ago, SS informs his dad that he has plans with his friends and wants us to wait a few days to head north because he wants to hang with his friends. Nobody required him to go with us; he asked to go. We are driving from OUR state to theirs, taking work vacation time, dog sitters, etc., but we should change our entire vacation now - extend it - to accommodate his hanging with friends (when he hasn't seen his dad in two years because those friends are more important than coming to dad's house)?
Yesterday, I posted about how dad wasn't even getting a ticket to see his son graduate from high school this year from the ex. We were informed of this on Easter Sunday, obviously after we made vacation arrangements with work, dog care, etc. So, now they won't give us even one ticket for dad to see his son graduate and they still have the nerve to ask us to rearrange our vacation, which we planned around that damn graduation, to suit him?
Really?
Oh.My.Gawd. The world does not revolve around one kid - whether their parents are together or not. HE asked US to go; not the other way around. Adults in the real world have responsibilities - jobs, bosses who expect them back after vacation is up, etc. Our own kids are putting their teen lives on hold for this family vacation. SS asked US to go, not the other way around. I understand completely wanting to go to grad parties and stuff, which was why I was surprised he asked us to begin with. However, don't ask to go and then turn around and ask us to change all our plans to suit him!
Of course, my husband is now trying to figure out how to accommodate his son without ticking the rest of us off. Yeah, good luck with that.
Instead of calling his son on the fact that they aren't even giving him a ticket to see him graduate and yet he is still asking him to rearrange our vacation for his plans, DH is trying to figure out how to make it work. It won't. I don't know how long it will take DH to figure that one out though. Probably after he ticks me off beyond reasoning.
The two new (expensive) tires I put on our SUV 1-1/2 years ago have worn bald on the insides - you can see the belt! As I drive behind my husband to take the truck to be dropped off and fixed, I sadly (and admittedly, angrily) think about the huge chunk of $$ that is going to come out of our vacation fund to pay for the new tires that shouldn't need to be replaced and whatever caused it (and if it's rods and joints that I just replaced 1-1/2 years ago at almost $500, I will fall over in a heap of tears).
We haven't been on vacation in eight years. We were going to be ready to go in May this year. Now?
:(
My stepkids are supposed to come next weekend for a long weekend - 3 nights (with one of the days taken up with a college tour for my stepdaughter). So with travel days, it leaves one free day open for spending time together. She is texting wanting to know if her dad can pick her up a day later because there is a show she wants to go to in their state. Guess she didn't want that one day to spend time together. She's been going to shows all summer long (really, all summer long it has been grad parties and concerts - no work, no dad; she just went to a concert last night). Basically, she just wants to come down here for the college tour, nevermind actually spending time with any of her siblings or her father.
It's not like we live nearby and see them all the time. They are 200 miles away and my husband took vacation time from work so he'd be here while they're here next week.
My husband is hurt. I'm ticked off. There is hurt in there as well for me but the "ticked off" is covering it pretty well for me right now so I'm sticking with it. I'm tired of being hurt over this. It's been 15 years of it so I've pretty much had it with hurt over a situation I have no control over.
Hubby put it back on his daughter and told her if the show meant that much to her than coming down a day early before the college tour, then to go ahead. He's never done that before and I am glad he finally did. At almost 18, she's old enough to know better. She backed off and is sticking to the original plan.
The kids and I took a mini-vacation last weekend minus my husband for my family's reunion plus spent a few extra days visiting. We stayed within 20 minutes of my stepkids' home with their mom. We didn't see them.
Besides my family's reunion where I got to see family I hadn't seen in years, including my uncle with cancer who I really needed to see because it likely will be the last time I see him, my kids and I spent hours on the beach with my sister and sister-in-law for the remaining vacation. I fried my lily-white skin something awful (and it's peeling beautifully right now...ugh).
Like I said, we stayed within 20 minutes of my stepkids' home with their mom but didn't see them. We invited them so they could spend some time with their siblings. We didn't show up in their town and ignore their existence. They ignored ours...not sure if that was the ex's doing or their own but the outcome was the same. Try explaining that one to four little kids who don't understand why they can't see their teenaged siblings. It hurts them. How does any mother feel when their child gets hurts? Multiply that times four kids.
We made sure my kids had a great time though despite other people's behaivor - beach, visiting family, beach, and beach again! My sister brought her Bose stereo system out to the beach and the kids danced in the water. So cute.
My kids have never been to Disney (I know, that's like really bad isn't it?). My stepkids have been, but not our four kids. We could never afford it. They've been asking for the last couple of years though. I also wanted to wait until our youngest was old enough that she'd remember the trip when it was affordable. She's five now so I am going to use free Disney vacation planning services from Travel with the Magic to help us plan the best Disney vacation ever next year or the year after (have to save the money to actually get there).
In one year, child support for my stepdaughter will be done so we'll be able to meet our bills a little bit better so we can save to get ourselves our first real vacation in years! We'll still have child support for my stepson but every little bit will help.
I'd like to get my kids to Disney before my teenager graduates high school.
Well, it doesn't look like we'll be going on vacation, or if we do, hubby will be staying home.
If we go on vacation, we will be short for our August house payment. Hours the last few weeks were short for hubby so the expected money isn't there now. He said he'll stay home (so we don't have to pay to kennel our dogs - saving about $450) and I can take the kids to my family reunion for a couple days if I want to.
I really, really want to go to my reunion. There will be family there that I haven't seen in more than a decade. My uncle, who has been fighting cancer the last few years, is driving from half the country away to attend. Sadly, this will probably be the last time I ever see him again. However, it's a long drive with just me and the kids, with a car whose transmission is rumbling at 55mph and 65mph. It'd be my luck to lose the transmission with four kids in the car. Plus, hubby and I have never done anything apart like this. We always do family things together.
I would imagine that the ex wouldn't allow the stepkids to spend the day with me and the kids while we are there, like was planned, since hubby won't be there now.
Oh yeah, plus I've lost 20 pounds without needing the best weight loss pills that work with my new thyroid medication for my Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and Hypothyroidism. Our reunion is on the beach...it'd be fun to be 20 pounds less at the beach!
I just found out today from a friend that the local University offers classes to high school juniors and seniors for college credit. Instead of attending high school, they attend the college if their SAT scores are high enough. If the grades stay high, college is free! That would be fantastic for my stepdaughter to do since we have no idea how we are going to pay for her college. It gets her that much closer to her vet degree AND gets her away from the bad boy that has been causing her so much emotional and mental distress.
Even with all of that, I am not sure the ex would let her do it. My stepdaughter would have to live with us. I contacted our high school and the college to get more information so we can look it over anyway. Doesn't hurt to ask for it.
In the meantime, we have some things to look forward to. My sister is planning on bringing her RV to our state to camp and spend time with us. My kids love that. I'm sure she knows what to do for a travel emergency since they've had the RV for a few years now. I think it'd be fun, especially for the kids. Their RV is like a home. Then we will make another trip this summer to the state my stepkids live so going to have to start saving for that now too.
Lots to look forward to. I think it'd be great if my stepdaughter could get college credit during her senior year of high school for free. Definitely need more information!
Three weeks until our trip to our home state to see family, including my stepkids. Stepkids sounds a little funny now that they are teenagers - stepteens?
I need to find more room in our vehicle for our road trip. With six people and luggage, it's a tight fit so I am looking for either a cargo bag or some type of device to put our luggage somewhere other than in my car. I have a hitch for motorhome towing so I thought I'd either get a waterproof bag for the top rack of my truck or something that can use the trailer hitch that carries cargo. That way, we can bring our guitars on our vacation and keep those in the truck with us. Otherwise, we are all packed into our vehicle like sardines with our luggage.
I am currently reading a vampire book. Some parts of it takes place in New Orleans. I've always wanted to go to New Orleans. Since the hurricane, I've wondered what it looks like now - what still stands, what has been rebuilt. If hubby and I renew our vows this summer, maybe we should look into new orleans vacations and just drive down and check it out.
Who am I kidding? We're barely hanging on financially in this economy. Now I'm just fantasizing. Renewing our vows is beginning to look like it's just not going to happen, let alone a vacation to the deep south. A couple weeks ago, I was really hopeful that we'd be able to renew our vows this year. I thought hours would pick up at work but that's just not happening yet like we've been waiting for. There were supposed to be extra hours the last couple weeks and those were cancelled.
I sure hope things pick up soon so the hours come back at work. Part of me just wants to give the mortgage company the house but I know that's not reasonable (but boy would I like to tell Bank of America a few things!). We can't rent a house big enough for all of us and the dogs.
The stepkids are getting their child support on time though and the ex's house, which is in my husband's parents name, is what she lives in. It gets aggravating. I do think that my husband should pay child support for his children. I just don't think that it's fair that when the economy goes in the stinker, we are the only ones sacrificing and struggling so hard. In a family, everybody would have to adjust and sacrifice. That just doesn't happen in a child support situation. We are the only ones doing that. The ex's hours haven't been cut at all while hubby has lost a big chunk of his hours for all of 2009. A couple hundred dollars a month less child support is the difference between us being able to make our house payment right now or not. It makes me resentful sometimes. Not much I can do about it though.
My stepdaughter likely has scoliosis. Apparently, the ex knew this was a good possibility from x-rays taken several years ago but she never bothered to tell my husband about any of this and the fact that his child might have a curved spine until a couple weeks ago! The ex is just now looking at treatment (now that she's in a lot of pain). Why not do something a few years ago when she was still growing? She should've mentioned it to dad. Does JOINT LEGAL CUSTODY not mean anything to that woman? I don't get this AT ALL.
Was DAD not there when these children were created? Has he not paid his child support on time, every week, for all these years? Was he not there to sign the Affidavit of Parentage as FATHER (even though the ex asked him not to sign this for their son because she didn't want to share him with dad and has made him pay for the last 14+ years for acknowledging his own son). He should've gotten a paternity test first in my opinion but it's a little late now. She must still be confused about the fact that he can still love his kids and not love her. She told him once that if he didn't love her...yada yada. You know how it goes. Getting sidetracked with old complaints...
There are times I really want to say "to heck with it all" and move where we want to move, where it doesn't get bitterly cold and give my daughter and I asthma problems. We stayed as close as possible for his kids but he has no input into their lives anyway! Sometimes I just want to run away from it all. I could book a cheap hotels gulf shores vacation to catch a break but we can't even afford cheap. It's been several years since we've had a vacation.
The economy is so bad right now. There is no overtime and there are rumors of paycuts. I told my husband this morning that in a couple weeks, we were going to have to start making decisions on which bills to pay and which bills to let go. Obviously, child support will be paid first. It always is. The six of us will have to suffer. My stepkids won't.
Today my preschooler started school. She goes a half a day, four days a week and she loves it. Look at this smile:
In five days, my other three children will start school. Is it bad of me that I am excited about the idea of having a few hours a few days a week of quiet? This summer has just been way too busy. I'd like to put my kids on the bus next week and then take off somewhere by myself where nobody can find me, like a daytona beach resort, and recover from this crazy summer.
After deciding we were going to take vacation anyway, I had the brilliant idea that we should take my stepson with us up north to his paternal grandparents' house since my stepdaughter was already scheduled to go to band camp. A wicked stepmom would not have done that (but the ex hates me anyway:)
First we had the visit with my side of the family and both my stepkids were there for a few hours that day. They had their first ever boat ride in a speed boat with my brother and had fun. We got my stepson to karaoke to 'Fergilicious' at my sister's and it was hilarious. My other sister had her baby that morning we were driving up so I took the girls with me to visit my new niece (my stepdaughter was the first one to raise her hand and say she wanted to go with me:) Then they went back to their mother's house (we were picking up my stepson the next morning to take him north with us for the rest of our vacation).
When we went to pick him up from his mother's house, I stayed in the car with our four-year-old in her car seat and the other kids and hubby got out of the car (they stay outside during exchange...hubby doesn't go in her house). My stepdaughter came outside too and came up to my car window to hug me in front of parasite, I mean her mother. Wonder how that went over? When they all got back into the car and we were on our way, hubby said quietly, "That was uncomfortable." He doesn't enjoy seeing her either.
Off we go on our trip. The ride up is pretty unremarkable. While there, my stepson shows us why he is overweight - that boy put away practically a whole pizza by himself! At breakfast, he ate half the package of bacon by himself. For dinner, he ate a cheeseburger, hot dog, then another cheeseburger. He used to be slim but solid muscle growing up, was on the swim team during his summer with us a few years ago and won ribbons and a trophy for it. We play volleyball and soccer in our backyard...his mother doesn't seem to do stuff like that with them. Sports never seemed to be encouraged over there so he does nothing now...and it shows. He's embarrassed even to swim without his shirt off. If he wants to eat like THAT (and a lot of teenaged boys do), he really needs to be doing a decent amount of physical activity, if not school-sponsored then some form of exercise outside of school. Too many kids today don't get enough physical activity. It's sad because he is unhappy with how he looks...ashamed of it.
It went ok while we were up north. We did a lot of joking and laughing. My stepson was laughing and said, "We sure are a raunchy family." I was glad to hear the "we" out of his mouth including him with us as a family. I was on his team during a game and we won. I betcha he didn't realize his ole stepmom had a brain. I believe I saw a look on his face that he was impressed, lol. We took him tubing for the first time. He had fun and I got it on video when he fell in.
To take my stepson home, we had to add a couple extra hours of drive time onto our long drive home so it took about eight hours to get home instead of the 5-1/2 that it usually takes. We met his mother close to where she works for the exchange in a parking lot. Yeah us. It was quick, no extra chatting or anything like that. That requires a mature, rational, emotionally healthy individual who wanted to stop 14 years of the same ole, same old...that's not her.
It seemed like the entire vacation was run, run, run and we didn't have any time to ourselves but when we got home, we had a couple days to reconnect.
Well, we did make it on vacation (hubby chose to take his vacation despite his employer "appreciating it" if he would cancel it). Given he hasn't had a vacation in over a year, and during THAT vacation, they asked him to come back early and work (which he did), I can't blame him for wanting some time away.
We saw my stepdaughter and stepson one of the days we were in Michigan and then we took my stepson with us to northern Michigan for the rest of our vacation. I don't have a lot of time to post (have to stock up on food again now that we're home so we can eat:) but will post more later!
Seeing dh's ex after four years = ack!
My stepkids have school trips coming up within the next few weeks. Kids nowadays take REAL trips. I don't remember ever having the opportunity to take these kinds of trips as a kid.
One of my stepkids is going to Gettysburg (great history lesson). Another of my stepkids is going to Disney (what a fun trip!). I've never been to either place and certainly never had the opportunity for these types of trips as a kid from school. I wonder if my kids will have opportunities for trips like this when they are a little older (though how we could afford them is beyond me at this point). When my stepchild told me how much the ex paid for the school Disney trip, I think my mouth hit the floor!
I'd be worried about my kids the entire time - wondering if they were being chaperoned properly or that the chaperone was safe for them to be around to begin with (since you never know)!
I would imagine that the school has excellent travel medical insurance when taking children on long bus or airplane rides like this to cover unexpected illnesses or accidents, along with whatever other insurance schools carry. If they don't, I would imagine they offer it to the parents as part of the costs.
My oldest daughter has a camping trip through the school next month and that's only 30 minutes up the road. That's about as far as I want the school taking my kids at their age. My husband and I already did a drive-by to check the place out ourselves. It seems really nice. I hope she has fun but I know I'll be nervous until she's home. She can't take her cell phone either so that'll make it harder not being able to check in with her periodically. Oh well, I'm sure she'll have fun!
I wonder if you are tired of hearing me go on and on about the Smoky Mountains. I wish I could make it home, but the job market we need isn't there for us to live so we make do with vacations there when we can.
There is one place that we want to stay at with our kids called Westgate. It has an indoor water park so we figured when we weren't out and about the town, the kids would have a blast at the hotel too. We actually got close and made reservations once but we didn't make it there. It was too bad because it is something the kids would have loved.
Check out their web site and get a look at the accommodations. It looks like a really beautiful place to stay.
I wish we could have afforded a family vacation to the mountains this spring break when my stepkids are here in a week. I told myself I'd never do one again after my stepson's horrendous behavior during our last trip to the mountains with them but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment (and hoping it'll make a difference to them). I keep saying I am going to give up but then I never do with trying to reach my stepkids. Definitely a glutton for punishment I guess.
My husband mentioned a cruise, but that's not something I'd bring the kids on (or myself since I get seasick, lol). I've seen pictures of a cruise a friend took in Alaska. It was very beautiful!
We can't afford it this year (again) so it's not happening anyway.
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