Jan 2016: Everyone and Their Mother Goes to Disney About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Congrats!!

[PhilsEagles08]

Sounds like the 2am plan worked out well!!! I don't understand why Mrs. A doesn't have her own PayPal account either but it all worked out in the end, point wise that is!

Can't wait to hear about your dining plans!!

[mommapants]

sounds like a great resolution to everyone's problem

[KimandMark]

The drama has certainly died down but my mother is continuing to change her mind about the trip; now they are only planning on coming for the week instead of staying for an extra week or two. I asked why, kind of knowing the answer. My father said they can't afford to stay in a hotel for a week or two. Then he added that he can't really stand the idea of staying with their friends for a whole week, not because they don't like their friends, but because Mr. Florida-by-way-of-MI can be, um, a lot!

Like, a lot!!! to deal with. He's got a cushy GM retirement that allows a lifestyle my parents can't afford and an unreasonable pro-union/pro-autoworker attitude that drives my father nuts. For example, he won't ride in your rental car if it's not American. Really, he's refused that before, as if you always have control over what they rent you. He rails against outsourced labor but completely fails to see that the incredibily high wages and retirement benefits the auto industry paid and still pays contributed to an unsustainable system (having lived and worked in SE MI myself, there is a certain level of blindness many people have to the economics of the place). He's also cheap, and more than once has deemed a restaurant too expensive and made everyone leave to find a cheaper one. Oh, and they own two houses, an bus sized RV and a corvette. A new one, you know, the one's that cost $70K. Yeah.

On one hand I feel bad, because I know they would love to stay for an extra week and see some other friends too, on the other hand, when my parents cry financial hardship my pity level is pretty low. Some of you might remember (I think I posted about this) that two years ago, when they were having trouble with their mortgage and taking care of a house we offered to expand an addition we were building to include an inlaw suite, totally separate from our house, with their contribution being about within the profits of their homesale while still allowing them to rebuild a small nest egg. They agreed, we fought the town for a variance, paid an truck load to get a septic plan created, hired a lawyer and an architect and once it was 80% built my mother said she didn't want to live there and told me it was fine, because we were planning to add on anyway. My head nearly exploded that day, and continues to explode everytime they run into some challenges that would not exist had they not BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE. When their car was no longer good for Mom (an Expedition, too high, she fell out...) and they couldn't afford a new one, we gave them our car and we bought a used car for ourselves; when they needed windows replaced, when they needed snow removed. Etc Etc Etc.

So, I'm sad for them, but we're taking them to Disney. We aren't planning to foot the bill for an additional week long vacation for them. I'm bitter. And maybe cheap too. But the inlaw suite-house thing colors much of my interaction with my mother.

Wow. That wasn't what I planned to dump on you guys today!! I actually had some good and exciting news about our plans. I don't even remember how it came up, but Adam has been a bit interested in pirates lately, not enough to watch Jake and the Pirates, but he has a play sword and goes around looking for treasure. We even got him an eye patch at the grocery store (really, in the pharmacy department, for about $1 you can get a real eye patch!).

I mentioned to Adam that Disney has a pirate adventure he can go on, that he would get to be a pirate, ride on a boat, and look for treasure. We did some googling, because that's what Adam always suggest, to look it up on YouTubeKids or the internet and found some images, but not really much information. Even so, he seemed very interested even after finding out it's just little guys, no mommies, and you have to wear a life jacket.

On my own I did some additional searching and really, there's not much information out there, partly because parents aren't on the trip and their write ups rely on the unreliable reporting nature of five year olds, partly because this seems to be an everchanging event in terms of what kids get on the cruise. These two sources had the most information, but one is four years old, so take it with some old salt:Disney World Training: Disney's Pirate Adventure and
Disney Mamas Pirate Adventure Cruises at Walt Disney World

I needed to pick from Carribean Beach, Grand Floridian, Port Orleans, or Yacht Club but the Disney site gives no information about which days the cruise leaves from which resort, just that there is one daily from one of those places. So, blindly, we picked Yacht Club, figuring that it was a good waiting area for us to get breakfast while Adam cruises, maybe at Captain Cooke's, and then we'd be set up to head to HS for a quick lunch for Adam, then TSMM with FP+ and the Stunt Show at 1:20.

I tried to book this through MDE but you have to call. As an aside, why is it that DVCmember.com and MDE don't talk to each other. If I book a reservation with my points, why do I have to link it in my MDE? Why is that not automatically in my MDE, especially since DVC made a big deal of requiring the same user name and passwords for both. Anyway, I called, was on hold for 12 minutes, and got a helpful CM. It took a bit of hunting to find the event as she had to search each day of vacation individually to see if that cruise was offered.

Adam is booked and excited and I am one amazed Mama. He's not normally interested in doing things with 'no mommies allowed' but this didn't bother him at all. His most concerned question was about there being a bathroom on the boat; I lied. Who knows if they have a bathroom, but my kid has been known to hold it for HOURS, and I know form 9:30-11:30 won't be a problem for him.

I did bring this cruise up with Mrs. Neighbor, but her 10 year old who will be 11 didn't seem that interested despite the age rage of 4-12. One of the reviews did indicate that younger children seemed to enjoy this more. We'll see, Mrs. Neighbor was trying to convince him to go as a confidence 'big brother' for Adam, but I'm not sure he needs it!!

[Hugmonster]

I am so glad to know that I am not the only one with issue with her mom. Currently I owe my mother a week long trip just us in Texas, because I could not drop every thing at work on 24 hours notice and go help her sell and pack up her cottage in New Braunfels. The same cottage that was not supposed to go on the market till January, 2016 when I had no issue planning to go down for a week for this process.

Also every time I call her I get the guilt because I'm not able to drive up 4-5 hours to Canada and spend a long weekend with her this summer, with out my husband cause she needs girl time with me.

I get two weeks of paid vacation a year. I use it to relax, and am fine with setting things up ahead of time but she tends to call on Wednesday and say why don't you drive up tomorrow...

[Cam22]

Your mom is a jewel! What is it with moms and the guilt trips! Congrats on getting the pirate adventure booked for Adam! So cool that he is actually willing to go off without mom, too.

[OhToodles!]

Oh my! I have no other words really. Bless you!

So exciting that Adam is looking forward to the pirate adventure! I hope he loves it.

[Colexis Mom]

Lots of pixies for you! Congrats on booking the Pirate Cruise!

[KimandMark]

Yesterday we had a little post triathlon BBQ at our house for some friends and family. I had a great race, felt compelled to celebrate with teammates and was consequently having some mimosas on my porch. While the beer and sodas were on the porch in coolers, I was keeping the champagne and OJ in the kitchen and had to go into the house to get a refill.

Standing in the kitchen were Mrs. Neighbor and my mother. And that's when I heard it begin....

Mrs. Neighbor asked my mother to watch the two year old neighbor while we're in Disney, explaining how she could bring the packnplay to our two bedroom unit and the little guy could just sleep in the bathroom so the four of us could go out to dinner. Teh ten year old, who will be 11, is pretty okay to stay in the room alone if we stay in the resort (he's home alone quite a bit this summer, aside from the few summer camp sessions and his step-father coming home at lunch. Of course, I work at home and am mostly available as well...so he's not really alone).

I didn't hear the end of this chat. I left before Mrs. Neighbor could finish and my mother could respond but I'm confident it didn't end with "Of course, I'd love to."

No one has said anything yet, so I'm hoping it all just passes by with no follow up or animosity between my mother and my neighbor. This trip really as a bad idea, wasn't it.

Back to me: I had a great race and a great afternoon--6th place woman, 1st in the 45-49 age group, a new course record for me, and my fastest average bike speed in a race ever. This, on the heels of an 8th place/1st age group/personal course record just last week, is making for a spectacular summer of racing. Neighbors and mothers will not bring me down!!!

[lfredsbo]

Great race!!! I can just picture the conversation going on with Mom and Mrs Neighbor!!!

[DMA]

Wow! Very wise of you to "Exit, stage left!"

[Cam22]

Congrats on the great race! I'd have scooted out of there pronto, too.

[OCEANGRLLG]

Great job on the race! I think maybe your mother and my mother-in-law came from the same mold! Her husband passed a couple of years ago and every since then she has lost it (never really had it) she has turned mean and is a total freeloader (she was left 5 million then husband passed, he invested) acts like she cant afford anything and thinks we have to pay the bill! Invites herself on our vacation and NEVER offers to pay a dime! Oops just wanted to say............Congrats on the race, thanks for letting me vent too

[OhToodles!]

I'm hoping you never have to hear of said conversation between mom and neighbor ever again.
Great job on the races! That's awesome!

[Colexis Mom]

Congrats on the races! Hope all goes well with the neighbor!