Gwen's Sententia

Post vacation blues

We’ve taken a lot of vacation time this year.

We started off the year with a week-long trip to Disney World. Fun was had by all. I liked Animal Kingdom the best; Leon liked Epcot; Quinn and Anna liked the Magic Kingdom the best-even though they got to meet Mater and Lightening McQueen at MGM.

When we came home from Disney World, I had my traditional post vacation blues. My theory is that I spend a bunch of time high on epinephrine (and spending money) and then I come home and I need to clean the house. Bye Bye Little High. My customary method of dealing with the post vacation blues is to give my husband a choice: take the kids and I out to dinner and a movie, or walk us to the park to play.

That method usually works fine. It’s sort of an intermediary. While dinner and a movie can be expensive, it’s not up there with plane tickets. If it’s sunny out, a walk to the park usually does the trick too. (It’s a treat to get Leon to walk with me to the park.)

My usual methods didn’t work for this last trip, however. We didn’t get home until 8:00 p.m. San Diego, Sea World, visiting with Grandma and Grandpa and my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces–and staying in a penthouse with a wonderful view–was loads of fun. Coming home at 8:00 p.m. didn’t make either of my normal trip fixes much of an option. (When you split a penthouse ten ways it’s much less expensive.)

So I did the next best thing and read a bit (to keep my mind occupied so I didn’t cry) and went to sleep.

You know what? Sleep worked wonders.

Labels: blues, sad, San Diego, vacation

The division of labor when planning our vacation

My husband and I saved money for a few years and we finally had enough to start planning our vacation.

Of course, when I say that “we” saved the money for a few years, what I really mean is that my husband managed to sock away money without me knowing about it so that it could actually be saved. Whenever I find a little stash of money I seem to simultaneously find an emergency that needs the money. The dog gets an ear infection or one of the kids suddenly outgrows all their pants or some such nonsense. My spouse is a much better saver.

So, I for accuracy’s sake I will rephrase. My husband managed to save enough money for a family vacation—despite me. He basically came to me one day and said “Remember how we wanted to go to Disney World? Well, we have enough money now, so how about setting it up?” Yeah!

The first step was picking the time to go. We both agreed that we wanted to go to Disney World at an off peak time, and January seemed like a good idea. I asked my husband to get my chosen week off of work for the vacation and he did.

Then I got busy. I bought the plane tickets for the four of us. I arranged for dog, cat, fish, and hamster babysitting. I paid for the hotel and the park hopping tickets and the Disney meal plan. I drew myself a little calendar and made character meal reservations for the trip.

After I had done all that I opened up the trusty word processor and made two cute, little cards with pertinent information on them. The front side of the cards had all the flight information and the backside had all the character meal information. I laminated those babies and we put them in our wallets.

I made the packing checklist and taped it to the counter.

I took everyone to the shoe store a few weeks before the trip. We all bought new walking shoes and broke them in before the trip. We carefully chose shoes for the shortest family member so he was sure to measure 40” for the rides. We also tried to make sure the kids’ shoes had laces instead of Velcro so they didn’t come off on the rides. I entertained the kids whilst Leon searched for the perfect shoe. (He came out of the store with a newer version of the exact same shoe on his foot. I guess he knows what he likes.)

Yes, my husband is a smart man. He makes money. He saves money. Then he lets me spend it.

Labels: Disney World, division of labor, planning, vacation

The division of labor when planning our vacation

My husband and I saved money for a few years and we finally had enough to start planning our vacation.

Of course, when I say that “we” saved the money for a few years, what I really mean is that my husband managed to sock away money without me knowing about it so that it could actually be saved. Whenever I find a little stash of money I seem to simultaneously find an emergency that needs the money. The dog gets an ear infection or one of the kids suddenly outgrows all their pants or some such nonsense. My spouse is a much better saver.

So, I for accuracy’s sake I will rephrase. My husband managed to save enough money for a family vacation—despite me. He basically came to me one day and said “Remember how we wanted to go to Disney World? Well, we have enough money now, so how about setting it up?” Yeah!

The first step was picking the time to go. We both agreed that we wanted to go to Disney World at an off peak time, and January seemed like a good idea. I asked my husband to get my chosen week off of work for the vacation and he did.

Then I got busy. I bought the plane tickets for the four of us. I arranged for dog, cat, fish, and hamster babysitting. I paid for the hotel and the park hopping tickets and the Disney meal plan. I drew myself a little calendar and made character meal reservations for the trip.

After I had done all that I opened up the trusty word processor and made two cute, little cards with pertinent information on them. The front side of the cards had all the flight information and the backside had all the character meal information. I laminated those babies and we put them in our wallets.

I made the packing checklist and taped it to the counter.

I took everyone to the shoe store a few weeks before the trip. We all bought new walking shoes and broke them in before the trip. We carefully chose shoes for the shortest family member so he was sure to measure 40” for the rides. We also tried to make sure the kids’ shoes had laces instead of Velcro so they didn’t come off on the rides. I entertained the kids whilst Leon searched for the perfect shoe. (He came out of the store with a newer version of the exact same shoe on his foot. I guess he knows what he likes.)

Yes, my husband is a smart man. He makes money. He saves money. Then he lets me spend it.

Labels: Disney World, division of labor, planning, vacation

Gwen's Sententia

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

Post vacation blues

Thursday, February 15, 2007

The division of labor when planning our vacation

The division of labor when planning our vacation