My Summer Vacation
As promised, here's the update on our trip to Canada. I was going to post this yesterday but I had soooo much stuff to take care of that time just got away from me.
The drive up was fairly pleasant. We met my sis and her hubby in Winchester, Virginia and spent the night in a motel. This gave everyone time to decompress. The next morning we had an early breakfast, split the kids up (divide and conquer people, it works wonders). My sis, Jake, Megan and her friend rode in my car and the rest of the boys in my bro-in-law's car. We all thought this was a great idea. Then we got to the border. Things got a little complicated then. First off, the Canadian customs officer was a total bitch. She also had a very difficult time comprehending why we were traveling in separate vehicles, even after my bro-in-law explained it to her in French. So the boys got detained for a search. Being right behind them in line, my sis and I naturally became a bit nervous. Then our turn came. She questioned me first, asked for the obligatory ID and seemed totally confused by the fact that three of my kids had different last names than mine (she thought Megan's friend was my kid too). I looked her straight in the eyes and told her that they all had different fathers. I thought my sister was going to bust out laughing. Then her turn came. Being a resident of Quebec but of American nationality just totally threw the customs lady for a loop. I could literally see the exasperation in her face. I think she just gave up on us and let us through. By that time, the agents were almost done searching the boy's car, so it all worked out in the end.
Next came the drama at camp...That following Monday morning, we dropped my sons and April's 11 and 5 y.o. sons off (her little one went to daycare). Remember, this had all been planned prior to our visit so that us adults could spend some peaceful time together during the day. It would be the last peaceful day of our vacation. Jake and my oldest nephew managed to get kicked out on the first frikkin day. They apparently bickered and argued the entire day, were basically total asses and were not welcome back. After much whining, arguing and playing the blame game, they both were effectively punished for three days. I'm still not quite clear on who was punished more - us or them.
Then came my mother and her boyfriend Don. I was really looking forward to seeing her and meeting him...until she got there. She barely spoke to me. She gave me the obligatory hug, said it was nice to see me and that's pretty much all she had to say to me for the next 3 days, except to bitch about her life and how miserable she and it is. She also started dissing my grandmother, the woman who raised me for the first three years of my life when my mother abandoned me and I could feel my blood starting to boil. I had to bite my tongue...really hard. I finally excused myself and went to bed. I couldn't take anymore of her pity-party or bitch-fest, whatever you want to call it. Cripes, I could go on and on, but it would be useless. She has always been this way, and I see no hope for change in the future. I do however feel bad for my sister because she is the one who gets dumped on the most by my mom. Why she puts up with it I'll never fully understand.
Soooo...where was I? Ah yes, the party. My sister organized a backyard carribean style party in my honor for that following Saturday. We ran around town the entire week gathering up supplies, food and booze for the event. She invited 20 or so people, most of which I already knew. First off I must mention, her back yard looks fabulous. She has a gazebo with Pier One furniture, a deck that runs around it, built in flower beds, tons of flowers everywhere, a water fountain, a bar underneath an arbor with cool lighting and custom artwork done by yours truly (Rick helped too). I'll have to post some pics of the 'Monkey Bar'. So anyway, we were all set for the party late that afternoon. We arranged for Megan to babysit the little ones, got the house all cleaned up, lit up all the candles, and then...it started to rain an hour before the party was due to start. I have to give credit where credit is due - my bro-in-law is a genius. He dug up some plastic tarps from the basement and he and Rick were out there in the rain stapling the shit out of those things. They covered the bar area and then some. They saved the day! The party was a great success despite the rain and a good time was had by all.
The rest of our time was spent doing a bit of shopping, drinking Canadian beer, yelling at the kids and just generally hanging out. The Thursday night before we left, us adults went out for a night on the town. We had dinner at a pseudo-Mexican restaurant, went to a local pub and sat outside and listened to a concert in the park adjacent to the pub, we then went to a dance club that was dead, had a few beers and shooters before we all got bored, made our way downtown to a biker/karaoke bar and listened to some horrendous singing by French Canadians trying to sing in English. Actually, I have to admit, that was the best part of the evening. Rick even got to see some ugly French biker whore's crotch :) April and I met some dude that knew almost all of our ex-boyfriends from high school. Talk about a blast from the past. We even witnessed some drunk guy getting arrested after he peeled out of a parking lot. The whole bar bursted into spontaneous applause for that one. Needless to say, we all spent the following day nursing a hangover. Well all except for my bro-in-law. He was the designated driver.
The drive home was not as pleasant as I had anticipated. Jake and Cory were constantly picking on each other. So much so that Rick had to crawl to the back of the Durango and physically threaten them both. That only shut them up temporarily. I had hoped that when we stopped for the night at a motel, that we could start fresh the next morning. NOT. The only time they weren't arguing was when they were asleep. Hell, I even bribed them with ten dollars and the 'quiet game'. The first one that can make it home without speaking wins 10 bucks. Mind you, this was when we where about 2 hours away from home. That didn't work either.
So all in all, despite the speed bumps (pardon the pun), I enjoyed my vacation. It is always fun to see my sister and I really loved spending time with my nephews. Gawd they grow up so fast! Rick swears that the next time we go to Canada, we're flying and the kids are staying home.
The drive up was fairly pleasant. We met my sis and her hubby in Winchester, Virginia and spent the night in a motel. This gave everyone time to decompress. The next morning we had an early breakfast, split the kids up (divide and conquer people, it works wonders). My sis, Jake, Megan and her friend rode in my car and the rest of the boys in my bro-in-law's car. We all thought this was a great idea. Then we got to the border. Things got a little complicated then. First off, the Canadian customs officer was a total bitch. She also had a very difficult time comprehending why we were traveling in separate vehicles, even after my bro-in-law explained it to her in French. So the boys got detained for a search. Being right behind them in line, my sis and I naturally became a bit nervous. Then our turn came. She questioned me first, asked for the obligatory ID and seemed totally confused by the fact that three of my kids had different last names than mine (she thought Megan's friend was my kid too). I looked her straight in the eyes and told her that they all had different fathers. I thought my sister was going to bust out laughing. Then her turn came. Being a resident of Quebec but of American nationality just totally threw the customs lady for a loop. I could literally see the exasperation in her face. I think she just gave up on us and let us through. By that time, the agents were almost done searching the boy's car, so it all worked out in the end.
Next came the drama at camp...That following Monday morning, we dropped my sons and April's 11 and 5 y.o. sons off (her little one went to daycare). Remember, this had all been planned prior to our visit so that us adults could spend some peaceful time together during the day. It would be the last peaceful day of our vacation. Jake and my oldest nephew managed to get kicked out on the first frikkin day. They apparently bickered and argued the entire day, were basically total asses and were not welcome back. After much whining, arguing and playing the blame game, they both were effectively punished for three days. I'm still not quite clear on who was punished more - us or them.
Then came my mother and her boyfriend Don. I was really looking forward to seeing her and meeting him...until she got there. She barely spoke to me. She gave me the obligatory hug, said it was nice to see me and that's pretty much all she had to say to me for the next 3 days, except to bitch about her life and how miserable she and it is. She also started dissing my grandmother, the woman who raised me for the first three years of my life when my mother abandoned me and I could feel my blood starting to boil. I had to bite my tongue...really hard. I finally excused myself and went to bed. I couldn't take anymore of her pity-party or bitch-fest, whatever you want to call it. Cripes, I could go on and on, but it would be useless. She has always been this way, and I see no hope for change in the future. I do however feel bad for my sister because she is the one who gets dumped on the most by my mom. Why she puts up with it I'll never fully understand.
Soooo...where was I? Ah yes, the party. My sister organized a backyard carribean style party in my honor for that following Saturday. We ran around town the entire week gathering up supplies, food and booze for the event. She invited 20 or so people, most of which I already knew. First off I must mention, her back yard looks fabulous. She has a gazebo with Pier One furniture, a deck that runs around it, built in flower beds, tons of flowers everywhere, a water fountain, a bar underneath an arbor with cool lighting and custom artwork done by yours truly (Rick helped too). I'll have to post some pics of the 'Monkey Bar'. So anyway, we were all set for the party late that afternoon. We arranged for Megan to babysit the little ones, got the house all cleaned up, lit up all the candles, and then...it started to rain an hour before the party was due to start. I have to give credit where credit is due - my bro-in-law is a genius. He dug up some plastic tarps from the basement and he and Rick were out there in the rain stapling the shit out of those things. They covered the bar area and then some. They saved the day! The party was a great success despite the rain and a good time was had by all.
The rest of our time was spent doing a bit of shopping, drinking Canadian beer, yelling at the kids and just generally hanging out. The Thursday night before we left, us adults went out for a night on the town. We had dinner at a pseudo-Mexican restaurant, went to a local pub and sat outside and listened to a concert in the park adjacent to the pub, we then went to a dance club that was dead, had a few beers and shooters before we all got bored, made our way downtown to a biker/karaoke bar and listened to some horrendous singing by French Canadians trying to sing in English. Actually, I have to admit, that was the best part of the evening. Rick even got to see some ugly French biker whore's crotch :) April and I met some dude that knew almost all of our ex-boyfriends from high school. Talk about a blast from the past. We even witnessed some drunk guy getting arrested after he peeled out of a parking lot. The whole bar bursted into spontaneous applause for that one. Needless to say, we all spent the following day nursing a hangover. Well all except for my bro-in-law. He was the designated driver.
The drive home was not as pleasant as I had anticipated. Jake and Cory were constantly picking on each other. So much so that Rick had to crawl to the back of the Durango and physically threaten them both. That only shut them up temporarily. I had hoped that when we stopped for the night at a motel, that we could start fresh the next morning. NOT. The only time they weren't arguing was when they were asleep. Hell, I even bribed them with ten dollars and the 'quiet game'. The first one that can make it home without speaking wins 10 bucks. Mind you, this was when we where about 2 hours away from home. That didn't work either.
So all in all, despite the speed bumps (pardon the pun), I enjoyed my vacation. It is always fun to see my sister and I really loved spending time with my nephews. Gawd they grow up so fast! Rick swears that the next time we go to Canada, we're flying and the kids are staying home.