<p>OMG #theorymom…you said 1000s of these bugs are in the house?? I just googled them for pix and my skin is crawling…
Wait a minute, we haven’t heard from #tm in DAYS…WHERE IS SHE???</p>
<p>Our kids like to vacation with us if we go somewhere they want to go. D is also into going with her friends. She goes to the beach most years with her BFF’s family which is fine with us as H & I are not beach people.</p>
<p>It’s the opposite of the beach here right now. Snowing like crazy and expecting possibly over 2 feet. Everything is shutting down. As long as we don’t lose power we’ll be fine.</p>
<p>And here we have the first sunny day in ages…probably 50+ degrees. It’s supposed to be 60 degrees in Barcelona tomorrow. Is it too late for everyone to hop on a plane?</p>
<p>^
Alas, I think all of the airports here are shut down 
Spain sounds great right now.</p>
<p>IT IS SUNNY! and I just did my 3 mile hill walk. Man am I getting slow on the uphill at the end. But then, the HS kids don’t want to walk to the local starbucks because it means walking back up that hill so I guess I am still hanging in there. Sunny and warm in Feb. in Or. nice.</p>
<h1>tm–yes, hope you are ok. I can see some of the boxelders on the porch screen right now.</h1>
<p>Wondering if anyone knows how a semester abroad works if the school is not on the same schedule as the home school. S will want to go to Germany and their semester starts in April and ends in July. His college goes from late Jan. to May. Having him home from Dec-April does not sound right but then how does it work?</p>
<p>NM and missypie, we have taken at least one interesting trip every year since ShawSon was 8 (UK, Mexico a number of times, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Australia, Austria/Hungary, Russia, France, Bali, Japan, Hong Kong, …) so our kids just expect to go with us. There’s no question. Same for our summer trip to Canada.</p>
<p>I learned this from my father-in-law. When I met ShawWife, he told each kid that he had rented a house in Maui for 3 weeks over Christmas break. Each kid was allowed to bring one BF/GF, friend, spouse, whatever. There would be a bedroom for each and no restrictions would be made about sleeping arrangements. ShawWife would likely not have chosen to spend the break with her parents but faced with 3 weeks all expenses paid in Maui (I had to pay my way over but expenses in HI would be covered too) or winter break in her tenement apartment in Providence or going back home to sunny Canada, Maui seemed like a clear winner. I’d known her for all of two months when she asked me to come with her. The next year was a bike trip in China. And so on. When we and other kids had kids, they rented and then bought a house a block from the beach in Florida, perfect for little kids. So, while he was alive, we vacationed with her parents pretty much every year. It enabled him to keep his family close. I plan on doing the same through the college years. This vacation, we’re going to Mexico for one week and ShawDaughter and I are going to look at colleges the previous week. There are no GF/BFs on the scene as far as we’ve been told, but I’d do the same as he did (I might wait on unrestricted sleeping arrangements for my daughter to hit 25 or graduate from HS, whichever comes later).</p>
<p>Vacation, what vacation? I haven’t gotten on a plane in years! Lately, our vacations seem to be combined with dropping S and D off at school. So I guess the kids do come with us. Oh well, things change…</p>
<p>we are planning a couple of trips in the next 2 years. We have been invited to spend a Chistmas in Madrid with some friends we have here who go to see their family every year–so would like to combine that with S and possible German semester. Then H and I want to go to India before we are too old to take on such a trip.
26 yr old D will happily go anywhere we will take her. S does not like to travel and is not a lot of fun when traveling so that has slowed us way down. That the the expense but I have decided that even if I plan the whole thing and we don’t go I will have learned a lot so all will not be a waste.</p>
<p>Our kids think of our trips as some of our best times together. They look forward to them. I hope that never ends, even if I have to keep writing the checks.</p>
<p>D2 just arrived home for the weekend.The stories she tells about her former team are just unbelievable! Today was the end of the second week of classes for the spring semester. One of her former teammates told her she was taking four classes (12 credits) this semester because that’s all she could handle. Then proceeded to tell D2 that one of the classes meets on Tues/Thurs but she doesn’t know if it will be a hard class as she hasn’t made it to that class yet! Hasn’t even picked up the syllabus!!! Now this is a girl who had a 1.5 GPA last semester and is on academic probation. :eek:</p>
<p>OH WOW NM! I will bet your D is counting the days until her transfer.</p>
<p>Just checking in to offer big, big hugs to all.</p>
<p>This seems so trivial in light of so many important issues, but I had a brief moment of “being needed” last night. Around 9pm Eggson sent frantic text to Eggdad in search of his resume. Eggdad was in a meeting and called me at home. “Can you find Eggson’s resume and email right away?”</p>
<p>Of course, I had the long version, the 1 page version and the attachment with recent updates. (I cannot help myself!!)</p>
<p>Eggson apparently is applying for some sort of university advisory council. I am not clear on the details. </p>
<p>Or why is was a crisis at 9pm Thursday night. Oh well. </p>
<p>When can we head for Spain?</p>
<p>Re family vacations - D put in a request that we go to Disney World after her graduation. Her college graduation!</p>
<p>That is very endearing FFScout. Sweet. Will you go?</p>
<p>Ah damn Sabaray
No words of wisdom just yet, just {{{{{hugs}}}}</p>
<p>there but for the grace of…</p>
<p>Sabaray just sending a note of I Know how you feel and a very warm hug from across the other side of the world. I raised 2 of my stepkids (their mum lives in the UK) from when they were 13. They came from the UK and we all suffered with the culture shock although they had stayed with Hubby and I for vacations annually since they were 5 and 7 years old. Long story short my husband has been in recovery for alcoholism for 14 years he is the poster boy for AA this warm loving kind responsible man emerged from the alcoholic mess. The stepkids mum, (who lives in the UK) is a still drinking alcoholic. These two stepkids have wasted our money, caused family upsets and cost me my personal serenity more times than I can count in their late teens and early 20s as they failed school, and then as my stepdaughter screwed up college in the UK due to their excessive drinking ( I do have another very loving stepdaughter who is my reward for the other two!) My husband and I watched and prayed while their drinking turned from high school jinks to affecting their studies, and to more recently affecting their jobs and relationships. They are now aged 23 and 25. It is so hard to know when the drinking is an addiction. In our case obviously with their family history it is becoming pretty clear now! We ended up cutting off funds for study and personal support as soon as they broke our rule, which was simple. You pass, we pay. You fail, we stop, and the money expended becomes a loan. My stepson reacted well, still loves us and sees us regularly. He settled in Zimbabwe. My stepdaughter lives in the UK and resents us deeply. The only good fallout is that my own S who is the upstate NY freshman and my reason for being on this thread, is highly suspicious of over drinking as he calls it! It is not easy, (understatement of the year), bearing the emotional fallout of exerting boundaries, and in your case even harder, as you cant possibly know the extent of your Ss partying into his future. The advice other posters have given seems sound and kind, and I think your approach and attitude are eminently sensible. I so hope you find a decision that you and your H agree on. That parental unity is critical as the inevitable fallout starts…</p>
<p>Zim, THANK YOU. You have no idea how much I appreciate you sharing this. </p>
<p>I’m sure the next thing I’ll be asking for advice on is my upcoming divorce. (That’s a joke, btw). H does not like to discuss S but it’s a conversation that needs to be had, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Sabaray: I haven’t been there but watch very good friends who had to have this same type of issue with their son. Son was drinking and into drugs (not that yours is just that this boy was) and wasn’t doing well in college. His parents were always very strick with him and the first semester he was away at college I don’t think he did anything except party. He failed out. Parents told him to get a job and if he could stop the drinking and drugs he could live at home (they had 2 younger kids at home and didn’t want them exposed to it). Well he didn’t. They kicked him out. He got an apartment with some other boys. Got a job at the local grocery store and proceeded to spend his money on drugs and alcohol. Well time has gone by. He’s has now cleaned up. He finish at the local CC last year and is now attending college. Where as before he was given money to attend his parents are now loaning him funds. He’s fine with it. He understands now that he blew a good thing but he just wasn’t ready emotionally for college. The reason I’m telling you this is although it may take some time there is still time. Some kids just need to take the harder road to get to where they are going.</p>
<p>My D made the Dean’s List for Fall Semester. We are all very happy about it! Especially since I had difficulty getting her out of bed last April, May, June to get to her high school.
What a turn around! 
</p>