Funny Guy Friday... Hmmm... Where shall we go?

    Funny Guy Friday is written each week by my husband Mark. So, I married a funny guy...
    Every year, we make a grand announcement to our kids that we are going to do something special for a vacation. The grand announcement is then followed up with dozens of reasons why we can't take that special vacation. So we end up with that inevitable week in Ocean City, or on that rare occasion, the Ocean City of the South, Myrtle Beach.
    The reasons why we can't go include but are not limited to....
    1. Baseball
    2. Crowds
    3. Work
    4. School
    5. Baseball
    6. Money
    7. Time
    8. Baseball
    9. Weather-related issues
   10. Long drive
   11. Apathy.  Oh wait, one more...
   12. Baseball

    This year's vacation planning was very similar... only grander.
    Cheryl fired the first shot sometime in March.
    Let's go to Italy!!!! Take a Tuscany vacation... Noah would love to see the countryside and see how an authentic Italian meal is made!
    Not sure about that... can't we just take our ten-year-old down to Squizitos and let him watch the guys toss the dough? It would be a lot cheaper. 
    Italy will be awesome.  Grace has been studying Italian in school, so it will be perfect. 
    Matthew is studying Latin... Now where should we go?
    Italy! 
    Okay, let's look into it. 
    Knowing full well that we were not really going to look into it.
    Surprisingly, the Italy plan was discussed long enough for me to take two full weeks off of work. This is unprecedented. There have only been two times in my entire life that I took two straight weeks off of work. The first is when Cheryl and I got married, and the second was when Cheryl and I took our own trip to Hawaii.
    I never take that much time off of work. I have learned a valuable lesson in my twenty years of practicing law... if you are not in the office, you can't make any money! If you don't make any money, you can't plan vacations that your never take!
    So, Italy was still in the running right up until we discovered that Grace was not really enjoying Italian all that much, and that semester would probably be her last.  Additionally, the two weeks that I blocked off were sandwiched between a family retreat and Grace's return to college. Our two weeks became 11 days.
    Not enough time... see #7 on list!
    Then Cheryl got the bright idea of going to the Florida Keys. If you take a vacation to the Florida Keys, you might as well go to Disney World.
    BOOM BABY! Vacation plans complete.
    Only Florida gets kind of hot... see #9!
    Hot and crowded. My research revealed two hour lines at... and I quote... at any ride that you will want to ride!... See # 2!
    BOOM BABY! Vacation plans blown up!   
    I called Cheryl and advised that it looked like Ocean City again this year. Maybe a quick trip to Newport, RI, to see her family and then back to our safe Ocean City haven.
    For the past couple of years, Cheryl has tried to talk me into visiting our friends at their lake-front place in Michigan, and do a whole Niagara Falls discovery tour along the way, but that's a lot of driving for me, seeing I drive all the time for work. See # 10.
    There was also talk of visiting Cheryl's sister in Washington State, but when it comes to it, I just prefer the beach.  A place at the beach where we can take our time and hang out all day.
    I contacted a travel agent to get some ideas. She came up with an all-inclusive resort in the Virgin Islands. Seemed like a great idea. All your food and drinks are included and you never have to spend a dime... except for the hundred-thousand dimes you need to spend to fly to and stay at the resort. See # 6.
    And although the food and drink thing sounds great, our family does not really eat like that. We would be chowing down just because we could. Seems to me, that would get kind of old. And we don't really drink that much, so that would be kind of a waste.  See #6 again.
    Undaunted, I began to look on the Internet about Hawaii. Did you know that you can rent a condo in Hawaii for less than you can rent a condo in Ocean City? I know this because I own a condo in Ocean City, Maryland.
 
    Cheryl was all in. But...  
    What about baseball?
    All done!
    Is it crowded?
    No more than any other time of the year. It's Hawaii... Aloha, Dude! 
    Do you still have the dates off of work?
    Sure do.
    Will we be back before the start of school. 
    Yep. 
    Flights are going to be expensive.
    We can use our credit card points to offset the cost!
    Let's do it!

    And we did.... we are booked for a Hawaiian vacation. I am both excited and scared to death. I don't like flying and it is a long flight. Actually, I really don't fear flying... I fear crashing. And Cheryl and I have been there before without kids. It was expensive then and now we are tacking on three more vacationers.
    Oh well, what the heck. We never spend much on vacations. You know what they say about money... you can't take it with you.
    By the way, if anyone is interested in renting a condo, Ocean City is a great place to vacation!!!!!  Call me... we can work a deal!
    I'll need the cash!