Holidays

I am racking my brains to find a way of guaranteeing my holiday by trying to ship the kids off to other parts of the country without breaking the bank - the middle one has his heart set on going to the south of Brazil to spend 10 days with my sister and his cousins, he has generously informed me that this can be considered his birthday present! The youngest is hankering after going to a friend's house in the south too (also involves a plane trip), the only problem is that we don't know this friend and her family because she is an "internet" acquaintance. Her older cousin is planning to go there too which may save her or not - this cousin also has never met the girl in person either... So my sister and I are going to try and call this girl's mother and establish some kind of connection! I love the web, but it sure has made things a little difficult - sigh. The eldest has contrived to stay home - I suspect because of the girlfriend - he is going to do extra classes at school but will have a lot of spare time on his hands. I just hope that he doesn't decide to invite her over while we are away...

Of course this all doesn't help my DH's natural reluctance and pessimism... Over the weekend I had the distinct feeling that our trip was going to be trashed - "we can't really afford this...", "Are you sure the kids will be OK?" "TWO plane tickets - oh no, there is no way we can do all this", "be realistic - how long do you really think we can be away for?" "two days??!!" "We have to paint the boat hull - do you think we can really afford the paint?" "There is no way you(!!!) are going to stand sleeping on the boat the way it is..." and on and on...

Where is all the spontaneity, romance and adventurous spirit??