Zander's Inside Voice

The holidays are rapidly approaching and there are so many plans to be made. When do the kids go to see their father? What do we want to give them? What do we want to give each other? Who all are we buying for this year? What might they like? Do we want to travel somewhere (other that the child exchange) or not?

Last year we did all the traveling. We exchanged the kids in Tennessee and spent a couple days in a cabin in Pigeon Forge after the exchange. Then we came back home for 4 or so days. Then we went to see my wife’s family. From there, we headed to Georgia where we were supposed to pick up the kids and then spend a couple nights with my parents. Unfortunately my oldest had Covid and my mom was going through cancer treatment. So we got the kids in Georgia, had a socially distanced, masked Christmas in my parents’ garage on a lovely day, and spent one night on the road back here.

It was exhausting. So many states in two weeks and lots of time in the car. Prior to that, we did Thanksgiving in Delaware with the ex’s family. And during the summer we drove to Florida and went to Disney in July, then brought the kids back here. We also flew down to Florida in June for the Boy #1’s graduation. I drove to Georgia in March, after flying to Florida earlier in March.

This year we drove back to Georgia for the break in March since we lost time with my parents last year. We went to Delaware for a retirement party. We went to see my wife’s family for Easter and then when her Mom got married in October. And we drove back and forth and back and forth and back and forth to Kentucky what feels like an endless number of times. After the Delaware party, the kids asked to not travel so much the rest of this year. We did the October wedding after they wanted to stop traveling, and said they must travel to see their father. But we decided no Thanksgiving travel and no Christmas travel for us. The kids will be in Florida and we will travel back and forth for them. But we are having a quiet, happy Christmas at home.

For the kids gifting, we have some big plans. And there will be a family trip, a very fun trip. Last year we gave each child a trip that we would all take and the person whose trip it was could pick out something from the gift shop. Girl’s trip was the only trip the boys didn’t come on because we took her to the Van Gogh immersive show. She’s really into art and she loved it. For Boy #3, we went to a Marvel exhibition at an awesome place not too far from us. And Boy #2, we went to the Corvette Museum in Kentucky during a child exchange that we weren’t expecting to do. But the weather had become too cold for the ex to fly them home, so we had to make a driving trip and we added on the Corvette Museum trip. He chose a jacket that he wears most of the time now when it’s not too cold.

This year there will just be one trip to Colonial Williamsburg where we will stay in a colonial house during their spring break. I am so excited about this for a ton of reasons. One, that’s my favorite historical time period. I love all of it. Two, it’s in the middle of everything and that makes the trip so much easier. Three, the package comes with breakfast for everyone each day and the menus I looked at were AWESOME!! I cannot wait for all of it. There’s an amazing looking bakery and all kinds of shops. And that’s not even all the fun stuff to do there. It’s going to be an awesome adventure!