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[side_show]

... spend some time with my bf and her kids.  Her 3yr old son, who calls me Auntie, was so excited about me coming over that he couldn't go down for his usual nap today at all, and he insisted on learning how to write my name too.  I got several copies of my name written out in an impressively clear manner.  His mom is a teacher, so needless to say, he's a bit ahead of the curve on such things.

[miles]

I also recommend the PDX to SEA route. I was planning a trip this summer where I would fly to LA, take the train to Seattle, and then fly back to Salt Lake. I even bought the train tickets. But man was everything adding up. So I ended up just flying to Seattle and spent my vacation there. Probably saved like a grand. But sometime next year I'd like to take the Coast Starlight from LA to Seattle. Train travel was one of my favorite things about Europe. I wish we had a better passenger rail system out west.

[Mr Trout]

I have limited experience with both flying and riding the train, but between the two, I really prefer Amtrak. It takes as long as driving, but it's much cheaper than flying and it's much more relaxing than any of the other options. Haven't tried it with kids yet, but we're considering a trip to Baltimore with the offspring pretty soon and may train it up.

With children I can totally understand preferring the train over other forms of transportation. As a child my family took several trips down to Florida by car. 5 kids plus parents in a station wagon trapped for 14 hours driven by a father who refused to turn on the A/C or stop for anything? miserable. As an Adult I completely understand that, though, and I would almost certainly inflict the same punishment on any children I had. Is that only because I experienced the same growing up? now I view it as a character building experience. I am Calvin's dad.

I have moved west from Baltimore but if you do end up visiting I could give you some pointers to some kid friendly activities.

[jay-ell]

trips down to Florida by car. 5 kids plus parents in a station wagon trapped for 14 hours driven by a father who refused to turn on the A/C or stop for anything? miserable. As an Adult I completely understand that, though, and I would almost certainly inflict the same punishment on any children I had. Is that only because I experienced the same growing up? now I view it as a character building experience. I am Calvin's dad.

See, we drove to Orlando from Toledo (24 hours in the car, and no, we did not stop overnight) several times when I was young, and though my Mom insisted that we run the A/C and eat our meals in restaurants (even if they were fast food places), it was pretty much the standard, "What do you mean you have to pee, you just went three hours ago" type scenario. And I don't do that to my kids (or myself).

When we drive to Ohio (usually twice a year), we usually make a two-day trip of it, leaving late afternoon on day 1 (sometimes after my son finishes his school day) and stopping at a hotel after just 4 hours or so of driving. I often pack the first night's dinner, something one-dish and easy to keep hot in the car, like macaroni and cheese with cut-up hot dogs. We make sure we're in a hotel room by 8 PM, at the latest. If we reach our hotel early -- and I never travel without reservations if there are kids along -- I always make sure to book a room at a hotel with an indoor pool and bring swimsuits. The kids are tucked in by 9, only slightly later than their usual bedtime, and consequently are usually up by 8 the following morning. We might take another dip in the pool, enjoy the continental breakfast in the lobby, pack up and are gone by 10. Then we drive two hours, stop for lunch at a fast-food place with a kids' area. We usually stop again around 4 PM for a 20-minute runaround time and potty break, which can be anywhere from a local park (which I've scouted out online in advance) to a bookstore or even a Target or Wal-Mart. Malls are also usually primo because they often have indoor play areas, which is handy during the winter months, but they take longer to navigate. Then we stop for supper between 6 and 6:30 -- again, adhering to the schedule we follow at home -- and by then we're almost there.

It takes a day and a half, but it's much easier travel than the hard-driving method my father employed, which usually required at least a half day of rest once we arrived to recover enough to do anything anyway. This way, we arrive much more rested and the kids can enjoy the trip instead of dreading it. The main problem is, it's expensive. We drop about $300 in food, gas, and lodging -- I know some decent hotels in slightly-out-of-the-way towns that go for $60/night -- and if I don't pack a meal for the first night on the road it's more. It's certainly cheaper than flying with 4 people, but when you add it all up, the train doesn't look so bad after all.

When my son was tiny, we sometimes would leave at 8 PM and drive overnight so he could sleep in the car. But when he was six months old, he stopped being able to sleep in the car for more than a few minutes at a time. We drove 12 hours and he slept 20 minutes. So we scrapped that idea altogether. It works for a lot of families, but not mine.

[Mr Trout]

Have you tried camping? I didn't stay in a hotel until I was 17 and on a school trip. Everywhere my family went for vacation we camped, and most state campgrounds are very family friendly and will run $25 a night at the most. My parents did go on a 2 week backpacking trip for their honeymoon so they already had the gear and experience, though.

[jay-ell]

We are not campers, but we have considered this for summer vacations. We planned to have a few practice runs in the backyard this past summer, but my son ended up in a year-round school and was in session most of July, so it didn't happen. Besides, it wouldn't work well when we travel to NW Ohio for Christmas, unless we had a pop-up camper or somesuch that could provide us with heat. I'm not quite adventurous to try sleeping in a tent with two kids when it's fifteen degrees and sleeting.

[jay-ell]

I would love to have an RV, but Pedro doesn't think it's cost-effective. We are, however, considering building one of these in a few years (when the work is done on the house we already own) to park in the backyard and take on trips with us as needed. I think they're fascinating, I'm really interested in the building process, and I would like to experiment with "green construction," using sustainable or reclaimed materials as much as possible.

We would use it primarily as a writer's studio/retreat for me, assuming that I start writing full-time in 2 years when my daughter goes to kindergarten. This would allow my current office to be converted into a home office/hobby room for Pedro. The tiny house would be fully outfitted for maximum flexibility, which would allow us to use it as a guest house when friends and relatives visit. And it would be mounted on a trailer and set up with RV hookups so that we could take it on the road when we travel and save ourselves the expense and hassle of hotels. It would definitely allow us to take more frequent short getaways with the kids. The floor plan I'm looking at has enough space for the kids to have twin airbeds in the main room while Pedro and I used the sleeping loft. It would be a bit tight, but no more so than your average hotel room with two double beds.

Years and years from now, if things go this route, it would also be ideal for one of the kids to move into and live in full-time while attending college. There's a distinct probability that my son will want to go to college but not [want to/feel ready to] live in a dorm or in an apartment with roommates, and having a small place on our property where he can live on his own without having to worry about rent or the social pressures of dorm life might be just the thing. I lived in a similar arrangement in my parents' guest house through college, and it was just the right balance to serve as a stepping stone between adolescence and adulthood. It might seem odd to be thinking this far ahead, but though I don't worry about whether or not my kids will be able to overcome their challenges and become productive members of society, I do feel the need to prepare for the future because I know it might take them a little longer to reach full independence than kids without autism.

[jay-ell]

Although, unless you come up with a tow vehicle in the states that has one of those great 2 liter M-B diesel engines, I'm giggling a little bit at you going green with the dutchy-house since you're going to need a half-ton to yank it about with.

Oh, I have no illusions about dragging a house behind my gas-guzzling vehicle being good for the environment. But I am interested in the aspect of being off the grid (potentially), and also using reclaimed materials because I think it's sinful what some people will throw away.

Also, I'm cheap. Green is the new frugal.

[theinevitable]

The Shining is freaking terrifying. Could not handle that movie. Went into full-on little kid mode.

Lately me and the GF have been doing Dunston Dates. We make popcorn and watch Dr. Who and DS9 together. GEEKS.

I obviously need to watch Paul's video and re-read the popcorn thread, my popcorn is really shabby. My roommate has a fancy popcorn popper, but using it for small amounts seems crazy. Really annoying to clean.

[theinevitable]

oh wow, buying this Gochujang was a great choice. I am going to eat so many more vegetables thanks to this delicious sauce.

(un?)fortunately the only size they had was HUGE. 1 kg of spicy fermented Korean sauce.

[jay-ell]

Lately me and the GF have been doing Dunston Dates. We make popcorn and watch Dr. Who and DS9 together. GEEKS.

I'm not sure whether to be pleased or offended, here. I'm going to with pleased, on principle.

Last night, after the kids went to bed, instead of having popcorn and watching ST:TNG, Pedro broke out the massage table and gave me a back massage while he watched/I listened to part of the Ken Burns documentary on Jazz.

Hells, yeah!

[jay-ell]

Ugh, my brain is broken in the least helpful way, ever.

It is common knowledge that I am a cheap bastard. I like saving money and I get excited when I feel like I've gotten something that's worth far more than what I paid for it. This is helpful while we are trying to live (well) below our means and pay off debt. But it also means that I sometimes go without things I really should have and actually can afford because I don't want to spend the money on them. Like, I won't buy myself a new cutting board even though Pedro put my largest polyvinyl one on a burner that was still hot and melted it beyond recognition. (The stove burner is fine, miraculously.) So I've been getting by with a small, slightly warped cutting board (because he didn't learn the first time) for over three years now. Cutting boards, polyvinyl ones, are not expensive. We're talking maybe $12 here. But then I think, I can get by without it, I have been for years, and that $12 is better spent elsewhere. So I watch and wait and eventually cutting boards go on sale, or that particular brand or style goes on clearance, and I snatch it up for half price and am thrilled about it. But I've spent 3 or 4 years without a proper cutting board, and for what? To save $6?

Now, my thing is, I have learned how to sew just a little bit, and I won't buy anything I think I can make. The big problem with this is, sometimes it actually costs more to make something yourself, even if you don't include the time involved. The other thing is, I am not that good at sewing yet. But I end up with all these grandiose plans for making things, and I have to fight the urge to buy fabric for potential future projects by reminding myself that I have a huge stash of yarn (you've all seen it) for things I kept saying I was going to knit and never got round to, yet, and I am a much, much, much better knitter than seamstress.

Just today, I had to stop myself from buying the following:

1) a book about how to take crappy clothes from the thrift store and make cute clothing and accessories and household things with them
2) a pattern to make fleece ponchos for my kids
3) half a dozen pieces of remnant fabric, "just because," for unspecified projects
4) a stack of fat quarters that are "so pretty" and "might make good placemats or an apron or something"
5) fabric with which to make ##### for my daughter, because "it's so hard to find ##### that fit her right." #####!?!? I can barely sew a straight seam on a pillowcase, I have no business considering making ##### for a three-year-old.

I also perused the yarn section while I was waiting for them to cut the fabric I went in to buy -- $4 worth of costume sateen (it was on sale) to make my son a cape for Halloween. I'm not even going to start with the yarn I lusted after and made halfhearted plans for.

Somebody, please, give me a virtual slap across the face and remind me that I do not have time to start any more projects between now and Christmas. I bought 6 yards of fleece for $13 last Saturday when it was on super-cheap sale, and I'm planning on making a dozen Angry Birds plushes for my son for Christmas with it. It would cost me that much to purchase two ready-made ones from Amazon.com, and this way I can afford to give him a whole fleet of the darn things. That is enough of a win that I can back off for a bit, I think.

[theinevitable]

Sounds to me like you have Normal Person disease. A chronic condition.

Currently the pseudo-frugal thing I'm trying to teach myself is: it's cheaper to buy "expensive" foods (steak, salmon, whatever) and cook them myself than it is to crave them so much that I go to a real restaurant and eat them.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Partway through that, I thought you were about to say that you were going to sew yourself a new cutting board.

[Nabubrush]

I'm cheap, too - although I make up for it by spending lots of money on shit I don't need.

I am currently desperately tired. I am exhausted. I hate working nights and then flying.