Beaver and vacations...the buying of our travel trailer got me to thinking about DH and traveling.

DH loves to travel...so do I.  Hence, the purchase of the travel trailer.  DH saw the world with the Navy and I saw just about all of North America (US, Canada, Mexico) with my parents.  My parents love to travel.

DH marries Beaver...and they go on their honeymoon.. a cruise to the Bahamas...cool right.  Yea no...

1st stop is New Orleans..the port of departure.  DH has been to NOLA...with the Navy during Mardi Gras a few times.  He is excited to show Beaver the sights and eat good o'l creole food.  THat would be a hard no...Beaver wouldn't go anywhere..No crawfish, No bourbon street, no Cafe Du Monde. The only place she would go was the Jimmy Buffet restaurant.  DH still bitches about it to this day.

1st day on the cruise..Beaver who is just one shade off of Casper the Friendly Ghost..falls asleep by the pool.  Enter lobster mode...

The rest of the cruise Beaver spent the entire time in the room...only venturing out for food every once in awhile. DH went on some shore excursions by himself.  There was no fun bed time..no nothing.  

Needless to say..DH does not have fun memories of that trip other than he won 1400 gambling.

1st year married vacation......

Beaver spent her entire youth going to Topsail Island for vacations.  No, her family doesn't own a beach house there, they just always went there.  Beaver convinces DH to go to TopSail for their vacation.  DH books a 2 bedroom condo on the beach for him and Beaver.  DH is looking forward to the beach and relaxing.  Ah....not so my young padawan...Mr. Beaver SR loses his job about a month before the trip.  Beaver invites her father to come with DH and her on their first married vacation.  Mr Beaver SR accepts (WTF) the invitation.  Dh finds this out the day they are leaving when Mr. Beaver SR shows up to get in the car.  DH says nothing as he doesn't want to fight in front of Mr. Beaver SR.  Beaver's excuse was her dad was stressed so he needed a vacation.  So much for the relaxing and intimate vacation....no fun at all for DH.  DH has to spend every day with Mr. Beaver SR playing golf..DH HATES golf.

2nd year married vacation...

Beaver gets with Beaver Sr and Mr. Beaver SR and they plan the vacation to...if you guessed TopSail you get a cookie.  They just planned it never talked to DH.  DH ended up paying for the whole vacation and once again no relaxing vacation as he now has both in-laws with him.  Beaver SR is a nervous nellie and the entire 8 hour car trip kept sighing and hyperventaling over Dh's driving.  Also, she had to ride in the passenger seat because she can't breath in the back seat.  The "car" they are driving is an 8 person mini van...that van must have had a special no oxygen in the back seat feature.  

3rd year married vacation.

Despite DH voicing his disappointment with the previous years vacation...Beaver, Beaver SR and Mr. Beaver SR do the same thing again.  Only this time, they now have SS.  None of these brain trusts talked to DH about the vacation, they just planned it and booked it.  Turns out DH couldn't go during the time the booked due to work commitments.  He asked that they move the vacation..but nope...that was when Beaver SR and Mr. Beaver SR could go.  Dh paid for a vacation he couldn't go on and missed SS's first vacation.

After this DH asked Beaver if they could take a vacation without the in-laws and to somewhere besides TopSail.  Nope..its TRADDDIIITIIONNNN...they have to go TopSail with the Beaver parents.  Dh gives up at this point.

4th...vacation with the Beaver clan to TopSail.  DH now has found every bar in TopSail and can now golf while drunk.

5th year same verse as the first....vacation with Beaver Clan..

6th year rinse and repeat.

7th year...DH tells Beaver before the vacation..he wants a divorce.  SD is now born and will turn 1 while they are in ..you guessed it TopSail.  Beaver tells DH he is just stressed from work and the vacation will help him relax.  DH asks that the Beaver inlaws not go so they can work on the marriage and have time alone.  Beaver..no can do...its tradition and her parents will be disappointed.  DH pays for entire vacation..but has had ENOUGH.  Beavers parents let DH and Beaver go to dinner  alone once the entire week...that was it. Other than that...they were up DH's butt the entire time.  DH now knows...no matter what Beaver is not going to listen to his requests and he is on the bottom of the list.  DH gets home on a Sunday...meets attorney on Tuesday and files for divorce on Friday.  The vacation was the final straw that broke the camels back.  

To this day..Beaver still only goes to TopSail and alwasy goes with her parents.  She even did that with the one and only long term boyfriend she has had in these 13 years.  

Even SD doesn't want to go to TopSail Island anymore.

To Date we have gone to:

Daytona Beach, Disney World, Chicago, West Virgina, South Carolina, Michigan, Cape Code, Boston, Hawaii, Kentucky, and Tennessee and Mexico.

Only twice have we gone with the in-laws....Disney World and South Carloina.  In both cases the inlaws had their own cabins and paid for their own trips.

To be evil..I told DH we should buy a beach house on TopSail Island.   I bet Beaver would never go there again.

(we are looking to buy a beach house for an investment and for our own use).