V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

One of the things I love about my friend Crem is that I often ask his opinion on topics, and then completely ignore anything that he says. Anyway, during the week of July 16 the minivan will be heading to Branson, Missouri. Branson is a great vacation for the rest of family. There's amusement parks for the kiddies, and shows for the grandparents.

Anyone who has travelled with their family, and anyone who stays in a condo (or other house type unit - you know with a full kitchen and everything) knows that, really it's more of a change of scene for mom than a real vacation. Not that a change of scene is bad, but it's still not vacation. While I'm stuck in Branson there's going to be what I consider an event of epic proportions. The release of the long awaited final book in the Harry Potter series.

Now, I don't want anyone to think that this is significant only to Chip -- I mean it is but it's also something that Ramblingmom is waiting for.

There was a plan. The plan was that the morning after the release the grandparents would wander down to Walmart and get a copy of the book. Then I would spend the rest of the trip sneaking whatever peeks I can at the book. But I started thinking (and we all know how dangerous THAT can be) I don't WANT to wait, and one thought I had was to find a nearby midnight release party and go with Chip. Well, in this case (as far as I can tell) "nearby" means an hour away in Springfield, MO.

So I asked Crem's opinion "what do you think if Chip and I go on a mini road trip of our own." I don't recall his exact response but it was something along the lines of "it's JUST a book."

Yeah, sure, right, and Guinness is "JUST a beer."

So, I guess the new plan is that Chip and I will be driving to a release party, he's then ordered to read to me in the car on the trip back to Branson. The next day I'm not quite sure what exactly the plan is, but I'm thinking that might be a great day to hit the water park. Ramblingmom can find an umbrella and well hopefully Spouse will make sure the kids don't drown.

SIL is the family trip organizer (have fun honey -- it's that important to you go all out) and she was planning what shows the family would go to on what days. The original plan was for the family to go to some show on Saturday. My response

I think of all the shows the only one that would really interest
Chip is the one you have scheduled for Saturday morning. Could
that be scheduled for EARLIER in the week, as I expect Saturday
morning both Chip and I will have our respective noses buried in a
book.

Oh yeah, we're buying two copies of the book. I'm sure others will want to read them when we're done so we'll sell off a used copy. But I don't think it would be in good taste for Chip to come back from vacation bruised because mom keeps beating him up to get hold of the book again.