Planned vacation!

There are few things that Aaron and I disagree on. One of the largest is travel/vacation. I am lucky enough to get 4 weeks vacation, plus 8 holidays a year. Aaron only gets 3 weeks, and I (think) 6 holidays. So, I'm resigned that Aaron isn't going to get to go with me on every vacation.

Forgetting the fact that I have a full week more than Aaron to actually go on vacation - we do NOT agree on what defines a 'fun and relaxing' vacation. Here is a list of what I would like to do on a vacation:

Go to a new place I've never been, and forget about the real world while touring around
Spa (massage, hot tubs, pools, relaxing and reading)
Sightseeing (beaches, riding around on a scooter - like on an island somewhere)
Sleeping in
Going out to a nice dinner
Reconnecting

This is Aaron's idea of fun vacation:
Staying home
Demolishing large parts of the house
Doing a large home improvement project
OR
Going to someone else's home
Demolishing large parts of their home
Doing a large home improvement project.

This is obviously a large difference in 'vacation values'. And, I used to really fight this. Which resulted in 2 trips to China, a cruise down the Italian and French Rivera, a trip to Crete, and assorted long weekends to B&Bs. Which, I would like to point out, he always had a ton of fun once we actually GOT there - and to this day will continue to talk to the experiences we had on those trips.

But ever since we've bought our own house, it's hard to fault his logic. Aaron can do very cool things that have really improved the value of the house. Things that other people need to spend big bucks to hire someone to do (install hardwood floors, add another room on the house, take a wall down between two rooms). Sometimes, though, this will become a point of stress. I sometimes feel like we always have some sort of HUGE project underway, and find myself commenting on how 'shouldn't that be done soon".... and then Aaron will take a week off work to finish it up... and I can't complain, because I wanted it DONE.

Then I started thinking. I'm having a BABY. Life between the two of us is going to be changing drastically (not to say in a bad way - but certainly Very Different). I'm going to be in this house for 3 months on my maternity leave. And then I watch other friends who have children already trying to plan trips away (finding kid friendly places or getting grandparents to watch kids). And I realize, not only haven't we been on a real trip for over 3 years (not even a long weekend, because I don't count visiting family as vacation) - but pretty soon - any trip we take is going to be vastly different. This past year has been very hard and stressful for both of us. With switching REs, the aftermath of the ectopic, the IVF cycles, the miscarriage..... and not to mention we both have pretty stressful jobs! I started to raise the idea of a vacation.

And Aaron fought it. Saying there was too much to be done on the house. And we didn't have the money. But I persevered, and found the Equi.nox Resort (google it - it's really nice). It's not too far away, and it's a Star.wood Hotel! This is exciting because Aaron works for Star.wood, and we get employee 'hot rates' - which for this resort is $89 a night (plus 50% off food in the hotel restaurants). Normal rate? $349 a night. Sweet, no? Needless to say - he is now convinced, and we have booked 3 nights on Labor Day weekend. I'm ridiculously excited.

I do realize that this is probably my last vacation for a while.... but I'll survive. And - it's really fun to have this to look forward too!

Ultrasound tomorrow!