Pillars of the Earth Someone mentioned it up thread, so you're not alone, but I loved it. It gave me a new appreciation for the tenuousness of success.

The Shack Dishonorable mention: Hope, A Tragedy

See, that's how I feel about the people and organizations who interrupt my time at home. I am baffled as to why they feel the need to be rude by coming uninvited. Especially in this day and age when there are so many less-invasive ways to reach people who are interested (social media sites, YouTube videos, ads, etc.) without bothering those of us who aren't. Now, I don't think I've ever been ugly about it, but frankly, the initial rudeness is on the part of the person who came to the door. And I think the people who are rude hope that maybe if enough people are rude, these organizations will figure out that there are better ways to communicate their message.

I struggled with this feeling when our oldest was going through the college process. On the one hand, yes, I wanted him to go to the best school for him. On the other hand, I don't buy the best car, live in the best house, eat at the best restaurants, wear the best clothes, use the best gadgets, take the best vacations, or have the nicest furniture. Don't get me wrong--I'm not complaining! But in all of these areas, we balance cost, budget, and quality, and we always make compromises. Why do we think that college is any different than any other choice we make in life? (And I include myself in this "we." In our case, DH's cooler financial head won, and it seems to be working out fantastically. DS is very happy with his financially prudent choice and has said numerous times that he's glad he ended up where he is.)

We generally enjoy all of our vacations, and we had a great trip to Yellowstone a couple of years ago, so I highly recommend the national parks idea. However, if I had to plan one big, special trip, I'd probably choose Europe. We really like France for a family vacation. It's easy to get weekly house rentals for reasonable rates, many sites offer good discounts for families (as opposed to Ireland, where I was told that the family rate included "two adults and a reasonable number of children" and "reasonable" turned out to be 3), and there's a ton of stuff to do if you pick the right area.

This is how I would handle it. The amount of money the other kid was spending wouldn't bother me, but it would not be a pleasant day if we had to keep waiting in line to purchase things. (Lines for attractions are enough lines for me, thank you very much.) Now, keep in mind that I hate to shop, and I usually come away from a week at Disney World without having purchased any souvenirs, so that is probably coloring my answer.

Family of 6 here. For family trips, we usually fly out of Montreal (2.5 hours away) or Boston (3.5 hours away). The cost savings x6 almost always make it worthwhile.

It depends on what she thinks of when she thinks "beach." Oregon is definitely a coast--waves, sand, tidal pools, cool rocks and cliffs . . . but also freezing cold water and likely at least some rain. If she thinks beach means sun, miles of unbroken sand, and warm water, Oregon could be a shock. And I say this as someone born in Oregon who loves the Oregon coast.

On our first trip to Great Britain, we flew into London, stayed in Bath, the Cotswalds, North Wales, the Lake District, Edinburgh, York, and London. Except for the York-London portion, DH drove. Our favorite areas were Bath, North Wales, Edinburgh, and York. (We spent time in the south of Wales on a later trip, and also really enjoyed that area.) DH did find (re)learning how to drive a stick shift while driving on the "wrong" side of the road to be . . . interesting. It made the first few days of the trip less enjoyable for him, but by day four it was no longer causing him stress. (DH had had very little experience driving a stick shift before that trip, but in Europe, rental cars with automatic transmission are generally twice as expensive as ones with stick shift, in our experience.) What ages are your kids? When I'm trip planing, I like to build variety into our plan. So, I try to find sites from a variety of historical times--prehistoric, Roman, Middle Ages, Georgian, Industrial Revolution, WWII, etc. I try to find different types of sites (museums, monuments, castles, ruined castles, great houses, open-air folk museums). Because our kids were little on our family trips to Great Britain, I also liked to use different types of transportation (bus with a tour guide when in a city, boat trips, train rides, taxi rides, etc.). Hmm. This is making me think we need another trip. ;-)

It looks like I'm going to be homeschooling a tenth grader for 2015-2016. My previous homeschooling experience was one kid for 2nd grade back in 2003-2004. Kiddo wants to take three classes at school: honors algebra II choir honors civics/history class focused on ancient Greece and Rome If we can get those three classes in the last half of the day (so kid is already at school for after-school activities), DH and I will cover the following at home: Spanish bio English Currently trying to decide if we should unschool bio or work to make it a lab science credit. Primary goal is to reduce kiddo's stress and provide for more child-directed learning. Kid can't decide how important the college-prep component is.

Although, that is exactly the behavior that those casting the opposing votes are protesting. You can read more at www.anyopposed.org. (I'm not affiliated with them in any way. I chose to leave rather than protest.)

Interesting. We've only played with two people once or twice. Sounds like I need to give it another chance. 😊

Hanabi is my new obsession, but I am not yet sold on it as a two-player game. With three or more it is great!

Two we like that seems to fit all those criteria are Coloretto and Citadels.

<hugs> Is he able to easily leave the country? If so, I think it is even more important to contact an attorney first thing tomorrow.

Shush now. Spring will come. Eventually. One of these months.

If sunshine is a requirement, you might want to avoid Vermont. We average 157 sunny days a year (including partly sunny days). I'm from Oregon, so I find cloudy days cozy and I don't notice a lack of sun here, but I'm guessing you might.

My social number is high, but my shopping affinity is best expressed in negative digits. I also find it really hard to prioritize something like this. Seriously, out of all the things I could do with my time, I need to make sure multiple family members have pink shirts, or polka dots, or frogs?? This would drive me crazy. (Any chance you'll get new leadership soon?)

Where to start? Polygamy has been and is accepted in many societies. You have read the Old Testament, haven't you?

But LDS weddings don't say "I take thee . . . " It's a completely different set of vows.

I love cross-country! I enjoy talking to the other parents, the scenery is beautiful, and we walk around to catch the runners on different parts of the course. How odd that everyone is not exactly like me. 😉

I aim for 10 days of clothes per kid for each season. I settled on 10 days mostly because when we travel, we pack for a week, and it's less stressful if we can start packing a couple of days before we leave without running out of clothes. For some odd reason, my kids dislike long-sleeve shirts, so they wear the same shirts regardless of season, and top them with sweatshirts or fleeces.

?? What kind of gifts do you think parents give kids for Valentine's? My at-home kids get a small box of chocolates. We're new at the college thing this year, but I figured Valentine's is as good a time as any for a care package. It had socks, a card, trail mix, two kinds of Valentine's candy, markers that draw on glass, a slinky, an iTunes gift card, and the pants he left home accidentally when he returned to college after Christmas. The socks and the slinky were the big hits.

Thinking of you.

The bolded sounds like my family. But let's get specific--what do you consider "heat"? For me, 80 F is definitely hot, and 78 and 79 are pushing it. I'm an absolute heat wimp. :-D We usually go to Europe in April. That said, if you can tolerate daily highs around 85 F, I highly recommend the south of France. Rental houses are abundant and quite reasonable, and it has everything you are looking for. The Roman ruins are amazing. If you're a wimp like me, I second the vote for Wales. In terms of cool castles per square mile, Wales is the best we've seen in our travels. One of our favorite travel memories was eating great fish and chips while watching the local folk dance club perform on the pier with the castle in the background. The Rick Steves guide book for Wales has good lodging recommendations that I think fit what you're looking for.