Trip With the In Laws

So I bet many of you have been wondering about the trip with my "in laws". We've just been so busy I haven't had the time or energy to write. Overall the trip was a success. We had fun and went to some cool places. As always things felt very awkward trying to meld two completely different families together for a week. It was hard to "pretend" but we are getting good at it and used to it. Not only were we with them in the car and at the sites but we shared an adjoined room where we could hear everything the other person had to say. With two kids this also posed added anxiety. As usual every two seconds a comment about sex or gender was brought up. Every thing has to be one extreme or another. My kids kept saying Mama and my father in law repeatedly tried to get our son to say Daddy and Chance just kept glaring silently at his grandfather as if her were crazy. They kept mentioning how much Serenity is a Mommy's girl and don't seem to understand that the reason she's uncomfortable around scratchy bearded men is because she's never around any. They didn't seem to understand that our family dynamics are different than most with a mother and a father. My father in law is not used to being around women with sensitive needs. My mother in law doesn't understand why I am the more assertive parent while my "man" should be more in control and aggressive with me and our children. Every other comment as usual was " you know that's just how men are" or "It's a man thing" or That's a woman thing". "you know how women are right son?" "ha-ha" As a now common occurrence the waiter or our children would address Beth as female and then as loud as possible without skipping a beat my Father in Law would say " Hey SON." It's almost a big joke. I know they know something is up. Unless they are not as bright as I give them credit for they are just too afraid to admit the truth. They repeatedly push us to get married I think for the reason that they hope by committing to marriage their"son" will not be gay. Which is what I think they assume rather than transgendered. I honestly don't know. They have made little comments to me for years about it and I think they are overly nice to me because I am their hope for having a normal son with a normal life. Over all the trip was fun and well worth going. It was nice to spend time together and the kids really love spending time with their grandparents.
There were however a few snafu's to make anyone crazy. Before we even left we went to an ATM machine to get out some cash and it ate my card. So it was a little frustrating not having my own card on the trip. Then Serenity got carsick on the way to Tennessee. Beth and I got food poisoning from a salad buffet and were beyond sick on the agonizing ride home through the Tennessee mountains in the back seat of a mini van with no suspension. BLAH! When we finally arrived home from our LOOOOng time on the road we couldn't find the house keys and had Chance shimmy through a window. As soon as we opened the door Chance said" Look Mommy, someone left us a card". Not the good kind of card. The kind that says "we shut off your power and you have to pay an insane amount of money to have heat and clean laundry" kind of card. Oh well, everything is good now we are definitely glad to be back home for a while. It's been a wild and crazy, exciting and fun kind of month for our family.