Home from Vacay

We made it home from another 4th of July trip to Montana. I always have mixed feelings about this trip. It's my step-dad's family and he's never been too fond of me. It seems like two camps form each year. One includes me, my two girl cousins and my aunt. My step-dad doesn't seem to like any of us and since he is the undisputed king-of-the-family, we are on the outs. My boy cousins and my grandma all worship step-daddy, and so they hang out with him the whole time and listen to his stories and roll their eyes whenever one of us "others" dare to speak.

To add to the general angst, my sister and her boyfriend came this year also. She is, of course, a step-daddy worshiper and her boyfriend is a giant butt-kisser. It gets pretty annoying. She tried to hang out with me and my girl cousins, but then when we said less-than-wonderful things about SD, she got very defensive.

Also, in the middle of the trip I found out that my mom gave my sister her wedding photos. That is, the pictures from my mom's first wedding with our biological father. This made me insane for a number of reasons. Mostly because my sister doesn't like our real dad at all. Why would she even want those pictures? She spends hardly any time with him when he comes out, meanwhile he spends about two weeks a year at my house, where I cater to him and spend 24 hours a day with him which isn't easy. Also, she has no children of her own and doesn't want any. They just seems like something that should be there for the grandkids to enjoy, rather to just sit in her apartment.

Once I got over being furious, I did have a pretty productive talk with my mom. I told her that I was pretty upset. She apologized and said that my sister had come over one day and was going through pictures and had asked if she could take them home and that my mom had said yes without really thinking about it. She said that she didn't really feel like they belong to my sister or anything and that she feels that they would really mean more to me than to my sister. I asked her to please talk to me first if my sister asked to take anything else from the house that really belongs to both of us and she said that she certainly would.

I know that I should talk to my sister too but frankly, I'm all sister-ed out after the trip. When I spend too much time with her, I see how nuts she is and I need a definite break.

OK, enough! On the positive side, DH decided that he would keep track of the money during this trip! I was feeling pretty discouraged after July's budget was so tight and also after we had to pay for a night at Flathead Lake even though we didn't stay there, because they have a seven day cancellation policy. I was so greatful to him for taking the burden on. He did a great job! Here is how he broke it down:

$2,400.00 This is the amount that we have saved for this trip and Chelan next month.
-151.30 Flathead Lake, the room we cancelled too late. Blech!
-603.75 Cash, this covered all our food and beverages, plus boarding the dog.
-668.66 Hotel rooms
-174.51 Gas
________
801.78 This is what we have left to spend at Chelan. It's not enough. Our hotel alone with be just under $1,000. We'll have to find the remaining in next month's budget. Discouraged all over again.