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My in-laws live in an RV they drive all over the place. We have to go to them, because there are no RV parks near us. The last several times we have visited, we are expected to bring and prepare all our meals, and theirs too, because my husband's stepmother never plans ahead. We'll roll in at 5:30 after a long drive and she hasn't even gone to the grocery store. I always bring plenty because I know it's coming.
We visited last month, and it rained most of the time. Nine people stuck in an RV with seating for seven while half-deaf Dad blasted Fox News for two days. Super fun.
Funny, I grew up in a small (<500) town and my parents lived there until they died. Yet we never lacked for things to do. I visited every chance I could after I was on my own, though work and distance made that harder. Still miss visiting them.
In laws on the other hand, even my wife minimizes visits. It's like we're a stranger in their house. Even when we do visit, they, esp FIL, act as if we aren't even there. Even our kids don't care to visit Grandmother and Grandfather (they insist on the formality, he doesn't like "granddad or grandpa." Everyone is tense and stressed, esp when it's a holiday visit.
Same here. Still love going to visit or just look around at the small south texas towns my family lived in years ago. Some are almost ghost towns, but we still find them fascinating. And yes we do visit with family and we just talk and talk and talk.
The good thing is that these towns are located in what was or is the gas and oil drilling boom, so plenty of new hotels to stay in. No need to intrude on family.
My parents don't go out much. My mom made a point of telling us this and that we would have to do that on our own. So when we visited them we thought we would come and go as we pleased but arrived to find mom had planned out every single day for us with other people coming to visit. This was always at an inconvenient time in the middle of the day making it very hard to plan anything else around these visits. They live more than 30 miles from a metro that has anything else or any friends I wanted to see. I saw her friends and mostly family I don't know well or at all. People that were expecting to meet or see us so we had to stay. I had not been there in a very long time and wanted to see my old friends and didn't get to. I think this was her way of entertaining us, but on her terms. It wasn't a very fun visit.
I haven't been back in 10 years and it will stay that way .
My husbands family consists of his dad , 2 drunk brothers in their 40's and 50's who never married and my husbands married ex wife who is there within 5 minutes of our plane landing in Holland from the states . His kids 27-30 either don't visit him or take whatever loose cash we have and we don't see them again . We have finally decided not to go back there either .. and it was HIS decision .
Yes, they feel as long as we are all sitting there looking at each other it is a good time.
Last visit to my my mother, who wouldn't stop her incessant napping/escaping to her bed, even for my visit of 2.5 days, I told her it's not right for her to do this while I'm visiting (I only visit twice a year), and reminded her that her memory/neurologist doctor told her to stop with all the naps. She said, "you should feel entertained just looking at me." Her sister told her it was rude to do that while I was in town. She normally listens to her sister who is "the alpha", but not on this issue.
You can't make someone care when they just don't, and her desire to escape into oblivion through napping has been a very longstanding habit going back decades.
This is the disadvantage of living far away. We all want to see our parents or children, but a few hours at a time, not a few days at a time.
We live in a mild climate, which is on the way to FL. We enjoy short visits from friends and family who come for a few nights. We especially like when they go sightseeing on their own and then tell us about their day. We have tired of chauffeuring folks around to places we've been to many times. We also like guests to take us out for dinner once. After 3 nights, all the news has been shared, and we are ready to get back to our regular routine.
My in-laws live in an RV they drive all over the place. We have to go to them, because there are no RV parks near us. The last several times we have visited, we are expected to bring and prepare all our meals, and theirs too, because my husband's stepmother never plans ahead. We'll roll in at 5:30 after a long drive and she hasn't even gone to the grocery store. I always bring plenty because I know it's coming.
We visited last month, and it rained most of the time. Nine people stuck in an RV with seating for seven while half-deaf Dad blasted Fox News for two days. Super fun.
Oh my god, I just had to laugh. It sounds so horrible. If I'm expecting company, I make lists for a week, and have all the meals planned. I cannot imagine anyone being such an awful host.
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Her sister told her it was rude to do that while I was in town. She normally listens to her sister who is "the alpha", but not on this issue.
