Hi Southernsummer, Thanks very much for your practical advice. I tend to agree with the idea of waiting it out until they approach you. Yes, and trying to draw them in (to get close to me), might instigate feelings of disloyalty. So I will wait it out - it is the most prudent. We will not start to combine families -- my GF and I discussed the imprudence in that -- the writing is on the wall: my daughter is very close to me and demands a lot of attention, and she sees my GF as competing for that attention, hence, we would not combine families now. I am trying to avoid them spending time together -- though sometimes it is hard. What usually happens is the 3 of them (SS, my son and daughter) play nice together, often to the exclusion of the SD who is the bitterest. I don't find the atmosphere healthy, hence I avoid it as much as possible. My GF suggested we go on Disney vacation over the summer -- it is appealing, so long as we all stay in separate hotel rooms -- but I still wonder if it is ok ( my kids do not seem ok with it, mainly because they think her kids are either cold or mean to them). But starting next academic year, we might move closer to the same school district so we can be closer and support each other. But yes, time and patience is the key. Thanks again !! Pintonala

If I had my way, I would stay onsite at Disney because you get extra magic hours which enables disney resort guests to enter early and leave later. We have stayed at pop century resorts before but they are very basic. Cinder block walls and small rooms but excellent pools. But if your budget is thin, do not hesitate to stay in Kissimmee somewhere. It is a close ride to the disney property. And there are many nice hotels. And you don't have to pay to stay for disney restaurants. Disney meal plan would not have been cost effective for us because our 2 kids (6 and 9) are not big eaters at all. And since it was hot NO one wanted to eat much. And food in the parks can be expensive. Stick to the counter service meals if you want to save. We just got back (early June) and it rained for short violent periods 4 of the 7 days we were there as it is getting to be hurricane season. Mid to upper 90s daily and superhumid. We anticipated this and brought our own raincoats. Although the plus is, in the summer, magic kingdom is open later til 11 and we took advantage of doing is at night. We took advantage of the pools during the day. Daytime in the magic kingdom it was just way too crowded to even navigate. We rode more rides from 5pm until 11pm than we would have if we came during the day when the waits are an hour plus. AND you can stay out of the heat. Other parks are different shorter hours though. And if you get your disney tickets through AAA club, we got a special diamond parking pass which enables you to park right up front. A bonus. We drove, we decided airfare was too expensive and we did not want the expense of renting a car. There are disney specific forums on the web that will help you also. Although be forwarned, even if you go basic and budget minded, it can still be expensive as your kids will want to buy everything in those shops there.

We just got our tickets yesterday for flying to France in May. However, we are using frequent flier miles and we have to do that quickly as there is a limited number of seats. When will prices change? That always depends upon the rate at which seats are selling out for different routes. It's like trying to win the lottery to figure out when airlines will put tickets on sale unless you know it's seasonal. For example, from here, we can count on winter flights to Europe to drop below $400. However, after May 15th, they will be hard to find for less than $1,000. May 15th seems to be the magic date when the airlines consider the "summer season" to start up and flights to sell out. If you are flying before May 15th, you might get a better deal in January. However, if you are flying after May 15th, it's less likely the fares will drop much. Don't hold me to this as there just aren't any guarantees! There can be a big difference on the DAY of the week that you choose for flying. For business locations (like NYC, Chicago, etc.) the weekday prices will be high due to business fliers and lower on weekends. To vacation areas, Tuesday and Wednesday will be cheaper than flying on weekends. We use the linked site to get a big picture of the prices, but we always end up going directly to the airline to purchase tickets. Hope this helps. Here is a link that might be useful: compare tickets

Yeah? I hope you don't equate doing consumer price comparisons on the internet with addressing medical and health concerns, that an understanding of which is usually not possible for the general public. And regarding medical stuff, a problem is that most people consistently will misunderstand both the information they find and misunderstand the authority and credibility of the sources they're reading. The danger is the failure to get competent medical care when it's needed. If you have a potential medical issue or problem, see an MD. If you're looking to buy a toaster, do a search. And for those doing price searches, hopefully you can understand the difference between legit sources (like AAA, a good example or TripAdvisor or others) versus the shady types. Many don't.