...and it is my turn...when?

...so, DW is now off on her third conference in which, the boys and I get to stay at home. She is 'roughing it' in the Colorado Mtns...http://keystone.snow.com/mountaincams.asp at an AOA conference for the Colorado Osteopathic society.

She had to go and get the required CME credits, but please....on Monday night, she is going on a sleigh ride, pulled by draft horses to a secluded cabin in the resort, fed a magnificent meal, FREE DRINKS, and hot chocolate....how romantic that I get to spend that occasion with her, in my mind ...while I keep keeping on... :disappointed:

There are other things as well, free lift tickets for the night ski among other things....

Oh well...it is only a week, right?

..it sucks.... Ok, I am done crying about it....bring on the week long "When is Mom coming home?" tirade.

Yup, that stinks, Matt. I wish you could have all gone together.

There is a BIG difference between work obligations where they WORK versus play, IMO. That one always gets to me and you have my sympathy.

I hope your week passes really quickly!

[SueC]

Matt, I feel for you!
As I type this, my dh is on a plane returning from a ski trip to Vail. I'm the skier in the family, and yet he just spent a couple of days going to a resort that I've never been too (due to the price!).

Yep, Dh got to go to Broadway shows, a baseball game and out to eat at some resturant so exclusive it didn't even have a sign on the door for his dept at the bank while I dealt with a teething baby one time.

At least he snuck me into the ritzy golf resort for an Aperture conference in Scottsdale one time.

[Rapunzel]

I'm assuming these are outings paid for by drug reps? Or are they medical conferences where some dork has decided spouses cannot attend?

My husband doesn't get the drug rep "perks" anymore. However, the new "rules of ethics" regarding excluding spouses from events began during my husband's internal medicine transitional year. Midway through the year when the drug reps started excluding spouses my husband STOPPED going to the dinners, trips, etc. I cannot fathom my husband telling me he's going on a super-fun trip or to a nice dinner where I am intentionally excluded.

Same goes for conferences. He will not attend a conference where I am intentionally excluded - period. If his wife is not "allowed" he will not attend. His program has not had any type of spouse-excluding required events to-date. If they did, believe me, he'd raise a huge stink. And, I have a feeling that if any of the major radiology conferences excluded spouses they'd have almost zero attendance....

Such "fun trips/nice dinners concealed as a work-related activity" functions seem to intentionally drive a wedge between spouses and are ethically questionable. :nono:

[DCJenn]

I don't think it's that spouses can't attend, it's more the reality that they CAN'T attend. Rick is going to San Diego in April- I'd love to go, I'm more than welcome in fact. But- financially and mentally, it's just not going to happen. In order for me to go- Nikolai has to be watched by someone, or I take a toddler to a strange city, where we know no one and have no activities. I thought about leaving him with my parents, but they're watching him while we move. I thought about taking him. Not a chance of a good time for him or me- hotels aren't the place for fun times when you're two. So, Rick goes and lounges poolside. and I stay here with the house, the dog, the cats and the kid.

Matt- I feel your pain...

Jenn

[Rapunzel]

Oh, OK, if it's just the fact that there are babies/toddlers and noone around to watch them for a weekend then I understand....

It's the intentionally excluding ones that boil my blood.

Oh yes -- my assumption is that time/money/childcare issues are limiting factors.

[Gwendolyn]

Poo! I am sorry Matt. Hopefully the week will go by quickly. As I am sure you know, she will miss you terribly the whole time. What fun is a sleigh ride without your hubby anyways?!?

We would have gone as a family if it was possible, it just sucks that it wasn't. School is the main cause, I have classes all week, as does son#1.
The reason for the trip was she needs the CME credits for the AOA, it works out that she can get those credits and get some Peds stuff too. It just happens to be in a beautiful place, luckily the military reimburses for these things....except the sleigh ride, the Colorado Osteopathic Assoc puts that together, I am sure that it is $45 well spent though....as long as she brings home some pretty pictures!

[fluffhead]

Matt,
I feel for you. DW will be in beautiful Sandy Eggo for a full week in April (friday through friday). We were going to make it a family vacation, but I have to teach, so there goes that idea. Tough being home alone with the kids for that long, but just think that she's probably having a tough time being away for that long too. (though I won't be saying that come april, I'm sure)
Jenn, he's going to AAN? DW got the scholarship, so she has to go to that stupid luncheon, otherwise she could go for shorter.

[DCJenn]

Fluff-

He's going from Friday to Friday as well. Yay! Lucky us. I'll see you online. and BTW, if she hasn't booked her rooms, the Marriott and the Hyatt are all sold out- I got him a room at the downtown Holiday Inn. (a mere 200 bucks a night, as opposed to the Wyndham at $450/nt....the Army only covers 190/nt)

Jenn

[Malpka]

DH will be in Palm Springs for a week next month, while I do the single-parenting gig
We just don't have the money or the childcare resources needed for me to make the trip. Even if we did have someone to watch the kids, DD is still breastfeeding and still wakes in the night. Sigh.

Sorry you are stuck for the week- hope it goes quickly!

[SueC]

I go sometimes and sometimes I don't, depends on whether the kids have school, whether or not we can afford it, etc. My dh has only gone to a few conferences where a drug rep payed the way, usually it is his department, which certainly isn't going to foot the bill for the kids and I. Also, often times, I would rather stay home then lug the kids around a strange town by myself while dh is at meetings.
DH's ski trip was an annual guys trip, and maybe I should be worked up that I wasn't invited but I really don't care. I'm glad he got to get out, he wasn't invited when I went to Colorado with my sisters last Fall, either.

[mommax3]

I'm sorry, Matt, and I bet Gretchen isn't having near as good a time because she too is wishing you were there. I have been on both ends of this one, but it has been a long time since DH has taken ANY trips, with or without me. The last one was a board review course in Chicago, almost three years ago. We were living in TX at the time, so we drove to my hometown, (2 hrs. south of Chicago) left the boys with my mom, and then spent a week in the Windy City. It was awesome and mostly paid for by the military.....but wouldn't have been possible without childcare. Ditto for the trip I got to take with DH to Hawaii.....a military medical meeting (and we stayed a few days extra) so all we paid for was my plane ticket and the extra days in the hotel. Again, though, without childcare (provided by my MIL that time) it wouldn't have been possible.

Matt.....if Gretchen ever has a meeting in Indianapolis (tourist mecca that it is.... ) you come and I will watch your boys! Doesn't that make you feel better?

Hang in there.

Sally