Using sister's beach house -she accidentally double booked that week

[Anonymous]

My sister has a house at the Jersey Shore and she is very generous with letting people stay there when she isn't there. My husband and boys always go the weekend after school lets out and stay that following week - her kids are usually still in school for part of that week, so we have the house ourselves and then she comes with her family part way. It's a lot of fun and we look forward to it.

I was speaking with her about it the other day and she suddenly "clicked" the dates and realized she also told 2 of my cousins, who combined have 9 kids (plus their respective spouses, cousins are siblings to each other) that the house was free that week. Personally, I think it would be a ton of fun - a ton of CROWDED fun, but fun. I was raised with a ton of extended family and things like this happened all the time...we just slept on the floors, made do, whatever.

My husband has a combined total of 5 first cousins on both sides. He is unfamiliar with this kind of freewheeling lack of planning, and it's caused fights with us in the past. He will most likely be annoyed that "our week" got impacted, but I think it could be fun. I realize that it's more fun for me since they are my cousins and I know them well (he doesn't), and it will be inconvenient/loud/crowded. How do I pitch it? I want to make the best of it... if it really gets to be too much, we can bail and go to his Dad's for half the week.

Thoughts? Would you be upset? I am not mad at my sister, by the way... she should have written it down, but forgot, but free can't argue, you know??

[Anonymous]

So you are talking about what, 13-15 kids and 8 adults under one roof for a week? Does not sound even a little bit fun, and certainly does not sound relaxing. I would bail completely and plan a different vacation this year.

[Anonymous]

"Great News, Everybody!"

[Anonymous]

How big is the house?

[Anonymous]

11 kids (if all of them come given that, one cousin has "kids" ranging from 14-30 and the other "kids" are 9-19. My kids are 6&8
6 adults.
5 bedrooms, 3 full and 2 half baths plus 2 outdoor showers, FYI

[Anonymous]

Coming from a large family, OP may actually have fun. But I wouldn't go for the sake of DH's sanity. There is no way to pitch this to someone who doesn't see this is fun at all LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My sister has a house at the Jersey Shore and she is very generous with letting people stay there when she isn't there. My husband and boys always go the weekend after school lets out and stay that following week - her kids are usually still in school for part of that week, so we have the house ourselves and then she comes with her family part way. It's a lot of fun and we look forward to it.

I was speaking with her about it the other day and she suddenly "clicked" the dates and realized she also told 2 of my cousins, who combined have 9 kids (plus their respective spouses, cousins are siblings to each other) that the house was free that week. Personally, I think it would be a ton of fun - a ton of CROWDED fun, but fun. I was raised with a ton of extended family and things like this happened all the time...we just slept on the floors, made do, whatever.

My husband has a combined total of 5 first cousins on both sides. He is unfamiliar with this kind of freewheeling lack of planning, and it's caused fights with us in the past. He will most likely be annoyed that "our week" got impacted, but I think it could be fun. I realize that it's more fun for me since they are my cousins and I know them well (he doesn't), and it will be inconvenient/loud/crowded. How do I pitch it? I want to make the best of it... if it really gets to be too much, we can bail and go to his Dad's for half the week.

Thoughts? Would you be upset? I am not mad at my sister, by the way... she should have written it down, but forgot, but free can't argue, you know??

Plan on this. Go for half a week, then head off on your own.

And no, can't get mad over a free vacation house ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11 kids (if all of them come given that, one cousin has "kids" ranging from 14-30 and the other "kids" are 9-19. My kids are 6&8
6 adults.
5 bedrooms, 3 full and 2 half baths plus 2 outdoor showers, FYI

I think you should talk to your cousins ASAP. With just their families it would be crowded, but not completely unmanageable. Adding your 4 makes it way too crowded for my taste. I could handle this for a weekend, maybe.

[Anonymous]

OP here: I don't want to call my cousins yet because they may feel like they are intruding on "my week"and I know that for at least one cousin, they cannot afford to take another vacation somewhere else - where my family and I could, but we like to spend time with family as our vacation. Also, I didn't invite them, my sister did, so she should call them, not me... it's not my place to ask them.

I am liking the idea of half there, half with his Dad. That would mean I wouldn't see my sister, though... rats.(She'd arrive after they all left so the total headcount doesn't change). Maybe we go to his Dad's the first half, when they are there, then go, which would leave maybe 1-2 nights with everyone together. I think we can all "glamp" for one or two nights, right??

[Anonymous]

Can DH bail and go to his dad's on his own while you and kids stay at beach house and hang with cousins? I'm more on the lines of DH - whole thing sounds miserable to me - but if you like it, go for it. Maybe if there's a kid young enough to not care about missing the cousin time they could go with dad so the childcare burden on you isn't too much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11 kids (if all of them come given that, one cousin has "kids" ranging from 14-30 and the other "kids" are 9-19. My kids are 6&8
6 adults.
5 bedrooms, 3 full and 2 half baths plus 2 outdoor showers, FYI

This is almost exactly the configuration of our annual trip to OBX. It's been up to 10 adults plus 11 kids. The kids crash in the basement, the adults each get a room and a bathroom. No biggie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can DH bail and go to his dad's on his own while you and kids stay at beach house and hang with cousins? I'm more on the lines of DH - whole thing sounds miserable to me - but if you like it, go for it. Maybe if there's a kid young enough to not care about missing the cousin time they could go with dad so the childcare burden on you isn't too much?

+1

[Anonymous]

Could dh stay at a hotel and visit during day?

Honestly that sounds like hell to me.

[Anonymous]

11 kids (if all of them come given that, one cousin has "kids" ranging from 14-30 and the other "kids" are 9-19. My kids are 6&8
6 adults.
5 bedrooms, 3 full and 2 half baths plus 2 outdoor showers, FYI


This is almost exactly the configuration of our annual trip to OBX. It's been up to 10 adults plus 11 kids. The kids crash in the basement, the adults each get a room and a bathroom. No biggie.



^^ Except that some of the "kids" here aren't kids who will necessarily crash in a basement with real kids. When I was 30 I expected a room with a bed. Some of these "kids" are using their own vacation time from work for this. They might not be too keen on things getter more cramped.

[Anonymous]

Personally, it sounds super fun to me. Got to keep in mind the husband though, who if he isn't a fan of crowds and lack of planning, may need to go off on his own occasionally.