I recently discovered that we have flight points that are about to expire which will cover a large portion of flights somewhere in North America and I can also use points to pay for a hotel. Upon such a discovery, some people, like me, think Yay!! We can do something fun!! Some people, like Mr. MPB think, Just let the points expire. What’s the point on having some fun? Fun is overrated. Okay, okay, maybe that’s not exactly what he thinks. He probably actually thinks, free flights doesn’t mean a free trip.

Anyways, this is very classic of Mr. MPB and I. I come up with fun ideas and then find ways to make them happen, slowing working on Mr. MPB until he eventually agrees to my fun idea. (And for the record as soon as we are experiencing said fun idea, he always says This was a great idea! I’m glad you convinced me to do it!) As for Mr. MPB, he instantly thinks about the practicalities of my fun ideas, like money and time away from work. I honestly just don’t worry too much about that stuff and I am a firm believer that we work hard so we should be able to spend some of our money to play too. And honestly, it always seems to work it’s self out which I do acknowledge is in part because Mr. MPB is responsible and prevents me from going completely crazy.

As for this particular fun idea, I want to go to Disneyland, because how much fun would Disneyland be with an almost 3 year old?! Mr. MPB wants to stay home and not spend a penny.  Or maybe go somewhere like Saskatchewan – not because Saskatchewan is particularly fun, but because there is virtually nothing to do there and therefore there is no way to spend too much money.  I jest….sort of.

Like normal, I’m hell-bent on my idea and Mr. MPB is frustrated with me.

In fact, Mr. MPB is so against my idea, he actually asked me to share my idea here and specifically ask if Little MPB is old enough to enjoy a trip to Disneyland or if we should wait until he’s 4 or 5.

But, I no longer need to ask this question.  You see, we’ve agreed to something all on our own, sort of like real adults.

After a bit of arguing/discussing, Mr. MPB finally just stopped saying no to my idea, but actually asked me to consider another idea.  He suggested re-doing last years trip to Hawaii.  He suggested going to the exact same island (Maui) and even staying at the exact same condo complex – we know just how perfect it was for Little MPB and how much fun we all had.  Once Hawaii was part of the discussion we also decided to consider Honolulu because some family is going and it could be fun to meet up with them.

So, in order to make the decision he asked me to price out all the trips., and I asked him to actually read about 3 year-old kids at Disneyland.

I built a spreadsheet which compared our three options – including using our free points and paying for extra’s like Disneyland park entrances, food and little souvenirs, accommodations, etc.  Disneyland will actually be cheaper then Hawaii because we can use points for the flights and hotel, even though we’d have to eat our for most meals and pay for the park entrances.  Honolulu and Maui will be very close in price, but distinctly more expensive then Disneyland because we can only use points for the hotel and not for our accommodations, and Hawaii accommodations are rather expensive.

In the end, with all the facts on the table, came to a pretty solid agreement:

• Honolulu.  We’ve been before so we know exactly what to expect – a giant urban city on a very busy beach. While it would be nice to spend some time with family who would be there.  But, the destination just isn’t what we want.  And the dates the other family is going aren’t ideal for us.
• Disneyland.  I want to go now.  Mr. MPB is still completely adamant that Disneyland will be better in another year.  And, as much as I don’t want to wait, I know it wont kill me to wait another year.  Let’s be honest, I’m fairly confident Disneyland will still be there in another year.
• Maui.  Last year’s trip was the absolutely best family trip we’ve ever been on.  The condo complex was perfect for Little MPB.  We have made a point to never go to the same place twice, but this place, it was just so perfect for us.

So, it looks like we are going to use some points and go to Maui.  My compromise is putting Disneyland off for another year.  Mr. MPB’s compromise is spending more money then he’d really like to.

Mr. MPB and I can both be pretty strong willed, so it’s nice that we were able to work out a compromise together.  And, probably even more importantly we realize just how fortunate we are to have this problem – we both realize how fortunate we are to be able to disagree over which warm winter family vacation to book.

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