At the In-law's for Christmas this year. Its a 5 hour flight there. Its high altitude and dry as fuck, they have dogs and despite having dogs growing up I think I've developed an allergy to their dander or something. Between the sneezing and dry air my noes has been clotting the whole time. We're here for basically 1.5 weeks, staying in their very nice house. We have our own room, so do the kids, and our own bathroom. The trip has been a huge shock to both the kids and my routine, which has made us more irritable. The In-laws have had to work for most of the time, and it's been bumming my oldest out somewhat because she wants to spend time with grandma. When they are around grandma does pack the time with the kids. Even I'd it's just baking cookies (which my oldest loves to do). Grandpa, however, is you're typical man. He loves the kids, he's great with them, but he's mostly just hanging out in the couche playing phone games. He didn't even get my mother-in-law a Christmas gift, which is apparently typically. "I've given up in it." She told my wife.

While our routines have been totally fucked, it's like theirs can't be budged. They get cranky of they can't watch the local evening news and the nightly news. The news is so depressing and we never watch it at home. I had to deflect a lot of questions about "what's happening on the TV dada?".

Their house is so wildly hostile to kids too. Like zero consideration to what should and shouldn't be within reach. I have moved a handful of things thus far that could really break or fall in them and hurt them. They have a long staircase to the finished basement that we're blocking off with a large slab of cardboard to keep the youngest from yeeting himself down the stairs.

When we arrived grandma picked us up in this unreal Ford F series extended cab truck, but didn't have the car seats properly installed (this is the second time this has happened). She said she couldn't figure them out, and then tried to tell us "I don't think this truck can take car seats". I started to lose it a little when she said that, because it's clearly bullshit. I asked if she had the manuals, and she didn't. So I figured it out best I could. It's only the most important thing they needed to do. We also told them what car seats to get. We invested in car seats that should last us 10 years and grow with the kids. They swivel to make getting them out easy and to go from back facing to front facing. They're also really easy to install. They bought the cheapest car seats, two different kinds. One, the cup holders keep falling out. Found out it's because you have to screw them in from the underside. Contrast that with their brand new EV and this new truck that has to cost like $90k their new solar with a Tesla power wall, and their home that has appreciated to over 1mill and I'm just enraged by this car seat thing. I can tolerate so much, but this is beyond the pale for me. Its so fucking important.

And they are incredibly accomplished people. They do all their own renovations within reason. They are uncomfortably generous all the time. They helped us with home renovations that made our house a home. They pay for almost everything when we see them.

Me and my wife always end up going on little rants about her parents behavior. Its just so baffling. There is so much more I could say.

At my parents house, it's like they understand that it's their turn to have eyes on the kids. If my kids wanted to go out side and play in the yard, both my parents jump to take them outside. They are always getting up to see where our youngest is wondering off to. We always feel like we can just relax when were there. That hasn't been the case here.

Don't get it twisted, the kids are having a great time, and this is just a vent post. We've done a lot if cool and fun stuff. It's just also not been very relaxing.