Well, we made the trip across the united states to get my ss's for summer visitation and we are now home. All went relativly well with BM, except that she tried to give us directions to get out of town quicker and she wrote them ass backwards and she didn't even help the boys pack their suitcases. The boys, 11 and 9 packed all by themselves, which amounted to them having 47 pairs of underwear, 3 pair of shorts and 4 shirts for all summer, no pants, sweatshirts or anything. What is her deal? Not really a big deal anyways, we always have stuff for them here.

Ss's just told us BM is taking them to Florida to Disney World towards the end of summer. My question and everyone else's question is simply, if she is going to Florida, why can't she pick up the kids here, it is on the way, or at least not too far out of the way. She won't do it as she thinks it is our responsibility to transport back and forth and she knows we don't have the money to fight her on this. I have had lawyers tell me to get the kids here and then call her and tell her if she wants them back, she needs to make arrangements to get them home, at her expense. This would be fine and dandy, but then we won't get them again, that I am sure of. She is such a BM and I don't mean Biological Mother!!!!

But, all in all, this visit with the boys has been good so far. They still tell us disturbing stories of their lives with their mother, step-father, molesting older brother and new baby sister. I am trying to get a counselor to speak with them so they can tell someone that matters all the bad things that go on while with thier mother, but everyone keeps telling me they won't see them without BM's consent as she has full custody. (In the state where we had the custody battle, the only way to get joint custody is if the custodial parent will agree to it) Ss's keep talking about when they turn 12 they will tell the judge they want to live with us. I tried to explain to them that that's not quite how it works, but who knows, if i am able to get someone to talk to them, maybe the judge will realize what is in their best interests.

They are adjusting well, it usually takes a few weeks to "remember" our rules, there have been a lot of fights, even fist fights and I don't tolerate such behavior, but apparently it is acceptable at BM's. I am very glad to have them, even if it is one time per year. She has called them one time and we've had them for 3 weeks plus. She is posting on her myspace all these fun things she is doing, things she won't take the boys to do, even simple things like fishing. She never takes the boys fishing, she waits until they are gone to do these things. She got rid of her oldest son for the summer so that leaves her "perfect" family of her, her husband and their daughter. But, WE do lots of fun things with our kids, even if it's playing in the rain, in the mud puddles. I am not sure where this post is going, i just started out to update on us and my fingers went buck wild typing.

Bottom line I guess is, at least one time a year, as short as the time is, my step son's have a chance to live in a warm, caring, loving FAMILY environment and the memories they make with us are the one's they are going to remember the most, not what BM buys them to keep them out of her way.