First let me say that I totally understand that DH did not have the means or the time to take SS on vacations or day trips. We live in CA and it is about an hour to the forest, mountains, beach, snow, etc and there are tons and tons of places to go and things to see.

We are on our first official family vacation in a hotel (lol). Last year we only did camping trips in the summer (ss's first time). All SS could say before we left was how excited he was and how he couldn't wait to get to the hotel. We spent yesterday at the beach and hotel pool. SS was in heaven. My kids wet having a great time, but between me and their father, they are always going places and doing things. It made me realize how lucky they've been.

They have two families that love them and want what's best for them. SS has a mother who abandoned him before he was 5 and rated fine for 7 years while DH really struggled.

Now on to how odd SS is...

He wore a beanie to the beach
He wore all his clothes, including his beanie into the water
He pulls his swim trunks up over his belly button.
He I dressed in his favorite outfit (the one he wears just about every day) which consists of: skinny jeans, a colored t shirt, a plaid button up shirt and... You guessed it, a matching beanie.
He had to run back into the hotel tool to get his necklace.
Did I mention it is about 80 degrees already and he's overweight.