I'm dd'ing to change my name...

kaylamarcus

It's from the knot and way too identifying, especially with blended family info...

Thanks for the advice on the cruise situation.  I think from the responses, there are just some parents who would be okay with a child that age going that far away for that long without a guardian, and some parents that aren't.  The only thing I totally disagree with is that my dh shouldn't have a say/shouldn't care if it's not during his visitation.  He doesn't interfere with parenting differences at bm's house whatsoever---it's just that this one is really huge and actually requires his 'okay', too.  He is still her dad and still has a great relationship with her even if he doesn't have her the majority of the time, so if something is gonna affect her a lot, he still cares.

Thanks for the input, ladies---I've lurked here a long time and almost all of you are incredibly encouraging and have really inspired me as a new step mom!!!!