School vs leaving..

Jessie loves soccer.

Down to business:

My employer is a big enough company that it can have policies which blatantly thwart what the people doing the work are trying to do. Case in point: Now they tell me that the official program of "Intercompany Transfer" can only start in June. But for project reasons, they want me there in March.

The main decision for us is whether we take the kids out of school in March and all go together or I go by myself for a spell.

My options are:

1. Go in March by myself on 'business trip' status, live in a hotel for the 3 months, then the family joins me in June, after school is over.
2. Everyone goes in March. We ALL live in a hotel until June, when I could officially become an employee of the Japanese company, get into a house, etc.

So do we leave the kids in school here in KY? Or keep the family together?

Unclear points include:

• Under option 1: If I'm over there by myself, how often would I be able to come back to visit in KY. I'd like to return to KY for 1 week out of 4, but my request has met with silence. It's still a lame set up, to be gone for 3 weeks in a row out of 4 for 3 months straight, but it could be done.
• Kathleen's brother Daniel has rumored wedding plans for this summer. Clearly we'd like to attend. June? July? (Note: Expect headlines about heck freezing over around that time.)
• I'd sure like to be back to KY for the derby. Having been to 10 straight dating back to 1996, I wouldn't want to miss one.

So really, the idea is to make the fuzzy 'business trip' thing work for me from March to June. Set myself (or the whole family) up in a way that suits us best. Get to the wedding, get to the derby, etc. If I go in March, leaving wife and kids behind for 3 months, the official transfer policy wouldn't allow me frequent trips back. However, I can try to twist arms to allow me to return periodically, since it's just business trip and my group is paying, not the Japanese parent company.

And maybe I can spend some time learning how to drive on the left side of the road before the kids get there. I'd prefer not to risk all of our lives during my learning period.