Don’t ya just hate it when you are so busy actually doing things that you don’t have time to write about them? (Sarcasm just doesn’t work in type, does it?)
Still haven’t written about the Disney trip. I was waiting to get the photos done. I like having pictures with words . . . maybe it’s reading too many chidren’s books lately. But I have two photo shoots to edit before I can even look at the Disney pictures, let alone shrink them for flickr. But meanwhile days they are a passing.
So . . . we headed to Disneyland last Friday. It’s about a 6 hour car ride from here. I could just say it was a vacation, which is true, and leave it at that. But in honor of our theory that you can learn from anything, here goes. What can one learn somewhere like Disneyland? Lots of life skills: patience, compromise, decision making. Like everything else, it’s all how you approach it. Well patience is required no matter what. Lines, line, crowds, lines. But compromise and decision making require that the kids get choices and opinions. Rather than marching them through the park, going from place to place, we looked at the map. The first day we probably spent half our time walking back and forth because we let them chose which rides and in what order. The next day we explained the idea of doing things in one area and then moving on so that we’d get to more. They still had the choice; we just offered time management options. We pointed out the times of parades and shows. Sometimes mommy and daddy got to pick. Not because we’re the parents and we said so but because we’re also members of the family and we get a turn too.
This is the first trip where we’ve had to split up. Usually all together, but then there were side trips of D with dad (Tower of Terror and Space Mountain) or C and D with one of us while B stayed with the other. Our 6 year old is just as much a daredevil as we dressed him for his first halloween. At 6 there was already nothing too scary. C and D both wanted to try the Tower of Terror while I stood there trying to discuss the linguistic importance of the word ‘Terror’ in the name. Well C survived it but D loved it! They stood in line and talked to a group of teenagers waiting for the ride; they were so amazed that the munchkins did it that they waited at the bottom to talk to them about it. He’s at a cool age: loved anything scary, fast and wild but still really excited to ride Dumbo or Casey, Jr.
C is at the age of believing all of it. While it made the scary stuff really scary, it also made all the magic real. He touched the wall to come away laughing that the goo wasn’t real. He talked to the animated Buzz Lightyear statue and showed him his Buzz hat like it was really truly Buzz. His favorite was the Astro Blasters ride and we rode it again and again and again. And when I say he believed, I mean his face glowed in wonder. How often to the characters in parades that see millions of children put their hands over their hearts and look at your child and then say to you, “How cute!”
B was all about Fantasyland of course: Casey Jr, Dumbo, the Teacups. And over in California Adventure she love the Bug area. I mean, who would want to ride Heimlich’s Choo-Choo instead of the Tower of Terror? A lot of it went over her head but she had fun just because everyone was having fun. She liked the princesses in dress up clothes but didn’t know who they were. No magic quite yet, just a fun place.
Usually when we go somewhere suvineer worthy, we let them pick something or pick a hat or shirt for them. This time we have them each money to spend. B didn’t get them money part, just that she got to pick things until she was told she was done. But the boys got into it. They spent days looking so when they picked it would be just right. That’s learning right there. Decision making, math, finance. I think that will definitely be what we do from now on. Give them X dollars and they can figure out if they want one big thing or few small, a toy or clothing.
So that’s Disney, sort of. Obviously a little more happened. I’ve got to get the photos up and then see what else we have to say.
