avalon451
Errrr... what?
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2008
Welcome to my trip report! Many of you were there for me last March, when my family took our very first trip to Disneyland. That's right, none of us, including DH and I, both in our 40's, had ever been to any of the Disney properties. Needless to say, we were so excited to finally go, and to share the wonder with our three darling daughters-- aged 12, 10 and 5 at that time. However, while waiting for our flight at the airport, DD12 said, "Mom, I don't feel so good."
And it only got worse from there. Tuesday, our first full day at the parks, when I woke everybody up for Magic Morning, DD12 got out of bed, ran for the bathroom, and threw up. She perked up later in the morning and came to the parks with Dad. Then wilted again in the afternoon. Every day, she woke up a little worse, perked up, and wilted faster. By the time we got home on Friday, she was quite ill, and narrowly missed being hospitalized for dehydration due to some random virus.
DD12 was miserable. She thought she's "ruined" the vacation for everybody. She felt bad for holding us back, she felt bad for "wasted money" and she was sad to have missed so much of the parks. We made the best of it that we could, but when we got home I posted miserably on the boards that I was so disappointed and upset. You all were so supportive, and the thing I heard over and over was, "Well, you can just start planning another trip!" I hadn't even thought it possible. This trip was so long in making, and I have never thought in terms of DL being a frequent destination for us. I figured this would be our once-in-a-lifetime trip. But you all got me thinking. I had my own little cache of personal mad-money that I earned working part-time last year. I had enough left over that I could finance a trip for two, if I budgeted carefully. DH was extraordinarily supportive. "You tell me when, I'll take that week off." So, the "Mom-Daughter Do Over" trip was born! With all the tips I've learned on these boards, we've put together 5 days of a fabulous trip in which BOTH of us are intending to see and do all those things we missed the first time-- DD because she was curled up in a bunkbed in GCH with a fever and nausea; me because I was sitting in the hotel room with her, worrying my head off.
So, the CAST:
Me, Gail, age 44.
I've been a stay-at-home mom since my oldest was born in 1995. Before children I was a secondary school English teacher, having substitute-taught for a year in our local district, then taught 6-8th grades at our church's Christian day school. Last year and again this year, I've been teaching morning Kindergarten at the same school, where my own three kids are all now attending. I have a master's degree in Medieval literature, which really helps out with those Kindergarten lesson plans, let me tell you.
DD13, Liz.
She is the typical eldest child in so many ways. She is very responsible and conscientious. She is beautiful, and at the same time, all elbows and knees and adolescent acne. She is hypercritical of herself and sensitive. Part of this is due to the ravages of adolescence. 13 is a tough age for everybody, including those living with the 13-y.o. Liz is very smart, technically minded (if the computer is down, we send her to fix it), and also artistically gifted. She loves to draw and spends time daily in her drawing. She's especially good at Anime and Manga styles. She is adventurous and very independent-minded; not one to go along with the crowd. While she is currently going through periods of extreme "too-cool-for-you"-ness, she frequently reverts to her true sweet and perky nature, and has been known to throw her arms around me and say, "I'm so lucky to have you for a mom!"
Supporting cast: DH, 47 and my real-life knight in shining armor.
He is an engineering supervisor for Boeing and has worked there for 24 years. We've been together for 23 years, and married for 19. DH has never been the Romeo-type, with sweet words and sentimental gestures, but he shows his devotion in the way that he SPOILS us rotten. Me, and his three daughters. He works hard and slays the corporate dragons for us daily. He is taking an entire week of work off during our Fall break from school, so that while Liz and I go on our little jaunt, he can hang with our younger two....
DD10, crazy/beautiful/graceful/girl/woman.
She matured early and just passed me in height (I'm 5'4"). She has a wickedly funny sense of humor and is the butterfly, constantly flitting and pirouetting, acting weird, hugging randomly. While DD13 is awkward and coltish, and tends to clomp rather than walk, DD10 has this scarily innate grace of movement and gesture, making her always seem older than her years.
...and DD6.
Youngest, diva, sweet and mischievous with an impish gleam in her eye. Pesters her big sisters to distraction. Her favorite color is still purple, she still loves to dress up. The look of wonder in her eyes while we were at DL in March was one of my favorite memories from that trip.
Tellingly, the two younger daughters were absolutely cool with this whole thing. I was amazed and gratified as both of them have diffidently stated, separately and together, "Oh, yeah, you should totally take Liz again. She missed so much while we had fun. We will have a blast doing fun stuff with Dad while you're gone."
Makes me cry! They are so unselfish! DD6 added, "Just bring me back one of those Stitch hats that look like he's eating your head!" I will miss DH and younger DDs very much, and wish they could be there, too. That said, I'm so looking forward to this special time with my teenager. I'm so blessed to have a kid that still talks to me, seems to enjoy being around me, and is as enthusiastic as I am about this trip! We like the same kinds of things, and we will be able to do the "big stuff" without worrying about wearing out the littler ones. We can go, go, go from morning to night if we want!
THE PLAN:
Sunday, October 12th-Thursday October 16th. We fly in to SNA via Alaska Airlines around 1-ish. We are taking Super Shuttle to Howard Johnsons, where Lorealle has us booked into a top floor NQQ1 room at the fabulous Entertainment rate of $74 a night.
We have 5-day parkhoppers, acquired through GetAwayToday, which come with 2 Magic Mornings. We got them back when the "podcast" discount code still worked, so for the same price as DL travel, we have 2 MMs instead of just one.
We will hang in the parks on Sunday afternoon and do some things we missed, like see the parade, ride the DL railroad, and take pictures by the Mickey Floral. We have PSs at Cafe Orleans for dinner. Then fireworks and at least one ride on Liz's favorite, Space Mountain!
Three full days in the parks, Mon-Wed. Thursday morning we will hit MM, and ride all our favorites again, before an early lunch at BB. Super Shuttle picks us up about 3:30 from HoJo, and our flight leaves around 6 p.m., putting us back in Seattle about 8:45.
That's the general plan! Now that I've put you all to sleep, I will go away for awhile, and gather some pictures of us and our preparations. We are ready for an adventure!
We're going to try and go next summer too! 
That delusion lasts all of about 10 minutes. Sometimes I'm pretty sure that we have awesome kids IN SPITE of ourselves. 
Other times they do something pretty obnoxious and you think fleetingly of disowning them. 
"But, Mom, they're like, a classic!"
I don't know where the time has gone, but what I do understand is the challenges we face entering the teen-age years with our kids. To maintain the closeness we have built, to firmly keep them on a safe and productive path, to support their budding dreams (which of course, we cannot possibly understand! Jeez, Mom!), and to keep a sense of balance and discipline, all the while dispersing sympathy and compassion for the awkward and trying time they are going through without it turning into World War III...
It's amazing, truly. And I, like you, have really good kids! It is still tough.
I like it
) but when we go there he's my boy again, even since he's been 17.
)
-Conjunction junction what's your FUNCtion?? -
