Been on vacation a week. Ahhhh…so great. As involved as it was to fly, so nice to be here. Not necessarily because it’s Florida. In my humble opinion, the only thing this state really has to offer is pretty consistent sunshine and Mickey. Other than those two unique pieces, Orlando is lot of strip malls, chain restaurants, flat treeless terrain, and freeways. But the sun and Disney factor meet the needs of all members of our family, hence a good vaca spot.
Took us a week to actually do a park. For the record, we can only really afford to do a park because half of our family is still free (Alice and the twins). We keep saying to each other that in another year or two, a vacation like this will be out (tickets for planes and Disney parks for all six of us? Uh, I think not).
Our week of pre-park fun included a Costco trip or two, Target stock up, and a lot of swim time at the pool (which is probably my kids favorite honestly). There’s a playground here, sandpit, and some really weird looking ducks, all of which the kids love. Very nice to have some R and R. Obviously not true true R and R because our kids are still up by 7:00am, but we will take what we can get.
So back to the two pieces if Florida we really appreciate: First, sunshine. Today is 80. We have had a few 60-degree days. Still fabulous. We laughed because on one of those “cooler” days we saw a Florida-ite wearing a coat, long pants, and a stocking cap. A stocking cap!! 60s is shorts and flip-flops weather when you’re from Oregon. The sun has been super therapeutic for me. Seeing as I was in the hospital all of the sunny months last year (July, August, and September), this is the first sun I have really seen in over a year. Gotta love living in the NW. Sun in January, what a concept.
We did even drive to the ocean one day—to Cocoa Beach. I was apprehensive to pack up our kids and snacks and stuff for a day trip (sounds like a lot of work for vacation!) but we had a great day. A beach in the winter that is not stormy and freezing like the Oregon coast, also a beautiful thing (not that I really want to put on a swimsuit after four kids, but that’s a whole different story). Sam and Jon jumped waves for over an hour. Warms my heart. Alice did get massive amounts of sand in her diaper (not so warm and fuzzy).
And then of course, the other reason we came to Florida—Mickey lives here.
Let me just start by saying Walt Disney was a flippin’ genius. How someone created a 47 sq. mi commercial is beyond me (that’s twice the size of Manahattan). It’s so big, and so wonderful even though it’s really all a brilliant ginormous merchandising scheme. Come to a place that celebrates all of the crap they’ve created and somehow makes you want to buy more. Leading up to this trip we’ve been watching all sorts of Disney movies so as to enhance the experience. Seriously, we’re suckers. But Disney has done such a fantastic job of doing it so well that you can’t help but feel the magic and buy wanna buy a lot of crap you don’t need. I seriously considered paying $49.95 for a Woody costume at Downtown Disney just so Sam could run around the park in Toy Story garb. But then I remembered I’m a freegan and that I can probably buy it on eBay from some other sap who bought it while they were on their Disney vacation and now wants to get rid of it.
Disney World even has a couple of new areas around the parks that are “free” (ie. Downtown Disney, Disney Boardwalk…). “Free” my ass. All they are are huge Disney open air malls. This is where you think, “well I didn’t have to pay to get in here so what’s the big deal if I pay $16.95 for a set of Mickey ears for my kid…” (in our case that would be doubled because if one kid has one, the other wants one too….good thing the twins are too little to beg us for anything besides breast milk).
We did these said “free” parts of Disney before doing an actual park and the kids thought they were amazing. Having not seen any actual rides yet, of course they thought it was amazing! Nothing to compare it too. They had NO idea what’s coming when we get into the real park. Then this weekend we did Magic Kingdom one day and Animal Kingdom another. We are basically training our kids to be gluttons, aren’t we. They are happy and amazed by one day and the next day we do something else…then something else… When we get to the end of this vacation, they are gonna go, “What?!? We’re going home?!?! No more tricks up your sleeve?!? Hell no, we won’t go!!” Not ready to think about that yet.
And even though our kids are kind of little and will probably complain to us that they don’t remember this trip, we are so enjoying seeing the magic through their little eyes. They believe everything, they are so amazed by even the small things. Yes it’s been a hassle at moments. Breast pumping while sitting on the ground in the Magic Kindgom was NOT exactly on the brochure. But not terrible. I could be pumping in a lot worse places.
I remember nursing Alice when she was a baby on the Golden Gate Bridge. For some reason Jon and I thought it would be super fun to ride our bikes across the bridge while in San Francisco as a family. Sam was two, Alice was six months old. Oh and it was the Fourth of July. I don’t know what we were thinking. Halfway across the bridge both kids are screaming, of course. Duh Kristina. So I sat down on the bridge, whipped out my boob to plug the screaming child while Jon chased the busy toddler around. I remember looking out at the city while the bridge rumbled below me as I sat nursing and realizing I’d lost this particular challenge.
I think that despite our four 4 and under Jon and I still have moments of adventurousness. Sometimes it kicks our ass and sometimes it’s only moderately painful, which means success at this stage of life. Why the adventureousness you ask? Sometimes in the moment I ask myself that very question, but I think for us, thr bottomline is we don’t want to wait for our kids to be easier to live life. Yes, kids bring ya down, especially in the spontaneous/adventure part of life. We agree that surrendering our own desires most of the time is exactly the right decision as a parent. But on occasion, it feels good to be brave, and to venture out with your kids. We set the bar low and often we are pleasantly surprised.
That has been this trip thus far—pleasantly surprised that it’s only been painful for brief stints. Overall, very memorable and grateful to be here.
About the deepest reading I have done while being here is from our tour book (“The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World with Kids”) and I happened on this in the intro which has given me great perspective:
“Although it’s common I out culture to see life as a journey from cradle to grave, Alan Watts, a noted late 20-th century philosopher, saw it somewhat differently. He viewed life not as a journey but as a dance. In a journey, you are trying to get somewhere, and consequently always looking ahead. The journey metaphor is generally characterized by a driven, goal-oriented mentality… Like life, a dance has a beginning and an end, but unlike a journey, your objective is not to get to the end but to enjoy the music as it plays.”
Deep huh. That’s what I thought. That being said, this is where we are at in life—breast milk, snacks, tantrums, naps…and you gotta do that somewhere. Yes, easiest at home, but a change of scenery is nice. Enjoying this phase of the dance, even if it may look like erratic seizures sometimes.
