Christmas present and Vacations past
Our ping-pong table is covered with brightly wrapped presents, stockings and other Christmas detritus. My children, along with their spouses and children; Dan, and I have carved out a weekend in November to spend together under the guise of a very early Christmas celebration; since complex travel plans prevent a more traditional gathering over the actual holidays. It will be an all-too-rare treat for me to have all my chicks and grandchicks together at one time.
We will all descend on an indoor water park resort in the Wisconsin Dells, where I have rented a large condo for the weekend. The water park will prove amusement for all — including the 18 month old twins. Guzzy and I are competing for who gets to hug them first when we see them, so it’s a darn good thing there are two of them!
My project manager genes are in their happy place as I plot out sleeping arrangements, meal plans, make phone calls and send reminder emails. As my husband reminds me, we’re only going to be gone two days – and they do have food in the Dells. He’s such a buzz-kill.
I have occasionally been known to over-plan. Many years ago I took my (then) 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son to Disney World. Based on all my research, I insisted we be at the starting line (I mean… the entrance) of the Magic Kingdom an hour before the official opening time, so that when they flung open the gates we would RUN to SPACE MOUNTAIN and thereby ensure the maximum amount of fun in our limited time.
My plan went off without a hitch. We got up at the crack of dawn so that we would not waste a single moment. We RAN to the ride as fast as our short legs could carry us. Due to the aforementioned short legs; we didn’t make it in time for the first ride, but we WERE on time for the second ride of the day. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! (wait – did I just unwittingly quote George W.?)
But…when they were strapping us in, I realized that I couldn’t sit NEXT to the children.. it was a single file type of roller coaster… everyone sat alone. I had also failed to account for the fact that my children were basically wimps and that this was in fact a scary roller-coaster ride through a pitch-black tunnel. Oops. I listened to their screams of fear all the way down–helpless in my own seat behind them. When the ride finally finished, they wiped away their tears and shakily climbed out of their seats saying “PLEASE Don’t make us go on that again!” It was not my proudest mom moment.
After the trauma of Space Mountain we enjoyed the park… although we had to head back to the hotel in the middle of the afternoon due to sheer exhaustion. After being back in Wisconsin for a few days I asked the kids about their favorite memory of the trip: “Eating Pizza in the Hotel Room while Watching a Movie’ was the hands-down favorite activity. *sigh*
Maybe I should look up the number of a pizza delivery place next to our weekend condo…. it just might come in handy.