What I learned on my Summer Vacation

I thought I was a pretty engaged parent, and then I spent 9 full days with my wife and kids with no work, golf, or any other time event to separate us.  Okay, now I know a lot more about them and about me.  First if you ever start wondering if you are a good parent, go on a Disney cruise.  You’ll see actual child abuse occurring.  And you’ll see children who have apparently never had their behavior corrected…ever.  You’ll see adults who think that everything and everyone works for them, and you’ll have a wonderful time.

We haven’t had any big trips lately (like we used to before the kids) and so I kind of took the reins and planned everything for this.  I used miles and points to upgrade and we went pretty much VIP all the way from the limo to the airport (cheaper than parking for 9 days) to the accommodations, to the flights.  We flew to Miami, got on the Disney Wonder the next day, sailed for four nights to Key West; Nassau, Bahamas; Castaway Cay; then back to Miami.  When we got back to the hotel, our room wasn’t ready so we took a cab to the Miami Seaquarium.  Next day was Jungle Island, and finally the Children’s museum before flying home on the 9^th day.

What I learned about Connor.  He has a VERY short attention span, but when focused, he is captivated.  He loves all animals and will touch, feed, hold, pet, stalk, and chase anything that crawls, runs, flies, swims, floats, side-winds, gallops, slithers, stings, bites, or hibernates.  This guy is Steve Irwin reincarnated and I say this with all sincerity, don’t be surprised if you see him on some kind of zoo or wildlife show in 20 years.  He has a gift with the animals that is nothing short of incredible.  If you are a loyal follower, you’ve read that his teachers at school call him the ‘butterfly whisperer’. 

One of his favorite shows is “Crocodile Hunter.”  He watches it almost daily.  There are two episodes in which Steve gets bitten by a snake and by a lizard.  In both cases he calmly removes the reptile or waits out the bite.  He does not yank his hand away and potentially make things worse.  Well, while we were at Jungle Island he was feeding some parrots.  I was holding him and he was trying to get one parrot to eat the parrot food.  I guess by about 2pm most of the birds had been stuffed to the gills and were no longer hungry.  Connor was being happily persistent.  So the bird bit him and held on.  Connor somewhat shocked, just sat there and did not pull his hand back.  I was reaching for his wrist to make sure he didn’t so we didn’t end up with a gash, but in about 3 seconds the bird let go and Connor pulled his hand back.  I asked if it hurt and he said, ”Yes…but Crocodile hunter never pulls his hand away.”  My boy.

We also learned that Connor has two speeds, full and off.  Three of the four nights Nita had to take Connor back to the room to put him to bed and have her dinner delivered to our stateroom.  He would literally pass out at the dinner table.  Meanwhile Josie can go Go GO!  One night with Connor asleep in his room, she even decided to entertain us with some gymnastic tricks in the sitting room.  More on little Miss Josephine later.  I also learned that Connor loves something that daddy loves.  Ever since I’ve been at Dell, it’s been somewhat difficult to let go of work on vacations.  I’ve always checked blackberries, or purchased internet time to check on things back on the mothership, etc.  Until I started cruising with Nita.  Now, I can sit on the balcony and just watch the waves roll by.  It is both calming and maybe even healing for me.  And I discovered that Connor loves doing that too.  That was a very special part of the cruise for me, just he and I in the morning, watching the waves roll by.

Josephine loves attention.  What two year old doesn’t, right?  But Josie is at home in a crowd, with Disney characters, playing, and choreographing dances at the disco.  Yes, there was a little disco near the ship’s restaurants and we’d go there every evening before dinner (late seating).  Josie would spin, and jump and then start grabbing other kids’ hands to play “ring around the rosie.”  On the first night she head-butted a little girl (while pulling off a spectacular dance jump) and the kid fell to the floor and ran off crying.  Josie seemed bewildered and asked mommy why the little girl ran off.  My girl.

We also used the babysitting services sparingly, but for the four hours she attended we found out that the characters would stop in on their special elevator in the under-3 nursery and take pictures with the toddlers.  Well Josie loved this and we were given quite a few of those pictures for free (nice touch Disney).  She also decided that naps are for punks during the cruise and wanted to “do everything.”  She loved the characters in costume.  She took pictures with: Hook, Schmee, Chip & Dale, Lilo & Stitch, Snow White, Goofy, Pluto, and of course Mickey.  Connor wanted a safe distance from all of these costumed characters.  And by safe, it was usually behind me while I was taking Josie’s picture and she was chatting them up.  Oh, and I mentioned that Connor would run out of bullets at the dinner table…Josie did not.  In fact one night while Connor was blissfully asleep, we all went up on deck to watch the fireworks.  Josie pointed and danced.

Josie also ate her weight in macaroni and cheese.  It came in a little puff pastry shell and she had it every single evening for dinner…usually for lunch, and sometimes for a snack.  She also ate a bag of granny smith apples.  Oh, and while on the Castaway Cay island in the Bahamas, she ate two whole mangos.  That girl can eat.  She also loves the water like Connor does.  While in Castaway Cay, we spent the entire day on the beach going in and out of the water and eventually (by her request) burying Josie in the sand. 

We didn’t bring a nanny or sitter this time and as such didn’t get any mommy and daddy nice dinner time, but honestly, I really loved spending that much time with the kids.  Connor really looked to include me in a lot of the things he was doing or wanting to do.  It was pretty neat.

After we got off the ship, and made it through customs, we made our way back to the hotel.  Our room wasn’t ready yet so we decided to cab over to the Miami Seaquarium.  This is basically a 1960s version of SeaWorld without the rides.  The kids had an absolute blast.  It was a Monday, so it was almost empty.  The kids saw sharks, whales, dolphins, crocs, a peacock, turtles, lots of parrots and much more.  One of the fun nostalgic parts of this was getting those old hot wax mold animals from the Mold-A-Rama machines.  I think the San Antonio zoo used to do them for about 25 cents.  They are no longer 25 cents.

The next day we went to Jungle Island.  This is a VERY interactive zoo.  Connor ended up getting pictures holding: a snake, an alligator, two parrots, a monkey, a lemur, a turtle, and a goat.  He also fed parrots, goats, and kangaroos (which he also pet and tried to pick up).  Josie tried to ride a goat, and that didn’t quite work out.  She also fed the parrots and luckily didn’t get bitten.  If you remember last summer she had the sea gull peanut butter cracker incident which left her very skittish around birds for a month. 

Finally we went to the children’s museum.  It was somewhat accidental, but worked out that everything we did became progressively more interactive and higher touch friendly for the kids.  I’d love to take credit for brilliant planning, but it just kind of worked out.  And it worked out perfectly.  The final day the kids touched any and everything.  They even had this kinetic sand for sandcastles that didn’t stick to your hands.  Josie played with it for a full hour.  Connor ran around until he was just about to drop.  We went back, had a nap and then hit the hotel pool.  Next day we flew home and the kids were fantastic.

So I learned that I have a fantastic family and that my kids have very different interests, but a lot in common.  I learned my son is fanatical about animals and new stimuli.  I learned my daughter likes routine and has a frightening love of macaroni and cheese.  I learned my wife is a very patient person, and we all know that I am not.  I learned Connor would rather lose a toe than lose a toy lizard.  I learned that Josie has learned to manipulate her brother pretty easily and she’s kind of devious about it.  I learned that Josie does not like it when she doesn’t get her way.  Josie learned that daddy doesn’t do tantrums.  Connor learned that a couple of years ago.  Finally I learned that I cannot wait to bring the family on another Disney cruise.