I really have to appreciate how much my boys have gravitated to my trip planning frenzy. They absolutely LOVE being a part of the process. They like to vote on things, offer suggestions, write out itineraries, and more. It's like having a factory of mini vacation planners at your fingertips. I think it also drives Elisa crazy, because the lead up to our trip devolves into polls, never ending conversations about the layout of a hotel or a cruise ship, and what we have planned for the evening hours of day 3.
But I've been on record that the lead up to the trip is just as important, if not more so, than the trip itself. The anticipation that you can build leads to a frenzy of excitement that simply pours over into the vacation itself. I regularly annoy my wife and my Mom with questions like "are you excited?" each day of the month leading up to our vacation adventures.
Yet, early on, I'm not sure the boys were AS excited about this trip as others. Lukas had been on our 2008 cruise, but he was only 2 and obviously couldn't remember or appreciate the experience. The other boys had never been on a cruise, and from an anticipation meter, Puerto Rico didn't registered nearly like Disney World or Disneyland did. Yes, they were excited (about the ocean, pool, warm weather, etc.), but a lot of it seemed to be new concept to them.
They were excited, but it took us getting through the Christmas holidays for the frenzy pitch to really pick up. In today's technology age, YouTube offers a near never ending list of videos to get excited about. When heading to the parks, the boys plop themselves in front of the TV to watch POV ride videos. Sam watches in awe of Splash Mountain and then spends the next 10 minutes stating in no uncertain terms that he won't be riding that ever again. This is the routine. When going for a cruise, though, the options are there but are more subtle. That is, until my kids stumbled upon the vlogging of one Michael Kay. Apparently, he has a pretty good following on YouTube and I figure he must be doing alright for himself since he's posting daily videos and I get the distinct impression that his viewers supplement his vacation costs (both in advertising costs and sending him gift cards). To be fair, the videos were helpful to acclimate me to our Disney cruise ship (the Disney Wonder). But the kids just kept watching the videos. And I, being the perceptive one, starting pulling out common themes.
I'm now convinced that Mr. Kay earns $5 for every time he says the word magical in one of his videos. Literally everything is magical to this guy. The sunrise, the cruise shop toilet, pins, coffee cups, the free hot chocolate...even losing to his brother at the cruise ship foosball table. It's all so damn magical, I myself feel damn magical. The magic meter fills up and you're almost surprised when something isn't so magical. No, Michael! Don't tell me that the croissant you just ate was only okay. It has to be magical! I'm lost without your incessant magic!
He also seems to start every video with "good morning everyone!" (yes, followed by a "it's going to be a magical day!"). There was one video in particular that seemed to freeze after just a few seconds of playing, and the boys wanted to see it. So we were treated with about 43 "good morning everyone1" greetings in a row. This specific video happened to feature a shirtless Mr. Kay next to his cruise ship window. Yes, good morning Michael! Magical Day! Put a shirt on!
By the time the last days before the trip rolled around, though, I knew the Wonder pretty well, Mr. Kay really well, and the boys were finally reaching peak levels of excitement. It was a daily fun for me to say "I don't think you're excited enough, I'm cancelling the trip" just to get them to squeal and jump around for the next 5 minutes professing their unending excitement.
Our adventure was scheduled to start on a Wednesday, so Elisa and I took it upon ourselves to get ahead of the game and be packed the weekend before. As we were both going to be working the day we left, I'm really glad we ended up doing this. It took the pressure off of us. But we also had a fantastic moment where we both realized just how much the "planner" part of me had rubbed off on the kids. I was just getting ready to put our first clothes in the suitcase when Miles approached me with a video. He had discovered, as part of his research, a better way to pack clothes. In the video, the person took the shirt of the day and folded it in half (lengthwise). You then laid your shorts and underwear one top and then rolled the shirt up. Voila! You had an instant outfit that took up about 1/3 of the space. I was amazed and proud. I think Elisa was both impressed and frightened. What had I done to my children?
So we spent the remainder of our weekend rolling up outfits and getting us set and ready to go. Our vacation would also start in an unconventional way. On previous trips, I had been very conventional in what time our trips got underway. Like most families, it made sense to find some morning flights and get the kids out the door. But for our 2017 Disney World trip, I switched things up. On previous trips to Orlando, it felt like a maniacal (no not magical, Mr. Kay!) trek from the airport to the hotel to dinner. I didn't like the rush. It brought out the Gestapo trip planner in me. So for that trip, I changed tactics. We left at 5:15 PM and landed in Orlando around 11:30 (though it was only 9:30 our time). We headed straight to an airport hotel and crashed. The next day ended up being a much more relaxed affair.
So when I was looking at Puerto Rico, the same idea crept in, but I went a bit more extreme. If we had to take two flights (no direct flights from SLC to San Juan), I decided to do the red eye. Fly overnight to New York City and then be on an early morning flight that would get us to San Juan at about 1:00pm. In practice, it seemed perfect. I admit to being a bit nervous about taking three young kids on a redeye and how they might act the next day.
Day Zero - and I call it that because our flight left at 11:50PM on Wednesday (can you really count 10 minutes of a day of a trip a full day?) arrived. I went off to work and Elisa worked on Social Work notes, etc. The boys were off to school, making me promise to pick them up. Sam complicated matters because he wanted to be there when I picked up the boys (Sam has preschool which gets out in the morning), so around 3:00PM, Elisa drove Sam down to my work and I took him with me to get the boys.
For Disney World, we had a fun starting tradition of Sam running to them and then jumping around like fools, releasing their excitement. This time, we all had to wait for Lukas, who is in 6th Grade and is a part of Safety patrol. So Sam and I strategically parked across from where Lukas would be a crossing guard. Sam entertained me for awhile and then Lukas emerged. Talk about fun - screaming at your kid from across the street to jump up and down and show his damn excitement. This trip was going to start magically, or else! MAGICALLY, I tell ya! Miles followed suit and we got him to flail about as well. And before we knew it, Lukas, Miles, and Sam were next to me, screaming at the top of their lungs that vacation was about to start. I'm surprised the cops didn't show up and give us a ticket for disturbing the peace.
We headed home, finished last minute packing, worked on some final homework, and then we played the waiting game. Man, it takes a lot of time to wait from 6pm to 10pm when your kids are excited and they usually go to sleep at 8pm. We tried to fill it with movies (no more Michael Kay excitement, please!) and for the most part it worked, except for trying to get the boys to get some sleep. The only happened once we got to around 9:15PM.
About 30 minutes later, our house sitters arrived and Elisa went into her complicated explanations of the house, the dogs, and everything in between. I have to hand it to her. She's very thorough. But she gave them so many instructions, I had to nearly pull her out of the house. We were going to be late. Before we knew it, we were in the car and on our way. There was excitement in the car, mixed with sleepiness. Sam fell back asleep on the way, though Lukas and Miles were wide awake.
For this trip, we were breaking from our Diamond Parking tradition to try a new place - The Parking Spot. It was nice to be able to make reservations in advance and know I could control everything from my smart phone. As we drove past Diamond, Elisa entertained me by asking every 15 seconds if The Parking Spot really existed because she couldn't seem to see it. Eventually, it did come into view, I scanned my iPhone, and we drove over to our assigned parking spot. I was immediately impressed. Parked right next to our spot was a shuttle. Now that's some kind of service! We greeted my parents and Aunt, pulled out all of our suitcases, and were on the shuttle and off to the airport. A short ride later, we were inside, checking in our luggage and making our way through very little security. I mean, who is crazy enough to fly out on an 11:50 flight? Well, besides me, of course.
After security, we loaded up on some water, had the kids go to the bathroom, and awaited our flight. We boarded without problem and tried to settle the kids. Miles and Lukas were going to wait until we took off. Sam was already starting to fade. I was very curious how I would do, as I can't seem to EVER sleep on a flight. I downed a Melatonin (my trip planning suggested it), and after a slight delay on the tarmac, we took off and towards New York City.
It was going to be fine, right? I mean, how bad could it be with three sleepy boys, 2 sleepy parents, a sleepy Aunt, and a sleepy wife in New York City just 4 hours later? Let's just say I'm glad a Dunk'n Donuts was nearby. But that's a store for next time.
1 comment:
Again, great writing.
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