Good Things Come to Those Who Wait (Mother's Day Edition)

For 8-and-a-half years, I have had a problem with Mother's Day.  It never seemed natural...I always felt like my family (well, really, the burden was mostly on Jeremy) tried so hard to make the day special and it never quite worked out due to expectations, lack of sleep, shortage of funds, and the fact that it is always on an actual day of the week and there are still actual children to feed and get dressed and attempt to lovingly transport to church (since Mother's day always occurs on a Sunday).

This year, I felt that the holiday (holiday?) actually hit the spot.  After 8+ years of the family waiting in the car while I cried and tried to put on mascara or spent the afternoon feeling terrible about feeling jealous of the baby who got to sleep whenever he wanted and be carried around in his "bed" (infant carrier) all day long (true story), I bring you the Mother's Day that finally put my expectations to rest.

Evan's class had a special event called "Muffins for Moms" (though I heard one mom accidentally call it "Muffin Tops for Moms")

The kids each read a poem and shared a picture with their mom and then we had muffins.  It was cute!

The kids are finally old enough to make things completely on their own.  My two little crafty-pants boys made these creations for me.  Sam's was a flip book...loved it.

Evan gave me this along with 3 of his favorite toys wrapped up for me.  Aw!

Hurray for teachers who help kids write sweet poems and funny memories for us (because the dads try but...)

Sam went on a field trip to hear the Disneyland Band and got a free child's admission to Disney Parks (along with a paid adult admission).  I did the math and the only real way to have that actually be a good deal was to buy just one ticket instead of trying to bring the whole family.  So I told Jeremy that what I wanted for Mother's Day was to surprise Sam by taking him out of school and going to California Adventure to see the new Cars Land together.

I had grand ambitions of deep, heartfelt conversations while standing in lines and exuberant expressions of elation when we told him where I was taking him.  Neither happened quite as I expected, but what I gained was actually a day full of wonderful memories, fun with my oldest son, and a much better understanding of who he is as an individual person (and likewise some reflection on my part about how to mother this individual person as he gets older and more...individual).

One of the first rides we rode was Tower of Terror.  We indeed experienced some terror.

I can't remember if it was after this ride or the next one that he said, breathlessly, "My life will never be the same!"

California Screamin'...less than 10 minute wait each time.  The first time, Sam had his eyes shut the whole ride and I hurt my neck trying to strain against the G's to look over at him to see if he was still alive.

Then he rode with his eyes open but still on the verge of terror...

We took a break from riding (my stomach is not quite as steady as it used to be and we needed some ice cream to make it better).

We watched a show here and then this funny lady made a big deal and gave Samuel a telegram from Mickey.  Know-it-all-ish sidenote:  When going to a Disney Theme Park, my advice is to interact with cast members (any employee, including custodial or street vendors) as much as possible because you can find out really interesting tidbits, advice, heads up on what celebrities just might be walking by, trivia, and even get special treatment.  We got onto at least 3 rides faster than we would have because of talking to cast members.  We also found out important info like the fact that you can return souvenirs if you are 8 years old and slightly impulsive and you buy an airplane and then later want a Mickey hat instead (well, anyone can return something to any store, but you get my drift).

I wanted Sam to get Mickey to sign his telegram, but alas, even though I used to work at Mickey's house in Toontown and usher people by the thousands in to see him, I overlooked the fact that you needed to provide your own pen.  Bummer.

We spent some time in the air-conditioned indoors at the animation studio thingy...we saw a surprisingly cool show with Crush, the sea turtle from Finding Nemo (which we would have overlooked if not for the advice of a cast member).  If you go to CA Adventure, you must go see it!  We recorded our voices with Ursula the sea witch, animated our own drawings, and found out who our Disney alter-egos were:  Sam was Genie (hero) and Syndrome (villian) and I was Alice in Wonderland (yay!) and Malifecent (boring).

One of my favorite places at CA Adventure is the wilderness exploring area.  It used to be themed with Brother Bear which was a lame, slightly new-agey Disney movie that no one cared about.  Now, they've themed it all with the movie Up.  Sam followed a map and did some challenges and got to get a Wilderness Explorer badge from Russell himself.  It was so sweet!

"Caw-Caw, Rar!"

We went on Goofy's Sky School (which used to be Mullholland Madness) 3 times in a row and I think 5 times total.  Again, my heart and mind were loving it, my stomach...not so much.   

My son surprised me with his suggestion of getting a salad for a snack.  What what?!?  We watched the Pixar play parade while we ate.

Elasti-girl (i.e. the mom from The Incredibles): my new favorite character.  I love her reflexes (which I've often said I lost half of my brain cells after having 3 children but I have developed an uncanny ability to catch glass cups before they shatter on the floor or stop a slice of bread smothered with pb from landing facedown). We just watched the movie recently and it was funny to me how much I related to the family in it...even how the mom kind of yells at the kids for not meeting her expectations...yeah.

One more time on California Screamin' and this time he actually put his hands up.  I was joking,  people, not terrified.  Joking.

I convinced Sam to go on the dorky bakery tour because I like Colin from "Whose Line Is It Anyway" so much and he is the tour guide.  Sam was reluctant but then I couldn't get him to leave early.

If you have not been to Cars Land and you have Cars lovers in your family, you need to go!  It was so beautiful...so much detail, which is what I love about Disney...despite the ever-increasing prices and crowds, there is just no one who does it with such care and attention to the smallest detail.

This ride is ridiculous. Completely ridiculous!  And we loved it.  It is basically  Bumper Cars but you are on tires and they are small hovercrafts.  Seriously.  And you direct them by throwing your body this way and that and there is no way to look cool doing it but everyone is just sort of laughing in disbelief.

There is also a tractor square-dancing ride with Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) as the caller and it is totally funny.  But the crown jewel in Cars Land is the Radiator Springs Racers.  Now, this ride could have been cause for tears and gnashing of teeth because of the ridiculous lines (we were informed before the park opened that if you hadn't already gotten in line for a Fast Pass, they would have already run out for the entire day, so we rushed (politely) to the ride and commenced waiting in an already-90-minute line) until I realized that Sam was tall enough to ride on his own, so we skipped the line by going in the Single Riders line and waited less than 15 minutes.  

The ride captures the essence of the movie!  The second time we rode, it was sunset and sooooo pretty!  Though it felt ironic being in such everyday Northern-Arizona scenery at (expensive) CA Adventure.

Cars Land isn't just about the rides

Here's our last ride on Tower of Terror.  People are so random!  

Ending the day with World of Color, which was really good...not the same as Fantasmic! but nothing will ever be as good as Fantasmic!

So my mother's day present of going to CA Adventure with my oldest son was special and fun, even though it went a little differently than I expected.  I had high hopes for heart-to-heart conversations while waiting in lines, but more often than not, we just enjoyed standing by each other in silence, making observations here and there.  Some of those observations were pondered quietly in my own heart...taking note of what my son likes and doesn't like, how he thinks for himself (I mean, he didn't want to just follow my ride-planning strategies, he wanted to do what looked fun in the moment, go figure), how he reminds me of his dad, and how he is independent and not a needy little kid (in the physical sense) anymore.  And some of the observations were made by him...like when I said how exciting Tower of Terror was and he said, "Yeah, Mom, I saw your arms flying all around in the air," with a tone of embarrassment.  There is a growing separation between us because he is becoming a young man with a mind of his own...and that is a good thing.  The challenge will be to continue to enjoy each other's company and support him in his own decision-making as needed (like in choosing a souvenir!) and in that way, keep connecting our hearts together as the years pass.

But still, he did draw this picture of us.  Warms my heart.

Phineas and Ferb Philosophy

Before this year, I had lumped the animated children's show, "Phineas and Ferb" in with other detestable children's cartoons like Sponge Bob and well basically anything on The Cartoon Network.  When my kids asked me why they couldn't watch such shows, I honestly answered, "Because they make you stupid," to which my kids would of course reply, "You said stupid!!!!" and then forget that they had asked to watch a t.v. show (distractionary parenting techniques, one of the favorites in my parenting toolbelt).

But then, we got Netflix streaming and I allowed the kids watched all sorts of unapproved shows with their father while I was at work.  (They call this babysitting.  My kids now can relate anything in life to an episode of Mythbusters and talk as if they know Adam and Jaime personally.)  One show I caught them enjoying was Phineas and Ferb and as I eavesdropped, I found myself smiling and even chuckling a little.  It turns out the show is pretty smart and funny and not full of potty humor or alien robots (just a platypus that turns into a secret agent, whatevs).  As with everything that I start to like, I go a little over the top, so this happened:

Meet Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella (she plays the part perfectly: "Wat-cha do-in'?") 

The other two play their parts equally well.

Jeremy and I decided that what we like about the show (besides the clever humor) is that it highlights the ingenuity and resourcefulness of two brothers who don't sit around waiting to be entertained or complaining that they're bored...they go out and make things happen (like roller coasters in the backyard or putting their sister's face on Mt. Rushmore).  And somehow they always manage to clean up their mess so that their mother doesn't have to be any more stressed out than she should be.

So we encourage Phineas and Ferb behavior around here...like recently when the kids discovered that they could wrap the house 4.5 times with the tape from one old VCR tape (sorry Kendra, I think it could have been Band Memories 1990-something or Kendra Waits for Homecoming Date While Dad Sneers Thru the Peephole in Ugly Gold Short-Sleeved Sweatshirt With Gun Tucked in Waistband).

Many of our Phineas and Ferb (maybe I should call them "Ph and F" and you should pronounce those phonetically in your head, or outloud, whatever floats your boat) episodes involve pajama pants, rope, flying stuffed animals...

...and someone falling over.

"Just as long as everyone cleans up!!!!"

I seriously get this yummy happy feeling inside when I can hear the kids doing something imaginative and creative (and maybe a little bit risky) without too much direction from an adult...I don't want anything to interrupt them and I just want to eavesdrop until it's way past bedtime.

So a few of my friends have told me about day camps or special summer programs that I should sign my kids up for.  I'm sure those activities would be fun and my kids would love them, but I usually just answer, "We're planning to have a Phineas and Ferb summer."

(Except we've been needing to tighten up discipline and chores and general responsibility, so maybe we'll have a Phineas and Ferb summer with a little bit of this thrown in:) 

***Informational Bulletin:  We're planning to spend the summer in Flagstaff while Jeremy (hopefully) writes his thesis in the privacy of his old office and we enjoy some cooler temperatures and let my parents have their house back! We'll see what happens after that.

BECHiEVE iT!

So...Sam has been learning to write a proper paragraph this year and there has been a lot of emphasis on crafting a good topic sentence.  I try to help him, but I realized that my topic sentence of choice is:

So,...

So, one of the highlights of kindergarten in Mrs. Dey's class is that a student gets to bring home the class pet, Frank the Frog on a random weekend during the school year.  He comes with a backpack that contains a journal where the kids can record what they did with Frank and a book, called A Frog Thing.

While Frank was with us, he got to meet other "pets" and swing on the hammock,

play with Legos (I couldn't convince them to fold the laundry),

do cross-eyes,

go to church,

and go to a Birthday party!

During the weekend, he also got to go to the driving range but since he was in the custody of my husband, there were no photos taken of this certainly noteworthy activity.

So, there was a book that came in the backpack along with Frank, and a few pages in, I got a little irritated:

Now, I happen to have a pet peeve about the over-used saying, "You can do anything you set your mind to."

(I also have a pet peeve about the rampant usage of a dot on a capital I in this country.  If you haven't noticed it before, you will now.  A dot is for a lower case i, people!!!) 

Well, this sign has more going on than just the dotted capital i, sadly.

Anyway, back to Frank and the book and my first pet peeve.  I just have a problem with telling people that they can do anything they set their mind to, or even worse, if they believe it, they can achieve it.  I can't be an Olympic athlete, no matter how hard I try or "put my mind to it" (whatever that means).  Barring some kind of Divine Intervention, I will not learn to tap dance well or live long enough to master Japanese and Russian.  It's just a fact, folks (on a side note, I am a fan of "Where there's a will, there's a way" for some reason).  But I have seen the odious phrase on school signs across the southwest (well, one in AZ and one in CA) and it seems to be on the end of every sappy reality competition tv show.  Jeremy and I have taken to calling the message, "BECHiEVE iT!" (with dotted capital i's thrown in for fun).

Surprisingly, as I continued to read A Frog Thing, I realized that it was going in a direction I liked.  Frank was a frog but he wanted to fly.  His parents told him he could do anything he set his mind to but when he told them it was to fly, they responded by lovingly reminding him that he was a frog and that they had meant he could do any frog thing he wanted to.  Like becoming a good swimmer.  So he swam and sadly watched the birds fly overhead.  One day, he had the opportunity to rescue a little bird who had fallen into the water.  In gratitude, the parent birds offered him their assistance with anything he would like.  When they found out he wanted to fly, they put a stick between them and he hung on and "flew" around about the entire froggy community.  Ok, at this point, you are thinking what I was thinking, "It wasn't really Frank who was flying."  But get this, he comes back and ADMITS that the birds were flying and even though he loved it, he realized that he was a frog and he would never be able to actually fly.  He decides to be content with swimming well and the last picture is one of him happily (if not a bit wistfully) gliding through the water with birds flying far in the distance above him.  Hurray!  An accurate story (well, I mean, the animals talked, but whatever).  I loved it.

By the way, you will be happy to know that while Frank was with us, he did get to fly!

And then he got stuck in a tree.

Sorry, Frank, you are just a stuffed frog, you know.