Transition

As I wandered the various Disney theme parks with my family, it made me smile watching my nephew Caden and my cousin's daughter Emily and their wonder and excitement at all there was to see. The way their faces lit up when they saw a Disney character. The apprehension and tentativeness as they wander up to a 6 foot tall Rafiki for a picture. The little ones are fun to just watch as they experience all the sights and sounds and larger than life fantasies.

My nephew rode with me on this boat tour talking about the land. It wound through a tunnel section with videos and displays before taking us on a tour of this huge greenhouse facility they have where they are doing cutting edge farming techniques for desert growing etc. He went from excited to be on the boat..to clinging to me scared to be in the dark tunnel with some of the displays..to back to pointing excitedly at huge pumpkins and such growing in the greenhouse. He handled Pirates of the Carribean well surprisingly.

My boys were a different story. They are definitely in a transition stage. Not quite sure if they want to be silly and kid-like, or if they want to be more 'grown-up'. Some of the things that even just a few years ago would have had them interested and excited was now more of a 'whatever' kind of thing. It was funny to see them switch back and forth between the two phases. One minute B wants a big foam filled Goofy hat .. and the next he is bored because we are waiting on the big mid-day parade which seems to be oriented to little kids.

So there we are at the parade. It stops for a while on a section of street before where we were waiting and does a few songs and dance routines for the crowds over there. So we are waiting patiently .. and B tells me that he is bored and wishes we were on a ride or something. I, wanting to do my fatherly duty, imparted the great wisdom that is passed from father to son for all the ages to him. The conversation went something like this:

B: Im bored. Why can't we go on a ride or something.

Me: Well most of our group wants to watch the parade. So we are going to hang out here with them. If you are bored, you need to figure out a way to enjoy it even though its not really what you would choose to be doing.

B: Well the floats are all Toy Story and Bug's Life and stuff. Its for little kids.

Me: True enough, but look over there. Is that girl in the little plaid skirt and tight top dancing and jumping on the trampoline not nice to look at even if she is dancing to the Toy Story theme?

B: Wha? Where? Oh! I see her. I can watch this for a while I guess.


And there it was again.. that look of wonder and excitement. The same as I saw on my nephew's face. Only a bit different in what was being referenced... hehe. My son is definitely at that age.. that transition. There are moments he wants to be that little kid still and others where he wants to make it very clear he is NOT that little kid any more.

Of course we all still have those moments where we act like a little kid. My younger son was trash talking me about beating my score on the Toy Story 3D ride/game. I of course got totally into it, annihilated him with child-like glee and then gave him crap about losing afterwards for all his trash talking! Hey.. its tough love. They have to earn victory!

There was certainly plenty to look at while we were in Disney as there was a national collegiate cheerleading and dance competition going on at the Disney Hollywood studios that weekend and the girls were all wandering the parks the whole time we were there. B said his neck was sore after the 3rd day in the parks. He said it was from riding Space Mountain and the whipping back and forth, but I have my own theory that it has more to do with the whiplash effect of following the hot girls as they walked by.

All in all, despite the joys of airline travel in the winter, it was a fabulous trip. We had a wonderful time with my family down there and had great weather for 3 fun days in the different Disney parks. It was a whirlwind adventure but I'm glad we were able to all come together for the trip. It was a wonderful xmas gift from my parents!

Now, back to work. Fun stuff or something.