Biggest Kid of All

It’s almost time for school to start back here in South Florida. I can hardly believe it. Summer break just went fast this year and I didn’t do all the things that I had wanted to do with the grandkids. I usually have Nana camp the last week before school starts and all six are here most of the week at least during the day. Some of them stay overnight as well.

At any rate, it’s usually a lot of fun and we don’t have any specific schedules. We swim and go out for lunch and sometimes to the Science Museum or to the movies. This year just didn’t work out and I’m starting to realize that I miss it. I did spend a lot of time with them earlier in the summer and I’ve had them a day here and there so it’s not like I haven’t seen them for sure. But the Nana camp was sort of tradition.

Almost as soon as school was out, we took two of our grandsons, one seven and one five to Epcot for a couple of days. We had a blast. It was already hot so I didn’t want to spend all of the time in the parks so I made reservations at the Beach Club which is about five minutes walking distance from Epcot and a short boat ride from MGM or Hollywood Studios as it’s now called.

We’ve stayed at the Beach Club before and it’s a nice hotel with a good restaurant with a character breakfast and a really good seafood buffet with buckets of clams. The pool is the greatest with a huge slide and a sand bottomed pool with a lazy river ride. I found it to be the perfect spot for summer at Disney. Most important, the hotel has a terrific arcade. This is of course, a necessary amenity with kids even at a Disney resort.

Our schedule was to be flexible but pretty much go to MGM the day we arrived and then Epcot the next day. I figured if we went early to the park and did all the rides and attractions that we wanted to do that we could go back to the hotel and spend the afternoon at the pool. MGM was great. We did all the things we wanted including the new attraction Toy Story Mania which was the most fun of all to me. You ride through and try to shoot the targets as they pop up. Actually you don’t shoot so much as you pull a little rope thing. It’s in 3-D so you wear the glasses and it’s a real hoot. I wanted to do it again but unfortunately we had waited for an hour and didn’t want to stand in line again. It’s a new attraction so the wait is long and we’d gotten there too late in the day to get a Fast Pass. So we went on to other things. We watched the High School Musical show which was really fun and we watched the parade and saw Star Wars characters and Power Rangers so the boys were quite happy. I forgot that the Greatest Movie Ride was a little loud and scary because of the Alien monster that reaches down from the hole in the ceiling into the car so the boys didn’t like that quite as much. They’re young though, no permanent damage. We had dinner at Hollywood & Vine which has a pretty good buffet with lots of variety. The boys were happy because there was pizza and chicken fingers and ice cream. We liked it because there were salads and salmon and ice cream. All over the park there were skits being performed and we stopped to watch one that was hilarious about some city street workers and their boss getting voted back in as President of their union. It was very entertaining.

We headed back to the hotel and had planned to go to the campfire on the beach and make S’Mores but opted for the pool instead. These particular grandchildren are used to going to bed pretty early which has been a wonderful thing for my son and daughter-in-law but we wanted to stay out later and they were definitely up for it. They had so much fun in the pool and we ended up staying until about 10 o’clock. They had been up since pretty early so I knew that they had to be tired but they were troopers and didn’t complain at all. Going to bed wasn’t a problem either. I think that they were asleep before their heads hit the pillows. What angels they had been that day. I can’t imagine how they could have been any better behaved.

Next morning right on schedule they were awake at 6:00 am but they got their Gameboys and played until I felt like getting up. We had a quick breakfast and headed out for Epcot. Getting there at opening we knew that we could get on Test Track right away and then we wanted to go to Soaring so my husband the boys took off for Test Track and I went to Soaring to get Fast Passes. I don’t really care for Test Track so that worked. We managed to do everything we wanted by lunchtime and after eating, we walked back down to the hotel and hit the pool. What an enjoyable time we had. The entire day was great. We ate the Seafood buffet that night and then went to the Arcade where we managed to spend about $40.00 and two hours. After ice cream at the Ice Cream shop next to the Arcade, we were exhausted and wanted to go to bed.

I realized that we had been running so much that the boys might not have done all their daily bathroom visits so I told them that I’d like each of them to sit quietly on the toilet when we got back in the room to make sure they didn’t have any stomach problems later. The five year old is a real comedian and most of the time doesn’t mean to be. He was the first to go in the bathroom and after about five minutes, I called in to ask how he was doing and the door opened and there he stood completely naked. I started to laugh and he looked at me and very seriously said, “What? I get naked you know.” Then I needed the bathroom. I laughed so hard. Apparently, I missed the fact that when he goes to potty he removes all of his clothes. It made for a good laugh for his nana for sure.

We had a fun time at the character breakfast the next morning. Who doesn’t love Goofy and Minnie and Chip and Dale all dressed in their surfing clothes? Then it was time to pack and head home. This was a fun, fun trip and I can’t wait to do it again. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m the biggest kid of all on these trips. M-I-C-K-E-Y- M-O-U-S-E.

Having a Magical Day

My husband and I took four of the grandkids up to a Disney Beach Resort last week for a few days. We go to Disney World several times a year because we’re only a couple of hours away and love their resorts so we thought it would be fun to go to their resort on the beach. It’s too hot for the parks for me but having the Disney characters for the kids seemed like a good plan. Besides, Disney resorts are typically great.

I made the reservations a month or so ago and specifically requested adjoining rooms because we would have four children with us. I was assured that would not be a problem. When we arrived and went to check in, the clerk was a total ditz. She said that there was a situation and she didn’t want to be the one to tell me and she would get one of the managers, Buster or Bonnie. Dave came out to talk to us. He proceeded to tell me that there was a problem with the adjoining room and it would not be available until the next night and he would have to give us a room down the hall from the other one. “This is a problem,” I told him. “We have children too young to be in a room by themselves which is why I requested the adjoining room.” “Sorry,” Dave said. “There’s nothing I can do. The room needs some tile work and there’s no other room with an adjoining room. But, if it makes you feel better, we won’t charge you for the second room tonight and tomorrow we’ll move you into the adjoining one. Is that okay?”

Well, of course it wasn’t okay but we didn’t want to drive back home and disappoint the kids. Oh, did I mention that there was also a horrific thunderstorm in progress? The lobby had wall to wall kids running everywhere and hula hooping and lying all over the floor. This was definitely going to be fun!

I waited for the ditz to get the keys for our rooms and after a few tries, she got them ready and then as a consolation prize, she handed the kids stickers of Mickey and pins that announced that this was their 1st Visit to Vero Beach Disney Resort. I saw the kids looking back and forth at each other with a grin on their faces and as soon as we walked away from the check in counter, they said in unison, “Oh Nana, And have a magical day!”

Magical was about the last adjective I felt like using at the moment, so I gritted my teeth and said nothing. We proceeded to the rooms where of course, the keys didn’t work so my husband, at this point not wanting me to go back to the desk, went back down to get the keys. They actually use those cards but apparently, the check in clerk needed Bonnie or Buster sans Dave to produce them.

We finally got into the room and the luggage came and figured out who would sleep where that night. My husband would go to the other room with two kids and I would stay in this room with two. Good solution but of course, the kids had to argue about who would go where. They’re two sets of cousins so of course, where you sleep is a big deal. That settled we went down to explore.

The resort is on the beach but you can’t really see the beach because there’s sea grapes too tall to see over. That’s so the turtles don’t see the light at night when they come up on the beach to lay eggs. It’s actually not a bad facility but I was still annoyed so nothing was looking good at the moment. We sat down on the huge back porch to discuss where we would have dinner and what we would do next and decided we’d check out the pool. A large nerdy man with his Ipod stuck in his ear and wearing a Safari type hat was sitting next to us and apparently had been eavesdropping becaused he announced that the pool was closed. I said, “Oh well, we just want to go down to see what it looks like.”

“It’s locked and you can’t get in,” he said. That about put me over the top. The rest of the weekend, he was known as the Whumpalump. It’s a small resort so you tend to see the same people quite a bit. Anyway, the pool was actually nice and had a great slide and a nice snack bar area and chairs and umbrellas so I was happy.

The rain stopped and the kids swam for a while before dinner and we had a nice evening. A couple of glasses of wine and things were starting to look up. The kids were great and had fun at dinner and then terrorizing the lobby and gift shop that night. We finally headed up and split up for bed. Then of course, the kids that went down to the room with my husband needed things that were down in our room and it took several trips to get everyone settled in for the night.

The next day was great. We spent the day at the pool and they swam and made hundreds of trips up the steps of the slide and I took great pictures of them hitting the water. Even the drinks were convenient because we bought these huge mugs that the kids could fill up all they wanted at the snack bar and no one got sunburned so all was good. We even got a few laughs in at the expense of the Whumpalump when he went down the slide and splashed most of the water from the pool.

That night we went to the nicer restaurant in the resort and there were no kids in the whole place but our four. You could see the looks on the faces of the other diners when we walked in with four kids. But, it’s one of those times that your heart feels like it might burst with pride. They were perfect children. We ordered and we ate and we had a nice conversation about our day and I loved it. The chef sent out chocolates for them and the server made them ice cream sundaes. Later that night we went to the campfire on the beach and they sang songs and made S’Mores. Well, that was a lot of sugar for the day and you can imagine the rest of the night. They were wound up. We eventually got everyone to bed.

We had gotten settled into the adjoining room earlier in the day. I had gone up to check to see if it was ready and my husband stayed at the pool with the kids. After determining that it was indeed ready for guests, the same ditzy lady made the new keys. You’ll love this; she said, “I’ll have to send someone up to open the door between the rooms.” I had the key to both rooms in my hand so I said, “Or, I could just open the door in the first room and then go open the door in the second room and Voila, there we are.” It took a minute but then she said, “Oh, yes that would work.” Okay, then.

Well, the next day at the pool was pretty fun. They had a disc jockey and limbo and dance contests and a tug of war in the pool which was really funny. My husband and I enjoyed the disc jockey and while in the pool decided to dance and sing along. It was our chance to pay the grandkids back for any earlier times that they might have embarrassed us because they were mortified. None of the four wanted to acknowledge that they knew us. Great fun! Doing the YMCA in the pool is a blast.

Later, my husband and I were sitting watching the kids swim and a man stopped to say that he and his wife had been in the restaurant the night before and just wanted to say that they were so impressed with the kids’ behavior. What a nice compliment! Too often, we are all guilty of making our complaints known but not so often taking the time to say something nice.

By now, you’ve probably (if you’re still reading) figured out, my moment of Magic had arrived. Actually, it had been there all along. I just couldn’t see it for my negativity. So, as you all go about your summer trips wherever they might take you, take time to notice the good stuff and “have a magical day”.

Come On June, We've Got to Get to School

Today’s my older brother’s birthday so of course I’ve been thinking about him. He lives in Georgia and I’m in South Florida so I only see him a couple of times a year. I call him pretty often so we keep in touch. But, when I really start to think about him and our relationship I have only one point of reference that really matters to me and that goes back to our childhood.

My mother had to work because she was the sole support of the family so my brother was left to keep an eye on me. Mother left for work really early so my brother was supposed to get up and get me up and make sure that I got ready for school and of course ate breakfast. Not so difficult one would think but I was a brat. I didn’t know it at the time of course but thinking back now, I’m surprised my brother didn’t kill me.

The first thing that happened every morning was my hair was in knots all over my head and I would scream and carry on about brushing it. My poor brother would be left to try to get the knots untangled but invariably ended up pulling out half my hair in the process. I was mean as a snake in the morning and didn’t cooperate in the least. If my brother was lucky, I would drink some coffee and then I was a little nicer. I was seven and there were no Starbucks so he would boil water for me to have some instant coffee. I’m thinking about now that he was way too nice to me.

Once this ordeal was past and I had dressed, he would try to hurry me along so we wouldn’t be late for school. I would put up a fight every morning and try to get out of going but he managed to get me there. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make sure that I stayed. He would walk me to my class and see me inside and then go upstairs to his classroom. I would wait for a few minutes and if it was a morning when Mrs. Oliver, my second grade teacher, was out of the class for some reason, I would sneak out and leave the school and walk the seven blocks to where my mother worked at the dry cleaners. I can’t even imagine now what it must have been like for my poor mother and my brother wondering what I would do next.

My mother would call the school and let them know that I was with her and then some days she would walk me back to school and some days she would let me stay with her at work. I’m not sure whether I disliked school that much or whether I wanted to be with my mother, but I was a terror. Thankfully, I managed to grow out of that (or somewhat anyway).

All of this came to mind this week when I was going through some things and came across a drawing that my brother sent me a few years ago. It’s a simple stick figure drawing with him dragging me by my hair and a caption, “Come on, June, we’ve got to get to school.”

Ah, memories. For some reason, this just struck me funny and I laughed until I cried. I guess my brother earned his spot in Heaven putting up with me. That’s why whatever he’s done or failed to do over the years, I can only see the brother that combed knots out of my hair and dragged me to school. He’s not much on sending cards or calling on birthdays and always apologizes for that but I just draw out of that bank of memories if I ever feel slighted and so far, he’s still way ahead.