Spring Break Musings

Spring break ended a week ago. This was the first year in over 4 years that we did not run classes at The Little Gym during the local school break. We ran camps for 3-8 year olds and I hope your children who were able to get spots in those camps had a blast.

I know I often say how great my staff is at The Little Gym of Lake Oswego. It was fantastic to be able to take the week off and spend time with my family and be able to come back to a sparkling clean and tidy gym, with everything in place for a great “Super Fast Action” week.

Usually during Spring Break, my wife and I work, and our kids are scheduled in various camps or activities with friends. This year, with me able to take some time off, we made the pilgrimage to Disneyland. We “killed two birds” with this trip. We knocked Disney off the “must-do” list. Plus we flew my 12 year old niece out from Boston to join us. Her 2 older sisters had made the trip when they were younger, so it was finally Juliette’s turn.

So three kids at Disney – age 5, 8, and 12. My little guy wasn’t quite thrilled with going on any of the fast rides, even with bribes, so he and I stuck to the tame ones. But Freya and Juliette went on the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, California Screaming, and Space Mountain, by themselves, calling me on my cell phone when they were ready to meet.

I was asked several times this past week if I had fun at Disney. Sure it’s stressful, managing 3 kids with different needs/requirements at Disney, plus navigating LAX (yuck!). And I did make sure the kids saw “It’s a small world,” and went to some of the “show” attractions. But probably what they’ll remember the most, was making up fun games to play while waiting in line for 30 minutes for their lunch, or making up fun songs (about throw-up) while waiting in rush hour traffic on the way back from Legoland, or making up fun things to do in the pool during Thursday afternoon’s break from walking.

Maybe next vacation, we’ll just invite a cousin or friend, or two, and get in the car and just drive somewhere -- so the kids can be kids and we can all make up silly songs about throw-up and create some great memories (and possibly see something that I can cross off our list of “must-do’s”).