On this trip, we were invited guests of Disneyland. The Disneyland Resort paid for the cost of our air tickets, hotel, activities, and some meals. They did not require that I express a particular point of view.
When we visit Disneyland, I spend as much time reliving the past as I do experiencing the present. It's just not possible for me to walk through the park without remembering my own childhood experiences.
With very young kids, I got to set the agenda, and previous trips have focused mostly on reliving my memories through my kids. But the kids are getting older, and on this trip the balance of power started to shift. On this trip, Everest and Darya had their own memory-driven agendas for the first time.
Minnie Mouse Wallpaper at the Disneyland Hotel
It started before we even stepped on board a plane, when I announced that Disney would be hosting us at the Disneyland hotel. Darya's eyes went wide. "Oooooooh," she said "Mommy, they have wallpaper with Mickey mouse on it." We last stayed at the hotel when she was two, and I was absolutely blown away by her clear memory of something that must have seemed so important and special to her two years ago. The Disneyland hotel is in undergoing a major renovation, and normally I would have been angling to get one of those newly renovated rooms, but this time, I was comforted and happy to be in one of the older rooms so that we could say goodbye to that Mickey wallpaper that figured so large in Darya's memory (the hotel will be fully renovated in 2012)
Astro Orbiter at Disneyland Resort
Our first stop? A ride on the Astro Orbiter. The Astro Orbiter was the first ride Darya ever rode (she tried it long before her brother would) and she rushes to it on every trip. Everest is still hesitant, he hasn't quite overcome his fear of spinning off in space, but he joined Darya and my husband for a spin around the solar system. Too young to ride, Eilan waited at ground level, pointing and screeching as the rocket ships rose up into the air and began to orbit. Concerned that his family might get away from him, he pretty quickly started signing "all-done" and seemed relieved when the rockets finally landed. He'll be ready for his own first ride by our next visit to Disneyland.
And then the tug-of-war began. The kids were desperate to get to Mickey's house in Toon Town. Meeting Mickey is the highlight of every trip for them, and the part that they talk about once they've returned home. But as the mom, I get to be both pragmatic and nostagic. In between the Astro Orbiter and Mickey's house is my favorite childhood memory, "it's a small world", and there's no chance I'm going to pass it by. Darya is willing to play along, but Everest is livid. I can't make him. He won't go. I want to tell him "Every child loves this ride," but secretly I wonder - in a word of sophisticated animatronics and iPad videos, will the cute puppets and repetitive signing be as captivating for him as they were for me when I was five?
Darya settles into a boat at small world
Finally we reach a compromise, I load the kids onto one of the boats and we settle in. Small World is decorated for the holidays, and it seems more glamorous than ever. After a moment of fear about entering the clocktower, Everest's eyes go wide, and I feel his body relax. It's beautiful mommy. We cuddle up, and enjoy the ride. Getting stuck for a while in the middle turns out to be a treat. The kids are concerned at first, but then they decide it's funny to have boats piling up behind us. They just can't get enough, and when the boat finally docks, Everest turns to me and says "Mommy, can we ride on Small World again next time we come to Disneyland?" Now the circle is complete, my special memories are his too.
"it's a small world" decorated for the holidays
At the end of the day, after the Holiday fireworks show, and a dusting of "snow" on mainstreet that would feel nostalgic even if you'd never experienced snow before, we take advantage of the short lines for one final, ride on Autopia. This was my first "car driving" experience thirty-odd years ago, and it's my son's first one too. It was probaby the first "behind the wheel" experience for a lot of people as Autopia is one of the few remaining attractions that opened with the park in 1955.
Disneyland's Autopia
I press on the gas pedal, Everest steers, and Darya comes along for the ride. With Everest wildly turning the wheel, it's a bumpy ride, but a fun one, and it's neat to hear the put-put-put of these classic vehicles as we ride our way around the track.
It's no secret that this week is a retail shoppers dream! And there are also some great hotel and airfare deals out there if you haven't yet locked in your plans for December and January travel.
Family Getaway is offering a one bedroom queen villa at the
Westin Desert Willow Villas with breakfast for 4, free internet and a welcome basket at a buy it now price of $319 (two nights by itself would be about $359 on Expedia). Your price could be even lower by participating in Family Getaway's auction
The Quinny Zapp, a stroller that folds up small enough to be stored in an airplane's overhead bin is on sale at amazon for $189.99 a (rare) savings of $30 off the retail price.
Weekly deals always represent a savings over standard rates or represent a special package that is attractive to families. Advertisers may purchase a listing in DeliciousBaby's weekly deals, and I verify that the deal is available at press time and that it would be attractive to DeliciousBaby readers. Some links may be affiliates links, which means that I receive a small commission if you make a purchase at the site (don't worry, it doesn't cost you more) If you are interested in information about being listed in DeliciousBaby's weekly deals post, please send me email: debbie AT deliciousbaby DOT com.
This is the first time I've used a picture for Photo Friday that was not my own, this is an image from the village we've been fund-raising for this year.
Marakathavalli and Sankar live in a mud hut in Karunganni, India. Can you imagine raising a child in these conditions. Can you imagine what it would take just to keep him clean, healthy and fed, let alone to give him what he needs in order to have a successful future?
This mom was born into a legal and cultural system that didn't allow her family to own land or build a house. The laws have changed, but in such complete poverty it's difficult to change the realities of everyday life. We have a chance to give this family (and the 24 other families who live in Karunganni) a jump start by buying the materials and training they will need to build themselves a clean, safe, sturdy home.
About Photo Friday:
You are invited to join us for Photo Friday! It's a great way to get to know other bloggers and to help them get to know you. Just post a "Photo Friday" picture on your own blog, and link directly to your post from the linky below (If your url is longer than 100 characters, you will need to use a url shortening service, like bit.ly)
What is Photo Friday?
Post a travel photo on your site. It can be about any topic, as long as it is G-rated.
The focus of the post should be on your photo.
You don't need to be a professional photographer (I'm not), but do showcase your best work, and make it big enough to see well!
It's nice to include a few sentences about the photo, but it is not required.
Link back here so that your readers can see all the other great Photo Friday posts.
Amazon is running some great "Cyber Monday" deals on products I recommend for family travel. If you're headed out of town for the holidays, this might be the time to purchase what you need for the journey! Here's a list of some great deals.
CARES Child Aviation Restraint System is on sale for $65.95, a $9 savings over the regular price. This is a product we purchased ourselves and have used for years to keep the kids safe on flights.
I keep a Sportsack Weekender packed in my suitcase in case we need an extra bag for the trip back home. You can save up to $100 on your purchases on Endless today.
I do receive a small commission when you buy something after clicking an Amazon link on my site. Buying something through my site doesn't cost you more, and the income from Amazon helps me keep the site going.
I'm trying out a new weekly deals feature on DeliciousBaby. The idea is to showcase family friendly travel deals. Let me know what you think in comments!
Omni Hotels and resorts will be selling 999 rooms in cities like San Diego, San Francisco, Boston and Denver for $99 until 8pm Mountain time on Cyber Monday. We haven't stayed at an Omni hotel yet, but the brand has been making an extra effort to reach out to families through its "Sensational Kids" program.
The San Juan Marriott Resort in Puerto Rico, the resort I stayed at this summer, is offering special deals to its twitter followers. Just follow @SanJuanMarriott on Twitter and any time on CyberMonday tweet "I want to book a #CyberMonday vacation at @SanJuanMarriott" to receive a reply DM with an exclusive booking code and details for a special offer. For full details on this and offers at 4 other Marriott resorts, check here
Use the code "TANKFUL" at checkout for 15% off storewide and free shipping on orders over $45 at TotsOnTheGo
Weekly deals always represent a savings over standard rates or represent a special package that is attractive to families. Advertisers may purchase a listing in DeliciousBaby's weekly deals, and I verify that the deal is available at press time and that it would be attractive to DeliciousBaby readers. If you are interested in information about being listed in DeliciousBaby's weekly deals post, please send me email: debbie AT deliciousbaby DOT com.
When we're out and about, Eilan and I sometimes go on a "bear hunt" looking for bears in everyday places. We're never successful, so imagine both of our surprise when we showed up at Disneyland and met Duffy, Disneyland's newest character! (Duffy is Mickey's Stuffy)
About Photo Friday:
You are invited to join us for Photo Friday! It's a great way to get to know other bloggers and to help them get to know you. Just post a "Photo Friday" picture on your own blog, and link directly to your post from the linky below (If your url is longer than 100 characters, you will need to use a url shortening service, like bit.ly)
What is Photo Friday?
Post a travel photo on your site. It can be about any topic, as long as it is G-rated.
The focus of the post should be on your photo.
You don't need to be a professional photographer (I'm not), but do showcase your best work, and make it big enough to see well!
It's nice to include a few sentences about the photo, but it is not required.
Link back here so that your readers can see all the other great Photo Friday posts.
I have a lot to be thankful for. We all do. This year I'm so grateful to have a home, a healthy family, and the opportunity to spend this holiday with our extended family. It's easy to get caught up in the post-Thanksgiving shoporama, but I've been trying harder remember what we already have, and how little stuff we really need. That focus lets me do more to help people who aren't as fortunate.
This is also the time of year that I turn my attention to Passports With Purpose. I co-founded this annual fundraiser in part because I wanted to find a way to use my blog to do something positive beyond just encouraging families to travel together.
Distributing Bricks to Build Homes in India
I hope you'll join me in supporting this year's effort. It's a great way to give another family something to feel thankful about. Can you imagine having the opportunity to build your own home after being born into a family that has experienced generations of unimaginable poverty and homelessness?
Your $10 donation goes a long way towards helping make that dream a reality. A $100 tax deductible donation funds 1/20th of a house. And in return, you might win a prize that fulfills a dream for you too.
View from a "Ocean Front Room" at the San Juan Marriott Resort
My Favorite Prizes
Each year for Passports with Purpose, bloggers around the world procure fabulous prizes that you could win just for making a donation to our fundraiser. This year, they're absolutely over-the-top. Here are some of my favorite prizes from this years fundraiser:
How to Donate and Enter to Win
To make a donation and enter to win our giveaway, visit the Passports With Purpose website, select the items you want to win, and make your tax-deductible donation. It's quick and easy, and you'll know that you made a contribution that will change the life of a family in India.
About Photo Friday:
You are invited to join us for Photo Friday! It's a great way to get to know other bloggers and to help them get to know you. Just post a "Photo Friday" picture on your own blog, and link directly to your post from the linky below (If your url is longer than 100 characters, you will need to use a url shortening service, like bit.ly)
What is Photo Friday?
Post a travel photo on your site. It can be about any topic, as long as it is G-rated.
The focus of the post should be on your photo.
You don't need to be a professional photographer (I'm not), but do showcase your best work, and make it big enough to see well!
It's nice to include a few sentences about the photo, but it is not required.
Link back here so that your readers can see all the other
great Photo Friday posts.
This is a guest post by Sarina Behar Natkin, a Parent Educator and Consultant in the Seattle area. Sarina has very generously shared some of her best advice about how you can help your kids understand the process of going through TSA security at the airport, the new backscatter imaging devices, and TSA's enhanced pat downs.
Toddler reading the Airplane Safety Manual
The new TSA airport screening measures are creating a great deal of anxiety for parents. Many parents are not willing to use the new body scanners until we know more about whether they are safe for kids. The other option, the full body pat down, is creating just as much fear and anxiety in parents.
We are so careful to teach our children that their body is their own and that they do not have to be touched by anyone they do not want to be touched by. So what do we tell them now?
This is a conversation to have at a time when we are calm and have the time to really be present. The conversation should be short and in very simple terms.
Here is what I would say:
For our safety, we need to be checked at the airport to make sure everything we bring with us is safe.
Some people may bring things that are unsafe and the airport must check us pretty close.
There are two options- a scan like an x-ray or someone feeling our body to make sure we don't have anything unsafe under our clothes. They have to do these things to everyone even though we know we do not have anything unsafe with us.
We are concerned about the scanning machine, because it is really new and we don't know much about it. So for now, we are going to be checked by hand.
This is one of those times that it is ok to be touched, like when mommy or daddy or the doctor touches your body to check and make sure everything is ok.
I will be here with you and if anything feels uncomfortable to you, please tell me.
On the day of travel, be sure to:
Remind your child what will happen when you get to security.
Go through security, do your very best not to project your own anxiety outward. If we are calm, our children are more likely to be as well.
Afterwards, I would just do a very brief check in. Was that ok for you? don't press it if they don't respond.
As always, leave the door open for more conversation.
Our own anxiety in this situation is a big predictor of how our children make meaning of the
experience. This means taking care of ourselves to keep our own anxiety in check.
Leave yourselves lots of time. Being rushed will only make it more stressful and scary.
Allow yourself to change your mind if you feel like the other option might be better at that time.
Be careful how we talk to and interact with TSA in front of our kids.
This is new for all of us parents just as it is for our kids. You can tell your kids that too! It makes it a learning process for all. As we know more about the possible health risks of the scanner and hopefully get some protections in place for the pat downs, hopefully this will become less scary for all of us.
Here's more about Sarina: Sarina Behar Natkin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Gottman Educator and Certified Positive Discipline Parent Educator with over 15 years of experience helping families. She currently provides parent education and consulting in the Seattle area.
I have a long-standing love affair with the Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland WA. Just across the bridge from Seattle, it's a lakefront getaway without all the hassle of a long drive, and my husband and I have take advantage of that (at our own expense) when we just need an overnight break. The rooms are comforting and restful, the location is beautiful, and even the hotel restaurant is fabulous. Plus, here's a fun tip - there's a "secret" downstairs library where you can "Raid-the-Pantry" for a late night snack.
View of Lake Washington and the Olympic Mountains from the Woodmark
Guess what? The Woodmark Hotel has generously contributed a "Spin the Bottle" hotel package ($380 value) to Passports With Purpose, the annual travelblogger's fundraiser, and you can enter to win it! Here's how it works, when you make a $10 or more tax-deductible contribution directly to LAFTI through Passports with Purpose you are entered to win a random drawing for one of our fabulous prizes. You can donate more to get more prize entries. Your money goes directly to LAFTI to help build a village in India. That's what I call a "win-win." Even if you wouldn't be able to use this prize, you should check out the full prize list.
More about The "Spin The Bottle" package
Enjoy overnight accommodations in a lakefront guestroom. Includes a welcome gift, one complimentary in-room movie, $100 dining credit, guaranteed late check out, and Raid-the-Pantry for late night snacks. The total value of this package is $380
More about Passports With Purpose
Students at the Passports With Purpose School
When I helped co-found the Passports With Purpose fundraiser three years ago, it seemed like a great way to give back, a nice way to build community and fun project to do with some gals I really admire (Pam Mandel, Beth Whitman, and Michelle Duffy). We have been absolutely blown away by the level of support we've gotten from the travel community and from our blog readers, and we are so proud and excited to be able to do this again for a third year.
Last year, you helped us blow past our goal of raising $14,000 to build a school in Cambodia in just a few days. In the end we raised almost $30,000 which let us add improvements beyond the basic building. A year later, the school has been built, and students are already attending classes! You can read more about the school here
More about LAFTI
The charity we have selected this year is very special. A few years ago I watch Krishnammal Jagannathan win the OPUS prize, an international humanitarian award. I was inspired by her history and her work (and you will be too if you watch this video.
Since then, I've hoped to find a way to help out, and this year we will do that. Krishnammal has been working in India for over 50 years to gain land rights for the "untouchables." Historically, untouchables were not able to own land, and squatted on the land they worked. There was simply no way for an individual or a family to advance themselves. The laws have changed, but in such a poor country, reversing the injustice done to these families takes a much longer time. We have a chance to help. This year, through our partnership with LAFTI (Krishnammal's organization) we will raise $50,000 and build an entire village for Dalit in Karunganni, located in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Think about that for a moment. That's a gift that will change the course of their family histories. It's simply amazing to me that we can do this $10 at a time, and I hope you will help by visiting Passports With Purpose and making a donation.
Thank You to Sponsors
We've been so lucky this year to have the help and support of many corporate sponsors. Each sponsor makes a donation directly to LAFTI to help build the Passports With Purpose village. Quite simply, we couldn't do this without them and I hope you'll take a moment to check out what they're doing.
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BootsnAll is a travelers community focused on independent travel. They're also lovely people, and I'm lucky to see them often since this is a Pacific Northwest based company. You should definitely check them out.
About Me I'm Debbie, mother of three delicious kids and I write about traveling with little kids. That's my daughter in the backpack and my son in Paris on Halloween.
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, a stroller that folds up small enough to be stored in an airplane's overhead bin is on sale at amazon for $189.99 a (rare) savings of $30 off the retail price.
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