What I Learned (About My Kids) on Summer Vacation [#AVMTour]
Last Sunday was Father’s Day, as well as the final day of the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Tour. Sunday was probably the least exciting day of the trip, since we spent most of it in the air or in airports, but I can’t think of a better Father’s Day present than getting to spend nine days in a row with my girls on vacation. Not only did we have a ton of fun, but I got to know them better thanks to all that quality time. Here are a few things I learned about my daughters last week…
My nine-year-old isn’t shy around adults. Hannah gets the wrong toy in her McDonald’s Happy Meal? She marches right up to the counter and asks for a replacement. Hannah wants to buy a holder for the elongated pennies she’s collecting at every stop? She walks into every gift shop she sees and asks the attendant if they have such holders. Hannah wants to know the backstory for the constellation Pisces? She gets in line to ask the park ranger as soon as the astronomy presentation is over. And every request begins with “excuse me.” The girl has her mom’s New Jersey boldness and her dad’s South Carolina politeness.
My five-year-old enjoys having a bit of alone time. She loves spending time with her family, but if she’s just had a bit of excitement, Lily likes to take a time out from the family fun and exercise her imagination. Many times during the trip I caught her staring out the car window, lost in thought, or walking a few steps behind her sister and me, chatting to her stuffed animal or just to herself. I keep trying to eavesdrop to see what she’s talking about, but if I get too close, I break the spell. So I let her have her space. And after five or ten minutes, she’s back with us, ready for more interaction. It’s pretty adorable.
The nine-year-old is slightly obsessed with the Disney Channel. I knew she was a fan of Good Luck Charlie, Phineas & Ferb, and Jessie, since she watches all three of those shows on Netflix at my house. I didn’t know how much she enjoys other Disney shows (Austin & Ally, Shake It Up), nor did I realize just how extensively she can quote Dog with a Blog. We stayed in six different hotels during the trip, and the first thing she did when we got to our room each time was fire up the TV and attempt to find the Disney Channel. A couple of the hotels didn’t carry Disney, and the crestfallen look on her face when she discovered this was almost tragic. It was at one of these hotels that I discovered that she’s at the perfect age to consider The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air hysterically funny. (How Will Smith launched an action movie career after that show, I’ll never understand.)
The five-year-old needs to be well hydrated. I discovered this last Friday evening after arriving at the Grand Canyon. Once we parked, I wanted to make a beeline for the canyon rim, to lay eyes on this wonder of the world. The girls, however, thought that the visitor center and its gift shop would make a much better first stop. I caved, of course. No sense dragging them along to the MOST AMAZING SIGHT EVER if they’d rather go shopping. By the time we finally got to the rim, it was an hour later and they had spent a good half of that time walking around in the late afternoon heat. Lily was a mess: grumpy, sullen, irritable. Even the MOST AMAZING SIGHT EVER couldn’t cheer her up. We returned to the visitor center and refilled our water bottles. Five minutes later, Lily had downed half her water, and for the rest of the evening she was all sweetness and light. Seriously, she’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, if Dr. Jekyll turned into Mr. Hyde via dehydration.
My girls are constantly growing and changing. I know that one day in the future, I’ll look back and remark on how fast this time with my kids goes by. But last week I was able to slow down time, just a bit, and really get to know who my girls are right now. Like I said above, this is the best Father’s Day present I can imagine.