Hey APW,
About two weeks ago, we made a late-breaking decision to take the kids to Disneyland for the long weekend. Our family (of the chosen sort: our life-long friends and the kids’ godsiblings) were going. They’re the people with every single Disney vacation membership, who used to work at Disneyland, and we’d long known we wanted to go with them for the kids’ first trip, so we jumped. The weekend ended with us somehow buying an annual pass and extending the trip another day (suffice to say: we had fun).
David and I grew up in Southern California in the ’80s and ’90s, before all the crazy price hikes, so we grew up around Disneyland, and it was a joy to get to share it with our kids. But surprisingly, it ended up being some of the best quality family time we’ve ever had. Don’t get me wrong: it was intense and overwhelming. Our oldest has sensory issues, and we ended up needing to get a Disability Access Pass, because waiting in line gave him panic attacks. Managing his reactions felt like a full-time job at times. But the kids both loved it. They each got to have heart-to-hearts with their teenage godsiblings and non-parent adults who love them. And all of those conversations led to them sharing all kinds of feelings with us that they don’t always share at home. Plus we got to take them on Dumbo and ride Space Mountain, so wins all round.
Meanwhile, back home at the APW office we’re packing up for our big move into a new office down the hall… and getting ready to start recording our wedding planning podcast audio NEXT WEEK (so much more on that coming soon).
And with that, it’s your open thread!
xo
Meg