Hollywood and Vine - lunch with the Little Einsteins

One of the things I always liked at Disney World is the charaters.  I don't make a big effort to see characters, but I enjoy a sit down meal with them and if I see a short line for one I'll jump on and get my picture.  That might make me a Disney geek.  Aside from that I always like to see how kids react, and was curious how Alex as a 4 year old would react to them.  I was disappointed...

On our Hollywood Studios day we had lunch at Hollywood and Vine with charcters for Little Einsteins, a good meal and experience for those in the 2-5 year old range.  However, Alex didn't seem impressed.  If he was younger I would have thought that he didn't get it.  Matty at 9 months seemed baffled by these funny looking people with the big heads.  Alex didn't want to dance with them or get pictures with them or talk to them.  He actually refused to go into some of the pictures.  Meanwhile other kids in the restaurant around the same age were running up the characters excited to see them.

Later on we went to Block Party Bash and had the same experience.  He watched the parade, didn't seem to dislike it, but just kinda stared as Mr. Potato Head danced in front of him.  And when he got pulled up to dance, he just stood there.  I have seen the kid dance at parties, so I know it wasn't that.

After that day we didn't bother with any other character meals.  I have a couple theories on why he wasn't into them.  First, he doesn't like his picture taken and when characters show up, cameras come out.  The other thing is that he has a very vivid imagination (don't all kids) and sees a lot of real and fake animals and dinosaurs and the like.  I wonder if he knew they weren't real and wasn't sure why they were there or what to do with them.

World travel with Children

The other day I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, The K&K Podcast, and Kylie brought up a topic from a podcast she had recently listened to - the topic of traveling with children. The podcast is The Family From the Heart and in episode 50 they discuss Cliff's idea of traveling/living outside of the US with the whole family. They would sell everything and move to different places for 3-6 months each, for 2-3 years. The children would be around 7, 10 and 13 when the trip started. I listened to the podcast myself, it was the first one I had ever listened to so I don't know much about the family but the vibe was good.

This obviously isn't my typical type of topic to discuss, and I have no children so maybe I have no business discussing it, but I thought it was really interesting. I don't know if it's becoming more popular to do extensive travel with children, or if I'm just noticing it more, but it seems like it's getting more popular for Americans. There is a show Six for the Road about a family of 6 who bought an RV and are RVing around the country. The 6 in the World blog is about a family of 6 who sold everything and traveled around the world. When I was growing up a vacation was a weekend trip to Amish Country in Pennsylvania, this seems really fascinating to me. Ok, as a child we did take 2 cruises and go to Disney twice, but otherwise it was just Amish Country. It took me a long time to find out I had a passion for travel.

I think my concerns about it are that the oldest child will be a teenager, which is a time when kids really start to connect with their friends. But with technology today the oldest daughter would be able to keep in contact with friends. Also, I wonder if the youngest will be able to really appreciate being in the different places. But just like every adult gets something different out of travel, so will each child, no matter the age. I suspect they'll look at it as a special time once it is over and hopefully during the trip. But other then that, I think there is so much opportunity for the children to grow - travel does that. I used to listen to a podcast called A Year In Europe, the year is over, but it was interesting to hear the journey they went through. Learning how different people live in different places and then to come back home to the US and to see how different we really are from Europeans. I think no matter where they end up the kids could learn a lot. And their experience will be so unique from other people they encounter in life.

I think this trip will require a lot of planning, and the involvement of the kids. I've only listened to the one podcast, but I think they will include the kids. I don't think they'll learn a language in 3-6 months as they've stated they wish to do - A year in Europe didn't seem to learn more then some basics when they spent a month or more in a country. But they will learn about how different people live, and take in some of the good things and integrate them into their lives. Even though they seem to be seriously considering home schooling while away I hope they will stay somewhere and put the kids in school for maybe an entire school year, or at least part, schools vary so much from country to country, even from school to school here in the US. That could be a great experience for the kids. But too many schools might be overwhelming for the kids, not just adjusting to how different schools work, but also meeting new kids so often. There is such and opportunity for them to grow as a family and as individuals. Yea, they can and will run into some problems and roadblocks, but as a family, if it's done rightish, I think it could be great. I wonder if I can get them to adopt me as a 4th child?