Bennett is our child that loves to anticipate events, but maybe doesn’t fully enjoy the event because it never lives up to his expectations. It’s a constant struggle. He’s been anticipating a trip to Disneyland for some time now. He knew both of his older siblings went when they turned 7 years old and he was hoping his time was coming. He’s been talking non-stop for a while now and I just hoped when he finally did go it would be everything he was hoping it to be.
We surprised him last week with the one-day trip, a week before his birthday and he was both shocked and excited. It lived up to every expectation he had. Every ride was better than the last. Every smell was delicious and we didn’t hear a single complaint from him in the whole 10 miles we walked that day. He loved the one-on-one attention and was agreeable to everything. I know many people like to take their families to Disneyland and as I watched those parents juggle the kids and the gear I was grateful to have a single backpack and one kid to keep happy. We love this tradition and I think the kids are fond of it as well.
One day we’ll have older kids and we’ll be able to tackle it as a family, until then, we’ll enjoy the day as a family of three.
What a great gift. I’m a huge fan of the experience gift rather than stuff.
What a special tradition/ milestone you have created for your family.
This is what we are doing, too, only to Disney World because we are in the east coast. Taking just one kid at a time and then when all of our kids are big enough, we will do a family trip. We are taking individual trips at 4 or 5, depending on when we can get there. We just took my oldest and had the best time – she still really, really believes and it was magical. Can’t wait to go again with our second. So much less stressful with just a one day (at the park, we stayed on property for a few days) trip and one kid.
I bet he’ll have those memories forever!