This summer has been full of weekend family fun. Most of it wasn’t even planned because we’re not the kind of family that needs to plan to have fun, nope, we have fun simply because we get to be together. With the beautiful weather this summer, every weekend ended up being cause to celebrate. We didn’t have one big vacation planned, instead on the weekends we’d get in the car and we’d go places. Oh, the places we went!
I have tons of stories of adventures that we had this summer that I could share with you, but you probably don’t have all day, so let me tell you about the one that taught my eldest, Put Pie, a lesson I hope she never forgets. The lesson being that sometimes things don’t work out, but if you stay open to the possibilities things might work out even better than you planned.
Picture a foggy day in San Francisco, our family of four gets into our adventure-mobile, the kids get strapped into their Britax car seats and have snacks at the ready to keep the grumpies at bay. On this occasion there was a plan and the plan was to head to the zoo, so zoo-ward bound we went.
We got to the zoo and were amazed to see that everyone and their abuela was at the zoo that day. Like I don’t even know how there was any room for animals up in there because there were so many people. We circled and circled and there was nowhere to park. The grownups in the car made the executive decision that the zoo was not to be that day. The eldest child in the backseat sighed the kind of sigh that sounds like the joyful air going out of a party balloon before the party has even started. She was not having it, there would be no fun at all that day if the fun was not to be had at the zoo.
We reassured Put Pie that even though we didn’t know where we were headed, we would find something fun to do. She did not believe us. She moped, she moaned, she munched on some snacks. We drove and drove. I asked my husband, “Do you know where we’re going?” He answered, “Nope.”
As we left the fogginess of San Francisco we were greeted by lovely rays of sunshine. Before we knew it, we found ourselves in Sonoma County and to our right we spotted Sonoma TrainTown which as the name suggests has a train and a town, but not just that, it also has rides and treats and fountains and fun.
Finally our eldest came to terms with the fact that no matter how hard she tried to let the day be ruined because things didn’t work out the way we planned, the day was going to be all kinds of fun. And it was…the end!
*Disclosure: As a Britax Latina Blogger/Advisory Board Member (and in partnership with Mami Innovative Media), this post is part of a sponsored outreach. All opinions expressed are my own.
Awe, sweet! For some children that is a very hard lesson to learn. When my children were young we did much as you do and would just get in the car and go until we found a spot that called out to us. But my oldest daughter has always been a planner and it took her a long time to realize unplanned fun is sometimes more exciting than planned.
This is a great lesson for the kids to learn along with patience. Glad you had fun no matter where you went!
I have up and downs with my teen…hormones. Glad everything worked out!