There was a time when an economy class ticket would still get you a warm smile from the air hostesses, warm blankets, a kit with toothpaste, socks, eye patch, ear plugs for everyone, another kit with fun stuff to do for every kid that gets on the plane, veggie noodles for snacks between meals, and among other things, a deck of playing cards to pass time.
We have been playing cards at home recently with the kids as the little one is turning into a rummy champion of sorts!
The one deck of cards that has still survived in the house is this one.
This deck pre dates both Jr. and the little one. We got it in the late nineties I think. I kept it as a souvenier of what air travel used to be like. The box is all taped up and the cards were handled with care over 16 years.
Now we are playing with it. I am tempted to return it back into my shoe box and buy a new deck of cards to play with the kids. Given it is the first time we will be paying for a deck of cards, want it to be a memorable deck for the kids.
Who knows? Maybe they will tape it all up and show it to me in 20 years?
This years Christmas gift was a printed version of my blog in book form. There were only three or four services that do this, that were recommened on the internet. Used Blogtoprint service and found that they allow a maximum of 1000 pictures in each book.
That meant only the first two years of the blog from 2005 - 2007 and it was 300+ pages.
It was finally delivered today and we all loved it!
The kids have been flipping through this and laughing and crying at the same time. Given the cost of printing this thing, we have to wait for another year to get book2 printed..
- we did not have to chase after them or worry about them getting lost as they had cell phones with them
- they eat faster and by themselves
- they don't need to be accompanied to the rest rooms
- and they were bold enough to go on "single rider" passes to bypass the long lines.
Granted, going as single riders kind of defets the "family" aspect of it, but hey.. we stay in the same line till the ride point.. then we split up into differnt cars and we are usually within one or two cars in each ride. Once inside the ride, it is all dark and dingy for the most part and you are screaming your head off.. except for the little one, who missed squeezing daddy's hand during the rides we were okay.
We started off the day with the usual pictures at the entrance..
moved through the park and did as many rides as we could. We did stand in line for 40 minutes to go "as a family" in Space Mountain .. so we could buy the photograph they click at the end. We are so familiar now that we pose for the camera on Space Mountain.
We ran back and forths, got fast passes where we could, split up to do different things every now and then.. basically let the kids decide.
we watched two parades and parallel processed one parade while standing in line for "it's a small world"!
Then the kids decided to wait in line for 60 minutes in Toon town for a 60 second ride while San decided to stand in line for a little over an hour to get a picture with Mickey... for old times sake!
I was torn between the two and did neither. Just sat at the fountain and took pictures for passers by..
Selfie sticks are banned in Disney.. and it is so sad to watch 8 people try to fit into a selfie. Did my bit of social service while watching the kids inch their way to the top of the line for their ride. Lot of good karma in that one hour in Toon town!
The kids knew I was mad after their ride because the sun had set and daddy had told them that toontown looks amazing just before sunset as the colors come alive! after receiving a little lecture and promptly forgetting that lecture, we moved fast to exit the park.. at 6PM.. that was a first!
Good Karma sometimes doesn't come back right away. I took the picture above of the kids, then went stood there and asked this lady to take a picture.. we got this back. For some reason, she decided to do her own thing.. we are happy that the family was in the frame!
then came the best part. As part of the package ticket, my darling wife had got us this pass for "dining with characters" at Goofy's kitchen in the Disney resort. The kids took a short break to dress up and we went for dinner..
we had the time of our life watching them be so happy!
You can see from the video that the highlight was Goofy's kitchen..
We had shared iPhone photos from Disney on FB.. Had to come home to get this one from the Canon.. This one is going to be framed.
Next time, we should just skip the park and stay at the resort (we have never done that) and just have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the characters.. more fun.. more smiles!
One weird thing on this trip.. There were no desis in sight in the park. We were joking that someone must have sent a memo to all desis telling them that 30th was a no Disney day or something and we missed the memo! We saw maybe 3 or 4 desi families in the park all day.
