Seventeen days of vacation together gives you family stories.
Family stories are those memorable little tales that happen when you least expect it. They are the delight and surprise of life not going according to plan. They are the stories your family will tell the next generation.
Hergenrader Family Stories from 2013 Christmas Break
1. Ever since it opened last year, the kids have wanted to visit Galveston’s Pleasure Pier. Unlike most super-fun kid attractions, we haven’t been able to hide this one from our children. Usually when they ask a question like, “What’s Ben and Jerry’s?” we can say, “Well, what do you think it is?” And when they respond with, “A place to fix your car?” M and I shrug instead of spending $15 on ice cream cones none of us need.
But Pleasure Pier is a huge pier that juts out into the Gulf of Mexico. Between the light-up roller coasters and whooping-beeping amusement rides, it’s hard to miss.
It’s also outrageously expensive. And it’s a proper grown-up amusement park, so we figured our kids were probably too young for it.
On New Years Day, we discovered they are too young for it. At least half of them are.
We bundled up and headed down to Pleasure Pier for a super fun day of roller coasters guaranteed to scramble our brains. Before we paid to get in, we did a quick check to make sure the kids were tall enough for the rides.
Oops. I knew Elisabeth had a couple inches on Sam, but I didn’t realize they were the important inches, inches that separate the little kids from the big kids. Poor Sam. If you can look at that kid’s face in the picture above and not feel sorry for him, then you’ve never been told you’re too little for something you really want to do.
Or, in this painful case, you’ve never been told you’re a short six-year-old compared to your girls-grow-faster twin.
2. The second story is how our family spent way too much time with Ray Romano this Christmas Break–in the form of really bad movies. In the days leading up to the break, Nate saw an Ice Age DVD at the store and begged to buy it. I told him we could rent it on Uverse when we were down at the beach house over Christmas.
For the next month, he focused on that plan more than Christmas itself. Every day he would ask, “Is today the day we’re going to the beach house to watch Ice Age?”
Finally, the big night came, and our family snuggled in to watch a C+ film featuring Ray Romano as a wooly mammoth.
End of the story, right? Oh, I only wish.
Did you know that Ice Age has like 24 sequels? To clarify, 24 really bad sequels?
Neither did I.
Due to the flu, the hours of unstructured vacation time, and Nate’s focus on ICE AGE AT THE BEACH HOUSE, we ended up renting more than one Ice Age.
But this wasn’t even the awkward moment.
The awkward moment came when we went to Moody Gardens, another family amusement place, to watch a 4D movie. We thought we had tickets for a 4D experience of Wizard of Oz. Our kids have not seen the actual movie, but we thought the shortened 4D version, complete with a simulated tornado, ankle ticklers, and spraying rain would be much less scary for them.
Or something like that.
Anyway, as we all waited in the theater, I explained to the kids what a classic Wizard of Oz is, how much they would love finally knowing the backstory of Dorothy and her famous shoes.
But then the movie started, and it was a SPECIAL HOLIDAY SHOWING of….Ice Age Christmas Edition.
Is it possible there are so many Ice Ages? Even the kids were disappointed to hear Ray Romano’s wooly mammoth voice. Except Nate. He had planned to watch Ice Age at the beach house–and, boy, did he get his chance.
3. The last story is about how we were really poorly dressed for a week.
I’m a terrible packer, even during the best circumstances. I always fail to remember that clothes wrinkle in suitcases, that brining two pairs of boots will not allow room for essentials, like pants. Etc. Etc. Etc.
The kids pack like typical kids. They remember to bring all their dolls and lightsabers–but not one clothing item.
Our trip to Galveston brought out the epic bad packing in all of us.
M, who is running the half marathon in a couple weeks, brought six pairs of running shorts. Then he came down with the flu and didn’t run once. By about Day Three, he was really wishing for another pair of jeans.
I packed tshirts for the forecasted 70 degree days. The average temperature while we were there? Forty-five degrees.
And the kids? I was sick with the flu when they packed, so they pretty much brought dolls and lightsabers. Very few clothes. Our lack of packed items made for awkward moments every time we tried to get dressed.
Sam: I have no pants!
Nate: I have no clothes!
We looked like a hot mess (actually a cold mess) everywhere we went.
But we made some good family stories that knit us together like only really awkward moments can.
For years to come, when someone says, “Christmas 2013,” we’ll remember the Pleasure Pier trip that didn’t happen and trying to put together outfits from our poorly-packed suitcases.
But mostly, we will all remember Ray Romano.
