We're Spending Christmas at Disneyland Again

Our kids have a bit of a reputation at school. No, it's not as the kids who have the coolest parents (although I have no idea how that couldn't be). They're known as that family that's always going somewhere. Since preschool, our kids have spent most of their spring, summer, and winter breaks, and a good chunk of their long weekends, traveling. They've seen all sorts of things in all sorts of places, but in case you think it's been all travel and no fun, a large portion of that time, including all the Christmas seasons, has been spent at Disneyland.

Travel Lessons I'm Hoping My Kids Are Learning

Part of the job of parenting is to be concerned about the things my kids are learning. Not the school part of things - their teachers do a fine job of that - but teaching things like patience, motivation, and inspiration, fall to Lori and I as the parents. 

For instance, when I make my younger daughter do her math homework, I'm hoping she's learning the value of time organization and thinking numerically. 

When I make my older daughter clean out her room, I'm hoping she's learning that it would be a lot easier if she just kept things neat as she went.

When I tell my son to stand just a little further to the left for a picture...Well really I'm hoping the he's just learning not to be so gullible.

MKTS - Our Secret Musical Past

By now you've heard all about More Kids Than Suitcases. International jetsetters...Highly respected experts on pretty much everything...World-renowned blog, considered a "must read" by all of the brilliant minds of our day. I'm sure that's all old news to you by now, but there might be something you didn't know about us. Something we don't talk about too much these days. Something that's entrenched in history, yet often overlooked while the world focuses on our current projects.

Did you know we used to be a band?

Choosing a Disney Costume

Are we timely around here or what? A mere one week before Halloween and the topic for this week's Wordless Wendesday is Disney costumes and attire, which has particular relevance in my case as I still don't have a costume picked out. It shouldn't really come as a surprise that I leave things to the last minute, as I really am terrible at making decisions. I see the massive array of possibilities in the Halloween stores and my brain just shuts down, so to help me limit my choices, I asked my family for some ideas as to what I should dress up as.

I really shouldn't ask them so many questions.

Driving to Key West

One of the things that Lori and I were really looking forward to during our time in Florida, was the drive to Key West through the Florida Keys. Island hopping through the Gulf of Mexico along a chain of bridges just sounded like a neat experience, and the fact that we'd seen the bridges on countless TV shows and movies was definitely an extra incentive. When we hit the turn off to start our drive along the Overseas Highway, we were pretty darn excited....

Disney Storytelling

It's Wordless Wednesday again, and this week we're talking about Disney Storytelling. Disney pretty much is stories, so it shouldn't be too hard to find great stories wherever you are, but those are the published, well documented stories. We all know these stories. They start out "Once upon a Time..."

Answering the New Years Eve Question

When it comes to recapping holiday travel for people, we always get asked the same two questions. "How was your Christmas?", and "What did you do for New Years?". I much prefer answering the first question, as it usually involves a recap of how many trips through Space Mountain we managed to make, followed by a detailed description of what goodies the Hyatt put out on the buffet table that morning. Our family tradition of spending Christmas morning at Disneyland seems weird to some people, but to us the year just doesn't seem complete without it.

Capturing Kournikova

I don't get to go everywhere. I usually write about our travels as a family, but sometimes the other members get to go places without me. My son went on a sleepover at the Vancouver aquarium without me. The kids have all been to the Capilano Suspension Bridge without me, and a couple of Octobers ago, my wife got the chance to accompany her friend to a Champions Series tennis event in Surprise, Arizona.

More Strange Searches That Got You Here

So back in February, I wrote a post called Strange Searches that Got You Here about some of the rather bizarre terms that people were searching for that were bringing them to the More Kids site. What I didn't realize at the time, was that by putting these strange search terms into a post, in Google's eyes I actually became more of an expert for anybody else searching for the same term. Hence, over the last eight months, the number of people arriving at my site from the search term "Guys who marry out of their league" has gone up tenfold. Seriously...I know she settled, but it's kind of depressing.

Disneyland All Out of Perspective

Disneyland is pretty impressive to look at. I mean there's the detailed buildings, the high rising mountains, and that whole Sleeping Beauty Castle that sits right in the middle of everything. I can't even begin to imagine how many imagineers it must have taken to dream up all of this stuff, and then the ridiculous amount of architects who would have been needed to design it. Getting every detail just right must have taken years and years of hard work.

Taking Your Kids to the Vegas Buffets

It's not like they make it out to be in Vegas Vacation. When cousin Eddie steps up to the buffet and orders "a little of the yellow" since the food is only distinguishable by it's color, everybody thinks back to the worst buffet experience they've ever had and groans. I've been to some of those buffets, but I'm happy to say I've never encountered one in Las Vegas itself. In fact, with only a couple of mild exceptions, almost all of my buffet experiences in Las Vegas have been excellent. So when it comes time to feed my kids in Vegas, I have no hesitation taking them to the nearest buffet.

My (Slightly Strange) List of Things I'm Thankful For

So today is Canadian Thanksgiving. I know it's true because we get the day off work, but truthfully it just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving up here. It's probably because the bulk of our media comes from south of the border, and American Thanksgiving isn't for another month yet, but I haven't seen a single person in a pilgrim costume, the TV isn't airing "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving", and the only parade I've seen was a bunch of drunks trying to make their way home from the bar last night in single file. Still, I've got a calendar sitting in front of me that says today is Thanksgiving, and that I should be spending my time giving thanks. 

See? Told you.

Wishing on the Weekend

I write a lot about me on here, which I guess is understandable. I mean really, I'm the only person I understand. I know I'm supposed to be able to relate to other people, but then those other people do things like camping, skiing, or exercising, and I'm left with the realization that the only person in the world who makes any sense at all, is me. 

Things That Scare Me at Disneyland

It's October. The month where the leaves begin to fall, Canadians give thanks (mainly for somebody else raking up the leaves), and the kids get all amped up for Trick or Treating. It's also the time of year that Disneyland turns their decor over to the spooky side of things. Well, as spooky as Disneyland gets. Keeping in mind their target audience, the Halloween celebrations at Disneyland are all about atmosphere and very little about actual scaring.

My Five Must See Sporting Events

My family knows it's coming. At least once during any trip, I'm going to drag them to something sports-related. Since I'm the only one in our family with any real passion for sports, this used to be the cause of many complaints, until, after a particularly ugly Spring Training outing, I figured out that if I combined my chosen sporting activity with food, everybody's mouth was too full to object. This discovery has cleared the way for us to attend hockey games, basketball games, and even baseball's All-Star weekend. As long as there's food involved, my kids are willing to endure pretty much anything.