Things that are essential for two kids under 12 to have fun on vacation:
- A motel or a campground with a swimming pool, preferably huge. This one, at a motel, is indeed huge. The motel serves better than a campground because one of the primary purposes in this vacation is to give the above mentioned kids a chance to become better acquainted with their great grandparents. Thus we are on a schedule, not just the relaxing experience of hanging out in the woods.
- Fun stuff to do. In this case, on top of anything spontaneous that we make happen. We have tickets for Kennywood, a historic amusement park, and for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are contenders for first place. (Editor Stevens wishes he had such tickets.)
- A large cooler to keep food, snacks and drinks in. Water, of course, is not just about fun, as the temp in western Pa. has hovered in the same range as ours. Snacks and food are really about cheap fun, as we would spend far more purchasing those items. The kids wouldn't care; our budgets would.
- The celebration of a birthday party, or in this case, two birthdays, an aunt and a great grandpa.
- A large, lush backyard which opens down into a deeply wooded valley. This is the area which my granddaughter, several years ago, named " The enchanted forest," a name with which my grandson, who had never seen it before, concurred.
- A great-grandpa who maintains a sizable garden in that above mentioned backyard, and who likes to have help caring for that garden and explaining that it is okay with him to give some of his produce to the wild turkeys, rabbits and deer who visit the yard.
- Action figures, beyblades, and other ways to occupy down time so they don't get bored.
- Family pictures to look at and understand, and, for the granddaughter, a small room in the upstairs of the great-grandparent house that she can consider her own, and crash on the couch of, when she gets tired.
I have also compiled a list of things which are better avoided, and which, for the most part, we have, so far.
- They do not necessarily want to hike about Boyce Park, especially in the 96 degree heat. If they do see Boyce Park, they do not need to hear more than once how important it was to me, growing up.
- They do not necessarily want to visit the French and Indian War/American Revolution sites which I find so fascinating, and could spend an entire week exploring and feel I was just getting started. Luckily, I got to do that last summer, on my own. For the tenth or eleventh time.
- They do not want to spend any time touring Western Pa.'s outlet malls. Fortunately, in our family, neither does anyone else.
- They will probably not want to intersect with the Vintage Grand Prix, a weeklong schedule of classic race car events. Luckily, I got to do that last summer,also on my own.
Though the above is written tongue in cheek, it is also true. I hate it when I see someone dragging a child through a vacation experience that they feel the child should enjoy, and becoming frustrated because the kid wants no part of it. Yet, I understand, at some level. I still can't really get why my babies do not want to see Ft. Ligonier, Ft. Duquesne, Ft. Erie, Ft. Chambeau, and maybe even make a long day trip up to Ft. Niagara. But I do get why they love this Olympic size pool.
Clyde Davis is a Presbyterian pastor and teacher at Clovis Christian High School. He can be contacted at: [email protected]
