This is some of us at Medieval Times dinner theaters in Kissimmee Florida. We had a spectacular vacation, taking 12 kids to see things they’ve never experienced and show them new adventures while they are with us.
There were several kids missing from this trip because of work and other scheduling conflicts, but we had our hands full, believe me. If you want to know just how patient you are, take a dozen kids ages 2 to 20 with different personalities and interests to a theme park in 95 degree weather in Florida with the occasional life threatening lightning downpours, 60 minutes lines for rides, and you will quickly find out where your patience ends.
By the end of this trip as we were packing to leave by the 10am deadline, I was stuffing things into any random suitcase not caring whose it was or if it was folded or not and yelling at the top of my lungs for them to stop playing around and shenaniganizing while going from room to room finding things everywhere that I just told them to pack and threatening them with dismemberment. Eventually, I went into the bathrooms with a basket and swiped my arm across the counters and watched as every bottle of everything imaginable fell into it and then I shoved it into my big cosmetic bag all willy nilly and zipped it up. Not my finest organizational moment and one that I am now paying for as I have to unpack everything and figure out where it all goes, but still. In THAT moment it was completely satisfying.
We are now home, safe and sound.
Mommy and Daddy are flippin’ exhausted but the insane amounts of sweat, the sacrifice of our sleep and sanity, and the major hit to the pocketbook was totally worth it. If you think it is a “vacation” or “restful” for Bruce and I, you would be wrong. There have been people out there to suggest that we do these things with the kids for our own benefit, and to them I would say to simply come on one of these trips with us. It is nothing less than round the clock work and many of these kids react very differently to new and exciting environments which keeps our adrenaline flowing. It is go go and go some more, and it is like herding cats.
Cats with opinions and attitudes.
Hungry and cranky cats, cats that are sneaky and break the rules in a house you don’t own with furniture that is fragile. Anyway, you get the idea…
We do this because it is urgent. It is not something we can put off until later. You see, we don’t know how long many of these kids will be with us, what their future holds, or if they’ll be here for our next adventure… so while they are here, in every single moment, we try to pack in as much learning, love, and life changing experiences as we can. Taking them places they have never been, encouraging them to try new things, to be brave, to taste different foods, and for our long term kids establishing traditions that they come to cherish- THAT is what it is all about. KKIDS, Inc. is for kids, every kid that needs us, any time they need us, for as long as they need us. Every child needs to know there are caring adults out there that will drop everything and do anything for them, and we are those adults for many kids. We have to break the generational cycle of addiction and abuse, poverty and entitlement, by showing them a different way of life. With a lot of love.
And adventure!
By the way, they LOVED this adventure and it was an awesome history lesson for them! Curious minds…
