A Letter to my Son on his First Day of Elementary School

To my sweet little boy,

Today you embark on the beginning of your schooling. Though you have been in preschool and pre-k, you are in transitional kindergarten now and at what we have been calling “big boy school”. I always promised myself that I wouldn’t be emotional with such transitions and I would enjoy all your stages of life. But as I sit here, I think how are you almost 5 already and how are you already in elementary school? Seems like I just blinked. All those stereotypical sayings like “The days are long but the years are short and that is SO true. I feel like I will close my eyes and you will be in college! I wish time would slow just a bit.

Pre-K to TK 

For your school journey, I wish you many things. I wish you happiness. I hope you love learning and love school. I wish you challenging work, so that your mind will grow. I wish you friendship, lifelong friends that you can call when the going gets tough. Did you know I met your Godmother in Kindergarten? I wish for you knowledge, to know right from wrong, to know hardship and pain is temporary and to not let the pressures of school or your peers sway you too much. I wish you safety, with food allergies, it is another layer of worry and anxiety about keeping you safe.

I hope you will be many things. I hope you will be KIND. The world needs so much more kindness these days. I hope you will be a good friend, remember, everyone needs a friend. I hope you will be respectful, of your teachers, your friends and most of all to yourself.

You are a spitfire, my love, but so kind and everyone’s friend. For as hard as you play, you love equally as hard. May you never lose that. I am so proud of you, my little boy. You are one of my greatest adventures.

Love,

Mommy

Why a Girls Trip to Disneyland is Good for the Soul

As a mom of 2 small children, I rarely even get to go to the bathroom without interruption. My “me” time is mostly my commute to work or maybe 30 minutes after the baby goes to sleep (but I’m usually so tired, I just fall asleep right after she does!) Though I dream of having time to sit and watch TV or sleeping through the night, I know that this is such a fleeting time in life and my kids will never need me this much again. Recently, I did take a whole day to spend with a friend at the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland. This recharged me more than I even knew I needed.

I have a friend who lives in Alabama. We had always talked about someday going to Disneyland together as she had never been so when she had to come out here for business, we knew, this was our chance! As this was her first trip and my wonderful husband was willing, I decided to leave the kids at home so I could give her a magical day! It has been years and years since I had a whole day with just a friend. While, I had gone to a Disney event with a friend, it wasn’t the same as having a whole day to be free and have fun. I encourage everyone to have a girls trip to Disneyland and to convince you, here are my top 3 reasons why:

3.  You can go on more rides and experiences.

I had a list of rides my friend wanted to go on. To maximize the (brief) low crowds on this summer Sunday morning, we got to the park at Rope Drop and between that and Max Pass, we hit a good chunk of the major rides in the first 2-3 hours the park was open. With the addition of the new Max Pass, Disneyland has really made it easy to plan your day (even if you bring the kids!). With kids, someone is always hungry/needs a diaper change/has to go potty so it just slows down everything. Plus, kids might have a height restriction limit as well. Without those delays, we could easily go from ride to ride. I know moms will be shocked to hear that we also got to leisurely enjoy a snack!

2.  You get to do what you want.

So many times, with kids, it becomes about doing what they want. Which is really great and I make sure my kids get to experience the magic of Disney every chance I get. But it is fun to get to mix it up and do what you want. Now that doesn’t mean that you aren’t hitting up Fantasyland first thing! I had to bring my breast pump as I am still nursing my daughter and when I asked the Baby Care Center about storing it and told them that I was kid free, they asked where we were going first. I paused and then I answered Peter Pan! And we all had a good laugh about that. After our tour of Fantasyland, we did get to hit up Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain so we did do some of the big rides!

1.       You get to unwind and recharge.

This has been a hectic summer. My son recently changed schools as he is now going to what we are calling “big boy school” (insert sobbing mom face here). And I had been doing a couple events with my side business, The Short Shop. I was exhausted and tense. Cue this trip and I couldn’t believe how well it recharged me. I needed time with a girlfriend to be myself and not mom/wife/employee and just be Kelly again. I have not slept a whole night in really like 5 years. The below picture is not flattering at all but I really believe it shows a relaxed, rejuvenated me.

I am so grateful that I got this opportunity to go to my happy place with a friend and got to show her why it was so magical. I was still energized when I got home and my kids were absolutely over the moon to see me. The best part? I got home and they had waited up for me and I still got to put them to bed. It’s the best of both worlds!

Have you done a Disney trip with just friends? Tell me about it below!