Vacation on a Vacation
On my summer trip with my 6 year old daughter E and 4 year old son C, we went to meet up with my best friend. He was having a 10 year wedding party reunion and luckily I was somehow able to make it. The kids were excited because I told them it would be at a hotel with a water park and they were ready to go towards the end of our trip.
Since my wife was home with our 1 year old son L, I wanted to get ahead and started packing a few days before so I wouldn’t forget anything. Since we would only be gone about a day and a half, it wasn’t going to be a big deal if I forgot something anyways. The day before we left, E was extra excited and said it was really interesting we were going to our vacation on a vacation. It was such a kid-like way to put it and it made me think how unique that was even though originally it was just a short drive away.
On the day of the trip, I got everything in the car along with E and C. I was debating whether to give them their tablets since they usually get it on long commutes or waits. I ended up not giving it to them and was just going to see how it went on the 50 minute car ride. They asked to play Flip and Mozi, which is a podcast that was discontinued a few years ago. I think their love of animals and how crazy some of the interactions are really draw their attention, so we listened to it the whole way there.
I used to hate that podcast because I thought there was too much going on. There were songs that the kids didn’t understand, there were guests that spoken all kinds of crazy ways to mimic the animals, and there were way too many facts for the kids to actually remember. It was just too much and I was groaning for the first 15 minutes.
After the long drive, I ended up really liking the podcast. The creators tried really hard to make sure that every single character and line spoken tied back to the animal theme for the episode. Flip and Mozi were aliens and they also go on hilarious adventure with those talking animals. I’m sad that they didn’t get more traction because there are only about two seasons.
I’m glad I didn’t end up giving the kids tablets. I wouldn’t have had a chance to listen to the podcast and have good discussions with them about each animal. They are so curious that even if they don’t remember all of the facts, it’s still great to expose them to it. I also realized that that’s probably where C learned what prehensile meant. Now all I need to do is listen to the rest of the episodes to catch up to him!
