What do you do when it’s your daughter’s sixth birthday and you’ve moved her across the globe away from friends and family? Well, if you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know the answer. And the answer is… you overcompensate!! And we overcompensated the hell out of this one.
Let me start by saying that parenthood, especially parenthood when you are eaten alive by guilt, will make you do all of the things you never said you’d do. You know, like handing your kid an iPad for hours on end to get through a simple car ride or agreeing to mac n’ cheese every day for a week because nothing else will do, or and this is the one we are focusing on today: visiting the alleged happiest place on earth.
Yeah, yeah. I know there are adults out there who just love Disney and can’t get enough of it. I am not one of those adults. Since the day we knew Nora was coming, I have sworn off the Big D. Don’t get me wrong, I actually have very fond memories of going to Disney World as a young kid. I remember Magic Mountain and breakfast with Minnie and Epcot Center. I remember loving it. But, I don’t see Disney through my kid eyes anymore. You get older and you start thinking of things like long lines, big crowds, bad food, and overpriced souvenirs. But like I said, parenting with a heavy dose of guilt will make you do all kinds of crazy things. Crazy things like surprising your turning-six-year-old with a trip to Disneyland Paris.
We started by waking Nora up at dawn with a scavenger hunt around the apartment. We set out clues leading up to the surprise.
After getting her dressed we hopped on our Disneyland bus and headed to the magical kingdom. **A few quick notes about our trip. First of all, Disneyland Paris is CHEAP (well, relatively speaking). It cost us around $300, including transportation for tickets. Yes, I know that’s still a lot of money, but compared to what people shell out to hit Disney World in Orlando, it felt like a steal. Second, Nora’s birthday is in November. It was chilly enough outside and before the Christmas celebrations to thin out the crowds, which made it much more appealing for me, especially in Covid-times.
Nora actually took a little time warming up to Disneyland. She didn’t really know what to expect. She has known a few friends to go to Disney but other than that, she didn’t know much about it. It started a little iffy since within 5 minutes of arrival we hopped onto a roller coaster. Like a full-size real life roller coaster. She shockingly handled it pretty well! I even managed to enjoy myself.
But the real excitement came once we got to Fantasyland. I would say Fantasyland is the area aimed at younger kids and it’s definitely princess-focused, which is sooo Nora – anyone remember the princess dress phase that lasted the better part of a year with her refusing to wear anything other than princess dresses?? She loved the Princess Pavilion (even though there were no actual princesses due to Covid), Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, Dumbo’s Flying Elephant, It’s a Small World (my personal favorite), and of course the Princess Parade (she was SO excited to see them drive by).
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| Princess Parade |
Nora has informed me that I MUST tell you all how much she loved Autopia. She absolutely loved getting to drive the cars herself. As she was driving me around the track she told me, “Mom, I really love speed.” Lord help us in ten years.
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| I’m warning you all now, look out in 10 years. |
I have to admit, it was a really nice day. I guess I have to eat my words about Disney. We had a great day celebrating Nora’s birthday. A few more memories:
Oh, but guess what: There’s more! This kid got to celebrate her six birthday twice. Once we got back to Ruchir’s and everyone who was traveling was back in the house, we decided to throw an old-fashioned backyard birthday. Except that Ruchir’s backyard is pretty spectacular. And once again, we went overboard in celebrating. Ruchir ordered the girls a unicorn bounce house that the girls could spend the day jumping in. There may or may not have been some adult jumping too.
Nora requested a Miraculous: Ladybug and Cat Noir birthday party theme, so Maria and I spent the better part of a day whipping up this masterpiece of a cake (side note, did you know red is a very hard color to achieve with food coloring? We might have gone through all of the red food coloring tubes in the Dordogne).
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| Obviously, I’m keeping my day job. |
The girls had so much fun playing games and opening presents and eating all of the sweets! The adults had fun playing games, eating all of the sweets, and drinking all of the drinks. It was another really nice day. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but having this little “Framily” in France has made this year SO much better for us. After moving, I was overwhelmed with worry and guilt about how it would all impact Nora, everyone at Ruchir’s house has loved her and cared for her in a way I will always be grateful for.
Now how disappointed is she going to be on her 7th birthday back in Texas when I order her pizza and put on a movie and call it a day??
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