Tonight was the exciting debut performance of Disney of Ice Frozen here in Nashville and our family loved being a part of it!
We were able to snag backstage passes for the special opening celebration in which our family was able to meet Elsa and Anna. You can imagine how surprised my kids were.
My son is in 2nd grade and my daughter is 2 years old. I’m sure every minute of it was a dream come true; like bringing Frozen to life!
Though I had been to Disney on Ice exactly 30 years ago when the feature was The Sword in the Stone, my wife had never experienced it.
The show is very well done. I highly recommend taking your family, as the tour will be continuing through May 2019. So check to see when Disney on Ice Frozen is coming to your town.
And if you’re Nashville, there are still 8 more shows through Sunday, September 16th, 2018!
From September 13th to September 16th, families in driving distance of Nashville will have 9 different opportunities to see Disney On Ice Frozen.
As for my own family, we will be at the very first show that Thursday night.
With a 2 year-old daughter and a 2nd grader son, I know we are going to have a great time!
And for congratulations to Karen Stanley, who was the first person to leave a comment about Disney on Ice Frozen on the Facebook page for Family Friendly Daddy Blog. She won 4 complimentary tickets for her family to join us there.
I remember how exactly 30 years ago when I was in 2nd grade, I wanted and received a Venus Fly Trap. It’s the perfect science project/pet for a boy approaching his 8th birthday.
And the plant only cost us $5 at Kroger!
All last weekend, you enjoyed catching flies and small spiders to toss into the hungriest mouths of the Venus Fly Trap.
Something you taught me is that if any of the “heads” sets sick and turns brown, we can just got it off, and then a new one will grow back in its place!
That’s so fascinating. I had no idea.
I have my doubts about how long we’ll be able to keep the Venus Fly Trap alive, but for just 5 bucks, and with so much entertainment so far, I’d say this is been a great investment for a smart 2nd grade boy like yourself.
Tomorrow morning, you will officially be a 2nd grader. I was just telling Mommy tonight how I pretty much remember the entire year of 2nd grade. It was the first year in school where I have more than just flashes of memories from it.
I remember that was the year I officially became obsessed with getting a Nintendo so I could try to save the princess on Super Mario Bros. I remember Nonna taking me to see the movie, Big, which was the first non-kids’ movie I ever saw in a theater. And I remember that was the first time I was in a school play: I was an earthworm.
You have an exciting year ahead of you, which will bring its own little milestones in your life.
Today was your last day of summer art camp. When I picked up and reminded your teacher why you wouldn’t be returning after today, I could tell how proud you were when I said, “Jack starts 2nd grade tomorrow!”
Earlier this week, we even got to meet your 2nd grade teacher… or I should say, teachers.
Your school is experimenting with a new curriculum this year in which you will have a homeroom teacher who takes care of math and science, but then for reading and social studies, you will go across the hall where a secondary teacher will handle those subjects.
When I started 2nd grade 30 years ago in 1988, we only swapped teachers for reading. And it wasn’t until 6th grade that switched teachers for more than one subject.
You are definitely ready and eager to start 2nd grade.You were proud too, that this will be your first year at your school where your classroom is up on the 2nd floor.
If you weren’t a big kid before, you definitely are now.
From last Friday to this past Tuesday, Mommy was in Vancouver; on a business trip in Canada. So after I got off work on Friday, I drove straight to your school and took you and your sister straight to Alabama; a trip that took precisely 2 hours and 18 minutes.
I left on Sunday afternoon, after a much needed nap for the 2nd day in a row.
As for you and your sister, the two of you got to experience a few days of Cousin Summer Camp!
This included making slime, shopping for a new toilet at Lowe’s, and running around in the gym during a family reunion.
It was a great way to bring your summer of 2018 to an end, as you will be starting 2nd grade in a few weeks.
Looking back, it’s been a pretty big summer, actually!
It started off by me finally going back to work after being a stay-at-home dad for 6 months. Then shortly after, our family got to travel through northern California for 2 weeks. And you even got to go to Art Camp.
And along the way, I have seen you and your sister become even closer, as her personality and social skills have development greatly over the course of this summer.
You have been very kind to share your stuffed animals with her. After all, you have the largest stuffed animals compared to any kid I know.
I’d say as far as summers go, you got your boyhood’s worth. And that’s not even mentioning earlier when you and Papa caught a snake!
I understand that it’s summers like these that will greatly form who you are. As your parent, I can feel confident in knowing that my kids didn’t have a boring summer.
If anything, you are probably due a long nice nap yourself, thanks to all the non-stop action this summer!
Last week, one morning before Mommy left for work, I snapped a picture of her holding you. Though I see the two of you in person every day, there was something about seeing you both in that photograph, which reminded me of what I already know:
Half of the population of our household consists of beautiful, lovely ladies.
While your brother and I serve as the court jesters and the adventure enthusiasts, it is you and Mommy who bring a necessary sense of elegance to our home.
That’s not to say that your brother and I don’t inevitably influence you to appreciate things like the Incredible Hulk; that on your own, you might not naturally gravitate towards.
In fact, I have you convinced that your class pet, a dwarf hamster named Gus Gus, drives a big pick-up truck. Each morning as I’m dropping you off at your school, you now have a routine and verifying with me:
“Gus Gus drive truck.”
You’re asking me…. but you’re also telling me. I always assure you that indeed, Gus Gus drives a truck. Admittedly, I’m confused on some of the logistics on how that could be true. Maybe sort of an updated version of Ralph S. Mouse…
But you know what a truck is. You know what a Jeep is. And you know that those are desired vehicles to be driven by humans and/or dwarf hamsters.
Still though, our boyish influence on you is ultimately to serve as irony against the naturally girly ways that you and Mommy so effortless display.
I just don’t see it in the cards for you to be a tom boy.
Instead, you’re a girly girl who has an appreciation for Marvel and Star Wars related characters. But I’m pretty sure you’d still choose Peppa Pig over Chewbacca.
As of today, my wife and I have been married 10 years. Admittedly, that is a fact I am very proud of, as it is an honor to be married to this woman.
I am even more in love with her now than I was on July 5, 2008.
That’s something I can honestly say. Because over the course of the past decade, we have both evolved as individuals, while at the same time we have chosen to grow together in the same direction.
Therefore, I can now appreciate who she is as a person more than I could 10 years ago. We have made “happily ever after” our daily choice.
It helps that my wife is full of grace. I think that was an underlying trait of hers that I always knew that attracted me to her.
Now at age 37, with the life experience of 10 years of marriage, and 7 and a half as a parent, I have undeniably evolved.
I can’t see how a man could go from bachelor to married man and then father, over the course of a decade, without being forced to change for the better; as he is stripped away of his sense of selfishness, and trades it in for selflessness.
Back in 2008, at age 27, I knew so little about adulthood and how the world actually worked.
I am not the same person I was a decade ago; neither is my wife.
With each passing decade ahead, I know we will continue to evolve as individuals, as well as together.
We knew each other for 4 months before we started dating, then dated for for a 11 months before we became engaged (nearly half of that time she was overseas in Australia serving as a nanny), then were engaged for 5 months before we got married.
And now 10 years have passed.
That is our story so far. We’ve got the rest of our lives to figure out what comes next.
