Disneyland Do Over

Instead of doing a big tour for the entire band program, this year the band director set his sights on a tour focused on the indoor percussion team and planned a smaller, shorter tour to Las Vegas for all the band students. Matthew had absolutely no desire to go to Vegas so way back last fall, he decided he was going to tour with the choir instead this year. As time went by, the Las Vegas tour was scrapped for an ever shorter and more cost-effective trip to Lagoon. But even that plan failed to come to fruition, so Matthew was thrice glad that he opted early on to travel with the choir.

Southern California was the destination for this year’s choir tour and although Matthew was there last year with the band, that tour was so disappointing for him in so many ways that he was actually pretty excited to get a chance to do it again. Last year, the group of friends he was with was focused on the rides at Disneyland, so all Matthew got to do was stand in lines and take rides. He missed out on all the other charms the magical kingdom has to offer. This year he got to rectify that and did some shopping, saw some sights, ate more Dole whip, and even made it to Cars land, something that he was sorely disappointed about missing last year.

Last year’s tour only allotted the kids about an hour at the beach, but this year they spent an entire afternoon basking in the sun and playing in the sand. Matthew spotted a pod of dolphins during their time at the beach, which is always cool but extra exciting as he has spent a considerable amount of time on his hobby of wildlife photography, which he has come to love.

The band teacher forgot to register for the festival they had planned to participate in last year, so they didn’t even get to create any music on that tour. But this year Matthew got to sing in a festival in which our high school did tremendously well, coming away with the best choir program award as well as the best all around ensemble for the madrigals. 

Another highlight of this year’s trip included enjoying all the charm of Camp Snoopy at Knott’s Berry Farm. Snoopy is one of Matthew’s favorite cartoon characters, so it was a fun stop for him. And my sister Esther, who is a Snoopy fan as well, was mightily jealous!

Due to some problems with one of the replacement bus drivers, the kids didn’t make it home until nearly 1:00 this morning rather than the anticipated 9:00 p.m. yesterday arrival time. Matthew was completely wiped out. I woke him up twice so he could go to school as he had planned, but when he failed to get up after those dual wake up calls, I decided he probably just needed to sleep. I think that assessment was correct, because later this afternoon when I mentioned waking him up several times, he admitted with some surprise that he didn’t even remember them happening even though he sat up and looked at me and everything. 😂

I hope Matthew came away from this tour with more fond memories than he did last year. And despite the physical and mental strain that such a whirlwind tour takes on him due to worries about food, inability to sleep well, etc., I certainly hope he sees it as time well spent. I certainly would. I mean, doesn’t eating Dole whip at Disneyland with his friends kind of make all of it worthwhile?

Lessons Learned from Life on the Road

As I have already mentioned, the past week has been Matthew’s first ever weeklong high school band tour. There was some serious planning, preparation, and coordination with the band teacher that needed to happen, but we managed to come up with a workable food plan that would allow Matthew to eat while on this grand adventure. The weather was amenable which meant that his food in the ice chest that traveled in the bottom of the bus stayed nice and cool the whole time. That was a definite plus. He made it home in one piece and was not starving to death which was another plus. Bao makes fantastic travel food (something we already knew) and muffins were another winner for Matthew in terms of ease while on the go. There were a few speed bumps, but Matthew chalks those up to lessons learned. Perhaps the biggest lesson learned was not to forget the charger for your cool battery-operated heated lunch box or you will only get two hot meals while on the go instead of a dozen. Serious lesson learned there. Another lesson was never to leave your food on the bus because you have no idea where it will be going or when it will be back. Other than that, Matthew managed his food well. And he had some fun. 

Kevin was in the vicinity the entire time as the emergency food back up plan, but Matthew never felt like he needed to call. Hopefully the few rough patches will make the next tour run a little smoother. Because we all know there will be another tour. And that Matthew will most definitely want to go. As he gets older, we know he will be eating away from home more and more. One of my big goals as a food allergy mom is to teach my kids how to safely feed themselves when they are away from home. Another of my goals is to help them have as normal a life as possible despite their food limitations. Being able to feed himself for this past week has been a huge step towards achieving both of those goals. It was not stress free, that’s for certain, but he succeeded and has gained confidence in his ability to travel without us.

Now if only we could help him deal with the travel insomnia…