life Archives - Emily A. Clark

My First Time at Disney + JitterBug Travel (The Best Way to Get There)

May72019

Check it off the list. The Clarks have done Disney and I survived. At 42, it was my first time there. (Yes, you can have a happy childhood without going. . . ) We’ve always said that we’ll do it once with our kids and do it big–and then be done. So over Christmas, we broke the news that we were taking them to three parks and on the Disney cruise during Spring break. That’s 72 hours of straight fun(!!) and four more days at sea.

We booked our trip back in the Fall and had planned to drive the trip from Charlotte to Orlando ourselves. Then, out of the blue, Jitterbug Travel reached out to me a few weeks before we were going to surprise our kids. It was a completely new–and awesome–concept to me. Jitterbug is a chauffeured, luxury charter service that picked us up at our house and drove us straight to our Disney resort. There are beds, recliners, a big TV, Wifi and a bathroom! The kids were freaking out. (I posted a video on my Instagram stories today.)

A normal road trip with our family usually means plenty of squabbles, several half-hour bathroom breaks, and a really tired mom and dad by the time we get to our “vacation.” Jitterbug eliminated all of that. No stops (unless we requested them) and my husband and I actually got to rest. The driver picked us up in front of our house around 10pm. I assumed the kids would be too wired to sleep, but they actually all picked a spot and slept for most of the 9-hour drive. We arrived at the resort Friday morning, ready to hit the park.

I knew Jitterbug would make the trip easier on the way there, but I underestimated the luxury of having a driver on the way home. That’s when we were the most worn out and it was amazing to be able to relax on the way back to Charlotte. I napped, read my book, ordered my groceries online and even made a photo book of our trip. The kids watched Netflix and slept part of the way.

Right now, Jitterbug travels within a 12-hour radius of Charlotte. The cost is customized based on the size of your group and your travel dates and usually ranges from $999 to $2900. There are actually two cabins(!) in each Jitterbug. (Our family only needed one of them.) I’m happy to answer any other questions about the experience. Just leave them in the comments.

Making memories while we enjoy $65 worth of slushies. 🤦🏻‍♀️

So, my overall impression of the Disney experience? It may be the smartest company around. They have it all figured out down to the last detail, and that’s impressive. We spent the first day at Magic Kingdom, the second at Hollywood Studios (Tower of Terror was the best ride!), and the last at Animal Kingdom. I went into it really not knowing what to expect, and we almost all agreed that the last park was our favorite. (I loved the Lion King show. Amazing!)

We wouldn’t have made it without the fast passes. (Just ask my husband who did end up standing in line for 2 1/2 hours with the little kids for the new Toy Story ride. He was bribing them with $30 light sabers to leave, but it didn’t work. . ) We also had help from a wonderful Disney planner which made our trip much more efficient once we got there. (Glad to pass along her info if you’re thinking about a trip. . . )

We did the four-day Disney cruise next, and it lived up to the hype. There are few vacations where you can take five kids (ages 6 to 14) and have each one of them be entertained 24/7. My oldest spent his time playing basketball on the ship and eating his weight in steaks and ice cream. We could barely get the twins away from the kids’ camp area. You check them in and out, and they can play all day if they want.

The pool was a little crazy but we found some nice spots to hang out away from the action. (I don’t care if I ever hear Let It Go or the song from Moana ever again.) The food was great (my jeans are feeling tight), and the rooms were really nice. We had two adjoining cabins, each with a queen bed and bunks and split up boys and girls. And, my kids had a taste of fine dining for the first time. They couldn’t understand why it took so long and the twins didn’t know what to do with cloth napkins. (Doesn’t everyone use paper towels?? 😂)

What a typical lunch looked like for me. . . Okay, plus an ice cream cone.

We also loved our day at Disney’s private island, hanging out at the beach while the kids played in clear blue water for the first time. (I hope they don’t get used to it.)

Overall a great time, and I’m so happy we waited until now to go. I felt like all of our kids were at the right ages to enjoy it and were just independent enough. (Bless the souls that take double strollers and babies in diapers. I don’t have it in me.) And it wouldn’t be a magical, eight-day Clark family vacation until we returned home to discover we had locked ourselves out of the house.

Now back to reality and to drudge through the last month of school. . .

The Beauty of Taking a Social Media Break

Mar262019

Well, that was a much needed break. I opened my laptop only a handful of times and posted nothing to Instagram for nearly a month. I didn’t delete the app on my phone but probably should have. (I’m still trying to get out of the habit of mindless scrolling or story-watching things I could care less about.) I know I should probably be telling you to like, comment and buy more, but if you need the least bit of encouragement, I would highly recommend taking your own break for a week–or even a day. Guess what? Nobody thinks about you or what you’re doing as much as you do. ;)

Everything is just so calculated these days. Everything–and I do mean everything— is an event to be glamorized. Cookie making, coffee drinking, working out, eating dinner, building a snowman, nail painting, cleaning out a drawer, buying new shoes, taking your kid to the library, feeding your kid a snack, holding them when they’re sick. . . It makes me weary to watch other people living sometimes. It’s not that these aren’t good things but sometimes, they’re just moments meant to be lived and not staged or documented. And, I openly admit I’m guilty of instantly captioning a moment in my head as it’s happening instead of enjoying it. Why? Why do we do this? I kind of hate that this is how my brain has become conditioned when it’s amazingly good to look up at real life all around you.

It’s also tough to teach our kids these things when we’re guilty of it ourselves. Man, this is a tough time to be a mom. And for that matter, a tough time to be a teenager. For all of the good that technology brings, I would gladly throw all of our phones out the window for a chance to raise my kids like it’s 1984 again. I would love to give them the pleasure of not knowing what everybody else is doing 24/7. (Before I get a ton of comments, we do have technology rules and it’s pretty easy to for a Clark kid to get their phone taken away, but still, the pressure is there. I can feel it and I know they do, too.) As far as my younger kids go, I can’t tell you the number of times they’ve looked over my shoulder and asked “whose baby is that?” or “who’s that kid?” Sadly, my response should be something like “I have absolutely NO IDEA. Just some stranger whose pictures I’m looking at instead of looking at you.” Yikes.

Then there’s the other side of the coin where I feel compelled to post a pretty picture almost every day–since that’s what I do. To be honest with you, I feel like I’ve outgrown the rat race of self promotion that’s required when you’re a full-time blogger or influencer (I hate that word, by the way). But, blogging without a social media push isn’t really an option anymore, and I get it. Everybody’s phones are attached to their hands so if you’re going to be seen. . . I guess my plan is to do my own thing with blinders on as much as possible, post what I have and ignore everything else if I can. I know I sound like an old lady complaining about the good old days, but I do miss the general enthusiasm for painting a lamp or changing up a gallery wall and sharing it via some grainy photos in a blog post with the no professional lighting and no posing in an outfit that color coordinates with your room.

On a more positive note, Spring is here, everything is blooming, and I am feeling refreshed after taking some time off.

How is social media treating you these days? Do you take regular breaks?

My (Not So) Funny Valentine

Feb142019

My husband would be the first to tell you that Valentine’s Day around here hasn’t always been so funny. Well, it is now that we’re 18+ years into marriage and too busy to dwell on it, but at the time, there was no laughing involved.

(Amour art can be found here.)

In fact, there were a lot of tears the year that I was nine months pregnant and he thought buying me a label maker(!!) was a romantic gesture. (Remember the scene from Father of the Bride when Annie gets a blender from her fiancé? I had a similar reaction.) To be clear, I had never–and still haven’t–expressed any interest in or desire to own a label maker.

There was also the year when we were dating and he bought me a rain CD (the prehistoric version of Alexa playing white noise), dropped it off and then went out with his friends. . . And yet another year when I suggested that we make each other presents and then when he actually did it, my feelings were hurt because I had bought him something. (My fault.)

I tell you all of this (with his permission, by the way) to say that marriage does get better with time and Valentine’s Day becomes much less significant. (Many of you are way ahead of me and can already attest to this.) Believe it or not, young brides, the things that you once put so much weight on will eventually/probably become the most ridiculous to you at some point in your life. I just heard on the news the other day that the majority of money spent on Valentine’s gifts are by people in relationships three years or newer. (There’s a reason for that.) Everyday dependability (like someone who will change explosive diapers or clean up vomit at 2am) starts to look way more attractive in the long run than grand romantic gestures. It may not sound magical but it’s a good place to be.

Want to know what I specifically asked for this year? I requested that my 12-passenger van (or party bus, as we like to call it) be professionally cleaned inside and out. I’ve literally been driving around a bacteria-mobile and I can’t stand it. He came through and I couldn’t be happier! But, he knew well enough to ask me at least 11 times if I was “sure that’s what I really wanted.” :) He may still be traumatized from my meltdowns in past years. . . It’s safe to say that we’ve come a long way from the label maker days.

Okay, so I always love hearing your stories. What is your funniest/most ridiculous/most terrible Valentine’s Day gift? Do tell.