Yesterday we returned home from a few days alone with Silas at Disneyland. We decided when the boys were younger that it would be fun to try to take each of them to Disneyland alone to celebrate their fifth birthdays. This last week, we did exactly that with Silas. And let me just say, it was so incredibly special to get to spend that time alone with him! It was fascinating how different the Disneyland experience was with Silas compared to our trip with Owen. Honestly, for the first day and a half, I didn't really think it was much of a dream come true for Silas. He often didn't even want to go on the rides, and he
never wanted to go on a ride a second time (correction: he did say he wanted to do the Cars ride again. Problem was it would have meant at least an hour of standing in line). He really just wanted to play in the water fountains and/or climb on any rock wall, fence, or gate he could find... which is not exactly what they want you doing at Disneyland. So for quite a while C.J. and I just shrugged our shoulders at each other wondering why Silas didn't seem that interested or excited about the place. Until... we found the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which as described by Disney is a place where children can "earn your Wilderness Explorer badges as you scramble across rope bridges, slide down hollow logs, climb rock walls, and more!" It was like a switch was turned on in our little boy and he suddenly lit up! This boy was all over that place, running up and down bridges, climbing and re-climbing rock walls, sliding down zip lines, and pretty much conquering the whole place. And once we discovered it, everything suddenly made sense to me. Silas needs to have freedom, and adventure, and something to conquer. That's totally him. He doesn't want to sit on some ride that floats you around looking at cartoon characters simply for the experience. He thrives on adventure, particularly adventure in nature. So when we finally found a little corner of the place that allowed him that freedom and adventure, he just took off. He absolutely loved it! In fact, he was so in his element that even the Disneyland employees noticed. He earned a special "Citizen of Disneyland" badge from the gal in charge of the rock climbing (probably because he climbed the wall a good 15 times), and he also earned a free
skip to the front of the line to any ride of your choice pass from the gal at the zip line. I'm pretty sure everyone there could tell that our boy had found his place. There was also a little cave in this area that had a place on the wall that you put your hand up to. If you left it there for about 30 seconds, it would light up and show you what "power" you had. And very fittingly, when Silas put his hand up to it, he got Bear power. If you know Silas, you know he has a fascination with bears. He was so proud of his bear power! I guess what I am trying to say is, I learned so much about our boy from our trip. If I were doing it again, I would have arranged for the three of us to go camping together for a few days rather than Disneyland. Not that we didn't have fun, because we had a great time together. But I realized that for Silas, lighting a fire in the forest, climbing over stumps in search of special rocks, and hiking through the woods together would be his idea of a dream come true. So if we ever do a special trip alone with him again, you will likely find us in the forest.
All that being said, here are some pictures of our trip. We did have a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed being alone with Silas for 4 days. It was such a treat, and we definitely made memories that I will cherish forever!
