Two years ago, I invented an entirely new Olympic event at Disney World. I call it the Mom Sprint. To compete, participants must be race from one end of their resort to the other, to catch the shuttle bus that has just arrived to take people to the Magic Kingdom. Participants must carry one child weighing at least 20 lbs under each arm, and have a full diaper bag and umbrella stroller strapped to their back. To win, they must catch the bus before it pulls away and leaves them stranded at the shuttle stop for the next 20 minutes with two whining children who will mercilessly howl at the participant about how they really, REALLY wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom right now but Mommy just wasn’t fast enough to catch the bus.
Or something like that.
I invented this event (or maybe just discovered it because I’m sure lots of other moms have been in the same situation before me) during a summer stay at a Disney Resort where the Hubster was attending a conference on aerospace engineering. He goes to this same conference every year, and every year the kids and I go with him. While he sits in an air conditioned conference hall and participates in discussions on subjects like flight simulators and modeling gravity, yours truly ends up out in the heat, hauling the kids around whatever locale we end up in. It’s exhausting, to be honest. While the kids are usually well behaved, being in a strange environment can put a strain on them, especially if it’s hot and we spend most of the day walking around. I try to stick to places with AC, like museums, but sometimes we end up spending the entire day walking around outside. After a few hours of this, we’re all usually fried, so we head back to the hotel, to find Hubster waiting for us so we can all go out and have fun together!
Ugh.
I do enjoy the trips, but honestly, I wish all that walking and sweating counted for something in the exercise department. I can’t really get to the hotel gym during these stays because Hubster has to leave so early to get to his conference and I can’t take the girls with me while I work out. And while we do walk and sweat, it’s apparently not enough to fight off the effects of eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner all week long. I try to watch what I eat, but regardless of what I pick from the menu, I guarantee I’m still going to consume more calories than I should.
Oh well. We’ll be in Toronto next week, touring around until we’re ready to drop. So don’t expect a Move It Mama Monday post then, even though I will be moving quite a bit. I’ll post something when I get back. Promise.
