New Teen Traveler in the Family

 

My oldest kid turns thirteen-years-old today. Thirteen!! If you had told me when he was born that we would celebrate this milestone in our Malaysian home and traveling the world, I would have laughed in your face. Back then, I had absolutely no intention of leaving Texas and thought we were living in our "forever home."

His first trip, in utero, was to Banff, Canada. As I hiked through knee-deep snow along the Athabasca Glacier, 10-weeks pregnant and recently recovered from the flu, I couldn't help but notice just how extremely tired I was.

10-months-old practicing water safety on Galveston Bay, Texas with his uncle and cousin

He turned out to be a colicky baby and a strong-willed toddler. At Thanksgiving, we drove to Houston for him to meet his extended family. One of his baby toys was a Winnie-the-Pooh that played a 12-second ditty whenever I squeezed its tummy. The only way to keep our baby calm during the long drive was to continuously play that song over and over (and over and over...) again. My hand was tired! Trips to the grocery store were filled with crying, and grannies would kindly inquire what was wrong with my baby. Back then, I couldn't imagine bringing him on a plane.

7-years-old in Vancouver, Canada near Science World

When he was 22-months-old, we took our first trip that didn't involve visiting family. That's when we started our balancing act of developing an itinerary that would take into consideration both adults and a child. We made our way through Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Hershey, Pennsylvania. Everyone was pleased with the Hershey Chocolate Factory. He loved Sesame Place, and hubby and I enjoyed seeing historical Philadelphia — on the Fourth of July, no less.

8-years-old on top of Pikes Peak, Colorado

But one other memory stands out, too. While on our scenic boat tour of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, my toddler continuously attempted to jump overboard. I ended up wrapping my arms and legs around him to keep him on the boat, and he wailed for most of the trip. I'm sure that's not what the other tourist had in mind when they bought their tickets. For a long, long time after that, I wouldn't go on a public tour unless I had an Exit Strategy where I could easily whisk my kid away if his mood went downhill.



9-years-old at Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Disneyland, California

He celebrated turning five-years-old in San Diego with a trip to LEGOland. For this birthday, he's requested a visit to the newly opened LEGOland Malaysia. That San Diego trip also marks the last time when we weren't slaves to the school year calendar. No more traveling during the off season for us. Luckily, our current school has a long weekend every month.



9-years-old at Acadia National Park, Maine

When he was seven, hubby decided we needed to come up with a 10-year plan for summer vacations. I thought this was crazy at the time but have come to see the value in it. We only had a decade of summer vacations left before he started university, and there was so much to see. Our family traveled everywhere from Hawaii to Maine, Florida to Vancouver. The summer of 2011 was supposed to be Yellowstone National Park. A year beforehand, I excitedly booked our rooms with a view of Old Faithful. Instead, we ended up moving to Malaysia and had to temporarily shelve the U.S. version of our multi-year plan. Time to draw up a new one focusing on Asia!

10-years-old at the top of Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii

As a new mom, I quaked in my shoes at the thought of family travel. Looking back, there's still no way I would have brought this son along on an international trip as an infant. If it were his little sister on the other hand, she would have had no trouble bouncing around the world as a baby. But parents are a lot like kids. You have to figure out each individual's capacity for being challenged and stretched like a rubber band and know when to stop before it breaks. That point is different for each person. As the years went by, we reached the point where family travel didn't seem like it would break us.  I try to look at myself with grace and know that the mother I was in the beginning couldn't do it, but I eventually grew into a mother who could.

11-years-old at Disney's California Adventure Animation Academy

There's a saying that goes, "The days are long, but the years are short." As time has passed, that colicky baby grew into a fine teenager who passed me in height months ago. He takes up feats like soaring through the trees and amusement park thrill rides that are more daring than what his mama is willing to try. He can help pack the car and retrieve luggage at the airport. This week, he cooked us a delicious dinner and helped his sister study for a test. He even asked to decorate his own birthday cookie cake. My baby is growing up, and I can't wait to continue exploring the world with him.



12-years-old at Victoria's Peak, Hong Kong

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY TEEN BOY!
Here's to reaching new heights.





This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox and Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom? Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

Playing Ball in Malaysia

My girl and Chris Davis at a Round Rock (Texas) Express Game, June 2011

In America, almost every parent I know spends their weekends watching their kids play sports. Weekdays are spent figuring out how to shuttle them to numerous practices. Here in Penang, we've found that it's decidedly more low key. This worked out well for us, since we're not a very competitive family sportswise. But when I was telling one of my friends in Austin about it, she looked at me and declared that it would drive her husband CRAZY.

When we arrived here in Malaysia, my oldest boy decided to start playing baseball after being inspired by his sister's appearance at a minor league game over the summer. In America, I would have been hesitant about letting him begin at such a late age. After all, some of the kids on my girl's kindergarten T-ball team in Texas were already in their second year of league play. But since everything is so laid back in Malaysia, learning baseball in 6th grade didn't seem like such a big deal.

Our condo grounds aren't the best place to practice batting, so hubby went online to find a batting cage. The closest one is in Kuala Lumpur, 4 hours away. That's a bit of a drive! So, they drilled a hole in a ball and hung it from a rope to practice instead.

The team was one of three in the intramural league at the school. Whereas my daughter's kindergarten T-ball team had weekly practices led my multiple dads, my son's Penang team only had a couple practices before the season started and a couple before playoffs. Other than that, his time commitment was simply for the one game each week during regular season. The coach was a teacher (and father of a player) assisted by a few high schoolers. No moms or dads helped out over here.

Most parents didn't come out to watch the games either. In Texas, I was accustomed to a bevy of moms, dads, sisters, and brothers for every player showing up at the games. One of my favorite memories is of the umbrella and picnic blanket tent city siblings built on the sidelines to watch a game during a rainshower. The games at our Penang school only drew a handful of folks.

Middle school games were always on a Saturday morning at the school, and the elementary school doesn't offer softball or T-ball at all. Unlike in Texas where we'd have to juggle being at various games for each kid throughout the weekend, the time we spent watching sports shrank down to less than a couple hours. The rest of the weekend was free!

Playing ball on a tropical island has its own special challenges. The coach's wife tells me that a few years ago, the kids went out of bounds to retrieve a wayward ball. There it was lying next to a python. Luckily, the python had recently fed and was in a food coma. The next season, a wild boar ran out onto the field. The players piled into the van next to the field while adults grabbed the baseball bats to chase it away.

My younger son who is in elementary school signed up for the Soccer Club during the 2nd Quarter. Unlike in America, they never formed teams but just practiced as one big group. The only time that they played another school, the kids were divided up into teams after they arrived. It was more like a organized pick-up game than the soccer leagues I was used to in Texas. This was fine for my son but I think my friend's daughter who played on a development team in Austin may have been a little let down. Once again, not many parents turned out to watch the game.

We were informed that playing against local schools would be different than what we're used to in America. The typical Malaysian "Ok-lah" attitude extends to not worrying about being on time for competitions. Or maybe the coach or some of the players won't show up. When my middle schooler attended the citywide cross country meet, he was quite surprised that hardly anyone was there at the announced start time. Most didn't start rolling in until 15 minutes later. You can bet no one is speeding to get their kid there on time.

So yes, sports are much, much more relaxed in Malaysia than in Texas. This suits us just fine because sports takes a low priority in our home.  (Although, it's not 100% absent like it was in my childhood.) It's been great to not have to eat dinner at weird hours just to accomodate practices. I definitely don't mind not driving to sports practices for all three kids. But I do miss the camaraderie that comes from being with the same team supporters week after week.