Welcome to the Jungle (Graceland and Road Rules)
We’re all about fully living the experience – so Charlotte wore her poodle skirt. It makes it fun for us and is a conversation starter with other tourists. Plus – seriously – she is cute in it!
What an awesome first day! Cece told me today that when she’s a mom she is going to take her kids on the same road trip and that she feels like “the luckiest kid in the world!” Score!!! (She also said she was “Elvis-ed out!”).
We piled in the mini van this morning and left St. Louis for Memphis. We spent the first hour just figuring out how everything worked in the rental minivan and talking about where we were going.
I shared our road rules and we had fun making up funny examples of what happens when we don’t do these things. My favorite was: “We will live on nothing but peanut butter and jelly for two weeks while we scream at each other in the car and mom gives up and we live in Florida forever because she is scared to get back in the car to bring us home.” (that was mine!)
Beckmann Family Road Rules
Be adventurous and try new things
Treat each other the way you want to be treated
Tell me what you need to feel good (tired, hungry, etc)
Then, everyone was hungry – because you know, we had been in the car for 30 minutes. So, I showed them how to get themselves snacks anytime they needed it. (Note to Self – make sure snack containers are refilled every night.)
Then we got into our binders and spent some time looking at the maps, where we are going, and learning about Tennessee, Memphis, and Elvis. My kids really have no idea who Elvis is. So, I pulled up some Elvis songs and videos on YouTube so they could start to understand. Since I am not a huge Elvis fan, you may be wondering why I chose to start our trip with a visit to Graceland. One – Memphis is only a 5-hour drive from St. Louis, so it was a logical first stop. I tried to keep the whole trip set up with no more than 5 – 6 hours of drive time in a day. And, to break that up if possible. Second – one of the things I want to do on this trip is to expose them to all of the varieties of music in the US and how the music they listen to now evolved from country, jazz, and blues. And Elvis is a huge part of that.
Wiped out and loving the hotel bed!
We loved our visit. First, somehow we totally lucked out and it was a special Scout day at Graceland. We got dramatically discounted ticket prices since all of my kids are in Scouts. We loved seeing the private planes, his costumes, and the Jungle Room.
A big part of my version of travelling with the kids is helping them learn as they experience things, and I believe learning should be fun. So, I planned a few ways to help make the things they learn sink in.
I work hard to show my kids the interesting facts and things we are seeing together. For their part, they do a great job staying involved in the conversation and being open for whatever thing we are doing. That’s harder than it may sound. Try traveling with a crabby adult – wow – they can find a way to think anything is boring. It’s really important to take breaks, throw in little surprises, and keep it fun. These two LOVED the crazy colored ice cream at Minnie Mae’s Sweets at Graceland.
Games and Activities – Whether it’s art projects, science experiments, photography, or games related to the subject, I created something for each place we are visiting. I have activity books that I found on the Graceland website printed out for them to do tomorrow in the van so we can talk about what they saw and questions that may have popped up. I love the resources I found as I googled the places we were going!
Movies, Shows, and Music – My kids – like most kids – love to watch. So, I decided to use that to my advantage. I have movies and entertainment specifically selected to go with each things we’re learning. I’m using the minivan’s DVD player so I can control when we watch and when I want to pause to talk about something. I have “Lilo & Stitch” lined up for tomorrow so we can catch all the Elvis references. Lilo is a huge Elvis fan, and it’s sprinkled throughout the movie.
Photography is one of our key projects for the art curriculum on this trip. Mitchell (age 9) said he was thinking of our conversation on perspective when took this shot of the engine on the Lisa Marie jet.
It’s funny, as I parent I frequently find myself frustrated because I don’t like the electronics addiction I feel like my kids have…particularly how the iPads even take away the shared experience of watching a movie together. And though I know I can control their use of electronics, honestly sometimes I’m just tired and let it go. They seriously outnumber me! (Shhh don’t tell them. I don’t think they really get that yet). My goal on this trip is to make our experience a shared experience and to make electronics work for me in that goal.
Another cool photo that picks up on the interesting lines Mitchell saw on the planes.
Yesterday, it was both the first day of Spring and a new moon. I was thinking about how the Earth was having a new beginning of sorts and realized that if I wanted something different, then I just had to do things differently. Just because I’ve always been someone who totally overcommits then goes crazy trying to pull it off, doesn’t mean I have to continue being that kind of person. So, today I decided I was going to develop my family into what I want to have when they’re all grown up. So, today I focused on patience, consideration, and adventure (and a big focus on REST this evening because that will really help the patience and consideration efforts). So, I’m putting these tired little things to bed and headed there myself so.we can have another great day tomorrow. Good night Memphis.
The graffiti wall at the famous Graceland gates where fans still leave messages to Elvis. My kids had talked about graffiti art in school and were really intrigued that this was ok here. Mitchell snapped this on the tram we took over to the house.