Enter all the contests and go on all the trips: parenting advice for my kids after winning our trip to Kauai

Of course I’m going to tell my kids to study hard and do your best and try to be a good person wherever you can: they totally need a baseline.  But more than telling them to go to college, or plan out now who they are going to be when they grow up, or even telling them who I think they should be when they grow up, I want them to figure out who they are.  And when I think back to my own growing up the best thing that did that for me and the way I continue to do that is by entering all the contests.  All of them.  I’m an adventure seeker, hopeless romantic and a dreamer. So entering contests is my way of asking the universe which way it will blow me and maybe it’s like bringing a little ‘Disney’ magic into my everyday life.  Enter the contests, enter them all: It’s the only way you might win.

Thank you Seattle Center and Alaska Air

Near the end of last year I saw a contest at Seattle Center.  We are there so often for visiting the Science Center, or the MoPop or the big playground or the Chihuly Gardens and Glass or even just as a starting place to take the Monorail into the city for a small adventure.  I love the feeling of this lovely park in our ever-growing bustling city and it’s the perfect space to visit in Seattle with kids.  For this contest, people were asked to photograph some of the beautiful public art at Seattle Center and post it via social media and Alaska Air would give away two tickets anywhere Alaska Air flies.  There were a few months of this giveaway and a few winners and I was totally thankful when I received a message that I had won two tickets too-especially during Seattle’s dreary grey and wet wintertime.

Why Kauai?

This is not the first trip I’ve ever won to Hawaii.  Years ago, I won another contest that took me on a trip to the Big Island with my parents and sister and it was one of the most memorable trips of my life and it made me totally fall in love with the Hawaiian Islands.  Since then we’ve gone to many of the other islands, and there was a time period when the kids were small where most of our travels took us to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island because they were such perfect spots to travel with babies and little kids.  Here’s even how we first babyproofed our hotel room for the boys when they were 9-month old babies in Maui!  Kauai has always been an island we’ve dreamed about but it’s always been pricier to get to from Seattle than the other islands, so I jokingly said if I ever won another trip to Hawaii, I would choose Kauai in an instant. (Kauai is also a place that has a direct flight from Seattle too!)

And yes, Kauai is perfect!

When I looked at the weather report for our trip it was supposed to thunder, lightening and rain the whole time.  That is not what really happened.  We had sun, sun and more sun.  And maybe there were a few bouts of torrential rain sprinkled in but we barely noticed for all the fun and outdoor adventures we had.  (We also ALWAYS pack rain jackets to ward off rain.  The only time we didn’t pack them we had monsoonish rains our whole vacation).  In the next few weeks I’ll have some posts up about simple things to do with kids on the island and where we stayed.  We actually didn’t do a whole lot except for lay around like monk seals on the beach and this was our perfect way to relax and escape from the busy, craziness of our every day life.

Would you give up your seat?

It was almost midnight on our way home from our trip and we were gathered in the holding area at the airport and just about to board the plane home after a week on the beach.  An announcement came on the intercom: “We need 10 passengers to volunteer to give up their seat and go tomorrow in exchange for airline tickets and tonights’ hotel stay.”  I wanted to stay so badly.  EVERYTHING IN ME WANTED ANOTHER ADVENTURE.  I looked at my husband and I looked at the kids.  And they all wanted to go home and see the snow that had fallen in our city.  It was late.  We were tired.  And we had no idea what traveling the next day would look like.

If it were me I would have given up my seat and I would have another day in Kauai and another adventure to dream about.

But I am the dreamer in the family and not always the most logical one.  We all got on the plane and it was probably the wisest decision in the end because it gave us time to get ready for school and work and back to regular life…….but if the wind blew you this adventure what would you choose?

Do you go with the sensible decision or do you dare to dream?

(PS. I won’t tell you about the millions of contests I enter and don’t win, but my kids totally know.  And I’m so curious what they’re going to say about my advice when they grow older too….)

(PPS. Alaska Air and Seattle Center I can’t thank you enough for this adventure.  It was a beautiful memory and I love that you also support art in our city too.)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)