Cool coasters have nothing on my mad football skills….or something like that.

Two years ago we took an awesome trip to Sandusky, Ohio, home of the world famous Cedar Point amusement park. Cedar Point was the last stop on our epic road trip from Indy to upstate New York. Cousins from Idaho traveled with us and we made great memories (like taking the log ride six times at the end of day while chanting: “You say CEDAR; I’ll say POINT; CEDAR! POINT! CEDAR POINT! We were pretty into it). The trip included tons of fun stuff: a really fun lake house, many cool LDS Church history sites, Great Wolf lodge, and Niagara Falls. We saved Cedar Point for last on purpose. It did not disappoint—providing the world’s fastest, tallest and coolest coaster! I highly recommend a visit.

So the morning after Cedar Point Drew (8) and I got up early (like we had most mornings during the trip) to play catch with the football. We tossed the pigskin around for about twenty minutes before anyone else woke up. I enjoyed the time together; it gave me an opportunity to talk to him one on one. As we were tossing the ball, I asked him, “What has been your favorite part of this trip?” He didn’t miss a beat, “Playing catch with you”. I was stunned. Was he messing with me? He wasn’t old enough to tell me what I wanted to hear. The crazy thing was, he meant it. He told me straight up what he felt. So I wondered: why did I spend all this time and money taking you half way around the country if the back yard would do?

It’s hard to believe all kids really want is time. I think we tell ourselves that something changes from toddler to teen and kids would prefer an iPod over an hour with dad. But do kids really change? Or do they just follow our lead as they move to adulthood? Putting a higher value on the highly valued electronic device or whatever else because that’s what they see us do? I don’t know, maybe. But I’ll tell you one thing for sure: since then, I have tried to spend more time just spending more time with my kids.