Chandler and the Lady Friends.

They were suppose to dress as their favorite Homestuck character but in ugly Christmas sweater fashion.
This is them ready to leave. 

Ever since Chandler was in Kindergarten his best friends have always been girls. It just is that way. Currently Chandler and the Lady Friends are obsessed with Manga or Japanes animation. There is a specific web comic called homestuck that they are hooked on in a big way. This last weekend there was a fan based event in Orange County. I was talked into  volunteered to drive Chandler and the ladies  down there. We left on Friday night spent the night at my sisters house and then from 11 am -6pm they were scheduled to be at downtown Disney for this fan event. Well with everyone being online all the time this event was changed last minute to a park in Anaheim  I had already dropped off the kids and was shopping with my mom when Chandler send me a text saying the location is changed and it is at a park 2 blocks away can we walk there? I consented after he sent me the address and name of the park. I was very nervous though. After my mom and I were done we went over to check out the park. This is what we saw. An extremely large group of kids mostly high school age dressed up in costume acting like they were all best friends  I love that they have something like this to bond over. There are so many terrible things out there a bunch of teenagers getting there geek on over a comic book is heavenly to me.

After the park they walked back to Down Town Disney and were suppose to have a large group dinner at Rain Forest Cafe. Oh did I mention that this park was more like 2 miles away not 2 blocks. I felt really bad about the amount of walking they had to do but I had some very important things that needed to get done while I was there with my Mom. After they got back to Downtown Disney they found out that the dinner had been changed as well. Now it was at the Dennys across from Disneyland. At this point it was already 7pm and we still had to drive back to Santa Barbara so I just picked the kids up and they got In N Out instead. 

2 Things that I am SOOOO Grateful for out of this experience. 

1. When they all got in the car not one of them complained about the walking or missing dinner. They only spoke about how much fun they had and the new friends they had made.

2. With all the anxiety that this day caused for me I am grateful that my concern was never for what Chandler and his friends would do during the day. I was only concerned about what the unknown strangers would do. Our Joking rule for the day was 

Don't get Arrested or Molested!

Parenting a teenager and trying to keep them safe while allowing them to mature and make necessary mistakes is a fine line to juggle. In some ways I am WAY STRICT but in others I try to trust him as much as possible. I have many parents ask why I am willing to go on these trips and do things like Anime Expo. My answer is a result of a wise friend. Kids, good kids are told no so often in life that we should say yes whenever possible. I try really hard to keep that in mind. I do learn a ton about my son and his friends and have a great time as well. Looking forward to many more Manga adventures in my future!