Travelog Weekend of May 16

This was one of my favorite weekends I've had in a very long time...

We took the kids to the new Great Wolf Lodge as a reward for "Blackout Month" where we turn off all electronics (TV, video games, etc.) for a month. It's my favorite month of the year. The kids are used to it and actually (although they would never admit it) like the month even though their friends think we're weird. Anyway, at the end of the month each year, we go do something real fun, and this year we decided to go to the Great Wolf Lodge which has an indoor water park and is just full of fun everywhere. We had such a blast!

Here is Isaak doing Karaoke to the Barenaked Ladies.

Coming down the water slides.

This waterslide is called "The Tornado." It's amazing! It's a four-person inner-tube, and you go into this dark hole, drop off a 20-foot "cliff" and then go into this huge open area and swish back and forth like you're going down a drain or the toilet bowl, as we called it. You can watch a video of this ride on their website, I think. With my bad luck, I ended up going down backwards almost every time which can be pretty freaky! Little Audra went down about three times and then had had enough of it and went back to the smaller slides, but Isaak could have kept doing it all day, although you'd never think he'd want to by the face he had each time he went off the cliff! Wish I had a water-proof camera there!

Here is Isaak coming down with some strangers.

After Great Wolf, the kids and I went out to Sequim to visit my sister while Dave went back home to break his back on the yard. We went to the beach...

Lil' Audra and Grace.

Isaak and Noah.

Isaak looking for clams.

Elias climbing the rocks.

We went to a park to ride bikes.

Lil' Audra.

Grace.

Isaak.

Noah.

Then, we went to a pond that had been stocked with fish for the kids to fish at. They provided the poles, bait, and lots of funny old men to help the kids. They had a ball! Too bad the city had messed something up and the oxygen level was off in the water, so the fish weren't biting much.

Grace caught the only fish!

We went back to play at Amber's. The kids found a lucky patch of clovers.

Amber's family recently bought a couple of motorbikes for play. It was awesome! The kids are already asking when we're going back to ride some more.

Noah in all his gear.

Yup, even I did it.

Amber on the "kid" bike.

Lil' Audra trying to make the kid bike go faster (it wasn't fast enough for her liking, I guess).

Amber with Elias.

Isaak took a little more instruction than the others...

But eventually he got it!

We also saw the new "Narnia" movie which was great, and I made Steve watch James Bond and the Casino Royale. Gotta love that torture scene.

Overall, it was just an amazingly fun weekend. I need more like it!

K, I'm tagged

3 Joys...

• Playing Halo with my family (yup, even the 9-year-old girl; she beats me, in fact)
• When a little kiddo I work with makes unexpected progress
• Sundays with nothing to do!

3 Fears...

• Losing a child. What worse thing could there be?
• Getting a call from school that Isaak's freaking out
• Not having friends to hang out with when I need a break

3 Obsessions...

• Autism. Always autism. Autism anything.
• Thinking of new books to write (which I never seem to have time to do, I just THINK about it).
• Dreaming of white sand and warm water beaches.

3 Surprising facts about me...

• I'm pretty open. Not sure I'm very surprising. Um, some may not know I have really sticky-outty wrist bones. They totally gross little Audra-Maggie out.
• I've "dated" three guys who were either gay or later admitted being gay (no, Dave's not one of them!).
• If I could afford it, I'd buy a big motor home and spend 2 years on the road with the kids wandering aimlessly around the country.

Amber, Susan, and Cathy are "tagged."

Isaak visit to high school math class

Revving up for a placement decision about next year. He visited a high school math class today. Will try this or maybe another class during the month of May to help prepare him to be back in a class environment for math. He's been doing individual math for long time, now. This will be good for him.

My next book!

Yes, I finally figured it out (at least right now; it may still change).

I grew up with a bunch of girls at church through my teenage years. Several of us ran in different social circles, but we were still friends with church as our common bond for many years. Three of us stayed in contact with one another over the years. Now, what would be the odds that all three of us would end up with children on the autism spectrum? I'll have to have Isaak figure that one out for me.

I couldn't find any old pictures of Corrine, but here are some of Dana and me (and some other scattered people).

Dacyl, Dana, Me around 1987...

Dana fixing my hair around 1985. Gotta love the hair!

Julie and Dana at Girls' Camp in 1987...

Youth Conference in 1986. Dana and I are in the middle.

So, we've started hanging out the past few years as we've been traveling down the autism path together. We've shared horror stories, joys, and lots of yummy Claim Jumper food. A few days ago we got the three boys together for the first time. It was a hoot! We were the model of autism! Quite a sight to see. We took the boys to a Mariners' game. It was such fun! We are going to try to do some outting together every month now. It was really fun.

Here we are in the parking lot...

And the goof balls...

Watching the baseball "bloopers" on the screen...

Joshua...

Isaak...

Kyle...

They are very interesting boys, especially together. They all have a different "flavor" of autism, so to speak. Isaak has the high intelligence, but is quite content to be by himself. Social awareness is really impaired. He'd live a happy life, I'm sure, if no one every bugged him to do anything with them. Kyle is very social. He struggles a lot with language processing. He's very into looking "normal," so when he isn't understanding, he has a lot of anxieties. Joshua is the clown of the group. He is loving and silly and fun. He has a lot of pent-up energy he struggles to control (especially when meds wear off). They ALL struggle with having a "flexible brain" and doing things differently than they want to.

Anyway, they are really funny and I think can learn a lot from each other. What a great journey that will be! So, if i can get my mind wrapped around it, I may have a new book to write! A flash-back-flash-forward of the three of us and our three ASD kids.