Okay, so I HAVEN'T figured out how to post from the cell phone....

Well, It has been a busy week and I had thought I had sent a couple of posts from my cell phone, short ones, but little updates.  However, it seems they never materialized on this blog, so I guess I have NOT figured out how to do quick blog posts via text.  Oh well...

This past week, the kids were on a short summer vacation between the end of the regular school year and the beginning of summer school, which started today.  We had a pretty low key week last week--hung out at home, splashed around in the kiddie pool on a couple of hot days, played video games and watched movies on rainy days, visited with my father, stopped down to coffee at my sister's house, walked up town for ice cream at the Ice Cream Garden (less than 1/3 of a mile, first downhill then up a slowly slopping hill).  On the way there (which is mostly uphill) Gonzo said to me "mom this is way too far to walk", so I told him that he takes more actual steps running around the house than we were taking getting ice cream (the child never stops moving).  Josiah was in his wheel chair.  While he is getting very good with his walker and doing some amazing things, that is WAY too far for him to even attempt.  So he got a nice ride.  We walked past the lake, which is near our house, and which is always pretty.  After ice cream we walked home, mostly down hill and past the lake again.  Gonzo did not complain at all about walking downhill.  We stopped by the little playground next to the lake and played--Josiah loves the swings and is strong and stable enough now to be on a regular swing, so he had a blast, and Gonzo climbed and crawled and did the monkey bars and slides. We then collected some rocks to toss into the water.  Then walked the last 100 feet to our house.  Gonzo was able to cut through the woods (a thick bunch of trees and large rocks at the bottom of the hill that creates a visual barrier to the road) to cross the yard when we were in sight of the house, which made Josiah a little jealous, as he wanted to do that too.  But there was no way for me to get his chair through the little path, as you have to go over and around some boulders and between tree trunks.

Then this weekend we went camping at Garnet Lake, a little lake kind of in the middle of nowhere, except that a LOT of people have seasonal homes and such around the lake.  My sisters grabbed a couple of the campsites, and between the two campsites we ended up with 12 tents and 27 people (if I counted right).  In addition to my sisters and their families (One sister had she and her boyfriend and the two little kids, and the other sister had three tents--one for them, one for the girls, and one for the boys as her kids are in the teens & tweens, and brought friends too).  In addition to family, another family that is a friend of one of my sister's and comes every year ended up bringing a lot of friends and family with them.  I was glad that I was not set up at the big main site, as there ended up being a lot of people who did not have kids there, and they used the camping time as a drunk fest, which is so not what I want my kids around. 

Overall, my family decided that next year, we are not camping with them again, as it really was not what we were looking for.  My one sister and her friend have done this camping trip together on 4th of July weekend for over 7 years (this is the first year I have gone for overnight, I have visited to spend the day before).  But the other group is just not a very family friendly group.  So next year, my sisters and I agreed we would find a different camping spot for our 4th of July camping trip.  Don't get me wrong, the trip was great.  The boys and I got there late on Friday and set up our tent at the smaller site with my one sister and her kids (the one with older kids), my dad set up there too, then we cooked dinner at the main site, and I met a bunch of the people who were set up there.  Most of them had been there since morning.  After dinner we roasted marshmallows, made smores, and later went down to the beach area, and one of the guys set off a couple of fireworks.  Then I put my kids to bed.  At first I was a little disappointed that I wasn't able to hang out with everyone at the main site, but it was actually very peaceful to sit by my own campfire and relax int eh calm.  My one sister, whom I had had some strained relationship with earlier this year, came down too and we spend some times just hanging out by the fire (hers were the tents that were in that site also.  Then Saturday we got up and went up to the main site, cooked breakfast over the fire, and hung out with everyone for a while.  Then most of us with kids (and a few without) went down to the beach area.  We swam and played in the water.  some of us brought snacks and stuff down, my dad started the campfire that was at the beach area, and we canoed and kayaked and swam and tubed most of the day.  Josiah got really sleepy, in the afternoon so I took him across the road to our tent, and layed down with him and Gonzo.  My mom arrived as we were heading up for the nap.  A little while later, while the boys were still sleeping she came up to the site and we chatted for a while.  I had to wake the boys up for dinner when my nephew came down to tell us that dinner was ready in the main site.  So we headed there for dinner and chatted with everyone.  there was a steep hill that lead from the main flat area of the campsite up to a path to the outhouse and them up further to a couple more tent sites.  Some of the kids had been going up and down the hill during the day, just playing, but then Josiah wanted to go up the hill.  He was pushing his walker and started slipping and I said to him "bud, I know you want to go up there, but I don't think you are ready for that yet" (it was a very long, very steep hill with lots of roots and rocks, hard even for fully able bodied kids to walk up).  He looked right at me and said "oh yes I am!"  and I walked behind him as he amazed me, and everyone else by making all the way to the top of this difficult path.  It took quite a bit of time and a lot of work on his part, but he did it!!  I wished I had a video camera or even a regular camera.  He was amazing.  coming back down was actually harder because, well it is steep with rocks and roots, and he was walking with a walker.  so I did a lot more catching and repositioning of him on the way back down taking it only 2-3 feet at a time so we didn't tumbled down the hill.  He made it to the top ALL BY HIMSELF!!!! People clapped as he came back down, even people who didn't know him.  Everyone was amazed by his determination--what a champion that boy is!!!  He'll climb mountains someday, without my help.


We did fireworks at the beach that night, but Josiah and I stayed up at the main site, as he was afraid of the noise.  He has a lot of noise sensitivity because he has some patchy hearing loss, making him oversensitive to certain sounds.  So he and I watch through the trees with my hands glued over his ears so he could enjoy the fireworks.  Last year when we went to the circus I brought ear plugs (actually I had my step father pick up ear plugs for Josiah).  He could actually enjoy the circus without being terrified of what loud sound was going to startle him next.  Gonzo is also sound sensitive, so he liked the ear plugs too.  I wish I had brought them for the camping, but I did not know there were going to be fireworks.  Overall, it was a great trip.  We left Sunday morning after breakfast to go home so the kids could spend time with A.  We got home and had dinner, and then went to the parade in town.  The parade ended at the park by the lake by our house.  They had live music, which we could hear from home, so we had free entertainment.  The town fireworks are set off by the lake right next to our house (through the woods).  and the fireworks actually go right over the house, so we just set up our chairs int he front yard and enjoyed the fireworks Sunday night from home with A.  My brother came for a bit and then met up with friends down by the lake.  the rest of my family was still camping. Like last year, pieces of the fireworks kept bouncing off the roof.  Only one firework ended up coming in too low and still flaming as the pieces landed around the house and yard, but they went out quickly on their own (last year we had some we had to stomp on). On Monday we did some running around, I had left my tent at the camp site for my nephew to use and to dry out as it rained on Sunday, and we went to pack it up Monday (its about 45 minutes from our house) and A wanted to see the camping area.  When we got there, my family had already cleared out, and did me a favor of taking my tent with them (which I did not know), so we stopped first at my one sisters house (only about 10 miles from the camp site and only 1 mile off the road we needed to take anyway), and chatted with her.  I am glad we left on Sunday as the crowd got really rowdy and not pleasant with the addition of a couple of extra people on Sunday evening, and my sister and her husband ended up going to the little campsite with their kids early, while my other sister just took her kids to bed as they were set up at the main site.  So I missed to less pleasant part of the camp trip.  Then we just came home and made burgers and hung out.

I put the kids to bed early as they started their summer programs today and I wanted them to be well rested.  J is in a different classroom for the summer, one more mainstream than the one he was used to , though he already knew the teacher and half the kids where in his room before, so not a huge switch for him.  G on the other hand in in a totally new setting.  As his self contained classroom is run through BOCES but housed in a regular school, he is normally at the smaller elementary school.  But the summer program pools all of the kids from all five counties who need the summer program (as so few of them qualify for it) and they pool them at the main BOCES building.  So it is a much larger building, totally different setting, different teacher, different kids, different aid, etc....  As Gonzo usually had a honeymoon period when faced with a new situation, and is a bit more withdrawn while he gets the lay of the land, I am betting he will do alright for the six weeks.  Today and tomorrow might be little rocky, as he was quite withdrawn when I left.  Which I suppose is better than full blown acting out.  Ahhh....the joys of autism.... (said facetiously, of course)....

I think he will do okay.  He had a one to one aid for the summer, and qualified teachers and assistants in the room.  I am a little worried about what new behaviors he will pick up from the new kids, as he has a knack for adopting the most challenging behaviors he can find, and with all new kids,a ll who have issues, there are going to be new behaviours for him to test out and add to his already extensive repertoire.  And I sure he will add some to other kids arsenals too--share and share alike.  Enough with the truthful jesting now....I hope that he finds a friend in this program.  He is starting to actually want a friend, and to realize that most kids have friends.  With a new infusion of kids, I am hoping that he can hit it off with one of the kids and find a common interest.  His pure fascination with bugs may find a fellow budding entomologist among the summer school kids.  It would be great for him to make a friend.

Well, I best pack it up.  The schedules for the kids do not work well.  They both had to be dropped off at 8:15 and picked up at 1:45.  And their school programs fro the summer are 20 minutes apart.  The joys of having to be in two places at once.  Well, G's program lets out between 1:45 and 2:00.  So, after talking with the teachers this morning, I will be dropping J off first a little early and dropping G off a little late each morning, then picking J up a little early and picking G up a little later.  So they are both offset by a little bit.  Hopefully it will all work out.  Today we have to pick up Josiah's new glasses at the eye doctor at 2:45.

AND my sister and her family from South Carolina arrives today for their annual summer visit (I have 3 sisters and one brother).  They will be here five days.  AND my mom's CD release party is on Saturday--her first CD--a life long dream come true for her.  So it is going to be a very busy week....