Egads! Time is flying!! But we still have plenty of family fun coming up.
First up: We will have a weekend visit with Sunny and Sprout’s fam this weekend. This particular visit is exciting because Kiddo wants to come! She hasn’t been to a visit yet. I’m so happy she’s interested in going. If she can handle the stress of being in an unfamiliar culture and environment, it will be so good for her. Mind you, that’s a big if. She gets – for lack of a better word – “difficult” when she’s anxious or uncomfortable. It comes across as sulkiness and brattiness, which has caused some strife with my family members who don’t get to see her amazingly wonderful good side very often. But I see it for what it is and recognize the discomfort that sets her off.
We’ll be as prepared as possible. Since we will be at a big open park, I’ll be taking a frisbee or two, and a game with Velcro balls and paddles, so she can burn off some energy in a familiar activity if needed. I played frisbee with the other kids last visit using plastic container lids so I suspect we can get a good game going with a bunch of kids. There’s tons of good food there but it will be unfamiliar food for Kiddo, so I’ll be sure to come prepared with lots of familiar snacks too in case she doesn’t like or doesn’t want to try Burmese food. I’ll bring chairs for her and me. My aching knees require one since sitting cross legged on the ground makes my knees scream in agony, but one for Kiddo may make her feel more comfortable too. And there’s boba tea there, so I’ll get her one of those early because it will make her happy and sipping a familiar cool beverage will be soothing. Fingers crossed it’s a success!
Next: I’m taking Kiddo to get her hair professionally braided on Monday! She’s never had the experience of a Black salon doing her braiding, and I want her to. I found the woman who is doing it through a Facebook acquaintance, and after a lot of back and forth, it think she’ll be perfect. I can’t wait to see how it looks when it’s done!
Next up: A trip to the zoo with just Sunny and me! I took Sprout on a solo trip there last week, and told Sunny I’d let her play hooky from summer school one morning so we could go and see the koala show. Koalas are her favorite animals.
I try hard to do some one-on-one time with each kid in turn. It’s hard to make time for! I get plenty with Sprout right now because Sunny is in summer school in the mornings, so Sprout and I did the zoo trip one day, and went on a mission to a gas station to buy candy and eat it on a playground another day. Both were a blast.
But Sunny is overdue, and the idea of playing hooky for a day is positively thrilling to her. It should be fun!
And then: four days of cabin camping at a Jellystone Park in the Catskills. I’m super excited for this, as is Sprout. Sunny is wary. Kiddo is excited but she ruined our camping vacay last summer so I’m a little wary too. But we’re going!
It should be easier than our Maine trip in several ways. 1) we are staying in a cabin. There’s a loft with actual mattresses for the kids, along with a real bathroom and kitchen. 2) it’s a Jellystone park so there’s tons of stuff that’s geared toward kids. There’s a big spray park, a lake for paddle boating, a game room, and lots of activities and crafts. 3) it’s only for four days. 4) it’s a lot closer than Maine. It’s also more expensive by quite a bit, but if that’s what it takes, we’ll find a way.
Following that: The Great New York State Fair! I have a super love/hate relationship with the fair. Mostly hate. It’s a lot of overloading stimulation for this autistic chick.
However, kids tend to love it! Kiddo has gone before but neither Sprout nor Sunny has been. First, I’m taking a family friend’s kid to pride day because I had promised to take her to Pride in our city then was out of town for it, so I am attempting to redeem myself. Then I’m taking each of our kids solo in turn: Kiddo, Sprout, and Sunny.
That’s a lot of fair going. Yikes. I’ve prepared in part by getting myself a pair of Loop Engage Earplugs. They’re designed to filter out sound other than conversation, and they seem to work pretty well. In theory I’ll be able to hear the kids, but not be overwhelmed by background noise.
I’ve been wearing them around the house and they’re great for filtering out things like the air conditioner noise, and the dish washer. They seem to tone down the extremes of kid noise, but still allow me to hold a conversation. Pretty cool!
Anyway, I’ve purchased a frequent fairgoer pass that will allow me to enter the fair once each day. I am guessing Sprout will last a few hours only, so I won’t feel like I’m wasting money that day. I’m figuring we’ll see some farm animals, ride a couple of kiddie rides, and get a blue candy apple before she peters out.
As for Kiddo, she’s alllllll about the rides. So I’ll get her a ride pass for the day we go.
Sunny is a different story. She wants to go on Native American Day so we can enjoy the dancing and music in the Native American Village there. I’m all for it! I’ll even take my ear plugs out for that! Sunny is also on a mission to get the largest slushie sold at the fair. It’ll probably set me back at least $20. Maybe more.
I’m not sure how my energy reserves will hold out for all this. I’m planning to take days off in between fair going days, just to get extra sleep and recover. On the whole, though, I’m going to be pushing my luck a bit energy wise!
In between all the fun above, I’ll probably manage at least one more beach day. We go to a small local swimming hole that’s a hidden gem. It has a sandy beach, lifeguards, cool water that isn’t too cold, and cute fishies that nibble your toes in the water.
Sunny has learned to swim incredibly well considering she’s been in the water a handful of times in her life, and nearly drowned her first time in a pool. It wasn’t pretty. But we gave the kids 2 weeks of swimming lessons at the local pool and she took the instruction and ran with it… or swam as the case may be. She wants to spend all her time in the water now, so long as she has her goggles!
If only we can get Sprout to be less terrified of water now, my summer missions will be complete.
After allllll that, it will be back to school time. Hip hip hooray! I can’t wait to have more time to get back to writing and painting.
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