Otter Pops and Other Fun

We have been doing soccer lessons several times a week. This means we meet their coach at the park. So one kid is with him, one is with one of the tutors, and the other is with me. At first I was nervous to go to an unfenced park and thought I would be chasing kids away from the street all day. Luckily, we figured out otter pops are a good diversion.

 

 

Also...why should I worry when There's a playground nearby? This has worked out just fine. :)

Someone Found the ink pad

School goodbye party

Today was Garrett and Caiti's goodbye party for school.  We all met at the park across from the elementary school.  This is Garrett and Caiti with their teacher, Ms. Zavala.  I asked her how it was going to work next year because Garrett would be going to a new classroom now that he is technically in second grade.  Ms. Zavala told me that she had asked to keep Garrett another year and hoped I didn't mind.  Of course I didn't mind.  Then Garrett can have another year without major change, and he can be with his sister and his other buddies.

We had yummy potluck lunch.  I was super cool and made teenie weenies.

This is Caiti with her buddy.  She was basically with Caiti all day every day, but she wasn't an official one-on-one.  

This is Garrett with Bryan.  We love him.  He has been Garrett's one-on-one all year, and we hope to have him again next year.  Garrett liked school unless they brought in a sub for Bryan.  

And this is Garrett's cute best friend, Sammy.  She has cerebral palsy.  During breaks, the only person I have ever heard Garrett ask about was Sammy.  He would say, "Sammy's at her house," which is his way of saying he wants to see her.  :)  We'll miss school...believe me!  But, it will be nice when fall comes again and they can see all their buddies.

Soccer Videos

Garrett

Jason's first Soccer Lesson!!!!  :)


Caiti

Garrett Dancing :)

Another Visit to Queen Califia's Magical Circle Garden

I wanted to be brave and take my kids on a date for our Saturday activity. Our friend, Whitney, (who is also one of our kids' ABA tutors) came along to help me out. I had originally planned to take them to dinner and a movie, but after reviewing my budget, we decided to go to Kit Carson State Park in Escondido. That is where one of my kids' favorite places in the entire world is: Queen Califia's Magical Circle.

This was our attempt to get a pic of everyone in the car. :)

Of course, we waked past the swings on the way to the mosaic garden, so we stopped there for a while. I was proud of how good Jason has become at swinging. They all loved to be on the swings and threw tantrums when we made them leave the beloved swing set. However, how mad can you stay once you see this sight?

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Jason discover this new place where he could sing to his reflection. It was also so nice to recapture the wonder in Caiti's face looking at the beautiful mosaic stars, etc, and seeing Garrett examining all the fun textures.

Caiti loved it at first, but she was still obsessing over the swings. Poor Whitney got to chase after her the majority of the time because she kept making a dash for the playground. However, Jason and Garrett had a great time exploring and felt quite at home. After all, Garrett even took his socks and shoes off.

...and of course I couldn't pass up the chance for a self portrait.

I think we may have had more fun doing this than dinner and a movie anyway. However, nothing will ever compare to our first visit:
http://abunchofroaches.blogspot.com/2009/06/autism-heaven.html

Independence Day

This independence day, of course our family has to mention how grateful we are for those serving in our military, protecting our freedom and the freedoms of those throughout the world. We love Kevin and appreciate him so much and miss him. Deployments are hard, but we know they're a part of the job, and we're grateful that we have the benefits we do because of how hard Kevin works for his family.
We had a good fourth of July. We ended up inviting Aunt Michelle and some friends of ours over for hotdogs, fruit, etc. We set up the sprinklers and a couple of pools outside and just hung out and watched movies. The kids had so much fun playing in the water, and I had a great time visiting with my friend Danielle. Her husband is also deployed on Kevin's ship, and she has 2 boys with autism, so we have a lot in common.

The pic above is of Danielle's kids. They're fun! Danielle doesn't do pictures.
Caiti spent the entire day inside her pool. She was hilarious walking nonchalantly into the kitchen, grabbing the cantaloup, and climbing right back in the pool. Jason, of course thought it was okay to climb right in with her, fully clothed to get some melon for himself. Garrett just loved playing with the caterpillar sprinkler toy Aunt Michelle brought. He called it the "water snake.". This was my favorite 4th since we moved here...and also the third year in a row Kevin was gone. Maybe next year will be even better because we will all be together.

ABCs

Seaport Village

Grandma and grandpa Berrett have been in town this week. I was able to spend an evening with them and leave the kids at home with Michelle. Jason and I also went to visit them the next morning. Jason had a fun time with his second cousin, Tony, and I enjoyed visiting with my cousins, aunts and grandparents. Michelle took Garrett and Caiti to the beach at Coronado where they were staying. Caiti loved playing in the waves with her pretty cousins, and she also loved Grandma's beautiful white hair. Garrett loved playing at the beach too. He also loved Grandma's yummy cookies.
Monday was their last week in town, so Jason and I met up with them at Seaport Village.

Life Jackets

Yesterday Aunt Michelle took Garrett and Caiti to Coronado Beach so they could see their grandparents and have some fun.  They loved it!  I guess you can tell that from this picture from today.  Caiti brought us her life jacket, and she loved wearing it.  She also brought us her shoes and was sad when we didn't go anywhere.  :)

Garrett also thought it was great fun to wear his life jacket today.  I always thought they might like to just wear those for the pressure on their bodies.  Anyway, I took this movie today with him.  It made me happy.

Caiti's "Mirror"

So, the ipad has this fun thing with the camera where you can see yourself in the screen.  Caiti thinks this is a mirror.  We had a great time recording her watching herself in the "mirror." (Please excuse the fact she's just in her skivvies. 

Garrett's Starting to Read!

Soccer Time!

So something that is very frustrating to me is finding extracurricular activities for my kids that they will enjoy but are adapted for their abilities.  Luckily, The Child Enrichment Center (their ABA provider), decided to throw in some recreationnal therapy once a week.  They hired someone that is teaching my kids soccer.  Of course, as with anything with autism, the teaching is in baby steps, but it is so sweet to see my kids trying something that they would be trying at that age anyway.

Caiti has great aim, and she understands how to tilt her foot and where to place it on the ball to get it just where it needs to be.

 Garrett would be great at getting ahead of the team...once he learns how to dribble the ball.  His coach was chasing him down a lot of the time.  :)  He also would make a good goalie...after he got the concept...cause he thinks it's very fun to sit under the goal.  Guess we can work on that one.  :)
When all is said and done, high fives for trying.  I'm a proud mama.