6 hours on a deserted island

Today we met up with 2 of our adult sons, their lovely wives, our beautiful granddaughters and their dogs and went to a small island that is all parkland.  We were able to access this island by a small boat that transports 24 people at a time.  The plan was to spend the day geocaching, hiking and have a campfire so we could roast hotdogs and marshmallows for our lunch.

For most families this would mean throwing together a picnic and hitting the road however for us it's not that simple.

We were meeting at 10:00 am, an hour from our home, which resulted in a 6:00 am wake up call for Mom and Dad and hitting the ground running.  Each morning we try and get up beofre the kids so we can shower, dress, prepare breakfast, etc. before the kids are up.  On top of the usual routine today we had too pack for the day.

So what's needed for 6 hours on an island, without any amenities, for our large family?

Food....lots and lots of food.  6 dozen hotdog wieners, 4 dozen buns, condiments, 4 bags of potato chips, 6 bags of marshmallows and a flat of water.  Plus daily medication, diapers, wipes, multiple changes of clothes, first aid kit and sunscreen.  A plan of how and where we will change the childrens diapers as public washrooms/outhouses don't accommodate 10 year old "infants".  Hats, sunglasses and hoodies to help with all of  our sensory issues.  We also opted for a wagon and strollers instead of the wheelchairs (our wheelchairs don't do well on forest trails).

Once we had the basic prep for the day done it was time to get the kids up, on top of the regular routine we had....3 wet beds and 1 soiled bed (with added finger painting) resulting in 4 unplanned showers, 4 linen changes, 2 extra loads of laundry and a lesson on wall cleaning for our young artist.  One teen returned for more appropriate footwear, an adult child needing lessons on clothing choices for a warm spring day, a discussion with an adult child on why she must pack sanitary products for a day out and one teen strongly encouraged to eat breakfast.

Once load into the bus and 10 minutes down the road we needed to turn around as I noticed that the 4 year old had 2 left shoes.  We get going again trying to make up for lost time and come around a corner to a complete traffic stand still with vehicles turned off.  Nobody is going anywhere because the air ambulance has landed on the highway for a medical emergency.

We finally arrive at the boat, that was nice enough to wait for us and we head to the island for some fun.  While at the island we explored the shore line, found a nest of snakes (which was exciting for some), a couple climbed a tree hoping to find a geocache, found another geocache, hiked, played and ate.  We were thankful for the first aid kit when our young adult cut the tip of her finger exiting the outhouse, we really don't know how she managed that. Overall it was a very enjoyable day and well worth every minute of work getting there.

12 days of Christmas...Christmas lights galore!

Our Christmas festivities are still ongoing, making sure we have down days in between so everyone can regroup.  Most recently we went to tour the Christmas lights, done up as the 12 days of Christmas,  at a local garden.  The weather all day had been iffy and we weren't sure if we would go or not; fortunately the rain held off.  An added bonus of the wet weather all day was it was extremely quiet there as others must have changed their plans.

The kids are in awe of any and all Christmas lights however these ones were spectacular.

 Enjoying the lights and getting out for a walk was a welcome treat from all the sitting and eating that has been happening over the last couple days.  The  favorite part of the night, for most of the kids, was riding the carousel.

T'was the (Grinch) Night Before Christmas!

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas.  On Christmas Eve we had our annual Grinch night, an evening that has grown over the years.  In the beginning it was us watching a movie the night before Christmas and snacking on appetizers and now according to the children it is a family tradition that also includes costumes.  Many of the girls wore festive (and maybe slightly tacky) looking tutu's and styled their hair like the "Who's from Whoville" Some of the boys wore tacky Christmas sweaters or red and/or green shirts.  We even had the "grinch" which changed multiple times as many wanted to try out the costume.

We watched the movie "How the Grinch stole Christmas" and snacked on appetizers for dinner.  We also enjoyed "Grinch punch" a combination of ice cream, sprite and green Kool aid.  The evening is done as a relaxed fun family night with the hopes of everyone enjoying themselves and not stressing about the next day.....Christmas.

Christmas day was spent at home with adult children, their families and grandparents joining us throughout the day.  Each Christmas Eve when the kids go to bed we remind them that Christmas doesn't start before 9:00 am with the hope that they will sleep at least until 7:00 am.  Our new living room was functional for Christmas which was a huge relief as we actually had space to sit and didn't need to sit on one another's laps.  Everyone was spoiled and happy with the gifts that they received.  We all enjoyed a turkey dinner, plenty of snacks and were thoroughly exhausted by the end of the evening.

Having our festivities at home is beneficial for the children/young adults that struggle with excitement and change as they were able to keep fairly much to the same schedule with meal times, sleep and going off to another room for some quiet time/play.  We did have a couple small meltdowns that were quickly redirected.  Boxing day (December 26) was spent as a complete down day giving everyone time to re group before any more festivities.

Junk in the trunk + Wrecking ball=FUN

This past weekend was Halloween, how we spend the day has changed over the years depending on our family's needs.  In the past we have attended community bon fires along with firework displays put on by the local fire station and then there were years we would go swimming and back to Gran and Grampa's too make pizza.  Since the adoption of our youngest 7 children a lot has changed because their abilities are very limiting.

It is important to us that the kids have memories of having fun on the various special days even if that "fun" isn't the same as their peers.  This weekend's  "family fun evening" started with a special "kid" dinner - nacho's.  After dinner we had a games night, with multiple ages and abilities our games were tailored for everyone.

Musical chairs with songs like the Monster Mash.  Instead of using chairs we use small mats as getting up and down to a sitting position can be challenging.  Other game ideas came from the television show "Minute to win it" and "Pinterest".  Junk in the trunk brought out hysterical laughter and crazy dance moves from everyone - a small box filled with ping pong balls attached to a belt and worn around their waist.  Each participant had to dance, jump and shake to be the first to empty their box.  Defying Gravity - keeping an inflated balloon in the air was another game that we modified depending on the ability some kept 1 balloon in the air other had 2-3 balloons.  Cookie Face was well received, a cookie was placed on the participants forehead and each person had to wiggle and move their face trying to get the cookie to their mouth without hands.

 Say aaah - holding a popsicle stick in their mouth the children were challenged to balance as many sugar cubes as possible on it.  For the children that found this game to challenging we had a variation of the egg and spoon race using a sugar cube and a spoon.  Wrecking ball was harder than it looked, a tennis ball in the foot of pantyhose and then pantyhose worn on the participants head.  The participant then swung the ball with their head trying to knock down 8 bottles of water.

After the games the younger children went to bed and the remainder of the family watch a movie.

Bringing back fun

We have many medical and therapy appointments for our children and at times have been so busy focusing on getting it "all" done that we haven't taken enough time for ourselves or enjoying life.  The children need time to be kids and not just being transported from one appointment to the next.

In the past, for Children's Hospital visits, we made the mistake of getting up extremely early and traveling for multiple hours, arriving tired and cranky, only to return home after more travel, very late and exhausted.  After deciding that the trips to the hospital are inevitable but how we handle them is optional, we made the decision to make each trip a mini vacation.  Fortunately most of our children's hospital visits are for non-intrusive procedures leaving the kids able to participate in other activities either before or after the appointment.

Now when going to Children's Hospital we book a hotel arriving the day before the appointment and leaving the day after.  Did you know that hotels near various hospitals have a much cheaper "hospital" rate?  Also various medical plans and/or some government programs will pay a portion of the hotel cost.  These programs are a huge asset for families needing the hospital.  On our most recent hospital visit we were able to have 2 adjoining rooms for $19 each, with the support of these programs.  Some medical plans and government programs will also pay mileage and ferry costs (if required).  If you need to travel for medical appointments be sure to check what supports are available.

On our recent trip to Children's hospital we left home just after breakfast to travel for our medical appointments.  Upon arrival we had time for a relaxing dinner and then a swim in the hotel pool.  Swimming at the hotel pool is always a treat for our children since the majority of time they have sole use of the pool.  The next day we arrived well rested for our long day of multiple appointments, after 9 long hours we returned to the hotel for dinner and another swim.  Our final day of this hospital/mini holiday we spent at the local zoo before returning home in time for bed.

My hope is that when reminiscing about their childhood the fun activities stick out more than the multiple appointments with doctors and therapists.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

Impromptu dance parties are a favorite for our family.  We have the different gaming systems with the "just dance" programs but have found the same "dance" videos on You Tube.  Watching them on You Tube is much quicker for us, our TV is connected to our computer so we can pull up videos within seconds.


It is very touching watching all the kids, no matter the age, dancing, singing and laughing together - ability and coordination doesn't matter as they are just having fun.

Today we decided to mix it up and had our dance party while making "Ice cream in a bag"

What you need:

Ice cubes (1/2 fill each large ziploc bags)
1/2 cup rock salt
1 medium size ziploc bag
1 large size ziploc bag
1 cup half and half
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Optional: 1 tsp chocolate syrup or strawberry syrup, for flavored ice cream.

Directions:
Combine sugar, half and half, and vanilla in medium ziploc bag then seal tightly.  Add optional flavors if you want a flavored ice cream before sealing.

Place salt and ice in large ziploc bag, then place sealed smaller bag in large bag.  Seal large bag.  Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5-10 minutes).  We danced while shaking our ice cream making the time go faster.  Feel the small bag to determine when it's done.

When done take the smaller bag out of the larger bag and enjoy your ice cream right out of the bag.

Life Skills Scavenger Challenge

Our summer boredom buster today was a "life skills scavenger hunt".  I spent a bit of time researching "scavenger hunts" and found quite the range of things people scavenge.  Wanting the kids to have fun and practice various community life skills I came up with my own list of ideas.  Some of the challenges were serious skill practice and others were thrown in for fun.

During the week, I talked up the scavenger hunt to build interest and excitement (and maybe a touch of nervousness) I would give examples from the various "hunts" I had researched not ever revealing what they were going to be doing.  I assigned points for each completed task with the life skill tasks having much higher values and told them there would be prizes, as an encouragement to take on all the challenges.  One challenge was to "sing a song in public" and their Dad jokingly threw in his thoughts, saying "they would loose points if the public didn't enjoy their singing."

This scavenger hunt was a lot of fun and really helped build confidence in the participants while  doing the challenges.  They were able to work together on the learning challenges and just be crazy doing the fun stuff. Each person had a camera to document each challenge and came back with some fun pictures to include in their summer memories.  If you need something to break up the monotony of summer edit our "scavenger hunt" to fit with your community and goals then go have an afternoon of inexpensive fun.