This weekend, we zipped off to the Tidewater region of Virginia to go hit the two amusement parks – Busch Gardens and Water Country USA – and two baseball games. Unfortunately, one was washed out due to the weather, but…
I know I’ve reviewed Water Country USA previously (see On the Road – Water Country USA), but this time, due to the weather on Friday, we were able to do more of a visit that would answer questions that are of interest to Autism parents. Continue reading
Sorry for taking a few days to do a write-up – I’ve been a bit distracted with preparations for my sabbatical, and then with actually pretending to be a stay-at-home dad for a few days. 😉
So, as the summer’s been progressing, we made our annual visit to the Aberdeen Ironbirds for Autism Awareness Day. Continue reading
One of the biggest stumbling blocks that we face, when we’re going out to an amusement park, is how to cope with the water park.
Most water parks are not really built to accommodate people with disabilities. It’s easier with a land-based ride, since there’s usually an exit and an entrance, and most parks seem to use the exit as a ‘fast-pass/disability’ access point. But a water ride… usually has one way to ride it, and going in the exit doesn’t work. Continue reading
And the march from ballpark to ballpark continues.
This weekend is a double-header for us. We’ve the opportunity to go catch two of the Baltimore Orioles’ farm teams this weekend – the Bowie Baysox (AA, Eastern League) on Friday night and the Aberdeen Ironbirds (Short-Season A, New York-Penn League) this evening. Both teams are doing their Autism Awareness games this weekend. Continue reading
So, since we were actually in Langhorne this weekend to go hit Sesame Place, I thought I would touch back on the prior reviews and update them. Part of this is because, as I go through more places, I find new things that I want to concentrate on… and partially because there’ve been some changes at Sesame.
For starters, you might look at my prior reviews – the trip we took to Sesame Place for their “A Very Furry Christmas”, and another review from last year. Continue reading
If it’s summer, it must be time to go catch a ballgame.
As I mentioned multiple times last season, I do love baseball. I grew up mostly listening to baseball on the radio – I still don’t exactly “get into” watching it on television – but there’s still just one real way to experience the game, and that’s at the ballpark. Continue reading
So, it’s April. And if it’s April and Autism Awareness Month, it must be time for major sports franchises to be doing “Autism Awareness Day/Night” at the ballpark.
For some strange reason, the Baltimore Orioles decided to do a night game. I don’t know about you, but the Monster and R don’t cope well after about, oh, 8:30 at night, so 7:35 start times don’t do me much good. On the other hand, Autism Society of Baltimore/Chesapeake arranged for group tickets for the 1:35 PM game today, so we took the kids to the ballpark for today’s rubber match against the Toronto Blue Jays. Continue reading
Yes, this is a second visit to the aquarium, but… I didn’t look at it as a review, that time, so it’s time that I did that.
Last night was Pathfinders for Autism‘s night at the National Aquarium. We attended the event last year when the Monster was 4 1/2 and R 1 in a semi-ragged fashion, so this year we figured the trip would be more representative of a visit with young children and one on the Spectrum. Continue reading
So yesterday, there was a deal with the Smithsonian Museums and their affiliates for free entry. Never ones to pass up a deal, we signed up to go to Port Discovery, the local children’s museum here in Baltimore.
(Yesterday was a whole bunch of free, since we also had lunch at a nearby, newly-opening Red Robin… but that’s beside the point. We like Red Robin, if only because bottomless fries == distracted children with full mouths.) Continue reading
So… I’m sure that a lot of parents of children with Autism who are already “in the know” about this could potentially be annoyed with me for divulging the existence of this, due to the limited spots available each year. But.. if you don’t know about this already, you should. Trust me, you should.
There is this great charity out there called Surfers Healing. Surfers Healing is a charity founded by a former competitive surfer who has a son with Autism. The basis of the charity is sharing his discovery of the effect that riding a surfboard has on children with this disorder.