On the Road – Autism on the Seas

Early morning Monster on the Anthem of the Seas, Oct/Nov 2018As I’ve mentioned numerous times, our biggest problem traveling has been terror of how the Monster might respond to a trip anywhere.  Our vacations, typically, tend to either involve going with family so we have backup or going somewhere that we can ‘abort’ back home if there’s too serious of a disruption.  We’ve gone to the beach and small trips within driving range primarily, so we end up within a few hours radius of our house where we feel ‘safe’.  Flying somewhere’s been off our radar, despite having gone through Wings for Autism and his seemingly having responded okay to that.  A week on a cruise ship, though, where there are thin walls, no availability of adjusting the environment and especially no aborting back to home?  Out of the question, you lunatics.

About a year ago, my family and I had the benefit of enjoying a morning with some of Autism on the Seas’ staff on Grandeur of the Seas, the Royal Caribbean ship that’s travels from the Port of Baltimore.  The goal of the exercise, besides obviously getting a sales pitch for their services, was to see how the Monster would respond to being on a ship, and to figure out if we could imagine ourselves actually putting ourselves through that kind of an exercise.  I’m also a big believer that a test-drive often doesn’t give you a full, accurate impression of a company’s services, but I could put my thoughts on that aside when the wife and I actually found a few sailings that worked with our schedule and budget and… suddenly, I found our family preparing to go on vacation. Continue reading

There and Back Again

So we’re back from our vacation.  (Yes, yes, I know I promised to post this yesterday – work just got crazy on my return.) Not that we’re unpacked yet, mind you, because we overpacked as we’re inclined to do, and so there are suitcases and duffel bags littering our foyer, but…

The short version, without going into things I’ll touch on in the review later this week – a week, for something like this, was probably the right amount of time. Continue reading

Taking the Plunge

Taking a trip with the kids is nothing new for us – we’ve tried to fit some kind of real trip in to the kids’ schedule every year, as we try to keep things as ‘normal’ as we can, even in the situation.  None of these really have been big ‘vacation-trip’ things like a lot of other families with children our kids’ ages do, though.

But, to every thing and all.  We’ve decided to take the plunge and plan a real vacation-trip. Continue reading

No one knows you, No one cares, Have fun…

One of the truisms about having children in general – and especially when you have children with special needs – is that being a parent can do horrible things to your relationship in terms of giving time for one another.

I’m not saying that I regret having kids – the Monster and R are wonderful critters who make life fun, and I adore being a father and spending time with them.  But, it definitely puts a cramp on spending meaningful time with my wife, both in terms of mood and energy, and when you factor in the attempts we make to still sustain independent lives for ourselves in addition to our marriage… it’s a lot.

So a while ago, the wife and I decided that we had to make an attempt on a regular basis to actually get away and spend time together. Continue reading

Not-Quite-A-Cruise

Monster on the Seas!Long before the children were a thought, my wife and I managed to get away twice on cruises.  It’s fun enough to me – most of an all-inclusive coupled with actually getting to see different places – but as we’ve had children, that’s not been as much of a thought to me.  And then throw in the Monster’s Autism, which makes any trip scary enough… and we’ve not really gone anywhere.

So when Autism on the Seas announced that they were doing a ship-tour nearby, coupled with a discussion of their services, we jumped at the chance to both window-shop and hear about something that might make it possible. Continue reading

On the Road – Six Flags America (Revisited)

It’s been a while since my family journeyed down to Six Flags.  It’s the nearest amusement park to our house (just barely), and while my wife and I used to have season passes before children, the park hasn’t had as much to offer to our family while both R and the Monster were younger.  But now that both children are north of three feet tall…

Continue reading