Catching Up

I think I caught a bad case of bloggers block these past few months and am hoping to get back into the swing of things.

Just to catch up, Alex had his first semester break the end of September, beginning of October and we went on three family day trips - to the Sacramento Zoo, Fairy Tale Town and Apple Hill.

I think Alex’s least favorite was the zoo. He was doing fine at first (loved the giraffes) until we got to the monkey cage. There were two swingin’ kinda guys in there – a great show for we human spectators. Then, along came a lady and her daughter, approaching the cage as if they had some sort special communication powers with these creatures. The mom leaned forward and gave out a sort of chimpanzeeish kind of loud squawk. Wouldn’t you know it, the monkey’s repeated her, like in the exact pitch and everything...at double the volume!

I thought this was kind of cool until I saw the look on Alex’s face. The noise sent him on a panicked journey inside his head. Once he’s in there, it’s hard to get him back out again. Now, all he remembers about the zoo is how he doesn’t like the monkeys.

On a more positive note, both kids loved “The Crooked Mile” in Fairytale town. They ran the curvy path so many times that they were completely exhausted by the end of the day. We got them to bed extra early that night. Also, the hay and corn mazes at the various farms on Apple Hill were a big hit too. We liked Abel’s Apple Acres the best. I think there’s something to the patterns in these things that is very comforting to Alex.

We thought it strange that we didn’t eat one apple the whole day up there, nor did we take home a pie. When you have two kids and one with autism, waiting in a mile long line is not one’s idea of a good time. We did end up with an apple and berry pie for Thanksgiving via some friends. Now I know what the hype is all about. They were delicious!