This year for Independence Day, we went to my in-laws for lunch with some of Dave's siblings and their kids. The boys just loved being able to play with their cousins! They don't get to see them very often so it was nice to let them play for awhile.
Dave had to work, so we had to go home so he could get his car and go. While he was gone, I got started on preparations for our Independence Day dinner/BBQ with my family. We did the traditional hamburgers and hot dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, pasta salad, soda, chips, etc. And then we started fireworks kind of early. We only buy a few each year, but we were excited to learn that Thanksgiving Point has fireworks every year, so we got to watch those after our family ones. The boys had a lot of fun, especially with the poppers. Jett was not a fan of the noise but Aunt Abby helped out with that one. Overall it was a very nice Independence Day and we got to reflect on how blessed we are and how much we have (and the how lucky we are to have two amazing little boys).
Other Stuff
It's been a great summer thus far. We do a lot of fun things and it hasn't been as painful as I had anticipated. Cruise is in summer school (public) and once a week has adaptive sports camp at Kids On the Move. Once a week I take the kids to the movies as part of a summer movie kids package. The kids enjoy it, probably as much as the popcorn and soda. I just wish I could nap while they watch. So far I haven't been very successful.
We also invested in an annual pass to Thanksgiving Point which has come in quite handy. In any given week, the boys and I end up visiting 2-3 times. They really like the dinosaur museum. Jett asks me every single day, "Wanna see da bones pees?" Half the time we end up visiting the farm for a few minutes, just so they can ride a pony and take a wagon ride, then we grab some ice cream and go home.
We swim about once a week and every now and then take special little trips like to Payson Lakes, the planetarium in SLC, and other small excursions. It's our own spin on a staycation.
Jett's language has really picked up and he talks a lot. He has also become quite the puzzler. He is in love with jigsaw puzzles and has acquired quite a few with help from our local dollar store and Grandma & Grandpa Greer. I will wake up some days to find he's done 2 or 3 puzzles already. He is quite good at them. Right now he does 24 piece puzzles all on his own. It's pretty impressive.
Cruise is doing awesome and has been having a lot of fun playing with his brother and the neighbor kids. I sometimes have to push him out the door though, otherwise he'll stay inside and play on his own, which is a new development. I think kids have a hard time understanding him and since he is too unpredictable, they don't engage him as much. He also has a hard time understanding others as well, so this next year I think I'm going to push a lot of social skills and write a lot of social stories.
Recently we found out that Cruise is very tongue tied. So tongue tied that it attaches to his mandible. So he will be getting surgery on that next week. I wish we had known about it when he was a baby, but no one ever pointed it out to us, so he'll have to go under. Luckily it's a quick procedure with only a couple days of recovery. Thank goodness! Now I just have to write a social story for that.
Lehi Pool:
Pirate Activity @ Thanksgiving Point:
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| Fencing lesson |
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| Cruise (left) fencing another kid |
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| Jett |
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| Cruise |
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| Jett fencing another kid |
Payson Lakes:
Autism Carnival in Provo:
Jett's "new" Spiderman big boy bike ($10 off ksl.com)
The boys' goldfish "Big Boy" and "Fish":
