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| The HMS Bounty in Newport, RI |
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| Snickerdoodles! |
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| Lemon Squares |
Hello everyone! I hope you all have been enjoying your summer! As you can see by my photos, we have been keeping ourselves busy. The first photo is from our trip to Newport. My son loves history and architecture. We try to go to some historical place, museum, etc. every summer with him. After we toured our state capitol building last year, I asked him where he would want to go this summer. He immediately, to my surprise, said Newport. You have to understand that my son hates to get hot or sweaty. He's basically an indoor type of guy. I assumed he would eventually change his mind. As you can see, he did not! I saw on the television that the Tall Ships were coming to celebrate the bicentennial of 1812. My son immediately agreed to go. Really?!? I had had a couple of conversations over the winter about trying new things. That maybe you wouldn't be too comfortable the first time, but over time you might get used to it and eventually like it. Had he really been listening to me and taken it to heart?!? Apparently he had!
The three of us- my son, my daughter with ADD and myself- all went to Newport on Friday the 6th of July. We are a low income family, so we packed our lunch and some water and jumped on the local buses that go to Newport. The bus ride took an hour and fifteen minutes. I was nervous because my son will talk nonstop on a bus if he gets nervous. He did very well. There was plenty to see out the windows to keep him occupied. When we got there he did seem rather wound up. Luckily everyone from the bus poured into the visitors center, leaving us alone outside. There was a safe place for my son to run, so I told him to go at it. I could see him start to relax immediately as soon as he started to move. After a quick sprint he came back over to us. He was ready to go!
I have to say we had a lovely time and I learned even more about my son. Since it was a week day the crowds were not so big. Always a plus. Can you see how blue the sky is?! We had beautiful weather. Friday was the only day that didn't reach into the ninety's. We saw amazing ships. The HMS Bounty was used in the 1962? movie "The Mutiny on the Bounty". We also saw/smelled quite a few fish pots!
One of the most amazing moments came when we went into The Armory. It has been turned into an antique dealers paradise. I originally went in for him to see the building and tried to back out when I saw all the antiques. To my surprise he became fascinated! He looked at all the old ship things and even found some globes that interested him. He didn't run or flap or anything! I love poking around antiques stores. It was thrilling to finally find something in common with my son!
We had a lovely time. He ended up with a sunburn because he refused to put on sunscreen, but even that didn't phase him. All he said about it was "No wonder I was feeling so hot." So don't give up on having some good times with your kids. It may eventually happen, given time and encouragement. I just read a blog yesterday at www.whatlookslikeordinaryonacrazy.blogspot.com about how this family has finally been able to take their aspie son to baseball games! Good things are always just around the corner!
For instance, every week we do a trip to the library. Last week I found Martha Stewart's Cookies book on the for sale rack for fifty cents! You can bet I snapped that up! It was coming unglued so the library decided to get rid of it. Fine by me! So far I have made the Lemon Squares (very refreshing) and the Snickerdoodles (yummy!) . I had no idea when I suggested sprinkling cinnamon on my sugar cookies in one of my first blogs that that was actually what Snickerdoodles are! Just leave out the vanilla and you are all set to go! I made them this morning and my kids have already been eating them. Perhaps I had better end this and get some while I can! Be writing at you again in about a month. Hugs to you. Hope you can find a minute or two to relax!
