Thursday, October 17, 2013

Vacation......

The girls have been on vacation this week.  I love this time of year.  Dave usually takes vacation time during the girls' one week 'fall' break.  He likes to take it at this time because the weather is cooler, most kids are back in school and he can't take vacation during the holidays so it's nice to have him home for a week or so during October.

This year I asked Dave to take off a couple of days before the girls got out of school, just so we could have some time together. He did a few things around the house (we had a plumbing issue and a toilet seat that would not stay on the toilet so had to get a new one for the girls' bathroom, so a trip to Lowes was in order) and we went out for lunch, cooked ourselves breakfast (eggs with veggies, which the girls will eat but do not particularly like) and had some nice talks, time together.

On Friday of last week, our friends the H family, won some tix to Disney on Ice.  We have never taken the girls (although they remember going with a foster parent at one point) but they have always asked to go.  The boys in the H family did not want to go to this one, so the dad in this family (who works with Dave) brought the tix over when he got off work (he works night shift) on Friday am.  We managed to keep it a surprise for the girls and when we picked up BGA from school she knew there was a surprise but not what it was (she had guessed it, so not sure if she heard us talking after bedtime on Thurs night or what).  When LGA got home we told the girls and they were excited.  I had told LGA's teacher because we had had a conversation about some behaviors LGA has had at school.  LGA is having a challenging FASD month and some of her behaviors to that regard are getting very challenging. More on that in an upcoming post.  For now I'll skip to our vacation post.

We decided to go early to the town DOI was in so we could exchange the vouchers for tickets.  We got great tix not on the floor but a few rows up.  We then went to a local steakhouse we like (after driving around because we did not check out dinner options first) for dinner.  We like this place, Logan's Roadhouse, as you can eat peanuts out of a bucket (they come in a bag and then you put them in the bucket) and the girls were kept busy eating peanuts and cracking them.  That's always a plus.  We were in the back too, which is always good when taking LGA out. She can move around and get out of her seat, etc.  Dinner was good and we were ready for DOI.

This year's show was called Passport to Adventure (and I don't have any shots of it because my cell phone pic that Dave took makes us all look like we have devil eyes, LOL.  I didn't take any other pics because I was too busy trying to keep LGA at an acceptable level of behavior).  To say LGA was really on sensory overload would not be a lie.  She was in/out of her seat, she fought with BGA so as we had the two of them sitting together we had to split them up.  She was yelling and screaming when the characters came out.  She hit me when I told her she couldn't sing because while the people around us were ok with her behavior, the couple below us, the mom was staring at LGA.  It's times like this I really wish I had one of the cards other people pass out that explain FASD and it's behaviors.  I must order some.  But she did calm down a bit after the initial hyperactivity and was really enjoying the show. It was worth it for her joy and happiness. I had a hard time going down the stairs (the bifocals I got last year make it really hard to see unless I adjust where I am looking, going down stairs and there were very few rails. I got a bit dizzy).  So there was no way I wanted to go back up.  Poor Dave had to go make bathroom trips and the girls wanted a toy each.  They exchanged the light up wands for the hard plastic binoculars.  The show featured, Lion King, Ariel, Lilo and Stitch and Peter Pan.  It was cute.  We really thank our friends for giving us the tix.  It was a fun family night and BGA kept saying the next day what a good time she had.

We needed a day at home on Saturday so we pretty much vegged.  The girls and I slept in till after 8 (no normal feat in this house where LGA is almost always up, 7 days a week at 5:55am. Not 5:54 or 5:56, but at 5:55 am.  We need to figure out her sleep schedule. It's really hard lately) everyone is usually up early.  I made a crock pot meal and we all did our own thing.  It was a nice day, similar to what our Sundays are usually like.

Sunday we got up and had bkfst and went to a hands on science museum in the town over.  I got a Groupon for it so we decided to try it out. It was very hands on.  Lots of of bubble making, earth quake simulating, tornado simulating, heart beats on a drum, puzzles, etc.  The girls spent 2 hours on the hands on stuff and I think Dave spent as much time on all the stuff too.  It was another fun day.  We had a late lunch out and headed to the grocery store for some groceries for this week.

Monday we decided to go to the Groupon pumpkin patch we had purchased.  However, when we drove there it was really empty and looked really small (they promised a free pumpkin to a child 9 and younger) so we decided to go to our local hamburger stand (near it) for lunch and then decided to come back to the patch on the weekend when more people would be there.  We decided on the spur of the moment to go see a movie.  Of course it was a kid's movie, so Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs2 it was.  I have a movie theater card so the girls got a free popcorn and discounted sour patch candy.   It was cute and fun.  We came home and had dinner since we had groceries and no one was really super hungry after the popcorn and candy binge.

Tuesday was game day with Daddy.  The girls played board games and the Wii.  Usually there is a fight as LGA has issues with the Wii and can't play all the games so she gets mad and goes into meltdown mode.  This time Dave was patient with her and tried to show her a few tricks. It worked for awhile and then it didn't so it was time to put the Wii up.   The girls never like to get rid of stuff so we went through the board games but LGA was really unwilling to get rid of some of them.  I have a local fellow foster to adopt mom that I am hoping to give the games to. I really want to go through LGA's room and give this mom some of her toys that she doesn't play with but she's really unwilling to part with them.  So we'll see how that goes. I would really like to pare down.  Our house is small and while she has storage under her bed, I really would like to just purge what she no longer plays with.

Daddy went back to work yesterday and attitudes sucked.  It is transition after all.  Any transition is hard.  LGA has had a hard transition to having time off.  So no nintendo for her yesterday.  She was not happy.  I also would not let them play board games as they were fighting and that usually leads to a lot of fights, so they had a Netflix movie day instead.  That led to fights also because they are at different stages of what they will watch.  LGA is still wanting to watch some of the younger cartoons/movies and BGA wants to watch some of the more 'teen/tween' stuff.  They worked it out but I had to threaten to turn the tv off.  It was a tough day.  I still managed to make a chicken pot pie and salad for dinner so that was a good thing.  :-)

So we are hanging out again today, as BGA has a slight cold.  I let them play nintendos today so we'll see how that goes.  LGA is getting better at shutting it down when asked, but of course that continues to be an issue for her.  But I figure they have not had much nintendo time so if I can monitor/restrict the time we'll all be better off.

A new article came out on FASD that I want to blog about, but this week I am unable to really concentrate on it.  Daddy will be off again on Sunday and Monday so I figure that topic will be one for next week. One good thing, was LGA came to me and tied the strings on her knit pants into a bow. I have been wanting her to tie her shoes for awhile.  She finally has it.  Time for some shoes with laces now.  I was very happy she can now tie her shoes!  Also, the girls have grown.  Time for new jeans and shoes for them.  Both girls shot up in height but not at the waist.  BGA is able to wear the next size up in slim jeans (wow, where did my little girl go?  She looks very grown up and 'teen.').  LGA just needs the next size up.  I'm on a quest to find school clothes jeans.

For now, we're enjoying vacation and October.  The house is cooler today (temps have been high 70's to low 80's) and my feet are cold for the first time since probably March.  I'm making a meatloaf for the sick one in the house (her fave) and baking brownies.  I'm very domestic this vacation.  It helps picking up a Taste of Home crockpot recipe book, though.  I have made one meatball stew out of it and look forward to the soup section, particularly this fall.  Now, if the leaves would change, I'd be really happy.  :-)

2 comments:

  1. Oooooo, Disney On Ice! I was thinking about taking BG to see that. She's all about the princesses at this point.
    Sounds like you're really enjoying yourself Molly. :-)

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  2. I think you would like it and BG would too, you should take her. The Feb one here will be Princesses, Tangled, Merida, Belle, can't remember the 4th one unless I posted it in the post. The girls want to go to that one too. :-)

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