We decided it had been long enough and we wanted to go visit my sister, brother in-law, and nephews in Ohio. I was a little bit stressed because Grayson got sick two days before we left. Fever, snot, bad cough, the whole nine yards. Just what this anxious flyer needed.....a sick kid. Nevertheless, we carried on with our trip. Thank goodness for my essential oils and a few OTC meds.
Since Jacksonville doesn't have a direct flight, we decided to drive to Orlando the day before and spend the night there rather than deal with a connection and a layover.
Added bonus: Got to see Uncle Andy although I didn't get any pictures. The place we stayed was perfect. It was small but had two bedrooms, a small playground, and......a pool. Well, since we were going to Ohio in January, I had only packed pants, long sleeves, sweaters, hats, and scarves. So.....Daddy and Grayson went in the pool in the shorts that we had driven down there in. Who can say no to this face?
Then the next day it was time for his first airplane! He loved every second of it from the shuttle from long term parking, to the train ride to the terminal, to the airplane. He had a smile glued to his face with each new experience.
Look closely on his right shoulder, he got his wings for his first flight!
I had seen this on Pinterest (not for autism, just for young kids) so I decided to write up my own poem and pass them out. The response was phenomenal. We made 20-30 bags for each flight. People loved them and praised us for a great idea.
As it turned out, we didn't even need the baggies because the picture below is what happened for an hour and 30 minutes of the two hour flight. He fell asleep before we even took off. Now I am sure his illness had something to do with it and the fact that he had been up since 3 that morning, but we all enjoyed the flight. The flight attendants were extra attentive and it really meant a lot to us.
I decided to use some of my essential oils to help calm my anxiety for flying. For the first time EVER, I was able to even look out the window. I was so excited to see the ground covered in white! When we arrived in Ohio many of the people who had received the baggies said how impressed they were with his beahvior. They didn't hear a peep out of him the entire time. We met a man on the flight who had a 27 year old son with autism. We met a woman whose daughter is a speech teacher who works with special needs students. She was bringing our poem to her to share with other parents. She said it was one of the most thoughtful things she had ever seen.
While in Ohio, we were able to meet up with one of Adam's old friends from high school. He has continued to keep in touch with him so we were thrilled to have a few hours to visit. Thanks for having us over Chefitzes!
As soon as we got to my sister's, I had to get outside in the snow! It had been over 15 years since I had seen snow, so I put on my Nana Ni's fur coat (what else?) and headed out there.
James and Grayson doing some computer work while we were there.
This was what bath time looked like each night. This is Grayson's new position while in the tub. He just likes to lay there and float. James was so amazing with him, gentle and willing to do whatever Grayson wanted to do just so he could be around him.
We couldn't pass up the opportunity to go sledding and tubing while we were there. As you will see next, it is a good thing this is a back shot of Adam and Grayson going down the hill.....
This is what was happening from the front. This was Grayson's first experience with snow, and more importantly, a snow suit. Saying he was NOT a fan is the understatement of the year.
So we decided to take it off of him and let him have some chill out time in the car to decompress and take it all in.
Sometimes, well most times, when he is trying something new, he isn't so into it. For the first attempt only. I am so glad we persevered because he ended up really liking it.
Daddy got a great work out by pulling him back up the hill a half a dozen times.
Lukey and Aunt Jennie came out to watch for a bit, but they had to head back for Lukey's nap. Here is a photo of the four tubers. :)
Trying to get a decent photo of these three is a job all in itself. You should have seen the shenanigans that were going on behind the cameras.
Then we decided we should try some indoor activities. James had only been bowling one time before so we thought it was the perfect idea. The boys all did a great job there. James was a great cheerleader and I keep hearing "Go Daddy go!" in my head.
There is no smiling in bowling.
That afternoon we thought we would attempt some more snow play. We definitely should have done this before going tubing. Lesson learned for next time. The pictures below are of our little snow bunny.
Doing his twirl from side to side of pure joy!
Sometimes it is hard to walk in the snow and he needed some help!
Photo shoot take 2. Even funnier.
Some cuddle time with Aunt Jennie the morning we left.
There were SO MANY toys in the house and Grayson is just beginning to engage with toys instead of roaming aimlessly. He watched James play with this toy car for a bit before getting right in there.
Then it was time to go home. Grayson had gotten 12 hours of sleep the night before so we knew we weren't going to have a sleeping kid on our hands on this flight. He was the perfect passenger. Takeoff, turbulence, descending for landing, nothing phased him. He played with stickers, toys, had some snacks, played games on his IPAD and watched an episode of Dinosaur Train.
Again we got a ton of compliments on how well behaved he was from all of the passengers who had received goody bags around us. One gentleman even took the time to come up to us in the terminal to tell us it was the classiest thing he had ever seen done.
We had also given the bag to the flight attendants and pilot on this trip. When we were getting off the plane they all complimented him and us on his behavior. The pilot had asked if he wanted to sit in the cockpit, but we said no thank you. We had a two and a half hour drive ahead of us. I am so mad at myself that we didn't do that! How cool would it be to have pictures of that? Maybe next time!
