the beach

We've been home a week. And I've up to my eyeballs in VBS preparation and am really tired, but I want to record some memories from our vacation before they all eek out of brain.


Luke's last day of school was Tuesday, May 19. Wednesday we had Luke's end of the year party and said good-bye to Ms. Judy. So bittersweet. Thank goodness I was looking forward to leaving Saturday for our vacation, or it would have been a sad sad day.


We met my parents and my brother and his family in Orange Beach. Luke's been talking about this trip for months, naming everyone that will be there, and talking about how he'd build sandcastles and play in the pool. He was very excited, but the closer we got he kept asking, "Is the ocean quiet or loud?" We told him it was kind of medium. That seemed to satisfy, but he asked repeatedly.


We were the last to arrive and everyone came out to the car to greet us. And Luke freaked out a little. I was worried that might happen. If we build things up too much, sometimes the anticipation/excitement gets to him. He quickly calmed down and was very excited to check out the condo and watch the ocean.


Our first day out he had just a little anxiety about the water, but pretty soon he was out "jumping" waves with Daddy:



Each day he seemed to like the beach even more. It really was a joy, a dream come true, seeing him play happily on the beautiful beach. Two years ago when we went to the same beach, just days after his autism diagnosis, we never even setup chairs on the beach. It was too stinkin hot, and he would run around a bit on the beach, but was done in about 15 minutes and ready to go.








This would be what you call a "mom suit" and that would be me hiding behind my child. The only way I'd post it on the web.

Loving the indoor pool when we needed a break from the sun. Luke also loved the huge outdoor pool, but for some reason I got no photos there.

Our last day on the beach, Papa rented us some chairs. That is the way to enjoy the beach! Next time, I'm searching high and low for a condo that includes chair rentals. Notice that Mr. Big Stuff warmed right up to this new experience.

Luke LOVED Miss Maggie, the sweetest baby ever. And so verbal. I'm still astounded at typical development, though I think her verbal is pretty advanced. Two word combinations at 16 months! Are you kidding me? And she understands SO MUCH of what you say. Like you call her and she comes. At 16 months old! Luke was 3 before he did that. This must be why most people have more than one child.

One day Maggie pointed to her Elmo book and said, "Elmo". So I tried out the Milleu method on her, expanding on what she said (we did a study at Vandy using Milleu) and said, "Elmo book!" and she immediately repeated it back to me perfectly. Wow! And then she was singing her ABCs but having a little trouble, so I sang with her, leaving blanks for her to fill in. She loved it and Erik said, "That's a good idea, singing it like that with her." Glad the thousands of dollars we've spent on therapy comes in handy.

Maggie was a BIG fan of Luke's trains. She played with them more than Luke did and loved their faces. We'll soon be sending her a few.

Luke's still likes Thomas, but he found a new passion at the beach, the Wii. He LOVES it. We don't own one . . . yet. Our first days there I thought he'd never figure out how to release the button while bowling. Now he's a pro. He can beat me at most sports, except golf. He hasn't really mastered the light touch and sometimes really whacks it when he's already on the green. Amusing to watch though.

Just wish Maggie (and her parents) lived closer . . .

So our only issue at the beach really caught me off guard. I guess I should have seen it coming. Luke's had some anxiety lately if we ever travel anywhere in separate cars. He wants to keep the other car in his sight the whole time. We of course had to travel in separate cars at the beach--there were 8 of us--and this always was an issue for Luke. The first few days it was so bad that I just didn't really want to leave the condo. It was just too exhausting. But he got better as we were there. I don't know what caused it, other than for the months we've talked about this trip we always listed everyone that was going. Maybe he thought we all had to be together all the time. Also, there's just not such a definite schedule at the beach. I got lots of "Mommy, what's next?" while we were there. I did my best, but that's a challenge on vacation.

He also really wanted to open all doors/gates himself. This was a little hard when the pool and beach were crowded. One day as I closed the gate so he could open it, another mom saw what we were doing and said, "Oh you must be related to us? Do you have a fit if you can't open the gate too?" Ah, I love moms that get it.

A few more beach photos. I had so many I loved that it was hard to choose. We did do some family photos on the beach, but I may use those for Christmas cards and would hate to spoil the surprise for all of you. It was a great trip and I really hope we can do it again.