Adventure #9: The Beach

I hate missing out on any sleep, ever.  I love my sleep.  We wanted a trip to the beach this summer, but didn't want to stay the night.  Until we get Noah used to a regular bed we don't plan to spend any more sleepless hotel nights.  We realized something, when you live in Hillsboro, the beach is only a little over an hour away.  There and back in one day is not only doable, but makes a beach trip incredibly affordable too.

 Packing a lunch, kite, sand toys, and more clothes than a day trip should ever require (but weather at the Oregon Coast is fickle) we set off for the beach.  Now we were pretty sure we had all the makings for a great day.  All the supplies were packed, Owen loves the beach, and Noah lives in his sand box.  Here we are taking him to the world's biggest sand box.

We found a parking spot in Cannon Beach right next to beach access and walk on down.  Two initial obstacles hinder us.  We have a ton of stuff to lug down the beach.  Geoff just wants to give up and set up our spot pretty much as soon as we hit sand.  I insist we trek closer to the water for water play and sand castle glue.  While Geoff and I have our hands full we are making the kids walk.  Owen has no problems, Noah however, quickly decides he is not walking.  At first I wasn't giving in.  It took me a minute to understand what his reaching up to me while trying to stand on one leg meant.  Noah has terrible balance and never tries to stand on one leg.  His little piggies were burning up on the hot sand!  So, we re-shuffle gear, so I can carry 50 pound Noah and fewer toys.

The one photo of our cameraman Geoff, his fingers!

Noah is a happy little clam all set up with his sand toys and a bucket of water to play with.  Owen is my surfer, heading straight for the water regardless of how freezing the Oregon Coast Pacific is.

We play and eat lunch.  Geoff and I remember why we hate eating on the beach as we enjoy our rather sandy sandwiches.  Owen decides he doesn't like seagulls when they fly off with his chips.  We were there on the one non-windy day, so Owen's totally awesome fighter jet kite doesn't really fly.  He had fun running around with it, trying to get it to anyway.

Before we go, I want to try out the water with Noah.  He has never been in the ocean.  He loves swimming pools and bathtubs, but this is totally new.  We go down to the waters edge and the first wave totally startles Noah.  The water is cold and rushing fast.  I think he couldn't quite decide if he liked it or not.  He would reach out to me with each wave.  When Noah decided to pelt the waves with wet sand, I think he was declaring he did not like the ocean.

As we finished up, we hauled wet kids and all the gear back to the car.  We changed each kid into dry clothes and headed home.  We had such a fun day.  And outside of gas money, it didn't cost us a thing.  

Adventure #8: The Oregon Zoo

One of my own personal goals is to live more during the week.  You know, not save all the fun stuff for the weekend.  So to further that goal I took the kids to the zoo on Tuesday.  The Oregon Zoo http://www.oregonzoo.org/  offers a great deal with $4 admission on the second Tuesday of every month.  This typically means that the zoo is insanely crowded.   However, by getting there after school at 230pm many people with preschoolers are heading home, so it wasn't too crazy.

Usually Owen and I get into an argument at the zoo because he just wants to rush around to whatever animal pops into his head, "let's see the polar bears!  Now let's go to the farm!  Now the bats!"   Whereas I prefer to do a more orderly exhibit to exhibit.  We compromised by starting in the zoo where he wanted, Stellar Cove, and then followed the paths around the zoo.  Watching the sea lions is amazing.  The exhibit is a full wall of windows into their swim tank.  Both boys enjoy watching the sea lions surprisingly serene swimming in the water.

As we walked around I realized a real problem with the zoo.  Many of the exhibits, especially in some of the older parts of the zoo aren't very wheelchair/stroller friendly.  Noah couldn't see the animals in most of the exhibits because the viewing area is at waist height.  So Noah was just hanging out while Owen and I looked at the animals.

There were a few animals Noah did really get to interact with.  The goats were in their petting zoo pen.  We were able to stick our hands through the fence and pet them.  Noah is always more engaged if he can use more than one sense to notice something.  For example, with the goats he could see and touch (and smell) them.  When we used the hand sanitizer afterword Owen just kept pumping the lever.  It took me a second (and Owen about 6 pumps) for me to realize Owen couldn't feel the sanitizer because it was foam.  He thought he wasn't getting any.  When I told him to check his hand he had a mount of sanitizer about 5 inches tall and 4 inches wide!  We were very clean.

Baby Sumara

After finishing up the African area of the zoo we went to get a snack.  I enjoyed this part the best.  And no, not because I love to eat!  It was really nice just to sit down with the kids and talk about what we had seen.  Noah loves salty foods, so he had some potato chips and Owen has a wicked sweet tooth, so he had cotton candy.  I let Noah hold his own bag and he did well not dumping all the chips out.  When Owen was done with his cotton candy, he looked at me to ask if he had any on his face.  I swear the entire lower half of his face, from his eyeballs down, was covered in cotton candy!  We cleaned up and finished the zoo.

We walked up the Great Northwest exhibit on our way out.  Noah liked the salmon I think because he could really see them and the water was splashing a little out of the tank onto us.  His hands down favorite was the bears.  Two of the bears were really lively.  They were snuggling and playing with each other.  Noah tried to crawl into their exhibit!  Mostly, I think he wanted to play in their dirt.  

We left the zoo after two and a half hours.  I was pretty pleased with getting out and having a fun afterschool afternoon for $12.  The very best part of my day was when Owen spontaneously hugged me and told me "thank you for bringing us here".

Adventure #7: Fishing trip

We went on a real adventure today:  fishing!  The Tillamook Anglers, along with other sponsors, hosted their 20th annual fishing day for disabled kids.  This event is entirely free for particpating families.   The Tillamook Anglers are a non-profit, volunteer group who maintain the Whiskey Creek Fish Hatchery in Tillamook.  They raise 100,000 Chinook Salmon to release in the ocean every year.  They also support their regional food bank with salmon donations. 

Our first adventure was just getting there.  For some reason, Geoff and I both were thinking that Tillamook was about 40 minutes from our house.  Yes, we should have determined this before we left, rather than assuming it was going to be around each bend.  So, after an hour and a half, and turning around twice, we finally made it to the Whiskey Creek Hatchery.                            http://bit.ly/n1UKBs

Owen was just itching to fish as soon as we got there.  Noah wouldn't understand fishing, so he opted just to come along for the ride.   The fishing was set up inside the fish hatchery.  It was like fishing in a barrel!  Plenty of volunteers were lined up along the hatchery to help the kids bait their hooks and get their poles into the water.   Noah and I walked around the hatchery where I made the unfortunate discovery that in his chair Noah is butt high to everyone.  As we were walking through he decided pinching butts in the crowd was such fun!  I walked through issuing apologies along the way.   Noah and I decided to explore the grounds where it was much less crowded while Owen and Geoff fished. 

The hatchery sits right on Tillamook Bay.  Noah and I followed the path around the rainbow trout pond to look out on the bay.  It is beautiful with the spooky ghost trees, calm water, and seagulls.  After catching 4(!) fish, Owen and Geoff came to join us.  We did some more exploring and played a game of bean bag tic tac toe.  The game was set up with large tarp mats on the ground to make a board where the kids could throw the bean bags.  Noah decided that he wanted to lay down on the tic tac toe mat in the grass and then run around to lay on everyone's tic tac toe mat.  After we gathered him back up we went to get lunch.

Lunch was a provided part of the event and it was awesome.  A choice of hamburgers, hot dogs, or fried chicken with sides, ice cream (Tillamook of course), soda, coffee and hot cocoa were offered.  We took our picnic lunch to enjoy in the grass by the bay.  We ate our lunch while various prizes were raffled off.  Alas, I did not win the smoker I was coveting.

After lunch we packed up our fish and headed home.  We had a great time.  I never thought we'd be able to try out fishing as a family.  I am always so touched when organizations reach out to the special needs community to help us and our kids do family fun events.  Many activities are just so much more difficult to pull off if you are trying to do it with someone who is disabled.  This well organized event allowed us to try out fishing in a fun and no stress way.  The best part is on the way home Geoff and I realized we had this amazing outing and hadn't gotten out our wallets once.    Thank you Tillamook Anglers!

Adventure #5: the dreaded Restaurant

Dining out with Noah is like taking a monkey to a restaurant.  He won't sit, he's trying to either run through the restaurant or climb on the table, he throws food, he decides squawking is really funny.  We haven't taken him to a restaurant in about a year.

Dining out isn't about eating a meal usually, its about having a fun, relaxing experience.  With Noah, its about one of us bolting down our food while the other walks around the block with him.  Totally not worth the $40-50 a typical restaurant bill runs!

Our goals for Noah (not just my little blog!) is to help him learn to be out in the wider world.  Sometimes you have to dine out.  For example, if we are traveling there is no choice but to eat out.  He will also be eating in a school cafeteria at some point and doesn't need to be scrambling up on the table.  Well, we decided to brave dining out with him again!

We did our best with the factors we could control:  went to a quick service restaurant and ate at a non-busy time.  Rachel's Classic Burgers   http://bit.ly/oskkbD  is a new burger place by our house that styles their burgers after In N' Out, every California transplants dream burger.

After placing our order, things were not looking good.  I tried placing Noah in the high chair, but he is 5 years old and super tall, so he just wanted out.  I tried distracting him with games of peek-a-boo and a granola bar, but he kept signing he wanted out.  Not a good start.  We get him out and try the chair.  He scrambles out and runs through the restaurant.  I have no idea where he was planning on going, I don't think he had thought it that far through.

We were back to our old Geoff walking him around and me wolfing down my burger so I can switch places with him.  After inhaling my burger I look out the window to tell Geoff I can switch spots with him.  But I see that Geoff is experiencing a moment of brilliance:  he is putting Noah in his push chair.

They stroll back into the restaurant and Noah is calmly sitting in his chair.  No frantic struggling to get down, no disruptively loud chirps, just sitting.  He even eats a little from his special seat.  The rest of our meal is peaceful and Noah sits in the comfort of his chair.

I wouldn't call this a home run, but we were able to problem solve to save the situation.  It is going to take many more outings to hopefully get him to understand the routine.  I left the restaurant thinking we could go back again as a family.