Idlewild Summer 2008

I'd like to think that I could make a trip to Idlewild Park in Ligonier, PA annually with the boys, but man it's hard to coordinate. We did manage to pull it off this year. Cheri came up from Charlotte, Angie came from Reading, we came from Martinsburg, Aunt Dar, Aunt Mar and Uncle Ronnie came from Pittsburgh, and mom came from Columbia. We all met up at the park and had a GREAT time. We started with a picnic lunch and then headed over to the kiddie rides. The little ones had a blast. The bigger boys headed to the bigger rides and met up with us later at Soak Zone. All in all, we spent nearly 8 hours at the park and by the time we left, the kids were spent! Super great time and so great to be with family.

Good Bye Charlie

Sadly, my father-in-law passed away last night around 8pm. He was surrounded by his family and after a long two week decline, finally left us. We miss him. I wanted to say thank you to so many who have supported us, watched our children, prayed for us, brought food, etc. The support of our friends and family has been very comforting.

VA Area Angelman Picnic

What a BEAUTIFUL day we had, and I'm not referring to the weather! Seriously, it was such a delight to be around other AS families and just share a great day. The park was perfect, right down to the adaptive swing in the playground. The weather was gorgeous. The pool water was just right and I think I speak for us all when I say we had a very nice time. Thank you to all who made the trip up. I think we'll try to have this picnic annually and hopefully get a good local chapter going and have other events as well. Here are some pictures of our day.

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A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Anyone who even remotely suggests that augmentative technology is too expensive has GOT to see these videos. We are trialing a few different voice output devices for Chance. Basically we're trying to find the right device that will give him a voice of his own. We have our first one and he's doing so well with it. I can't wait until we've trialed them all and we settle on the one we're going to get him so we can customize it for him more. Below are some great videos of him using his device. Also, Chance has been using ZacBrowser on my computer a lot lately. He absolutely loves his computer time and he's gotten quite good with the mouse. Thought I'd share a video of him playing on the computer. Him playing computer games and talking with a device are two things I never thought he would do. He has proven me wrong over and over again and it's just a nice reminder that I should never sell him short or assume he can't do something. The world is his to conquer! Enjoy!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Fourth of July

Since it rained on the fourth of July, the big fireworks in Martinsburg were postponed until the next day. That made for a long fun weekend of fireworks. We spent the actual forth just in our street with sparklers, little fireworks and some big ones blasting off over our house from the base of the mountain just down the way. Colin got a little scared, Cannon was FEARLESS and pretty much pyromaniac, and Chance just ran around like a chicken with his head cut off! ha ha ha... all in all... I was SOOOO ready for it to all be over, but it was fun while it lasted.

The Dog Days of Summer

This has been a LONG summer already. We are so ready for the routine of the school year! I think we're running out of creative things to entertain the kids for little or no money!
So far we have had a camp out in the living room, played Rock Star, pretended to be body builders, and tortured the kids with steamed crabs. I guess our work here is done! Is it time for school yet?

Father's Day at the Animal Show

Our local little mall does some nice things for kids from time to time. I guess that's to make up for the fact that shopping there is a joke. In any case, Father's Day weekend this year they had a big ol red and white circus tent up and hosted a free animal farm complete with tigers, camels, snakes, monkeys and more. Cannon thought the whole thing was "stinky" but I think he still enjoyed it. Chance was a bit tired and clingy but he started to loosen up and enjoy it. Colin was in awe! It was a nice day.