Surfer's Healing for Ethan

Thanks to Dennis' quick typing and form-submitting skills, we were able to secure a spot for Ethan at a Surfer's Healing surf camp. It's a coveted spot - camp was filled up in 2 minutes. 

Surfer's Healing brings some of the world's best surfers who work tirelessly to get each and every kid with special needs out and over the waves, hang out in the ocean for a while and then bring them in - surfing!

We suspected that Monday might be a lighter attendance day, and we don't mind taking Ethan out of school so that's the day we picked. It was predicted to be 81 degrees and sunny - and delivered.

When we arrived, many kids were already out in the water and we found friends of ours who had already surfed. The beach was essentially empty, barring the surf camp and the waves were nice enough.

For a kid who usually wades as far as the tops of his feet, it is hard to picture him getting out there. But, there is something to be said for the energy these surfers exude. There is not alot of talking and it is really hard to put your finger on what you are seeing. I will tell you, it is amazing.

I did not get great pictures and I am hoping that the professionals who were on the beach will soon post theirs' and I can get permission to use them. Dennis also needs to view and edit and video footage he was able to get and hopefully we can post that soon.

It's just surfing, right? Not on this day. Ethan knew he did something fantastic, he was shaking and happy and proud. I'm a sap - I cried. Happy tears because he got do something so out of his typical skill set and seemed to make him feel so good. I also liked that his brothers got to see Ethan do something so cool.

We stayed at the beach late into the afternoon (of course!) and had a great time. I treasure magical moments like this one, and I thank Surfer's Healing for giving it to us.

Professional pictures of this can be found in this post. 

Check out The Swell Life on the Oprah Network. It's a show about Surfer's Healing and the Paskowitz Family.

Time for Hockey

It's that time again! From ages 4 to 18, both boys and girls, will enjoy the upcoming hockey season at GBHC.

If your interested, come on down and visit on a Saturday afternoon - especially if your kids are looking for a new sport to play! One practice and one game a week, great coaching and 'reasonable' parents. If you are involved in sports, you will probably know what that reference means. It's just a nice place to be.

Space Farms Zoo & Museum

A recent trip took us to Space Farms Zoo & Museum. It is located in Sussex, NJ. What Space Farms truly is a "collection of collections" acquired by Ralph Space, including the 'collection' of animals. The items housed at the Space Family's property range from teapots, to arrowheads, hearses to indian artifacts, clocks, anitque cars, rifles, antique toys, antique farm equipment and endless other items. Many are marked as the largest or only collection of that type in the country or world.

If you want to see  something old, chances are that Ralph Space owned it! The boys were most interested in looking at the stuff, I was most intrigued by the fact that man would feel compelled to own, catalogue and display all this stuff. I came across this article, and now I definately need to know more. I should have picked up the two books Dennis offered me in the gift shop :(

There is a play park in the middle of the zoo that suited us nicely. It was old (you know, metal and nice and dangerous) climbing equipment and swings. There is a picnic area and coolers are welcomed. We didn't need to bring ours in since we ate our sandwiches on the way up. Dessert was a 'Summer Smash Pie' with 6 forks purchased at a roadside stand.

We knew we were in good company when spotted this sign.

The collection of animals housed here is listed here. One animals I had never seen before, but heard of recently due to making a natural comeback in New Jersey, was a Fisher.

This is Fred Space, Ralph Space's son. He was very pleasant to talk to. He told us that his son and grandkids are all involved in running the farm & museum.

I love day trips, all of us spending the day doing something together and funky & interesting New Jersey sites with history. Thank you, Space Farms for a great day. Get out and see it for yourself.

Instead of Going to School

We cook. Play games. Read. Clean. Hike. Swim. Watch movies. Do laundry. Measure. Weigh. Add. Subtract. Read. Skateboard. Look through telescopes, microscopes & bioscopes. Visit museums, aquariums, zoos, nature centers, planetariums, botanical gardens, & art exhibits. Eat. Color. Bake. Sweep. Paint. Feed pets. Ride bikes. Write. Cut & Paste. Geocache. Run. Swing. Jump. Vacuum. Read. Build. Game.  Drum & Strum. Balance. Shop. Stack. Match. Cuddle. Read. Fight. Drive. Wade. Mix. Visit. Plant. Play. Pretend. Invent. Experiment. Fold. Nap. Observe. Count. Discuss. Debate. Argue. Juggle. Splash. Clean. Skate. Hike. Dig. Fish. Blog. Float. Investigate. Calculate. Meditate. Pray. Multiply. Divide. Walk. Talk.

It was a random Thursday morning when I asked Ethan what he wanted to do. His answer was, "ok, yes, let's go to the beach!" I have probably asked him 5 times in the last 2 weeks if he'd like to go - always getting a firm 'no!'. Here was my yes. (yes, that's how it works in Ethan-world)

I got an affirmative from the other boys so I told them to get bathing suits and towels and I grabbed water bottles. Typically going to the beach means a huge cooler and tons of paraphenalia - but not this time - it was almost 11 a.m. - it was do or die. So we did.

When we made it to the beach, we found it drastically altered by Hurricane Irene. Everyone was bunched up against the dunes, the waves were coming in much higher up the beach than usual and there were huge, warm, critter-infested tidal pools where the waves came crashing far up the shore. The tidal pools were exactly where we usually sit.

It was sunny and breezy with no humidity - the trifecta! Ethan settled in to playing with things he had brought and I did something you might find shocking - I sat down - in a beach chair! One of the moms there said the tidal pools were a 'supervising mom's dream'. She was right.

They spent hours bringing me live, dead and every fishy-smelling souvenir they could find. Mikey played with two dead crabs like they were World Wrestling Federation opponents.

Then, the easiest-travelling baby on earth took a two hour nap! I sat in that beach chair like there was no tomorrow and hoping that if there was a tomorrow - it would be just like today :)

I'm awarding Thursday the 'Best Beach Day of the Year' award. Some days I feel like a scullery maid in a house of 4 (isn't that 5) boys, and some days - I feel like Queen of the World (or beach as it may be.)