Friday, November 07, 2008
Back to school
The kids started back to school today, and I'm really excited about it. It's a year round school, so every Thursday they have a half day and get out at 12:15. We couldn't have picked a better day for them to start, they only have to make it through a few hours, have a full day tomorrow and then the weekend. I'll write more later when they come home and tell us about it, but I have a good feeling so far.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Hello San Diego
So the flights on the way here were hell, but we made it in one piece and are ready to end our first day in San Diego. Can't say we did anything exciting today, basically just dragged ourselves through the day until we could go to sleep. Hopefully the kids will nod off soon and I'll be able to sleep, oh the joys of sharing a hotel room. I actually can't believe I'm still functional, Sunday morning I woke up at 1am and couldn't go back to sleep, and somehow no matter how hard I tried I only slept about 1 1/2 hours the whole trip here. Needless to say I'm a little out of it right now. Tomorrow is house hunting, we looked at the school districts and would like to find a place in Poway, it seems to be the most affordable community with good schools.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Wow, that was quick...
It seemed like we had all this time before we had to leave Guam, and now it's less than 12 hours, where did the time go? This week has been a real roller coaster. We checked into the hotel Wednesday, and that made it real that we were close to leaving. It's totally bittersweet, we've really enjoyed our time here and met so many caring and loving people, but it's also been a very long time since we've seen our family. Friday was Dave's Commissioning ceremony, which all went terrifically. It was great to see both our church family and our military family in the audience, and fellowshipping during the reception. It was both exciting and sad, we're starting a new chapter in our lives, and as always there's that part that's scared and wants to hang on tight to things it's used to. Of course throughout the reception there were all kinds of conversations that choked me up and made me cry. Then last night we went to the Southard's for dinner and trick or treating. It was great to spend a last evening with friends, but sad as it came to an end, the nice part is that they'll be in San Diego in a few months, so we'll see eachother again soon. We ran into the Gills while out and of course saying goodbye again made me cry again, but Kerrie will be at the airport in the morning, so there will be more tears. A lot of our church family said that they will also be at the airport tomorrow, so it really should be quite the tearfest. There are so many people who have made our time on Guam so great, our military friends Fischer's, Gill's, Southard's, Sweeney's thank you all for your friendship and until we meet again. Thank you to our entire church family at Agana Heights Baptist Church, thank you for loving us and making us feel so at home and allowing us to serve the Lord beside you, until we are together in heaven.
To our families, I know San Diego is still far from home, but at least we'll be on the same side of the world, same continent, and able to talk on the phone at "normal" times.
To our families, I know San Diego is still far from home, but at least we'll be on the same side of the world, same continent, and able to talk on the phone at "normal" times.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Score!
Ok, I have a confession to make, I'm a total bargain shopper. I haven't met a clearance rack I didn't like. I love thinking about how much I save buying things compared to what I could've paid. In the 3 years we've been here, I've been able to find gorgeous dresses for Sub Ball and Khaki Ball at Ross for very low prices. The purple one I wore in 2007 was $8.99, how can you beat that? Now don't get me wrong, if I find something I really love I will pay full price, but bargain shopping is kind of a sport to me almost. Anyway, I found a brown dress for Khaki Ball next weekend for $20 and a dress for Dave's Commissioning ceremony for $15. I actually paid more for my shoes than I did for my dress.
Not much else going on today. I did manage to get the grocery shopping done in 45 minute which is much quicker than if I had all the kids with me, so that was nice. It was also very peaceful lol! It actually stopped raining for a couple hours while I was out running errands, I'd almost forgotten what the sun looked like. It feels like all it's done lately is rain, I'm not talking about a light rain, I'm talking raining cats and dogs all day for days.
One of my favorite shows comes on tonight, House. Dave and I have decided that he's probably based on a real doctor somewhere. He may not have the best bedside manner, but if I was seriously ill, he's the doctor I'd want.
Not much else going on today. I did manage to get the grocery shopping done in 45 minute which is much quicker than if I had all the kids with me, so that was nice. It was also very peaceful lol! It actually stopped raining for a couple hours while I was out running errands, I'd almost forgotten what the sun looked like. It feels like all it's done lately is rain, I'm not talking about a light rain, I'm talking raining cats and dogs all day for days.
One of my favorite shows comes on tonight, House. Dave and I have decided that he's probably based on a real doctor somewhere. He may not have the best bedside manner, but if I was seriously ill, he's the doctor I'd want.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Is it really almost October?
Hello, where has the time gone? I can't believe the kids have been back to school for almost a month already. I've been telling myself that whole time that I would update my blog, obviously that hasn't happened, lol! Things have been pretty nutty around here lately. Dave was called away, literally with only 5 hours notice, to go to Hawaii for three weeks in August. Of course that fell right when we were getting the house ready for our pack out, needless to say, things were insane. The good thing, he was able to make it home in time for the kids to start school. They came and packed all of our stuff September 2-4th and we've been living with loaner furniture since then. Honestly the stuff we have now is 100 times better than what we had when we first got on island, but it still isn't the same as having your own stuff. I had to laugh when we went to open house for the kids school last week, and we read something that Caitlynn wrote about the lumpy, bumpy loaner furniture she had in her room.
I can't believe we only have a little over a month left before we move and everything changes. I know it's still the Navy Dave will work for, but being an Officers wife will definitely be a bit different. I feel like this year has centered around new things. Just to name a few: Elijah's diagnosis, Dave being chosen LDO, Caitlynn hitting double digits, we'll be moving to the west coast, someplace I've never even been close to, I've learned how to advocate for my autistic son, my gifted daughter, and my "average" daughter. Who knew all kids need to be advocated for? I have to say the school will be so happy when I leave lol. It started when we first arrived and they tried to tell us they just didn't see Caitlynn as gifted, even though her school in the states, which was very much ahead of this school, tested her and had her in the gifted program. Long story short, it took 6 months, but she was evaluated and placed in the gifted program and has now started her third year in the program. That was about the same time we started noticing problems with Elijah. Just a week into kindergarten he was no suspended but asked not to attend school the following day because he hit someone in his class. I begged for help, tried to tell them that even though his speech no longer required therapy there was still something wrong, but nobody else saw it. I think the hardest part was because of his job Dave wasn't around enough to really see it either. It all started this awful cycle, we'd have an incident at home and Dave would agree something was wrong, then things would smooth out for a while and he'd start questioning if we were wrong. I'm sure if I wasn't the one with him all the time I would have questioned it too. And in school, the kids figured out that they could make Elijah upset and he wouldn't tell on them, he'd just keep taking it until he finally lashed out and hurt someone. This cycle continued through his entire kindergarten and first grade years. I spent those years begging and pleading for evaluations. I started with his doctor, who referred us to the peds clinic at the hospital. What a joke, the Dr. who saw us came in, talked to him for about 10 minutes, told me all her surveys etc, you know that great paperwork that asks everything about every milestone your child ever hit and every behavior he's ever exhibited? Well she told me all that official paperwork was on her home computer and there was nothing she could do to help us, we needed to talk to the school. So I went back to the school with all this and finally got them to do an evaluation, which consisted of them sending the counselor into his classroom a couple times, then we had this big meeting at the end of the year where they all basically told us there was absolutely nothing wrong, it was all in my head, and I just wanted something to be wrong with him. OK, WHO wants something to be wrong with their child? Certainly not me! Honestly if we hadn't had the big safety issue I may have given up and stopped the fight. Actually when 1st grade ended I had decided that I was done fighting the school and Drs. here and I was going to start all over when we moved back to the states. And here enters our angel, 2nd grade started off much the same as any other grade, his class work wasn't getting done, he wasn't paying attention, and he still had no friends, it broke my heart, but I really thought there wasn't anything I could do to help him. At our first quarter conference with his teacher, I think she was nervous about how we'd take it, but she told us she felt there was a problem and some testing should be done. This was the first teacher in all this time to stand up and say YES there is a problem. Poor Ms. Borja, Dave and I just looked at each other for a second before telling here our entire story from the beginning. And that's when we got on the right track again. I made an appointment with our new primary doctor and told her everything, while I sat in her office, ahe called the school and basically said what the heck?????? She then called the peds dr. and started asking questions. What absolutely blew my mind, she read me a bit straight from his medical file that the peds dr. wrote, and it basically said something to the effect he displayed autistic like symptoms and needed a referral to a psychologist, this was all news to me! The next step was to get on the waiting list for the child psychologist that came in from Japan every 6 months or so. That appt. was another joke, he told us he was ADHD and we medicated him, he took one med in the morning to help him focus and then another at night to help him sleep, long story short there were no improvements and he became aggressive and weepy all wrapped up together. I absolutely didn't want to medicate him, but I new if we didn't try their diagnosis they wouldn't work with us, so we tried it for about 1 1/2 months and that was it, it didn't help and I refused to give it to him anymore. So we went back to our primary doctor and told her what had gone on since we'd last seen her, and I was honest, I told her I'd lost faith in the Navy Drs. here, I wanted a referral for a doctor out in town and she gave me one with no problems, it helps that she saw how long we'd been trying to get through this with no help from anyone. That's when we went to see Dr. Taimanglo, after over 2 years of fighting with the school and Drs. here was someone who believed me finally. It took us so long to get to this point, and in just 4 months she was able to administer extensive tests and give us a diagnosis. I try not to be bitter about it all, but it's really so hard, I just think of all the time lost that he could been getting support in school. Then inevitably I think back to when he was a baby, what if I'd listened to the doctor when he was 15 months old and not responding to sound or talking at all? He wanted me to wait until Elijah was 3 before we did any kind of testing, would he be as well off as he is today if I waited? I seriously doubt it!
OK, how this went from a post about time flying to a post about autism I'm not sure. I've really just had autism on the brain lately, it seems everywhere I look I'm meeting another kids with autism. The medical community can tell us there's no epidemic and that it's just that they're better at diagnosing, but I don't believe it. Labeled or not, I never knew anyone with these behaviors in all my life. In the 3 years we've been here including Elijah I've known personally 5 kids with autism, and it seems like everyone I meet has a tie to autism somewhere in their family, sounds like an epidemic to me.
Anyway, back to you previously scheduled update.....I can't believe we leave November 2nd. It's bitter sweet, I've really loved our time on the island and met some incredible people, but it's really time to be back closer to family(and Old Navy hehe). I'm nervous about San Diego, the only places in the us I've been besides the east coast was Chicago, and that was for boot-camp, needless to say I didn't do much sightseeing. We'll still be far from family, but at least on the he same continent, and airfare home will be much cheaper. The only family I've seen since we got here in 2005 is my mom when she came out for 2 weeks in 2006, so it's time to go home. The nice thing about being our here though? I've been a lot less involved in all the family drama, which has made it all a little less stressful for me.
I thought I was going to have all this time for my photography after all of our stuff was packed up, but I didn't think about us being a 1 car family again, needless to say, I haven't done anything with it lately. I do need to work on my portraits though, I want to try to get hired in a studio as an assistant when we get to CA, and then when we move on to New Hampshire I'd like to branch out on my own and try to start up my own business.
Ok, it's 9pm and I feel a headache coming on, so I'm going to be done for tonight.
I can't believe we only have a little over a month left before we move and everything changes. I know it's still the Navy Dave will work for, but being an Officers wife will definitely be a bit different. I feel like this year has centered around new things. Just to name a few: Elijah's diagnosis, Dave being chosen LDO, Caitlynn hitting double digits, we'll be moving to the west coast, someplace I've never even been close to, I've learned how to advocate for my autistic son, my gifted daughter, and my "average" daughter. Who knew all kids need to be advocated for? I have to say the school will be so happy when I leave lol. It started when we first arrived and they tried to tell us they just didn't see Caitlynn as gifted, even though her school in the states, which was very much ahead of this school, tested her and had her in the gifted program. Long story short, it took 6 months, but she was evaluated and placed in the gifted program and has now started her third year in the program. That was about the same time we started noticing problems with Elijah. Just a week into kindergarten he was no suspended but asked not to attend school the following day because he hit someone in his class. I begged for help, tried to tell them that even though his speech no longer required therapy there was still something wrong, but nobody else saw it. I think the hardest part was because of his job Dave wasn't around enough to really see it either. It all started this awful cycle, we'd have an incident at home and Dave would agree something was wrong, then things would smooth out for a while and he'd start questioning if we were wrong. I'm sure if I wasn't the one with him all the time I would have questioned it too. And in school, the kids figured out that they could make Elijah upset and he wouldn't tell on them, he'd just keep taking it until he finally lashed out and hurt someone. This cycle continued through his entire kindergarten and first grade years. I spent those years begging and pleading for evaluations. I started with his doctor, who referred us to the peds clinic at the hospital. What a joke, the Dr. who saw us came in, talked to him for about 10 minutes, told me all her surveys etc, you know that great paperwork that asks everything about every milestone your child ever hit and every behavior he's ever exhibited? Well she told me all that official paperwork was on her home computer and there was nothing she could do to help us, we needed to talk to the school. So I went back to the school with all this and finally got them to do an evaluation, which consisted of them sending the counselor into his classroom a couple times, then we had this big meeting at the end of the year where they all basically told us there was absolutely nothing wrong, it was all in my head, and I just wanted something to be wrong with him. OK, WHO wants something to be wrong with their child? Certainly not me! Honestly if we hadn't had the big safety issue I may have given up and stopped the fight. Actually when 1st grade ended I had decided that I was done fighting the school and Drs. here and I was going to start all over when we moved back to the states. And here enters our angel, 2nd grade started off much the same as any other grade, his class work wasn't getting done, he wasn't paying attention, and he still had no friends, it broke my heart, but I really thought there wasn't anything I could do to help him. At our first quarter conference with his teacher, I think she was nervous about how we'd take it, but she told us she felt there was a problem and some testing should be done. This was the first teacher in all this time to stand up and say YES there is a problem. Poor Ms. Borja, Dave and I just looked at each other for a second before telling here our entire story from the beginning. And that's when we got on the right track again. I made an appointment with our new primary doctor and told her everything, while I sat in her office, ahe called the school and basically said what the heck?????? She then called the peds dr. and started asking questions. What absolutely blew my mind, she read me a bit straight from his medical file that the peds dr. wrote, and it basically said something to the effect he displayed autistic like symptoms and needed a referral to a psychologist, this was all news to me! The next step was to get on the waiting list for the child psychologist that came in from Japan every 6 months or so. That appt. was another joke, he told us he was ADHD and we medicated him, he took one med in the morning to help him focus and then another at night to help him sleep, long story short there were no improvements and he became aggressive and weepy all wrapped up together. I absolutely didn't want to medicate him, but I new if we didn't try their diagnosis they wouldn't work with us, so we tried it for about 1 1/2 months and that was it, it didn't help and I refused to give it to him anymore. So we went back to our primary doctor and told her what had gone on since we'd last seen her, and I was honest, I told her I'd lost faith in the Navy Drs. here, I wanted a referral for a doctor out in town and she gave me one with no problems, it helps that she saw how long we'd been trying to get through this with no help from anyone. That's when we went to see Dr. Taimanglo, after over 2 years of fighting with the school and Drs. here was someone who believed me finally. It took us so long to get to this point, and in just 4 months she was able to administer extensive tests and give us a diagnosis. I try not to be bitter about it all, but it's really so hard, I just think of all the time lost that he could been getting support in school. Then inevitably I think back to when he was a baby, what if I'd listened to the doctor when he was 15 months old and not responding to sound or talking at all? He wanted me to wait until Elijah was 3 before we did any kind of testing, would he be as well off as he is today if I waited? I seriously doubt it!
OK, how this went from a post about time flying to a post about autism I'm not sure. I've really just had autism on the brain lately, it seems everywhere I look I'm meeting another kids with autism. The medical community can tell us there's no epidemic and that it's just that they're better at diagnosing, but I don't believe it. Labeled or not, I never knew anyone with these behaviors in all my life. In the 3 years we've been here including Elijah I've known personally 5 kids with autism, and it seems like everyone I meet has a tie to autism somewhere in their family, sounds like an epidemic to me.
Anyway, back to you previously scheduled update.....I can't believe we leave November 2nd. It's bitter sweet, I've really loved our time on the island and met some incredible people, but it's really time to be back closer to family(and Old Navy hehe). I'm nervous about San Diego, the only places in the us I've been besides the east coast was Chicago, and that was for boot-camp, needless to say I didn't do much sightseeing. We'll still be far from family, but at least on the he same continent, and airfare home will be much cheaper. The only family I've seen since we got here in 2005 is my mom when she came out for 2 weeks in 2006, so it's time to go home. The nice thing about being our here though? I've been a lot less involved in all the family drama, which has made it all a little less stressful for me.
I thought I was going to have all this time for my photography after all of our stuff was packed up, but I didn't think about us being a 1 car family again, needless to say, I haven't done anything with it lately. I do need to work on my portraits though, I want to try to get hired in a studio as an assistant when we get to CA, and then when we move on to New Hampshire I'd like to branch out on my own and try to start up my own business.
Ok, it's 9pm and I feel a headache coming on, so I'm going to be done for tonight.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Elijah
I really like this one of him, it's really nothing special, but I think it captures his thoughtfulness.
Monday, July 21, 2008
IMG_7259.jpg
When Elijah chose this Stitch hat I wasn't even thinking of how cute it would be with his Stitch jacket.
IMG_7262.jpg
This is the girls on the monorail. You can't see it in the photo but the windows were shaped like Mickey Heads.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Tokyo Disney rocks again!
After our trip in 2006 I really wasn't sure we could top it, but we definitely did. Wow, what a difference a couple of years can make in the kids stamina! The last time we went the kids were 6 and 8, and we really needed to leave the arks in the middle of the day to decompress in the hotel before going back. Not this time, our last day we left the room at 9am and didn't get back until 9pm.
Tokyo Disney consists of two parks, Disneyland and Disney Sea. Disney Sea has the better rides if you ask me. The nice thing about Tokyo Disney is because of the generally smaller stature of Asians the height limits are much lower than in the US. My favorite ride by far was Journey to the Center of the Earth, which the kids were too short for the last time we went. This time Elijah just made the cut off, but he couldn't slouch at all or he wasn't tall enough. The second day we were there Elijah had a melt down and wanted to go home to Guam. Turns out, when we told him the day before that we were going to ride Journey, it gave him nightmares that night. None of us had ever been on the ride and had no idea what to expect, all we knew was that the outside of the ride looked like a volcano. So we told Elijah we didn't have to ride it, and he was fine from then on, except when he got scared of Tower of Terror, but I'll write about that later. The second day we went to Disney Sea there was almost no one there and Journey had a 5min wait, so we told Elijah we were going to ride it once and he never had to ride it again if he didn't want to. So we get on the ride, and of course he'll only ride it if he can sit with me, and things are going ok, so far the ride is slow and actually kind of lame, then there starts to be these really off creatures, still no problem. The next thing we see is this huge monster, definitely worthy of a few nightmares if your and anxious kid, but still no freak out yet, then everything goes dark and the ride takes off up out of the volcano and back down in. We get to the end and I'm waiting for Elijah to tell us off for making him ride it, but he surprised me saying he liked it. He told us he put his fear in his pocket so he could get over it, and then we all made a show of him throwing his fear down and all of us stomping on it. So great, we think we can ride it again no problem right, not quite. Elijah forgot to inform us that while he liked the ride he only liked to ride it once a day. The funniest thing, he was enamored with the volcano itself and was constantly stopping to watch it, especially when the flames came out. Ok we counted this as a victory and moved on. Then there was the Tower of Terror, which all the kids got on the first time no problem, when we were done they all said they liked it, so we were surprised when Elijah freaked about going on it again. Unlike the one in Orlando, this one centers around a Shariki Statue that causes Mr. Hightower's elevator to crash at the bottom. The ride itself didn't bother him, but the Tiki really didn't settle well, and again he had nightmares about it. So after riding it twice during the trip we decided it wasn't worth the emotional scarring to ride it again, you know, gotta cap those psychiatrist bills early on. Of course there were also rides that didn't cause any anxiety attacks, the kids an I liked 20,000 Leagues under the sea, which was basically a simulation submarine. Of course Dave didn't like it near as much as we did, something about trying to leave work at work. One loved by all was the Indiana Jones ride, which had the same height requirement as Journey, but Elijah was much more inclined to stand tall for this one. For this one you rode in a Jeep and Elijah and I both lucked out and got to take turns at the steering wheel pretending to drive. Of course everything was in Japanese, but you still got the gist of things. The last time we rode as we came out we passed right by Indiana Jones, thank goodness for Dave, because I totally didn't see him there and would've just kept going. It's much harder to convince the kids that the park characters are the movie ones with real life characters. Of course the kids being 8 and 10 might have something to do with that also. The nice thing this time was that all the kids were over 7, so Caitlynn didn't always have to be the one to ride alone. It also meant the three of tem could ride the rides without us. Of course they were way too young for us to just let them go, but there were a lot of rides with short or no waits that we let them go on alone. Even when riding without us Elijah had to ride with someone, namely Caitlynn, he refused to go. On the very last day, right before we left the park he rode the Flounder coaster all by himself. Hannah was nice enough to provide him with a great thing to tell us when they got off, he comes running off and tells us "I rode the roller coaster all by myself, top that!" The kids rode all of the rides in Triton's Kingdom alone and also Aquatopia. It was actually quite funny, we all rode Aquatopia and there was absolutely no line, then the kids rode themselves 4 more time while we waited for Storm Rider to open. Elijah just told me his favorite ride at that park was Journey. Hannah's was Indiana Jones, and Caitlynn's was Tower of Terror. Dave's favorite was the Gondolas, which we were really lucky when we rode that one, because we got the last ride which was at sunset. I'm having a hard time coming up with a favorite, I really liked the Train, because I like reading all the signs along the way, which were all centered around NYC. There was a fountain in the park which my NY friends can appreciate, the plaque on the fountain said Naturally Pure Hudson River Water. Where was that sign when we were kids told not to swim or fish in the Hudson? I never understood it, but while Disneyland stayed extremely busy all day everyday, Disney Sea pretty much cleared out at around 4pm. If you waited until then you could pretty much ride anything you wanted with no wait, which is why on our last day we were able to ride Journey 3 times in a row in about 1/2 hour. We never got to see the fireworks at Disney Sea because they were cancelled due to wind conditions , but we were able to watch the BraviSEAmo! in a shortened state which was very cool. It was a show on the water depicting a love story between a fire breathing dragon and a ship/fountain.
Disneyland was the larger of the two parks, and ALWAYS the most crowded. Supposedly, it's modeled after Disney Land California, but since I've never been there, I have no idea. One of the good things about moving to San Diego will be finally getting to go there. Anyway, it had a lot of the old favorites: Small World, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Snow White, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Tea Cups just to name a few. Most of the rides are the same as in the states, again with lowered height requirements. The only ones I can think of that were new to us were the Roger Rabbit, and Gadget Go Coaster rides in Toontown. The kids were bummed that Space Mountain was closed for renovations, because they all really loved it last time we were there. There were two new attractions in the works one a stitch show and a Monsters Inc. show or ride, I'm not really sure. We didn't spend as much time at Disneyland, it just didn't make sense to fight the crowds there when we could go to the other park and not have to deal with crowds. One of the rides we rode was the Star Jets, you know the ones that are kind of like Dumbo but way high in the air. Everyone loved that one except Caitlynn, her and I rode together and she refused to bring the jet up as high as it could go. Caitlynn and Hannah's favorite at Disneyland was Thunder Mountain. Elijah's was Buzz Lightyear, even though Daddy always outscores all of us. Dave was also a Thunder Mountain man. My favorite was Snow White, because it brought back lots of memories. I went to Disney World for the first time the summer I turned 5, and my Great grandmother rode Snow White with me, she probably doesn't have such nice memories of it since it scared the crap out of her. I also like Thunder Mountain because I remember when I rode it with my Grandpa, not sure how old I was, somewhere between 10 and 12 I think, he told me he'd never ride another ride with me, he didn't care for the coaster. I seem to have that effect one people, the first roller coaster I ever rode was at Bush Gardens, my Aunt Meg rode it with me, we didn't know it had a 360, I was in all my glory and couldn't wait to ride again, unfortunately Aunt Meg was green and leery of riding anything else with me ever. We were able to watch the fireworks at Disneyland, we almost didn't stay to watch them because we were all tired and figured we'd stay another night, we changed our mind which was good or we wouldn't have seen any because of wind cancellations. I almost forgot to mention that this year is the 25th Anniversary of Tokyo Disney, so there were all kinds of special things going on. I got these adorable Minnie and Mickey dressed in Yukatas, a casual summer kimono, holding fans that say 25th Anniversary. Because the Tanabata Star Festival started while we were there, the kids got to hand wishes with all the Japanese. (In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊 tanzaku?), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations.) As we entered the park the kids were given mickey shaped pieces of paper to write their wishes on and then hand them with the bamboo. The colors of the papers changed each day, the first day, the day we wrote wishes was pink, then there was blue and green, by our last day there was just tons of Mickey shaped wishes hanging.
Our first two days we stayed at the Miracosta Hotel in Disney Sea. It was really neat because to enter the park you went down to the bottom floor and entered through a special door just for hotel guests. Our room had a view of the Gondolas and Tower of Terror. The last two days we stayed at the Sheraton Grande in a corner room. On one side we had a view of the ocean, which was very gray while we were there, nothing like the beautiful blue water here in Guam. On the other side we could see both parks, it would've been a really cool view to see the fireworks over both parks simultaneously, but it never happened. The weather was kind of crazy while we were there, you really never knew what to expect. In the morning and evenings it was cold and we all wore jackets, but the day could go either way. If the clouds cleared it could be really hot, if not it never really warmed up.
We really had a great four days, but it's kind of sad. This was our last trip while here in Guam. We really can't complaint though, in 3 years we've gone to Tokyo twice, Hong Kong, Australia and to Saipan twice. We've really made the most of our time here as far as travel.
Tokyo Disney consists of two parks, Disneyland and Disney Sea. Disney Sea has the better rides if you ask me. The nice thing about Tokyo Disney is because of the generally smaller stature of Asians the height limits are much lower than in the US. My favorite ride by far was Journey to the Center of the Earth, which the kids were too short for the last time we went. This time Elijah just made the cut off, but he couldn't slouch at all or he wasn't tall enough. The second day we were there Elijah had a melt down and wanted to go home to Guam. Turns out, when we told him the day before that we were going to ride Journey, it gave him nightmares that night. None of us had ever been on the ride and had no idea what to expect, all we knew was that the outside of the ride looked like a volcano. So we told Elijah we didn't have to ride it, and he was fine from then on, except when he got scared of Tower of Terror, but I'll write about that later. The second day we went to Disney Sea there was almost no one there and Journey had a 5min wait, so we told Elijah we were going to ride it once and he never had to ride it again if he didn't want to. So we get on the ride, and of course he'll only ride it if he can sit with me, and things are going ok, so far the ride is slow and actually kind of lame, then there starts to be these really off creatures, still no problem. The next thing we see is this huge monster, definitely worthy of a few nightmares if your and anxious kid, but still no freak out yet, then everything goes dark and the ride takes off up out of the volcano and back down in. We get to the end and I'm waiting for Elijah to tell us off for making him ride it, but he surprised me saying he liked it. He told us he put his fear in his pocket so he could get over it, and then we all made a show of him throwing his fear down and all of us stomping on it. So great, we think we can ride it again no problem right, not quite. Elijah forgot to inform us that while he liked the ride he only liked to ride it once a day. The funniest thing, he was enamored with the volcano itself and was constantly stopping to watch it, especially when the flames came out. Ok we counted this as a victory and moved on. Then there was the Tower of Terror, which all the kids got on the first time no problem, when we were done they all said they liked it, so we were surprised when Elijah freaked about going on it again. Unlike the one in Orlando, this one centers around a Shariki Statue that causes Mr. Hightower's elevator to crash at the bottom. The ride itself didn't bother him, but the Tiki really didn't settle well, and again he had nightmares about it. So after riding it twice during the trip we decided it wasn't worth the emotional scarring to ride it again, you know, gotta cap those psychiatrist bills early on. Of course there were also rides that didn't cause any anxiety attacks, the kids an I liked 20,000 Leagues under the sea, which was basically a simulation submarine. Of course Dave didn't like it near as much as we did, something about trying to leave work at work. One loved by all was the Indiana Jones ride, which had the same height requirement as Journey, but Elijah was much more inclined to stand tall for this one. For this one you rode in a Jeep and Elijah and I both lucked out and got to take turns at the steering wheel pretending to drive. Of course everything was in Japanese, but you still got the gist of things. The last time we rode as we came out we passed right by Indiana Jones, thank goodness for Dave, because I totally didn't see him there and would've just kept going. It's much harder to convince the kids that the park characters are the movie ones with real life characters. Of course the kids being 8 and 10 might have something to do with that also. The nice thing this time was that all the kids were over 7, so Caitlynn didn't always have to be the one to ride alone. It also meant the three of tem could ride the rides without us. Of course they were way too young for us to just let them go, but there were a lot of rides with short or no waits that we let them go on alone. Even when riding without us Elijah had to ride with someone, namely Caitlynn, he refused to go. On the very last day, right before we left the park he rode the Flounder coaster all by himself. Hannah was nice enough to provide him with a great thing to tell us when they got off, he comes running off and tells us "I rode the roller coaster all by myself, top that!" The kids rode all of the rides in Triton's Kingdom alone and also Aquatopia. It was actually quite funny, we all rode Aquatopia and there was absolutely no line, then the kids rode themselves 4 more time while we waited for Storm Rider to open. Elijah just told me his favorite ride at that park was Journey. Hannah's was Indiana Jones, and Caitlynn's was Tower of Terror. Dave's favorite was the Gondolas, which we were really lucky when we rode that one, because we got the last ride which was at sunset. I'm having a hard time coming up with a favorite, I really liked the Train, because I like reading all the signs along the way, which were all centered around NYC. There was a fountain in the park which my NY friends can appreciate, the plaque on the fountain said Naturally Pure Hudson River Water. Where was that sign when we were kids told not to swim or fish in the Hudson? I never understood it, but while Disneyland stayed extremely busy all day everyday, Disney Sea pretty much cleared out at around 4pm. If you waited until then you could pretty much ride anything you wanted with no wait, which is why on our last day we were able to ride Journey 3 times in a row in about 1/2 hour. We never got to see the fireworks at Disney Sea because they were cancelled due to wind conditions , but we were able to watch the BraviSEAmo! in a shortened state which was very cool. It was a show on the water depicting a love story between a fire breathing dragon and a ship/fountain.
Disneyland was the larger of the two parks, and ALWAYS the most crowded. Supposedly, it's modeled after Disney Land California, but since I've never been there, I have no idea. One of the good things about moving to San Diego will be finally getting to go there. Anyway, it had a lot of the old favorites: Small World, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Snow White, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Tea Cups just to name a few. Most of the rides are the same as in the states, again with lowered height requirements. The only ones I can think of that were new to us were the Roger Rabbit, and Gadget Go Coaster rides in Toontown. The kids were bummed that Space Mountain was closed for renovations, because they all really loved it last time we were there. There were two new attractions in the works one a stitch show and a Monsters Inc. show or ride, I'm not really sure. We didn't spend as much time at Disneyland, it just didn't make sense to fight the crowds there when we could go to the other park and not have to deal with crowds. One of the rides we rode was the Star Jets, you know the ones that are kind of like Dumbo but way high in the air. Everyone loved that one except Caitlynn, her and I rode together and she refused to bring the jet up as high as it could go. Caitlynn and Hannah's favorite at Disneyland was Thunder Mountain. Elijah's was Buzz Lightyear, even though Daddy always outscores all of us. Dave was also a Thunder Mountain man. My favorite was Snow White, because it brought back lots of memories. I went to Disney World for the first time the summer I turned 5, and my Great grandmother rode Snow White with me, she probably doesn't have such nice memories of it since it scared the crap out of her. I also like Thunder Mountain because I remember when I rode it with my Grandpa, not sure how old I was, somewhere between 10 and 12 I think, he told me he'd never ride another ride with me, he didn't care for the coaster. I seem to have that effect one people, the first roller coaster I ever rode was at Bush Gardens, my Aunt Meg rode it with me, we didn't know it had a 360, I was in all my glory and couldn't wait to ride again, unfortunately Aunt Meg was green and leery of riding anything else with me ever. We were able to watch the fireworks at Disneyland, we almost didn't stay to watch them because we were all tired and figured we'd stay another night, we changed our mind which was good or we wouldn't have seen any because of wind cancellations. I almost forgot to mention that this year is the 25th Anniversary of Tokyo Disney, so there were all kinds of special things going on. I got these adorable Minnie and Mickey dressed in Yukatas, a casual summer kimono, holding fans that say 25th Anniversary. Because the Tanabata Star Festival started while we were there, the kids got to hand wishes with all the Japanese. (In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊 tanzaku?), small pieces of paper, and hanging them on bamboo, sometimes with other decorations.) As we entered the park the kids were given mickey shaped pieces of paper to write their wishes on and then hand them with the bamboo. The colors of the papers changed each day, the first day, the day we wrote wishes was pink, then there was blue and green, by our last day there was just tons of Mickey shaped wishes hanging.
Our first two days we stayed at the Miracosta Hotel in Disney Sea. It was really neat because to enter the park you went down to the bottom floor and entered through a special door just for hotel guests. Our room had a view of the Gondolas and Tower of Terror. The last two days we stayed at the Sheraton Grande in a corner room. On one side we had a view of the ocean, which was very gray while we were there, nothing like the beautiful blue water here in Guam. On the other side we could see both parks, it would've been a really cool view to see the fireworks over both parks simultaneously, but it never happened. The weather was kind of crazy while we were there, you really never knew what to expect. In the morning and evenings it was cold and we all wore jackets, but the day could go either way. If the clouds cleared it could be really hot, if not it never really warmed up.
We really had a great four days, but it's kind of sad. This was our last trip while here in Guam. We really can't complaint though, in 3 years we've gone to Tokyo twice, Hong Kong, Australia and to Saipan twice. We've really made the most of our time here as far as travel.
Vacation Bible School
What a success! Our church had VBS June 23-27th and it went very well. There were 30 students who prayed the saviors prayer. Considering our average attendance was between 60 and 70 kids, that's an insane number. Most important to me of course is that Hannah was one of the 30. I know, it's hard to gauge a child's salvation at this age, but at least they're all heading in the right direction. Our theme this year was an amusement park, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. I helped out in the music area this year and really enjoyed seeing all the different grades during the day. I have to admit, some of the songs were kinda hokey, but the kids didn't complain. The week ended with a Friday evening performance of the songs the kids learned, they all did a fantastic job. It was funny watching the 5th and 6th graders during the week, they were constantly going back and forth between having fun and trying to be too old and too cool for singing the songs.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Interesting from the CDC
David Kirby "CDC: Vaccine Study Design "Uninformative and Potentially Misleading" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/cdc-vaccine-study-design_b_108398.html
For those of you who may not understand the significance of this development, Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, has just taken down the tent pole arguement in the "vaccines don't cause autism" claim, on her own, with her bare hands.
UPDATE:
Pamella Addresses the AAP and All Star Pediatrics about the Gerberding report and their continued disrespect for parents.
http://theeducatedparent.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-afternoon-i-sent-follwoing-letter.html
The American Academy or Pediatrics in an Awkward Position after CDC Takes Thimerosal Safety Studies Off the Table
For those of you who may not understand the significance of this development, Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, has just taken down the tent pole arguement in the "vaccines don't cause autism" claim, on her own, with her bare hands.
UPDATE:
Pamella Addresses the AAP and All Star Pediatrics about the Gerberding report and their continued disrespect for parents.
http://theeducatedparent.blogspot.com/2008/06/this-afternoon-i-sent-follwoing-letter.html
The American Academy or Pediatrics in an Awkward Position after CDC Takes Thimerosal Safety Studies Off the Table
Saturday, June 21, 2008
What a fantastic school program
Gaithersburg School Tailors Teaching To Help Students Cope With Disorder
Alex Barth, 10, has improved at school since entering Diamond Elementary's program for Asperger's students. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
Adrienne Miller works with Alex Barth, center, at Gaithersburg's Diamond Elementary School, one of only a few public schools with a program for students with Asperger Syndrome. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 16, 2008; Page B01
The first day of kindergarten found Alex Barth in the principal's office. The teacher had asked students to draw self-portraits. Alex had wanted to draw his in red crayon. There was no red crayon. Alex had melted down.
Alex was a capable child with superior intelligence -- and no end of eccentricities. He would flee noisy school assemblies. He couldn't bear the smell of the cafeteria. By the end of first grade, his mother was spending much of the day at Alex's side.
Robyne Barth soon learned her son had Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. Children with the disorder, known in shorthand as Asperger's, might have strong academic gifts but deficiencies in such social skills as carrying on a conversation and playing with others at recess.
On Thursday, Alex, 10, finished fourth grade at one of the nation's few public schools with a program tailored to children with Asperger's: Diamond Elementary School in Gaithersburg. He is popular and well-adjusted, and spends more and more of his school days in regular classes.
"I couldn't see my child as anything. I couldn't imagine him having a normal life," said Barth, of North Potomac. "And now, my child has a personality. He's funny. I can see him as an engineer. I can see him as an architect. I can see his life."
The program at Diamond Elementary is one of several in Montgomery County for children who have average to above-average intelligence but are coping with developmental disabilities. It addresses one of the most vexing problems in special education: What to do with a child who is disabled but capable of work at or above grade level? Such programs are unusual in public education. Because children with Asperger's often are bright and capable, albeit with some behavioral quirks, schools tend to assign them to regular classrooms, either missing or misdiagnosing their disability.
"Do you guys need a minute to draw a picture on your angry page?" teacher Cheryl Reed asked five Diamond Elementary students with Asperger's one afternoon last week. It was an exercise in personification, a concept each of the first- and second-graders seemed to understand perfectly, although they kept mispronouncing the word with the accent on the first syllable.
Second-grader Justin Daddona completed his picture, a sort of Maurice Sendak creation, and regarded it in triumph. "He's more than angry, he's furious," Justin said. "Look, his hair's coming off and smoke's coming out of his ears."
The program, with two teachers and four aides serving 15 children, focuses on two goals: teaching students to recognize and cope with manifestations of their disorder, such as a panic attack in the gymnasium or uncontrollable restlessness in math class; and easing them into regular classes to the greatest extent appropriate, a process called mainstreaming, which drives special education across the country.
The Asperger's program began seven years ago, part of an expanding suite of services for an autism population that tops 1,000 students in the 137,000-student system and is growing by 17 percent a year. It is housed at Diamond and Sligo Creek elementary schools and Tilden and Montgomery Village middle schools, serving students countywide.
Asperger's falls at the mild end of the autism spectrum, a range of disorders characterized by impairment in social interaction and communication. By varying estimates, Asperger's affects anywhere from one in 30,000 people to one in 200.
Hans Asperger, the Viennese physician who discovered the disorder, termed his subjects "little professors." In regular classes, such children might end up as misfits, prone to ill-timed outbursts, fidgety and frustrated, unable to read the body language of the agitated teacher hovering over them.
"The large, 25-kid classroom is too much for a lot of these kids," said Lucia Claster, an Arlington County parent who leads a support group of more than 120 families of children with Asperger's. "They're dealing with a general education teacher [who] may never have had a child with Asperger's before."
James Ball, a behavior analyst in Cranbury, N.J., who has consulted nationally on autism, said the Montgomery County effort "should be looked at as a model program" for teaching children with Asperger's, "because they are a unique breed of kids, and they do respond to a variety of unique teaching strategies."
An informal survey of local school systems found one other example, in Anne Arundel County, of a program designed for students with Asperger's or high-functioning autism, an umbrella term for children on the autism spectrum with average to above-average IQs. Anne Arundel schools team with a private special education school to help autism-spectrum children move into regular classes at two schools, Severn River Middle and Severna Park High.
The Hannah More program in Anne Arundel and the Asperger's program in Montgomery have similar structures. Students work their way from small, self-contained classes into regular classes over time, with support ranging from one-on-one help in the classroom to an occasional check-in with special educators.
The Asperger's classroom at Diamond Elementary is a home base for students, with an oasis of books, board games, yoga balls and Hot Wheels cars, to which any child can retreat from the regular classroom if things go awry. Students are trained to raise their hands if they need a break, and the entire school staff knows to respond.
That afternoon, Reed prepared her first- and second-graders for a schoolwide assembly, one of the most challenging scenarios for children with heightened sensitivity to stimuli. "Are we going to be screaming with our mouths?" Reed asked. No, the class responded in unison. "The only sound we're going to hear is what? Our hands," she said.
Each child in the program signs a behavior contract, agreeing to work on social skills: I will listen to instructions the first time. I will complete an assignment with one or fewer reminders. Good behavior is rewarded with Diamond Dolphin Dollars, which are redeemable for prizes.
Parent Staci Daddona of Gaithersburg said she is amazed at how well Reed's methods have worked with Justin, 7.
Justin's preschool experience was a nightmare: He would take one toy, a top, and play with it day after day, ignoring the teacher and the rest of class. At home, he took to opening and closing things -- the blinds, the garage door -- and flushed the toilet with such regularity that the family's water bill spiked.
Every attempt at public education failed until this year, Daddona said. Reed not only taught Justin to focus on his studies but also worked him into regular classes for part of the day. She has taught him to recognize when he is becoming anxious or upset, if she doesn't spot it first.
"When he starts to stand up, he'll press on the desk, because he's trying to calm himself that way," she said. "And she'll say, 'It looks like you need a break.' And that happens before he throws a pencil, and all the things that happened last year."
Alex Barth, 10, has improved at school since entering Diamond Elementary's program for Asperger's students. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
Adrienne Miller works with Alex Barth, center, at Gaithersburg's Diamond Elementary School, one of only a few public schools with a program for students with Asperger Syndrome. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 16, 2008; Page B01
The first day of kindergarten found Alex Barth in the principal's office. The teacher had asked students to draw self-portraits. Alex had wanted to draw his in red crayon. There was no red crayon. Alex had melted down.
Alex was a capable child with superior intelligence -- and no end of eccentricities. He would flee noisy school assemblies. He couldn't bear the smell of the cafeteria. By the end of first grade, his mother was spending much of the day at Alex's side.
Robyne Barth soon learned her son had Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. Children with the disorder, known in shorthand as Asperger's, might have strong academic gifts but deficiencies in such social skills as carrying on a conversation and playing with others at recess.
On Thursday, Alex, 10, finished fourth grade at one of the nation's few public schools with a program tailored to children with Asperger's: Diamond Elementary School in Gaithersburg. He is popular and well-adjusted, and spends more and more of his school days in regular classes.
"I couldn't see my child as anything. I couldn't imagine him having a normal life," said Barth, of North Potomac. "And now, my child has a personality. He's funny. I can see him as an engineer. I can see him as an architect. I can see his life."
The program at Diamond Elementary is one of several in Montgomery County for children who have average to above-average intelligence but are coping with developmental disabilities. It addresses one of the most vexing problems in special education: What to do with a child who is disabled but capable of work at or above grade level? Such programs are unusual in public education. Because children with Asperger's often are bright and capable, albeit with some behavioral quirks, schools tend to assign them to regular classrooms, either missing or misdiagnosing their disability.
"Do you guys need a minute to draw a picture on your angry page?" teacher Cheryl Reed asked five Diamond Elementary students with Asperger's one afternoon last week. It was an exercise in personification, a concept each of the first- and second-graders seemed to understand perfectly, although they kept mispronouncing the word with the accent on the first syllable.
Second-grader Justin Daddona completed his picture, a sort of Maurice Sendak creation, and regarded it in triumph. "He's more than angry, he's furious," Justin said. "Look, his hair's coming off and smoke's coming out of his ears."
The program, with two teachers and four aides serving 15 children, focuses on two goals: teaching students to recognize and cope with manifestations of their disorder, such as a panic attack in the gymnasium or uncontrollable restlessness in math class; and easing them into regular classes to the greatest extent appropriate, a process called mainstreaming, which drives special education across the country.
The Asperger's program began seven years ago, part of an expanding suite of services for an autism population that tops 1,000 students in the 137,000-student system and is growing by 17 percent a year. It is housed at Diamond and Sligo Creek elementary schools and Tilden and Montgomery Village middle schools, serving students countywide.
Asperger's falls at the mild end of the autism spectrum, a range of disorders characterized by impairment in social interaction and communication. By varying estimates, Asperger's affects anywhere from one in 30,000 people to one in 200.
Hans Asperger, the Viennese physician who discovered the disorder, termed his subjects "little professors." In regular classes, such children might end up as misfits, prone to ill-timed outbursts, fidgety and frustrated, unable to read the body language of the agitated teacher hovering over them.
"The large, 25-kid classroom is too much for a lot of these kids," said Lucia Claster, an Arlington County parent who leads a support group of more than 120 families of children with Asperger's. "They're dealing with a general education teacher [who] may never have had a child with Asperger's before."
James Ball, a behavior analyst in Cranbury, N.J., who has consulted nationally on autism, said the Montgomery County effort "should be looked at as a model program" for teaching children with Asperger's, "because they are a unique breed of kids, and they do respond to a variety of unique teaching strategies."
An informal survey of local school systems found one other example, in Anne Arundel County, of a program designed for students with Asperger's or high-functioning autism, an umbrella term for children on the autism spectrum with average to above-average IQs. Anne Arundel schools team with a private special education school to help autism-spectrum children move into regular classes at two schools, Severn River Middle and Severna Park High.
The Hannah More program in Anne Arundel and the Asperger's program in Montgomery have similar structures. Students work their way from small, self-contained classes into regular classes over time, with support ranging from one-on-one help in the classroom to an occasional check-in with special educators.
The Asperger's classroom at Diamond Elementary is a home base for students, with an oasis of books, board games, yoga balls and Hot Wheels cars, to which any child can retreat from the regular classroom if things go awry. Students are trained to raise their hands if they need a break, and the entire school staff knows to respond.
That afternoon, Reed prepared her first- and second-graders for a schoolwide assembly, one of the most challenging scenarios for children with heightened sensitivity to stimuli. "Are we going to be screaming with our mouths?" Reed asked. No, the class responded in unison. "The only sound we're going to hear is what? Our hands," she said.
Each child in the program signs a behavior contract, agreeing to work on social skills: I will listen to instructions the first time. I will complete an assignment with one or fewer reminders. Good behavior is rewarded with Diamond Dolphin Dollars, which are redeemable for prizes.
Parent Staci Daddona of Gaithersburg said she is amazed at how well Reed's methods have worked with Justin, 7.
Justin's preschool experience was a nightmare: He would take one toy, a top, and play with it day after day, ignoring the teacher and the rest of class. At home, he took to opening and closing things -- the blinds, the garage door -- and flushed the toilet with such regularity that the family's water bill spiked.
Every attempt at public education failed until this year, Daddona said. Reed not only taught Justin to focus on his studies but also worked him into regular classes for part of the day. She has taught him to recognize when he is becoming anxious or upset, if she doesn't spot it first.
"When he starts to stand up, he'll press on the desk, because he's trying to calm himself that way," she said. "And she'll say, 'It looks like you need a break.' And that happens before he throws a pencil, and all the things that happened last year."
Friday, June 20, 2008
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