Drive it home, finally. Well, it is not as bad as that sounds.
Monday started ok with the trip to the Science museum. It was a really fun place and I recommend it to anyone going up to that area with kids. It is a total hands on place with lots of little experiments. We spent about 2 hours there and then we went to the King Arthur store. For those who don’t know King Arthur, check out their web site. They have the best flour around and they sell wonderful kitchen products. A lot of it is kosher.
When we walked in, I saw a boy with a Yankees hat on so I said hello (as I was wearing one also). Then I notice the tzitzit hanging from his waist. I see his mom and we start chatting.
“Where are you from?”
“New Jersey.”
“Us too! Where about in New Jersey?”
“Highland Park.”
“Us too!”
Unfortunately my brain just cannot recall her name, but I am sure we will now start bumping into them every other day in Highland Park!
We spent a while there too including some very good cookies and muffins before we made our way back to Lincoln. At the resort things get a bit difficult for Avi as he is just off the wall when there is not much for him to do. Luckily they get Disney Channel there and that seemed to keep him occupied. His bad behaviors from the other day resurfaced and we debated again about going home. Marsha and I really wanted to go to Franconia Notch State Park and since Tuesday was supposed to be a gorgeous day, we decided to go another day.
Tuesday morning we went to Franconia Notch and began our day at the Flume Gorge. Avi was very difficult and did not want to go. He gave me lots of troubles, but I got him on the bus to take us to the start if the trail. We started walking into the gorge and Avi hiked up ahead. The gorge was amazing. I have not seen anything quite like it. I will post some photos later. We got to the top of the gorge and Avi was nowhere to be found. We started on the path back to the visitor’s center, but there were two paths. We took the longer one as that was where most people were going (and we wanted to go that way). On the way I called the visitor’s center and Avi was not there but they said they would look out for him. Five minutes later they called and he was there. He took the shorter path back and got on a bus back to the visitors center. We were a little upset that the bus driver took an 8 year old boy by himself without asking questions, but there were others on the bus so the driver could have assumed he was with them.
We then went to the aerial tram at Cannon Mountain in the park. There were breathtaking views from the top. While on the mountain, we met a nice family from Monsey and I took their picture to email to them (Mom, Dad and seven of their 10 kids!) Avi could not stay up there so he and I went down and Marsha, Noam and Shayna went to the observation deck. She got some nice photos and I will post some soon.
After we got back Avi went back to his normal tantrums but when he watched TV he calmed down. We seriously considered leaving on Wednesday. After many phone calls with friends and family, we decided to do one more day since we planned on going to Story Land, an amusement park nearby. Avi was excited for this, and when he has things to do like this, he is much better behaved. On the way there we decided to see one of the many waterfalls in the area. We picked one to see that was tall but with an easy hike. Well, it turns out that Marsha read the brochure wrong and it was a moderately difficult hike, but the kids made it. Avi again went up ahead, but when we got to the falls he was very well behaved and loved it there. He also hiked ahead on the way down but was very good when we got to the car. I think the adrenalin and endorphins that his body was pumping held him for a while.
Story Land is a nice park for kids up to about 10 or so. The rides are geared for that age and all the kids had a great time. Back at the resort Avi just watched TV again and was easier to handle.
We left the area at about 11:30 on Thursday and had a VERY difficult trip home. Avi was worse than normal for a good chunk of the trip. He did not calm down until we were well into Connecticut. After that he was a little better. We tried to meet my parents for dinner but traffic to them was slow so we went down the parkway and met my in-laws for dinner. Avi freaked at where we were going, admitting to me that he was scared because it was a new restaurant for him and he did not want to go in. A very typical autistic response (one of a number that we saw over this vacation), but I was slowly able to get him insisde.
We finally got home at about 9:00 last night and got the kids to bed.
All in all a difficult vacation, but with a few good moments.
Here are three photos from Wednesday.
Marsha at the falls
Marsha, Noam and Shayna on the flying shoe ride at Story Land
Avi was big enough to ride all the rides at Story Land by himself. Here is his first
time behind the wheel of a “car”.