It has been a busy summer at the Goldwasser home and all in all it has been pretty good. The kids all finished their school year with great report cards and began camp a few days later (well in Avi’s case almost 2 weeks later). Shayna is going to RPRY Day Camp and loves it there. She is so excited this summer because she is now in one of the oldest bunks at camp. They still have a few kids going into third grade, but this may be the last summer for that, so Shayna (going into 2nd) is in the oldest group. Today they have pajama day and the oldest kids get to meet at the local kosher Dunkin Donuts instead of going right to camp. It is a big highlight of the summer and Shayna has been talking about it for weeks! The kids all get a donut and they have some fun and they are driven back to camp. She is doing so well at camp too. She is swimming without any flotation devices and is very comfortable in the water. She is definitely my little daredevil, and when she is a bit bigger I am sure she is going to want to go on all the roller coasters at Six Flags!
Noam has been going to New Horizons Day Camp at Rutgers University. He had a slow start there, perhaps because he did not know anyone. He did not go into the pool at the beginning, but we did get him to commit to at least going in for instructional swim. He is still skipping free swim. I am not sure why because he loves the pool. Perhaps he is self-conscious of the fact that he does not yet swim? That is changing though. The camp is really great. The staff are all college age or above and they really help the kids try when they are unsure. For the first couple of weeks, Noam would not go beyond level 1 of the swim curriculum. He started to warm up a bit to it and would do everything except try to float on his back. Also they could not let him move on if he insists on holding his nose. We got him a nose clip which they will allow and now he is going underwater and the other day he floated on his back. So he is in level two, and I have little doubt that he will move up from that by the end of the summer! I think that in the end, he will be a great swimmer.
Avi is also having a great summer. He has an extended school year so he is at Newmark School until Friday. Then on Wednesday, he will be leaving for Ramah Outdoor Adventure in Colorado. ROA is a specialty Ramah camp that has the kids doing more outdoor adventure type activities, like rock climbing, white water rafting and hiking. Avi will be in their inaugural Tikva program for kids with special needs. He will be in a bunk with 4 other boys all of whom are, like Avi, high functioning and either on the Autism spectrum or have ADHD. He is very excited and Marsha and I are working hard to get him all packed up to go.
A few months back I read about a program that occurred at Newark Airport for kids on the spectrum. They had a group of kids and their parents come and they gave them a tour of the airport and walked them through the security process and waiting at a gate, all the way up to entering an aircraft to learn how they board passengers. I called and to make a long story short, on Friday after Marsha picks Avi up from school, he is going to get a personal tour of the airport and go through the same program, but this will be just Avi and Marsha. I think he will learn a lot and be better prepared to have an airport experience next week.
After Avi returns Marsha and I will be getting two nights away! Marsha’s parents will stay with the kids while she and I stay at a B&B in the Brandywine area of PA. We are both looking forward to that, and after that is over, we will drive home, pick up the kids and then we will be off to the Lancaster Area for three nights, including a day at Hershey Park! I know the kids are looking forward to that.
I hope to be blogging a bit more of the next number of weeks, so stay tuned!
Enjoy!