Skip to main content

Road Trips

We just got back last night from a 10-day car trip out East.  Just about every summer when I was growing up, we would drive down to the Eastern Shore of Maryland or Delaware or make the several hour drive down to Florida.   Back when I was little, there were no Game Boys, Nintendo's, iPads, or iPods to help pass the time in the car.  Just for the heck of it, I counted how many "electronics" we brought with us on our most recent trip.  We counted 12 and that didn't include the GPS. Yikes!! I couldn't believe that we had that many!  On the last couple of trips back East, we drove straight through to Maryland. This time around, we broke up the trip, by stopping around Pittsburgh for a family reunion and then continuing on to Maryland.  On the way back, we stopped in Cleveland and then finished the rest of the drive the next day.  When we got out of the car last night, Lauren said she felt like kissing the ground.  Let's just say, by the time we have made it back home again, we are all ready for a little "space" from each other.  We had some interesting hotel and rest stop experiences on this trip, but that's for future blog posts :)  How do you and your family pass the time in the car, do you talk? is everyone doing their own thing?  I would love to hear how other families pass the time on the "road!"

Comments

  1. DeniTJuly 9, 2012 at 2:04 PM

    On our most recent road trip (a 3 hour trip to visit my parents) we took turns picking music to listen to, we played "categories" - a game where you pick a category such as "flavors of pie" and everyone takes turns naming something from the category. If you repeat one that someone else said you are out, or if you can't think of other item in the category but someone else can, you are out. We also counted trucks and talked and everyone but the driver slept. Other than use of a phone for music, no electronics were used in the car even though they were available. Color me surprised.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cathy B.July 9, 2012 at 5:50 PM

    I love your ideas and can't wait to test them out the next time we go on a long car ride :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Those "Steps" to Independence Can Be Hard

We are heading towards 600 orders for Dominic's business. Since our long-term goal for Baked Goods By Dominic is having a "brick-and-mortar" and hire those with disabilities, it is essential and imperative that I continue to teach him all parts of the business. Since I prompted Dominic for so many years for speech, he has become "prompt dependent." What that essentially means is that he will look at me for a prompt, like, "what do you do next?" I do that one a lot. Dominic has been going to a private speech therapist for over ten years and she reminds me often that Dominic usually will know the answer, if I am patient and wait for him. That has been a very hard habit to break! Dominic has an incredible memory, so I put it to the test this morning. I didn't write out the steps, I wanted to see how much he could do completely on his own. We have a customer picking up his order today, but the only thing that had been done is putting the cookies into t...
1 comment
Read more

Why We Pursued Guardianship of our Son with Autism

Last Thursday morning, my husband, Dominic and I went to our county's Probate Court and had Dominic's Guardianship Hearing. My husband and I are Co-Guardians, and we were granted "Partial Guardianship," which means Dominic can make some of his own decisions (future educational and vocational placement options, what to wear and how he wants to spend his free time), but my husband and I will make his medical, health care, legal, contractual and major financial decisions. The subject of Guardianship in the disability "world" has been and continues to be a controversial and divisive topic.  I was a panelist for an Autism Conference this past summer and presented on what it's like to have a child with Autism. Towards the end of my presentation, I mentioned that Dominic had just turned 18 and that we were going through the Guardianship process. When the attendees could ask questions, the first person that went up to the microphone started telling me that I was...
Post a Comment
Read more

Presume Competence

Since we have traveled outside of the United States since Dominic was very small, we have had to get him a Children's Passport every five years. Since his current one expires in February of 2024 and he is now 19, we had to apply for an Adult Passport. I don't know why my husband and I picked Dominic's first day of school and Michigan State University moving in their students, but the appointment was yesterady at 3 p.m. We had gathered all of the documents needed and then went into a special room in the East Lansing Post Office just for Passports. The three of us sat down and the clerk asked Dominic his age. He said, "19." Since we were also getting his picture taken for the Passport, he went into a separate room, where she took a picture of him and then let him look at it to make sure he liked it (it will be his picture for the next 10 years)!  He said he did, so he sat back down with us. The clerk filled out a bit more of the paperwork and then she let Dominic s...
Post a Comment
Read more