New York City ~ The Metropolitan Museum of Art

We had a wonderful time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is the largest art museum in the Western Hemisphere. The size of the place is huge. It takes up an 11.5 acre footprint!! There are three floors so that is more than 33 acres. There is no way one could see it all in a day. We decided to see a few areas of interest to the kids, plus a few famous works of art that they had studied in the past. We mapped out our plan and were off.

Both boys love anything ancient so we started in the Greek and Egyptian rooms. They loved it all. It was especially cool for Dean, who had just finished Greek Theater Camp.

We also visited the Impressionists and Edgar Degas rooms. Dean had the pleasure of seeing his very favorite Monet, The Water Lily Pond. He has loved this painting since he was a young child.

Anne loved seeing all of the Degas paintings and statues. However, she loved The Little Dancer statue most of all.

We saw several works of art out of the corner of our eyes and went to investigate. We loved seeing a few Picasso and Vermeer.

We also liked seeing the famous George Washington portrait by Gilbert Stuart.

Lastly, we looked for t-shirts in the gift shop and visited the rooftop deck. It has marvelous views of the city and Central Park. 

Tips for visiting this museum ~ I am going to do an entire post on New York City with our special needs family. However, I think I will share a few things that made this museum more enjoyable in this post.

• Take a few minutes to study the map and plot out your route. 
• Make sure to plan to see something that is important to each member of your group.
• Accept from the start that you will see very little of the museum. It is better to enjoy a few great works of art than to try and do it all. It will just become a muddy memory of chaos.
• Take advantage of the benches and rest and look around. 
• Read The Mixed Up Files of Basil E. Frankweiler before you go, so your kids can look for things that the runaway kids in the book saw when they decided to live in this museum.
• The fee to get in is a suggested donation. You do not need to pay $25 each. We paid about $5 each. To do this, you will have to get your tickets from a live ticket collector and tell them how much you want to donate. It really was painless.
• If you are on a budget like us, share sandwiches and a fruit salad in the cafeteria. They offer free water and cups. That is what we did. We treated lunch like a hearty snack. It is important to keep the kids fed so they can enjoy the experience, but you don't have to go broke on cafeteria food either. 
• Have fun and take pictures of your kids next to art you want to teach them about later. It will make it come to life for them.

If your kids are not familiar with art museums ~ My kids have grown up in art museums since they were infants. I really did not need to go over the basic rules of enjoying an art museum while not getting in trouble with the guards. However, if you and your children are new to art museums, here are a few rules to make it a successful experience: 

• Do not point at art. Guards may think you are going to accidentally touch it. Use your elbow to point and teach your kids to do the same. 
• Teach kids to not touch or lean on walls. They may sit on the floor in most museums.
• Show kids what the benches look like in the museum you are visiting. They are usually the same throughout a given museum. (This will help prevent accidental sitting on "art".)
• Encourage slow walking and indoor voices.
• Keep at least one foot between you and the art. (My husband is breaking this rule in the picture above).
• Find out the rules for using cameras or cell phones. Follow them accordingly.
• Give your child a map or a few postcards of works of art that you are looking for. Making it into a treasure hunt always lengthens the time that the kids will be content.
• Use a stroller or make a mandatory hand holding policy for runners. I had two runners, and the stroller was a lifesaver even when they were older. 

Most of all, keep the experience joyful and pleasant, even if you need to start with very short trips and work your way up.

If you missed it ~ New York City ~ The Immigration Tour and New York City ~ Central Park.

Blessings, Dawn

New York City ~ The Immigration Tour

Ellis Island

Today I am going to tell about the part of our vacation that revolved around immigration and the tenements of the Lower East Side. Before arriving in New York City (NYC), we had planned on doing Ellis Island, seeing the Statue of Liberty and going on a tour of the Tenement Museum. However, our plans changed slightly once we arrived. The city was more overwhelming for my special needs kids than we had expected so we had to adapt our plan. We decided to take the Staten Island ferry past the Statue of Liberty for some good photos and skip Ellis Island completely. We felt that the kids had learned about Ellis Island since they were small children and had read many books with great illustrations of the place over the years. With our limited time and their special needs, it was the easiest thing to drop.

We set off early in the morning on the subway and arrived in Battery Park (where the Staten Island ferry departs from every 30 minutes all day long). The ferry is free and used mostly by commuters. It goes very close to The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You can also get a good glimpse of Governor's Island. Of course, there are stunning views of the NYC skyline.

We stood out on the top deck to get the best view. (The ferry is three stories high and has inside and outside seating.) The ferry dropped us off on Staten Island where we could get right back on a different ferry to go back to NYC.

NYC Skyline

After our ferry ride, we jumped back on the subway and headed for the Lower East Side. This is where many immigrants landed after getting through Ellis Island. The streets of the Lower East Side are much narrower and the buildings are older than most of Manhattan (the burough of NYC that most tourists visit).

A typical street in the Lower East Side -- The buildings used to be tenements that were miserable 

and disease ridden places to live. They are now trendy and pricey condos.

We got a bit turned around trying to find our way to the Tenement Museum. Thankfully, all of the New Yorkers we asked for help were very nice and did their best to put us on the right path. We finally saw the Tenement Museum and a place serving pizza by the slice for just 99 cents. The Lower East Side has much cheaper food than most of Manhattan.

On the front stoop of 97 Orchard street

The Tenement Museum was awesome! They offer several tours inside an actual tenement building that housed up to 20 families at a time from the 1850's to 1935. It also housed stores on the ground level from 1850 to the 1980's. There were several tours to choose from, and we decided to do the shop life tour. We had a wonderful 1.5 hour guided tour of the families and stores who had occupied the ground floor of the building for over 100 years. It was a wonderful history lesson. Dean said, "This was really great. That was the best history we learned all year!" I wish we could have taken photos inside and done more of the tours. Hopefully, we will get to go back one day. They also had walking tours around the Lower East Side, which would be interesting in a cooler season.

After the tour, we decided to grab some more cheap pizza and head back to the hotel. The guys were all exhausted. After a short rest, Grandma Sue, Anne and I decided to go the American Girl Doll store and to see a performance of the Rockettes. The guys opted to rest in the hotel and eat in the hotel cafe, swim in the pool and watch cable TV.

In front of the doors at Radio City Music Hall

The show was amazing. We loved it. Anne got to meet a real Rockette and talk to her for a few moments about dance. We walked the 15 blocks back to the hotel, enjoying the city night life. It was a fantastic and exhausting day!

I still have two more posts coming in the next few days ~ The Metropolitan Museum of Art and another blog about the things I learned traveling with my special needs family in NYC.

If you missed it ~ New York City Central Park

Blessings, Dawn

New York City ~ Central Park

The Famous Balto Statue

We spent a few whirlwind days in New York City this week. It has been a dream of ours to take our youngest children to the city for years. We took our oldest 16 years ago. We finally made it back with the younger ones! I am going to break our trip down into events and post them over the next few days. I also hope to do a "What I Learned" post about traveling with my special needs crew in New York City.  This time my husband and I visited New York City with my stepmother, oldest son Tim, Dean and Anne.

Today I am going to talk about Central Park. Everything about New York City is huge and Central Park is no exception. It is 843 acres and stretches 2.5 miles long by half a mile wide. There are tons of winding pathways so that you can wander for hours upon hours in the park. We entered at the southwestern end, which was originally designated as the children's end of the park. The park has statues galore, multiple bodies of water, great lawns and winding paths through woods, boats and bikes to rent, 21 playgrounds, and a small amusement park, carousel, zoo and castle. It is an amazing oasis in the middle of a city that never sleeps. We visited a little more than one-third of the park. I just can't describe the size and scope. It is amazing!

Hans Christian Anderson Statue

Alice and Wonderland Statue

Central Park was designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the early 1860's. They used many of the natural rocks in the park to make wonderful landscapes that everyone loves to climb on.

The carousel in Central Park is from 1908 (although there have been four carousels over the years since 1871). We had a great time riding on it. The boys decided to ride on the stationary lounging bench.

I enjoyed taking pictures of a few of the bridges. I love bridges. We walked for several miles through winding paths and over bridges.

There are 21 unique playgrounds through out the park. We only played on one very early one morning. It was generally to hot most of the times we were in the park. Many of the playgrounds have a water feature. This is adventure playground. It was completely fenced in with a locking gate. By 8:30 am it already had multiple nannies and kids. I was thinking that this was one of the few places in the city where a child could truly run and the parent/nanny wouldn't have to worry about crowds or cars.

Central Park is a must if you are visiting New York City. It is one of my favorite places to be.

Blessings, Dawn

The Week of the Dance Intensive

Dean and Anne spent the week in a dance intensive at our dance studio. They had workshops in pointe, ballet, jazz, tap and modern. Dean was the only guy. He has known most of these girls for years, so it all worked out. They came home sore most nights! Anne actually fell asleep a few minutes after going to bed, which is a rare occurrence. I guess we finally figured out how to wear her out!


These kids of mine are growing up so fast! I can hardly believe that Anne has been dancing for almost 10 years.



These two (below) are birthday twins! I am so glad the kids are getting to grow up with a nice community of kids. Our dance studio really is a second family.


Blessings, Dawn

Greek Acting Camp

Dean had another fantastic year at day camp. This year the theme was Ancient Greece. He spent two weeks (60 hours) learning about all things Greek. His favorite parts were playing all of the games, making a sword, climbing ropes, making his helmet and learning stage combat. He is gathering quite a collection of stage weapons from all of his years of camp. (Each year has a different theme, such as last year which was Vikings.)

He now has two metal swords, a battle-axe, a shield and multiple masks. They design their swords on paper and then take their templates to a welder who cuts the swords out of metal. The swords come back the next day and the kids sand the swords down so that they are dull. Then, they cover the handles in leather.

This camp is such a great experience for Dean each year. He learns so much more than stage combat and acting. He learns self control, team work, obedience, craftsmanship, creativity, growing confidence, endurance, compromise and so much more. He gets wonderful opportunities to role model to the younger campers and to spend ample time with one of his main male role models (Giles, the director).

Blessings, Dawn

First Week of Mom and Daughter Summer Camp

Dean is in a two week day camp that started this week. He is gone from 9 to 3. Anne and I have been keeping busy eating naughty food that Dean isn't allowed to eat because of his allergies -- at least that is what it appears we did when I look at my phone pictures. I save up coupons for months to use during this mother/daughter time. Here is what we did:

Monday ~ We went out for breakfast with our buy one get one free waffle coupon. We then went on to the mall and used our JC Penney coupons on some more shorts for Anne. While there, we power walked the mall and wandered around taking selfies. When I looked at the time, we somehow had managed to spend three hours in the mall!

Tuesday ~ We took Tim to a doctor's appointment and then went out to Rocky's Chicken Shack for lunch. They give a nice discount to teachers on Tuesdays.

Wednesday ~ We did lots of tie-dying projects. We made socks, shirts, and a leotard. The leotard came out great!

Thursday ~ We dropped off stuff at two different consignment shops, traded books in at the used bookstore and dropped off three bags at Goodwill. We used a coupon to get shakes at Chick-fil-A. The most exciting thing of the day was finding a pair of jazz shoes for Anne at the consignment shop in like new condition at a fraction of the cost!

Friday ~ We bought Anne's new pointe shoes. This makes pair number three. She also got a new dance bag, foot undeez and new toe pads. Most of the items were on sale and Anne paid almost half the cost with her earnings from working with kids the last few Friday afternoons. We also got free donuts with another coupon at Krispy Kreme. Lastly, we accomplished most of the grocery shopping for the next week and had some downtime at home.

We had a wonderful first week of mom/daughter camp. We have some great plans for next week, too. I hope I get some good pictures of Dean at his camp next week. He is at Greek acting camp. They are learning all about ancient Greece, learning a little bit of the language, making helmets and swords, acting, play fighting and all manner of other fun things. He is having a fantastic time as he does every year. Each year it has a different theme. Last year it was Vikings. I got only a few decent photos of him this week. On the last day the kids go to the camp owners' home to have a party (besides the camp, they also own our beloved dance studio). If the weather is good, they always end the day in the pool. Here are a few pool shots.

Lastly, I just want to send my prayers to all of those who have been affected by the three tragedies that took place in Orlando this week. The stories out of the nightclub shooting have torn me apart.  It really disgusts me how some "Christians" are spewing hate instead of prayers. Have they forgotten the teachings of Jesus (John 13:34 and Matthew 7-29)?  Since I actually have stood right on the beach where that little boy was killed by the alligator, it seems so real to me. And my daughter really liked the singer, Christina Grimmie. So many senseless acts of violence in one place in one week!

Blessings, Dawn

Summer -- A Season of Growth

It is hard to believe that my youngest two are 12 and 14 years old. The time flies by so quickly! I have been thinking about their future and how soon they will be all grown up. Be still, my heart!

My focus this summer is on helping my kids come to age. Their childhood is transitioning into young adulthood, and with that, our summer goals are changing. Gone are the lazy days of summer at Splashville, going to all the playgrounds in a 10 mile radius, eating ice cream and watching movies all day. I did not buy bubbles, chalk and balloons this summer (okay, I did buy balloons but they are for an art project). I am not the cruise director of fun this summer. Don't get me wrong. There will be plenty of fun and adventures, but it isn't my main focus. It isn't where I am putting the majority of my energy. In fact, I am purposely trying to make their summer just a little bit hard and monotonous. Working hard and getting through tedious things builds character.

This summer we are growing and solidifying character traits that will last a lifetime. Being a special needs family in crisis for most of our children's childhood has caused certain things to fall through the cracks. I just haven't been able to do it all and have had to prioritize through the years. Thankfully, we have had relative peace recently and can start tweaking the areas that need improvement.

Goal 1 ~  Complete a task, no matter how small. Can I tell you a secret? My kids are droppers and half-doers. We get out of the car and they leave half their stuff behind. We enter the house and they drop the stuff they did bring in at the door. They get milk out of the fridge and either leave it on the counter or put it back in the fridge without the cap on. They use tools in the yard and bring only half of them back. Don't get me started on all the unimaginable places I find shoes and utensils! So this summer, we are really focusing on the old adage:

1. If you open it, close it.

2. If you turn it on, turn it off.
3. If you unlock it, lock it up.
4. If you break it, admit it.
5. If you can't fix it, call in someone who can.
6. If you borrow it, return it.
7. If you value it, take care of it.
8. If you make a mess, clean it up.
9. If you move it, put it back.
10. If it belongs to someone else, get permission to use it.
11. If you don't know how to operate it, leave it alone.

So much of it is about staying present in the task at hand and not letting your mind and body wander off to the next thing before the first is completed. So far, I am seeing a small improvement, and I don't feel too much like a drill sergeant.

Goal 2 ~  To improve work ethic. My son is a distracted worker. He wanders away from work for water, food, to use the bathroom ... the list goes on and on. According to his recent extensive educational testing, he isn't ADHD, so it would appear that this is something that must be trained out of him. My daughter is a complainer and pouter. She doesn't like any jobs that have to deal with dirt (either in the house or outside) or bugs. She just wants to organize, which she is very good at and is fun for her. So this summer we are doing morning chores and evening chores as usual. Then we are adding one hour of concentrated chores or projects that fall in the not-so-fun category. We are doing tons of yard work, cleaning behind furniture, washing baseboards, cleaning the dark corners of the basement laundry room, and putting fresh caulk in bathrooms. Dean is not allowed to wander away from his work unless it is a designated break time. Above all else, they must put forth a positive attitude. Dean is finding that he actually kind of likes some parts of yard work. He especially likes anything involving chopping and sawing. Anne is doing better with gross jobs. Although she still wrinkles up her nose and complains under her breath. Hopefully, we will make even more headway with her attitude in the coming weeks.

Goal 3 ~ Take care of their morning needs. That means taking over making a healthy well-balanced breakfast for themselves and cleaning up afterwards, making their own beds, and for Dean, maintaining his dental retainer. All that kind of stuff. They have most of this down. The only real struggle is making breakfast, because they are both really slow to wake up and function first thing. They think eating a few crackers or drinking four cups of milk (Dean) should count.

Goal 4 ~ To continue with their personal growth activities each day. Anne is reading eight chapter books this summer, doing a one hour exercise program for ballet (daily) and keeping up with learning sign language. Dean is practicing guitar, doing his physical therapy stretches, reading daily, doing some math practice and starting to learn the piano.

We are well into our summer and have been keeping up with our goals so far. Next week starts a few weeks of camp and dance intensives. We will see how well we hang onto our goals. I think we will keep up with number 1 and 3. The other two may need to be adapted. Camp really exhausts Dean. The combination of vigorous activity, hours of social time, and all of his sensory issues tends to make for a very tired boy in the evenings.

Blessings, Dawn