Something big happened over here!

Yes, it did! The Wheeler kids went bowling. That is huge for us!!!! One of our local bowling  joints {we have a few} has this “kids bowl free” all summer thing going on. And I don’t know about you guys, but I like to have stuff planned out for my kids during the summer. Not for everyday, but my kids have hit that “I’m bored – can we go somewhere” stage. To be frank, we are all homebodies so I’m sorta happy that they are asking to do stuff because we need to get out! But on the flip side, money is and will always be an issue. Four kids is not cheap so we have to stretch out the bigger and funner things. And with some of my kids there is that tiny thing of hating crowds, loud noises and anything different and out of the ordinary. {Let me throw in right here – yes, I plan to blog about part 3 of autism!}

Saying that, we have talked about bowling everyday for weeks. We have showed pictures, we practiced how we would roll the ball, how the points of the game work, blah, blah, blah. Basically I talked to my crazies about everything to expect! And till the moment we left yesterday afternoon to go, it had worked perfectly!!! THEN, Lawson “tried” to refuse not to go when we were loading up.

The funny thing is, that joker was the first one to get his bowling shoes on when we got there. I’m talking about threw his crocs at me and put on his on socks by himself {he has never been able to get his socks on straight – ever – till that very moment!} He had his shoes on and was telling us to hurry up! It was so funny!!!

I think it was one of those times that it met his expectations. It was exactly how he had pictured it. Even Hudson had a blast. I felt sorry for the people beside us, because Hudson kept organizing the balls in the rack. But we were there for three hours and the kids never got tired. We really thought one game would be all they could handle, but they knew we got 2 free games so they were ready to keep going. It was probably one of the best times I’ve had in a long time. It bypassed my expectations tremendously.

With all the sensory stuff, I have to be ready for it to fall apart for Lawson or Hudson. I’m never worried about Carson and Emme, because most times they will just calmly use words and tell me they are done or ready to go or it’s too much or whatever. But most times I have to look for the signs with the other two. Last night, there were no signs. And I probably could have cried tears of joy! Dramatic I know, but to be able to go somewhere dimly lit, noisy, people screaming, just something completely different and everything go smoothly is a BIG DEAL here!!!! And I have so many friends who have tried doing “new” stuff with us before that can vouch that this was very unusual!!

Our skate center offers a similar deal, so that will be the next stop this summer. Between the library, neighborhood pool & our membership at the Discovery Center, we should have plenty to do this summer outside of the house.