Lake Chelan 2013

The week since my last post was preoccupied with getting ready to send Evie and Adrian off to camp. I spent two days doing laundry, a day shopping for things we needed and two days packing. We are notoriously late but I was determined that THIS year things would go well and we would be ON TIME. Something always goes wrong. This year while waiting for us in the car Miss Evie was writing on her hand and the pen exploded with green glitter ink onto her hands and on her best (and only)jeans (thankfully not on the upholstery). We were a few minutes late getting her to Seattle. She was carpooling, North to Horse Camp, with a friend.

 

The kids said their goodbyes. I think it was hardest to say goodbye to Penny.

 

We headed South, past Tacoma, to the Key Peninsula, and arrived 10 minutes EARLY at Camp Colman!  It was fantastic.  Adrian was thrilled. After checking in he got his favorite bunk in his favorite cabin.

 

He is so ready for this week and I'm so proud of my kids that they are secure enough to go off for a week on their own with no problem! Penny is one smart dog. Before we even left she new that Adrian would be staying. She "cried" a little and was quite sad on the way home. She really misses Evie and Adrian around the house.

 

While they are gone I am going to:

1) Clean the house

2) Transition Ainsley to more oral feeding

3) Return all the extra stuff I bought for the photoshoot

4) Crate train Penny

5) Steve and I have are going to eat foods the kids don't like for dinner (lots of Asian, veggies, mushrooms maybe even prawns and fish), watching TV together and enjoying a bit of a break (we still have 1 needy kid so it's not quite a vacation).  Maybe we'll even get a project or two done. 

 

I also wanted to blog about our Chelan trip.

 

*****

We left Thursday the 11th.

It was a beautiful drive through the mountains and pass on our way to Lake Chelan.

 

We left later than we'd hoped but there was still time to stop in Leavenworth, the Bavarian Village, on our way.

 Ainsley's wheelchair was not accessible so Steve had to piggyback her to the ice cream shop and bathroom.

We got the kids' cones at this adorable shop.

Ainsley had a taste of mine and LOVED it. Then she ate more and actually wouldn't let go of my cone when it was time to leave!  It was cute. This was the first time I've ever seen her really enjoy ice cream. I let her have her fill. Next time she might even need to get her own.

I found this AMAZING boutique with tons of vintage inspired pieces. In it I found the perfect top for the photoshoot. It tied together all the colors I'd chosen. Talk about lucky!

The next morning Steve took the kids down to explore.  See them there by the trees? This was the view from our deck. We stayed at my mom's (birth) timeshare condo in Wapato Point. It was very nice of her and exactly the kind of vacation we needed this year. It had been 4 years since we'd last been there. They have an indoor and outdoor pool in addition to being on the lake. Steve took E&A to both during the week.

I stayed with Ainsley. The lake was enough for her. There are some logistical issues with having a child who can't walk. I wish we could have brought her walker but there was no space, even with the Thule.  Thankfully she has a great disposition and usually doesn't notice. When she does she bounces back quickly. She had a blast with the beach ball on the deck. Once the weather improved we hit the beach which was right out our door. 

 

You can see the condos in the background.

The kids had a ton of fun digging in the sand. Adrian made a volcano.

He buried himself.

They made Ainsley a mermaid tail.

Adrian figured out how to get himself up on a floaty after many attempts.

With a life jacket and floaty ring, a cap over her trach and close supervision Ainsley was able to go out in the water.

When Evie wasn't digging or floating she was listening to music on the beach.

Adrian made a giant creme filled "donut".

I lounged on the beach but also spent a fair amount of time in the water. Steve and I would take turns watching Ainsley.

 

This was a vacation to lay on the beach.

 

And it was the summer of Minions.

Ainsley put them "to sleep" in her pant legs.

They joined us for pizza while we played "Eye Spy".

 

They got a LOT of play.

The long days at the beach wore Ainsley out. So sweet!

We did our part for the environment and carted our recyclables a few blocks away. I am so thankfully I don't live in a place that doesn't recycle.

 

I didn't find all the clothing pieces for the photoshoot with BlueLily Photography that we would have the following weekend, so we spent a day shopping in Chelan. With no luck, unfortunately. The kids played "Where's Waldo?" who was hidden in each of the shops (a very clever tourist activity to keep the kids happy while shopping).

Adrian got a Lake Chelan T-shirt made.

Do you remember when there was a t-shirt transfer shop in every shopping mall?

The grounds are quite large. We made our way to the playground.

Played board games together.

 

One day I made a giant sandwich to share on the beach.

 

Ainsley had a blast spritzing Steve with water!

The kids ate lots of popsicles.

They have a lot of activities like miniature golf.

Even that was a bit of a challenge in a wheelchair.

But I was determined for Ainsley to participate as much as possible during this vacation. We played together but she sat some holes out. It was hot.

Adrian got a hole in 1.

So did Steve.

The kids had been looking forward to going all week and had a lot of fun.

Ainsley climbed up the climber by herself.....

....and slid down the spiral slide.

We told Adrian we'd pay him a dollar to go to the beach without his swim shirt to get some sun on his lily white chest. Then he got a sunburn (even with sunscreen).  A pretty bad one. He wasn't so happy to get his dollar anymore.

The facility had tons of activities that are hard for us to participate in together because Ainsley can't do them: like cycling, boating or wave riders. I stayed back with Ainsley and Steve took Evie and Adrian. I could see them from the deck.

 

I was glad to have a little privacy because I had to work out the details of Adrian's Birthday Surprise. I used my laptop on the deck to find decoy pictures.

 Then somebody locked me out on the deck in the hot sun by latching the sliding glass door.

 

Usually she gives in and comes back. But not this time. She would crawl over and come close just to crawl off again, finally across the room to where the bathroom was.

 

The first time she disappeared into the bathroom I started to worry. After a minutes she came out and nearly let me in but as you can see she thought it was a hilarious game.

 

Then she signed potty and crawled off again into the bathroom but this time she didn't come out. The more time passed the more scared I became. I called Steve but he didn't answer. I shouted down to our friendly neighbor Bill who was on the beach, but he couldn't hear me. I was in a bit of a panic and felt rather ridiculous! Despite all the banging no one seemed to notice me.

 

 I imagined her falling off the toilet and getting badly hurt. Crying and unable to breathe. Then I realized I might be able to call the front desk.  Thank God for my new smart phone. I found the phone number and they sent security. The thing is I wasn't sure of our unit number. And the front desk sent them to the wrong unit (my step dad's brother was also there). I called back. The unit number I'd given them was right after all. By the time they got there another 10 minutes had passed but he got into our unit and unlatched the sliding glass door. I rushed to the bathroom and Ainsley crawled out. Arggh! She had taken a poop. And wiped herself. I'd forgotten the tub was close to the toilet so she was able to use it to get herself on and off the toilet. I was really mad. She cried. But also I was proud of her in a weird way (If only she hadn't locked me out.) I think it may be time to install handicap rails in the bathroom.

 

About a minute later Steve walked in with Evie and Adrian.

 

Evie and Adrian blew bubbles while we packed up to leave.

On our way out of town we stopped for dinner at the Lakeview Drive In.

They added some nice seating to enjoy the lake view by.

Ainsley enjoyed a few fries.

 I like a road trip at night. The kids asleep in the car while Steve and I talk. The moon was huge, yellow and low to the earth.

We had a great time but I was glad to be on our way home. Adrian's birthday was the next day and we had BIG PLANS. I'd been having a hard time keeping it a secret all week.

 

We also had a photomotion shoot with BlueLily Photography. We haven't got our pictures from them but when we do you can be sure I'll post them.