Sadly summer is coming to an end, it seems the older I get the faster it seems to come and go.
my boy has had his best year yet, from last winter till now, he as been sick very little, wich means alot less hostpital stays, even during the hottest of days, my boy does not tolerate heat very well, it has in fact landed him in hostpital in past summers, though he still does not like the heat, and humidity and him are like enemies, he still made it through a winner!
So, in our goals to keep life as normal for all my kids, the best we can, this summer we went camping!,
Im not a stranger to camping, I spent te first 23 years of my life camping, at the same place with the same friends and family, doing some fun things (some not so great at such a young age, but fun anyway) but those camping days were much different, all I ever worried about was packing a bathing suit and a cooler of beer.
well, when you have kids, things are a little different, especially the BATHINGSUIT!
so 3 kids, a wheelchair, suction machine and camping? ....why not?
We ended up buying a tent trailor, then we bought another one, reolizing the first one was going to be a bit too small, why a tent trailor I have no idea! it seemed like a good idea at the time,
our first camping trip was good, but as Ive come to reolize in life, theres not so many places wheelchair friendly, so its just up to me, to make them wheelchair friendly, not that you won't catch me uttering not so nice words time to time,
we did need to get a campsite with water and hydro, alot of my sons equiptment including a few of his medications are given through nebulizer, so we need hydro and water to rinse things out and to do a quiclk wipe clean, seriously 3 KIDS!
my kids loved it! everyting about it, playing in the sand, swiming at the beach and the camp fire, im a very responsible mom, but one thing you can know about me is, just cause I have a boy with special needs, life doesn't have to stop and I can still have fun! SO, maybe the bathingsuit changed a little, but the cooler of beer didn't, its ok to sit around the fire have a beer or 15, and if I stumble on my words rest assured im always in "Johnathon mode" I will always without doubt be able to take care of him, without missing a beat!
our second trip was even better, family came wit us wit their 3 kids, so altogether we had 6 kids, but we also had 8 sets of eyes, there was always help when someone needed it, we shared everything and our sites were combined and things seemed more accessable, we spent more time at te beach, my 7yr old daughter grabbed the whole attention of the beach by her determination to jump off the diving board into the lake, and after 45 minutes she jumped!! and everyone applauded her! but she did not jump again, still I was very proud:))
later they the kids (my boy not included) got to go on a hay ride, there was a corn roast with dancing and just plain fun!
the only thing, my boy has allergies to almost everything out doors,and the next morning they seemed to act up a little more then normal, but I brought my good friend benadryl and the back up police, ventolin! worked well, he was good to go, just in a sleep motion.
so point of story, camping can be done, and if you feel like a beer at 10:00 a.m. in te morning its ok, your camping, everyones doing it,
ok so the real point of the story, camping can be done with my boy with special needs, wheelchair at times was difficult to get around, but I had help and we managed just fine, though I'm looking for a bigger trailor, a regular trailor, the tent trailr is just to much to pack and unpack, and try as I may, it just was not wheelchair friendly, but....
I will go camping again!
