Friday, October 14, 2011

Camping Trip to the Ocean




Our family recently returned to the community of campers with our purchase of a travel trailer. In my opinion, that is the only way to camp, especially with little ones who have special needs. We are able to go away from home and still have some level of sameness and predictability. It's already stressful enough traveling with children who NEED routine so it is nice that we are able to bring our own food and sleep in our own trailer every time we travel. Besides, when (not if) the kids have a meltdown we can close ourselves in our relatively soundproof trailer and watch a familiar DVD. The car ride is a little tricky as towing the trailer puts added stress on our van so we can't use the air conditioner, one of our children has anxiety when driving on the freeway, and a few of our children experience motion sickness on curvy roads. 







Our solution is to leave early in the morning when it is still cool and some of the children will sleep. When all else fails, we distract the children with the iPad, scenery outside the car, or treats. We discovered the Seabands for motion sickness and they work wonderfully without having to use medication.



Everyone in our family loves visiting the ocean and what better way to wrap up our homeschooling unit on the ocean than to visit one.  (This was a very private beach and we were the only ones there most of the time.)






The kids were able enjoy the full sensory experience of the ocean: the smell of the moist salty air; the calming rhythmic sounds of the waves; the feel of the wind and sun against your face and the sand in your toes (some of our children prefer to wear shoes and socks on the beach and that's ok too); the taste of eating a picnic lunch at the beach with a little sand mixed in; and the sights of sandcastles, driftwood, and sea life. We were very fortunate to see dolphins and seals jumping and swimming through the water.






Even though our children experience the world differently, and sometimes the world IS a bit scary, we still want them to have the opportunity of different experiences.  And we will be there right beside them.



Mommy & Johnathan



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