New Jersey trip 2011

Sometime in May, Jason started saying to us that he wanted to go to NJ, because there was no homework or swim practice there.  He had just started practicing with Special Olympics, while continuing to practice with Sunrise Swimming.  So he was swimming six days a week, plus his regular school work.  We told him that it was impossible to go, which he didn't like, but he accepted it to a certain degree.  I say to a certain degree because he never missed an opportunity to mention going up.  Finally, I said to Arlene, let's do it.  Her answer was that I was crazier than he was.  I talked to her about it some more, crunched some numbers, and managed to convince her.  We decided to go up for a week in early August.  We then decided not to tell anyone, and make it a surprise visit.  That meant not telling Jason either, because we were afraid he would slip up.

So school ends, and we start getting visitors from NJ from Arlene's family.  Good times were had, with the occasional comment about how nice it would be for us to go up.  Arlene and I would always say that we couldn't go.  The summer kept rolling on, Jason swimming hard and often.  Meanwhile, we're quietly getting things organized for the trip.  Stuff like getting the car ready, prepping entertainment for him on the road, etc.  Jason had never been on a road trip this long before.  His previous road trips were to Tampa and Orlando.  We had some uncertainty about how he was going to react after a certain amount of hours.

Finally, it's the night before we leave.  Everything is ready and now we tell him where we're going.  At first, he is ecstatic.  Then we tell him that we're not flying, but driving.  He made it very clear that driving was too long and he wanted to fly.  I told him, we don't have the money to fly, so it's driving or no trip.  Needless to say, he quickly decided that driving was acceptable.  I am happy to report, though, that he handled the trip like a champion.  Thanks to his portable DVD player, his iPod and the hand-me-down iPad from his Tio Pepe, he barely spoke a word to us on the road.  He played games, watched movies and cartoons, listened to music and just generally had a good time before we even got to NJ.

When we arrived, it was a LOT of fun for all three of us to see the looks on everyone's faces.  It was also fun calling Arlene's mom and my parents to tell them where we were.  My dad didn't believe us at first, and remained skeptical the next day, until I took a picture of Jason in front of the house and sent it to him.  We got several calls from them while on the road, always covering our tracks.  We wouldn't even let Jason get on the phone, for fear of slipping up. 

The trip was great for all of us.  We stayed at Arlene's sister Solangel's house, with her brother-in-law Pepe and nephew Alex.  We spent a lot of time with them, as well as our future niece Ashley, niece Mimi, her husband Ian and grandniece Ava.  (Yes, I have a grandniece, but I'm not old yet)  We went to the Teardrop Memorial in Bayonne, took Jason to a Lego store and gave him his first taste of White Castle and Smashburger.  Jason and I took one day to visit our old hometown of West New York, NJ.  We were at Weehawken Cemetary to see my grandparents and my childhood friend Cary.  We hung out for a while with one of my best friends, Alan.  We visited my old house, as well as Arlene's old house.  We walked around Bergenline Avenue, checking out the shops, including a visit to A & S Comics in North Bergen, where I used to buy my comics as a kid.  I also visited my cousins Arecia and Margaret at their shop, Arecia's Creations.  The three of us had dinner one night with another one of my best friends, Lorenzo and his wife Raquel and their two kids, Wally and Laura.  After dinner, we went to an Italian festival one of the churches in Jersey City was having.  Wally won a stuffed animal at one of the games and promptly gave it to Jason.  Jason won one himself, and said he was going to give one to Ava and bring the other one back to Florida for our nephew Daniel.  We had dinner another night with our cousin Juan and his wife Agi and their son George.  Afterwards, we went back to the house and talked and played games the rest of the night. Arlene even got to do some wedding dress shopping with Ashley.

The trip back was bittersweet, because the week seemed to fly by before we knew it.  I stole some pictures from Ashley, Alex, Mimi and Pepe for my photo album, which does have a few of my own pictures.  The link to the pics is New Jersey 2011.  I would have taken more of my own pictures, but I was having so much fun that I forgot half the time to do it.  All in all, Jason came home very happy and ready to tackle swimming again.  He also went back to school with a much better attitude than how he normally starts the school year.  Maybe we need to do this kind of trip every year. ;0)

Autism videos

Here are two videos I had to share.  One is a short two minute animated film and the other is about a girl named Carly.  Please let me know what you think of them.

Autism friendly businesses, part 4

Here is a website Arlene has purchased from many times.  The owner is a mother, whose son was diagnosed 8 years ago.  She has everything from t-shirts, car decals, jewelry, tote bags, just a whole lot of stuff.  Here's the website: I Love A Child With Autism.  The merchandise is great and it helps support a family who is going through the trials and tribulations of having a loved one with autism.  Their business card is below.

Autism friendly businesses, part 3

During our surprise trip to New Jersey (more on that in a separate post), I took Jason to White Castle, knowing he would at least like the French fries and vanilla shakes.  To my surprise, White Castle had a promotion going on (don't know if it still is or isn't going on) where you could donate $1 to Autism Speaks.  I ate at White Castle twice while I was up there, and donated both times.  What made me even happier, was seeing the walls of the restaurant FULL of people making donations.  (They had a paper puzzle piece that you wrote your name on and put it up on the wall of the restaurant)  Anyone that has a White Castle nearby, stop in and help the cause.  Here's their website with a store locator: White Castle

To continue the restaurant theme, here in South Florida, Jason really enjoys going to Cannoli Kitchen.  It's a combination pizzeria/restaurant with a drive-thru.  Everyone there knows Jason VERY well and don't even ask what he's eating anymore.  They are very patient with his eccentricities.  The food is great and we use our trips there as an incentive for Jason to behave himself at swimming and school.  Their link is here: Cannoli Kitchen.  Here's the business card from the one we go to.

Superman related items stolen from mentally disabled man in St. Louis

Sometimes things really get me where it hurts.  Here's a guy who just wanted a little friendship and shows it to someone who ends up robbing him of most of his cherished Superman collection.  Read the article for yourself: Superman items stolen.  I feel horrible for this guy.

Autism friendly businesses, part 2

During one of Jason's Special Olympics swim practices, we met a wonderful lady named Kerri Gordon, who was selling something rather unique.  She had homemade autism pins that she was selling for $5 each, benefiting the Dan Marino Foundation.  The uniqueness of the pins is that they are different colors, with special things attached to them.  For example, I got a New York Yankees pin, which is made up of a white puzzle piece with a navy blue star over it (the Yankees colors) with a little baseball on top of that.  I also got a Miami Hurricanes pin, which was a green puzzle piece with an orange star (the Hurricanes colors) with a little football on top.  There's pins with flowers, fire trucks, seashells, the works.  They're really well done and benefit an important autism organization.  You can find their Facebook page here: Facebook page for Puzzlepin.com.  They're working on an actual web page for the pins, but please go to the Facebook page and check out the pictures of the different pins.  Pins include American flags, police cars, babies (blue or pink), just really cool stuff.

Now, Kerri has a very personal reason for working so diligently on these pins: her son also has autism.  Kerri also has her own business, doing event planning, catering, gift baskets and more.  Below are pictures of her business card.

It's always good to support businesses that are friendly to autistic customers, but it's also important to support businesses that are owned by families coping with autism.  If you know of any business that is "autism friendly", please pass it on so I can showcase them on here.