Pumpkinville

October 21, 2010

Pumpkinville

Oliver's class had a field trip to Pumpkinville today. I was able to go along for the morning - my first chaperone experience. So many moms were there, that I was able to stick with Oliver and explore. We saw some very friendly animals, Oli rode a pony, went down a big slide, wandered through a hay bale maze and took a tractor ride. I was also able to meet some of the other moms, which was wonderful.

Oliver's teacher helped the kids make these jack-o-lantern tees for the trip. I thought it was such a creative and adorable idea.

Comments

Joanne Huff said…

Hi Shannon,

What a wonderful day this looks like it must have been! I especially love the photo of you walking with Oliver on the horse. And the T-shirts are just adorable!!! Even the photo of Oliver on the verge of tears eventually made me smile, as I found I was making the same expression that he was as I looked at it. I'm so glad it was a great day, Joanne

October 21, 2010 at 7:23 PM

Jenkins said…

Oh so sweet!
The picture of him about to cry is so precious!

October 25, 2010 at 10:37 AM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.