Tag Archives: Mama Kat

Personal, Travel

Father’s Day on the Cape

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As has become tradition over the last couple of summers, Dad flies in to whatever city where the kids and I happen to be on our road trip.  This year I planned it so that he’d join us on Cape Cod, where I grew up.  I also know that it’s one of his favorite places.  This is an excerpt form my Road Warrior Momma blog, which chronicled our Father’s Day weekend celebration.

Day 17 – Day 19

June 13-15th, 2014

Quincy, MA – Dennis Port, MA

It was raining when we woke up this morning, which of course was a huge disappointment.  R. had some work to do in the morning, so our late departures look to be continuing.  We crossed the Bourne Bridge, to Cape Cod, at noon.  I’m telling you, once I cross that bridge, something happens to me and I completely relax (of course have a wingman may be a big part of it this year).  We were supposed to meet Leslie (family friend) for lunch, but our plans changed to dinner because her conference was rescheduled, so we were on our own.  We decided to explore the north shore a little, something we’d never done before.  It’s very quiet, compared to the south shore, but lovely.  We had a nice lunch overlooking a marsh in North Dennis.

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Travel

The Raging Rapids

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So far, our summer is turning out to be so much fun and we’ve just completed the first week of our annual family road trip.  One highlight was the day we spent at Kennywood, an amusement park in the Pittsburgh area.  I have never taken the kids to such a venue without their dad (I have four kids, so I would be way outnumbered), but my friend Patty talked me into it.  I’m so glad she did, because we had a great day.

The kids were all dressed in bathing suits, because they were warned by their Pittsburgh Pals that they may get wet on some of the water rides.  I didn’t wear a bathing suit, as I didn’t plan to go on any of those rides.  As we approach a ride called the Raging Rapids, the kids were giddy with excitement – it was palpable.  I wanted to get in on some of their joy and seriously considered joining them on the rapids.  Patty declared that she was not interested – and made a comment about the good chances of getting soaked on this particular one.  I started to change my mind when my daughter said, “I dare you.”

In February I started a year-long project to do something new every day (or something I haven’t done since I was a kids) – the I Dare Allie Project.  My inspiration was the book I Dare Me, by LuAnn Cahn.  Audrey is well aware of the project, so she dangled that carrot in front of my face.  She had me.

I got on the huge inner tube with my daughter and Patty’s two girl’s.  All three were in swimsuits and I mused out loud that I would be the one to get soaked, since I was in street clothes.  Totally jinxed myself – because I got drenched.  And guess what?  Patty was standing on the bridge and captured it all on film!

 

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I’m in the red visor.

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Although I had a spare t-shirt, I had to buy a pair of shorts in the gift shop – with “Kennywood” printed on the bottom!  I’ve sunk to a new low, all in my quest to be a cool mom on the road trip.  Just call me Brittney!

This post was inspired by the word “dare,” for Mama Kat’s World’s Greatest Writing Workshop.

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When was the last time you were on a water ride?  What was your last dare?

Autism, Cool Stuff, Gratitude

The Sweet Olympics

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When my special needs son was in kindergarten, I learned that his autism class would be participating in the Special Olympics.  I’m going to be blunt – that freaked me out big time.  I was still coming to terms with the fact that he hadn’t made it to the “mainstream” by kindergarten, which at the time was the end-all-be-all in our world.  We were convinced that if we did all the work and therapy humanly possible during the preschool years, he’d be ready for school.  I never really considered an alternative route, but there he was, in a self-contained special education classroom.   I was still processing my denial, so the timing wasn’t great for someone to suggest that he compete in the Special Olympics.  Yeah, I wasn’t happy. Continue reading The Sweet Olympics →