One week down, one to go!

What is this countdown for, you ask? Brian had his first week of training in Menlo Park this week! We actually survived okay this week. The kids were really good about him being gone, even Adam, whom I was really worried about. We kept things simple, didn't do much outside of school and coming home, except for tonight when I took the kids to McDonalds to eat and play at the Play Place (it went really well, low stress:)). I fear next week might be rougher because they will have Dad back for the weekend and then he'll be gone again, might start to get a bit old. Hopefully it's better than I'm picturing!

I took Adam to the Seattle Children's Autism Center for a consult with a behavior "expert" so to speak (he's a Psychologist, is a BCBA and has a PhD in something, so I would classify him as an expert in something at least!!). We were looking for some advice on how to deal with Adam's rants and high anxiety, and I found the appointment quite helpful. As an added bonus, he was able to witness the exact behavior that I had been trying to explain to him, so he has a pretty good idea of what I was talking about:-S. They are going to get him in for 10 visits when a spot opens up (will probably be a few months) so I am hoping that will give us some extra tools to deal with some of the stress we see from him fairly regularly. Right now we are just trying to talk him through his episodes, but we are only human. I can only reassure him that, "yes, I have to cough sometimes" and "yes, Adam, we are going to sleep in the new house" so many times before my answers start getting more tense and impatient:-/.

In two weeks we will be basking in the Honolulu sun! Or possibly the rain, apparently it does rain in Honolulu in the winter sometimes. It would be warm rain, though. Hoping for the sun. Anyway, starting to get a bit excited!! Trying to figure out what we want to do while we're there, it will be so different than any other vacation we've ever done. We are meeting Brian's parents and his Aunt there, so it will be a different dynamic than we are used to on vacation. It will be so nice to be able to do a few things on our own, just Brian and I! I definitely want to do a luau with Brian, and I will go with Brian's parents to Pearl Harbor. I think we'll visit the Dole Plantation with the kids, and of course, tons of beach time! We bought one adult set of snorkeling gear and one set for Lynsey, so there will be some of that, too:). I have been doing lots of Amazon shopping trying to get everything we will need for our trip as well as finishing up the Christmas shopping. I would be so lost without Amazon!

We put up our tree and Christmas train the day after Thanksgiving, and I will wrap the presents this weekend. We'll do our main gift exchange next weekend and just take some stocking stuffers to open on Christmas while we're on vacation. Hard to believe it's almost Christmas!