Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Snapshots from Hawaii 2012, part II.

Continued from yesterday. Pictures from our Spring Break in Hawaii last month

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Vivian and Robert build a sand castle

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Robert, Vivian and me on the beach

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Day trip to Lahaina. Vivian did NOT want to get out of the car. She fussed at me, "I don't like 'Hawaina'!"

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I finally coaxed Vivian out of the car. You can see she's still not particularly happy about it

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Eventually we got Vivian into Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch. She liked the view from her seat

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Lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise

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Annual picture by the beautiful banyan tree in Lahaina. See this post for pictures from past years

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Dots's collection of wristbands from the hotel

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Dots relaxes on our lanai

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Robert drove us out to where he runs in Hawaii. This is all volcanic rock - it looks a lot like a moonscape

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We couldn't figure out what was cultural about this site!

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This view almost makes me want to take up running - ha ha

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The girls sleep well after a day in the sun

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Vivian by the koi pond. I put this shirt on her today and reminded her that we bought it in Hawaii. She said, "Thank you, Hawaii!"

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Snapshots from Hawaii 2012, part I.

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Robert, Vivian, Dots and I spent Spring Break in Hawaii last month. We had a wonderful relaxing time, and Vivian did great! Here are a few pictures from our trip.

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Arriving at the Grand Wailea. Vivian wanted no part of her lei!

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Our room wasn't quite ready so we headed down to the pool for Oreo smoothies

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Vivian called the pineapple cup a "porcupine"

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Vivian's favorite thing to do in Hawaii was to feed the fish in the koi pond

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She attracted crowds of people and fish!

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Vivian was reluctant to get in the water every day, but she enjoyed it more and more as the week went on

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Vivian and Robert on the slide

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Dots and her friends had a great time hanging out at the pool

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Vivian relaxes with "Sarah" and her "porcupine" milkshake after her swim

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Afternoon happy hour - MY favorite part about Hawaii!

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Dots and friends at happy hour

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Vivian tolerates happy hour if she can sit away from the group and watch her movie (likely "Dumbo")

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I think this view looks like
The Truman Show!

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Sunset

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Dots and me before dinner

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Our hotel (the Grand Wailea) at night

to be continued...

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Vivian unchecked.

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Lots to catch up on here! I am working on posts to share pictures from our Spring Break in Hawaii and Easter. But for now I thought I'd relay a Vivian story.

Vivian has been doing REALLY well lately. She has been so sweet and compliant. I've been able to take her to the grocery store with me, and we've even eaten out on a couple of occasions without incident!

Yesterday morning at school, however, Vivian was not cooperative. She melted down on the floor, refused to sit in her seat, balked at working, etc. Her saint-of-an-aide, Mrs. Kemp, called me to see if Vivian had had a seizure or anything during the night because her behavior was so out of whack. I told Mrs. Kemp that we had not seen a seizure but that one was likely imminent (there is usually a correlation with Vivian between agitated, aggressive behavior and seizure activity). After I attempted unsuccessfully to convince Vivian over the phone to be sweet, Mrs. Kemp assured me they could handle the situation and I hung up.

Later in the day I texted Mrs. Kemp to see how Vivian was doing.

She responded, "Absolutely wonderful! Complying with everything. After I got off the phone with you, I had Vivian start taking checkmarks off her schedule. Vivian lost one check for going to the floor and another for not going to clean the tables in the cafeteria. After Vivian realized she had only one left (which she needed in order to be rewarded with typing time on the computer after PE), she said, 'I want all my checkmarks back.' I told her, 'Sorry, Vivi, you lost them.' She made a little whimper sound, but after that she walked nicely to the gym and completed all her tasks, earned typing and continued to work all during 3rd period and didn't want to take a break."

Go figure!