Back from the lake...

Long time, no post. This summer has been pretty busy. However, our daily schedule doesn't change much during the summer months. Lowell's St. David's treatment stays the same and Chloe's not in pre-school yet. We did take our annual summer family trip "up north". My sister and her kids were in town from San Diego for over 2 weeks and for one week of that we went up to Thunder Lake Lodge. We never quite know how the week is going to go, but we're willing to give it a try to have some nice family time together. I just read through last years post after we returned from the same place. Very similar experiences we had a year later. Lowell surprised us with his enjoyment of shuffleboard (above) and his love of taking boat rides out on the lake. He also really enjoyed the beach and the playground. A couple of days we took him on a boat ride and he fell asleep he was so relaxed. There were also some very trying times. His obsessions were in full swing in our cabin, since there were 6 fans for him to plug and unplug endlessly. He definitely was outside his comfort zone and tried to soothe his anxiety through obsessive means. That got old real quick.
He's definitely still making progress this summer. After we came back and he was back in treatment, the teachers were amazed at how much his language has taken off. We've noticed a lot more spontaneously requesting things. The flip side of this has been some very intense tantrums. There's always the ups and the downs. We just need to remember to celebrate getting through a week away from home and can be thankful that we're able to do those types of things as a family. As difficult as it was at times and we just wanted to throw in the towel and go home, we try to remember that these experiences help us all. This is our life.