Oh, hi! I see you found our "vacation home." Well, don't just stand there, come on in and make yourself at home. You're the reason we bought extra timeshare points. We wanted to have extra rooms and units to share with our friends and family. I know there are people who don't like timeshares, but we love ours. It was the perfect solution to what had become nightmare vacations. As you know, it is difficult taking an autistic child out of their regular environment. Here sit down and make yourself comfortable while I tell you some stories of previous vacations...the ones BTS (before timeshare).
Our very first vacation with Jonathan was a road trip through Pennsylvania. Jonathan was a little over three months old. Scott planned the vacation. We'd only been married a year, so I didn't yet realize how polarized our ideas of vacations were. (If you are trying to do the math, Jonathan was a honeymoon present and born premature. Scouts honor.)
We started off in York at the annual Mid-Atlantic Military Ministry retreat for the Navigators. (Boy, that was a mouth full.) For my new friends,
The Navigators is an international ministry which has spent over 75 years one person coming alongside another person "to know Christ and to make Him Known" (Their motto). Scott got involved with them when he was a plebe at the United States Naval Academy in the late 70s and early 80s. He's been "associated" with them since.
Back then, Navigator staff, associates and their families would gather at a Holiday Inn in York for a weekend. This was the central location for staff coming up from Virginia, down from West Point and over from Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. It was a great time of encouraging others, being encouraged and catching up on relationships which spanned decades.
Scott schedule the family to stay at the Holiday Inn a few extra days after the retreat so we could spend a day at Gettysburg, a day at Hershey Park and another day in Lancaster. The only thing I remember about Gettysburg is what should have been a two hour guided tour through the park turned into a five hour tour. We checked out a cassette tape and began driving around. I was breastfeeding Jonathan, who was eating every two hours and taking 20 minutes to feed. We had to pull over twice during the tour to feed Jonathan.
All I remember about Hershey Park was it was miserably hot. It was impossible to find privacy for nursing. Scott and Jonathan left me and Jonathan alone as they went on rides (which I guess is okay because I don't really like amusement park rides). I finally found an air conditioned tent and stayed there most of the day. Scott and Josh would come check on me.
I really liked our trip into Lancaster. A Mennonite group had reconstructed the tabernacle the Israelites carried around with them for 40 years in the desert. It was amazing to have a visual of something I'd only read about. Since the trip to Lancaster from York wasn't long and the visit to the Tabernacle wasn't long, I don't recall anything to do with Jonathan and feeding him.
Next we drove to Philadelphia. We spent one day in the old part of the city seeing the Liberty Bell and Ben Franklin's museum. It was a dream come true...to see the Liberty Bell. The next day we got up early and drove through Valley Forge before heading back home.
What I remember most about that day was the moment we hit to bottom of the bridge which spans the Chesapeake Bay Jonathan started screaming inconsolably. We were about 90 minutes from home. Josh was about eight years old at the time. He begged us to make Jonathan stop. Then after awhile Joshua started crying too. About twenty minutes from home, we were in pretty bad shape. Scott pulled over at one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. It was a Chinese Mongolian buffet. Jonathan is still screaming. And everyone in the restaurant let us know they weren't too happy with us. So I took Jonathan outside in the parking lot while Scott ate. Then he came out to hold the miserable Jonathan while I went in to eat. Then we loaded up the car for the last twenty minutes home.
I don't recall how long it took to settle Jonathan down that night. I just remember for a month after, he'd scream as I tried to put him in his car seat. It was if he was saying, "Oh, no! I remember this. I was trapped in here for a week. I'm not going back without a fight!"
Then were was the year Scott drove the family out to Green Bay, Wisconsin to see the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame, Lambeau Field and eat at Brett Favre's Steakhouse. That was a two day drive out and a two day drive back. I think that vacation also began with the Navigator annual weekend retreat. Three days in Pennsylvania, one day in Ohio to drop off Scott's nephew (who had been staying with us), another day to Germantown to stop by and see his Aunt, cousin, Mom, Dad and grandmother. Then a day in Green Bay. A day in Indiana at his parents' house, even thought they were gone for their annual fishing trip in Canada. Then another evening in Ohio and then back home...all in nine or ten days. I planned to visit Longerberger Basket Village while we were in Ohio, but I was exhausted and opted to hang out at the hotel. About an hour out from home Jonathan started screaming in his car seat.
When we go see Scott's parents in Indiana, we've been taking two days to drive out and two days to drive back. Scott's parents are very active in their church and their friend all "adopted" us as their own, even though we hardly met them. Sow his parents like us to come to church to meet all the people who've supported us over the years. Jonathan was miserable in the church. I don't know if it is a hundred years old, but it has the style. The pipe organ up front, the high ceilings, the balcony seating, and the wooden benches all make for a sensory nightmare for Jonathan. After a couple of years of having to take him out of the sanctuary, Scott and I decided we weren't going to take Jonathan to unfamiliar churches any more.
I could share more stories. But I'm sure you are getting the point. Everyone was miserable by the time we got home from vacations because Jonathan was miserable. Of course, we didn't understand until we received his diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. Then we were able to look back over these misadventures and do "an autopsy without blame" (as my husband would say).His anxieties ran high because he never knew what to expect. He didn't like not knowing where he was going, how long he'd be in the car, being in unfamiliar surroundings, eating different foods, etc.
I also started rebelling against my husband's idea of a vacation. I grew up vacationing in the family trailer. My parents had a "timeshare" type ownership in campgrounds all over the United States. We traveled across the U.S. twice (because of a change in military bases) staying in these campgrounds. We had the benefit of being close to national parks, museums, amusement parks and historical sites, but also were able to hang out and relax in the camp. I wanted our family to be able to go to one place and stay the entire vacation. I wanted to sleep in. I wanted to hang out at a pool and read a book. I wanted to attend socials with other vacationers.
So when the timeshare company invited us to listen to their sales pitch, we were ready. We weren't a hard sell. We had been talking for awhile about the things we wanted to be able to satisfy all our desires and needs. We wanted to be able to go to properties less than a day's travel. We wanted these properties to be around amusement parks, national parks, museums, historic sites, etc. (Scott wants to experience new things.) We wanted familiarity for Jonathan. These units are basically the same. Each property offers basically the same things (indoor and outdoor pools, arcades, children's activities). We wanted to set up some family vacation traditions, like we experienced during a day at our friends' vacation. We wanted to create memories.
The very first time we headed out to one of the timeshare properties, we had driven out of the neighborhood and got to the first traffic light. "I want to go home." Jonathan announced. I said, "We are going home. We are going to our vacation home." So ever since that day, we refer to these trips as our "vacation home."
During the last six years we've created a tradition of staying in Williamsburg, VA for Spring Break and Halloween. We "open" and "close" Busch Gardens amusement park. We spend a week around Christmas at Atlantic City. The kids love the indoor pool there and their staff have the best children's activities from all the different places we've stayed. We also go out to eat one night at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Well, I know you're tired after a long day of work and travel. So please find your room and call it a night. We'll get up leisurely in the morning and have breakfast. I hope you don't mind, I only brought cereal and fruit. I'm sure Scott brought coffee (I don't drink it, so I forget to pack it.). Tomorrow I'll show you around the place. Right now the forecast is calling for thunderstorms, so we might have to put off the amusement park tomorrow. We'll see. Hope you sleep well. Thanks again for coming to share this long weekend with us.
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