Adventures of the Upside Down Girl -- Next Generation

It occurred to me some time ago that I see the world differently from most people. I was told that it was because I was born in Australia and I'm therefore upside down. Well, it turns out that there is actually a more rational explanation than that: Asperger's Syndrome.

Some of you know that Peter's 2nd Grade experience was not good. After fighting w/ the school for most of last year, several NCSD employees suggested that Peter might have high-functioning autism. I knew that we had to get that checked out, or else the school district could use it as an excuse. Well, much to my surprise, once I started looking into it in great detail, I recognized Peter AND I recognized myself. (Aspergers and High-Functioning Autism are very similar.) The Dr confirmed the diagnosis today. The good thing is that now we can be more aware of what we need to do to help him learn the social, communication, creative writing, interpretation of literature, etc skills he needs. The crappy thing is that now I know that the things I struggle with will always be with me and Peter as well. Sigh! However, I do like a quote made by a successful Asperger lady: "If there weren't people like me in the world, everyone would still be sitting around the campfire socializing." Oh -- one more thing, it does run in families. So, if you are thinking to yourself, "this is just crazy -- Peter is absolutely normal. He does all the stuff I did." -- You probably have it too!

Boston!!!

We made it to Plymouth & saw this replica of the Mayflower. The exhibit was closed, but it was cool to see it. It looks very small compared to the cruise ships we saw in Florida! I would probably have stayed in England.....

Jeremy thinks it was a pirate ship, so I think maybe we'll bring out the eye patches for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Plymouth is approx 30 miles south of Boston. It took us 2 1/2 hours to drive that!!!! Holy smokes! There are a TON of people all over Massachusetts! It's very cute and pretty, but there are people everywhere!

This is Rob enjoying some driving tips from me. When I was in my classes, Beryl was nice enough to give him driving tips in my absence. After all, having Neverlost in the rental car is not enough. All that gal does is recaculate the route and say which way to turn, she totally ignores lanes, speed, smoothness, etc! So last week we had a rental car that barely fit 5. This week I'm in So Cal by myself and they gave me a 7 passenger Highlander. Oh well, that's better than the H3 -- what a joke! The H3 is a total disaster. It's got all the disadvantages of a Suburban w/ the comfort of a Civic!

Rob and Jeremy are imitating the statue in this photo. This is outside the Old North Church where Paul Revere & friends hung the warning lanterns. By the way, Paul Revere looks amazingly like Jack Black -- just in case any casting directors are reading........

The Old North Church still operates as a church, complete with the old funky pews! Each of the pews has a little brass plaque showing the sponser -- lots of historic names there. It also has the first organ in the new world.

We walked along the freedom trail. It's amazing how much of the old Boston survives. The other freaky thing is that there is about twice a much land in Boston now as there was when the colonists started building there. They leveled the hills and used them to fill in the harbor. They also used trash & whatever. The entire airport is on landfill. And a whole bunch of really, really tall buildings. I tried not to think about that as I was sitting in the basement of one of those buildings for 2 days........

This is the mystery retro photo.................shouldn't be too hard, since there weren't that many little boys born close together. I have a prize for the first one to post the right answer!

Chowder, Crab Cakes & Lobster Rolls, Oh My!!!!

We made it to Boston and the Crab Cakes are better than I had imagined possible! Rob & Grandma are sampling Clam Chowder every chance they get. I had a giant, fabulous Lobster Roll in Salem. Yes, THAT Salem!!! Everything is so old! And so close together! And flat!

During the Witch Museum program, Jeremy held on to me for dear life. Then when we left, he said that it wasn't scary at all! I had to download photos today because I've got a gazillion photos of really cute really old houses that Beryl thought were adorable. "Oooh, look over there", "Oh, get a photo of that one!", "Oh, how quaint!" I don't think the plane trip was nearly as bad as she expected, so she just might be getting the travel bug! Maybe 70 is the new 50.