Wonderland

A couple of weeks ago we went to Wonderland, a little mini amusement park, in Amarillo.  Luke's school did a fundraiser where they sold tickets so I bought enough for all of us to go when I could get them at a discount.  It was so much fun!  I was nervous that Luke would refuse to go on anything and we would last about 25 minutes before Luke demanded that we had to leave.  But both the boys loved it!  Their first ride was the kiddie cars, and Luke tried to hide from the noise.  

See Luke covering his ears?

After that ride, Luke asked for his headphones.  He was scared of the train's whistle and the park was pretty loud with roller coasters whooshing by and people screaming.  But once he got his headphones on he was totally cool!  We rode the train next.

On the train:

The ski lift just went from one side of the park to the other and then back again.

I'm not sure why, but I LOVED this ride.

Then we went on the log ride.  This ride went up and then fell down a waterfall.  It was Luke's idea to go on it.  I wasn't sure how it would go but we decided to let him try.  This is how it went: BADLY.  Luke hates to get his clothes wet, and the bottom of the log was covered in several inches of water.  His feet got wet.  And then once he realized we were going down a big slide, he freaked out.  Even though he had asked to go on the big water slide.  He screamed from the top of the slide until about 5 minutes after we got out of the boat.  But he recovered.  I pulled out his spare socks and he went into the arcade to stare at some ceiling fans for a little bit.  Micah was totally unphased by the plummet and went with Jared to drive the bumper cars.

Looking at the fan

Micah could have driven cars all night!

He wouldn't even look at as, he was so intent on driving!

CLASSIC MICAH!

Micah loved the bumper cars.

Luke did not!

We were there for about 3 hours and could have stayed longer if it wasn't already way past bedtime.  So fun!  Glad that Amber and Trevor could join us!

New Haunts

Over the last few months we've adopted a few new haunts.  Luckily Luke and Micah were able to share them with Aunt Amber.  

First, we have the "inside playground."  This fun little playground is located inside Paramount Baptist's Church activity center.  Air conditioned, safe, and free to the public-- this is one of our favorite places to go on windy, rainy, too cold, or too hot days.  This means we go here at least once a week.  On this particular visit we were joined by Emery and her boys.

Our second new haunt is the Discovery Center (again):

I count this as a new haunt because in the past the boys spent almost all of their time at "the museum" on the left side; recently they've switched their attention to the right.  That makes it almost new, right?

Not a big fan of the roaring dinosaur.  This is the real reason why they've been avoiding the left side of the Discovery Center.

And Third--

 the Splash Pad:

This might be my favorite new place.  Nozomi invited us to go with Luke H.  We were glad to follow along!  The boys loved it.  Actually, Luke loved it.

He especially loved pushing the button to turn the water back on.

In my last post I brought up how well Luke does with hair cuts now.  He has really progressed so far in handling his sensory issues.  Not very long ago Luke couldn't cope with getting wet.  He especially hated water on his head.  Splash pads were a no go.  He froze in rain.  Literally he froze.  He wouldn't walk-- wouldn't move at all.  He would stand in one place and scream.  I used to have to wrap him in towels to carry him to the bus on rainy mornings because he could not stand being wet.  To tell the truth, he still gets upset about rain.  And he has to change his clothes when he's done with the splash pad.  He can't switch and play on the swings in his wet clothes.  So the problem hasn't completely gone away.  But this-- where we are now-- is SO much better than where we were a short time ago.  I look at these pictures of him running through the water, chasing his friend, and I get teary-eyed.  I compare these pictures with the images in my memory of my three year old Luke paralyzed by water, and I realize that I am witnessing a miracle.  Thank you, God, for the gift of this day.  For the gift of this experience.  For the gift of this son.

And for this beautiful son too!

You probably wondered where Micah was in all of the above pictures.  Here's your answer.  He was sitting on a towel eating a snack.  Micah is not a fan of water on his head.  But I have big hopes for him.  I am willing to bet that by next year I will have dozens of pictures of Micah running through the water, and I will have the chance yet again to witness a miracle.  In the meantime my little tyke and I enjoyed the swings together.  He probably sang "The wheels on the bus" at least 30 times while I pushed him and pushed him on the swings.  And I reveled in my Micah miracle that day as well.  I heard his sweet voice sing and sing.  Thank you God, that my son has a voice.  That he has words.  That my son is so happy.  

Thank you, thank you.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day, Amber and Trevor went down to Lubbock to visit Trevor's brother and his family.  So it was just the Wilkerson crew hanging out in Amarillo.  Due to big snow storms in February Memorial Day was a school make up day.  But once Luke got out of school we went to the zoo and the playground at Thompson park.  

We finished up the day with a haircut for Luke-- at HIS request.  

Haircuts for Luke!  Now this is one thing where we can definitely log progress.  He used to scream hysterically when we cut his hair.  One person buzzed his head all the same length while the other one held him (basically that person's job was to pin him down,) and we all just prayed to get it over with as quickly as possible.  Now Luke is a pro at getting his haircut.  He demands to be the one to turn the clippers on and off, and he frequently wants to use the blow dryer to blow off the hair that falls on his body.  But he sits in his chair tantrum free, and ASKS for haircuts.  Wow!

Amber's Birthday

I am really far behind on our blog.  This is mostly because I was too lazy to download pictures from the camera onto my computer.  That isn't a very good excuse.  But I finally downloaded today, and here's  post #1 in my catch up series.

After two long weeks being separated from Trevor, Amber finally made it to Amarillo ON HER BIRTHDAY-- May 26.  Since she is still feeling somewhat yucky lots of days (She's pregnant.) I called ahead to find out if she had any safe foods.  Answer: french toast.  So that's what we had for dinner along with fruit smoothies and cake for dessert.  Not the lowest calorie meal by any means.  But very delicious.  She got a book and a movie from Trevor and tickets to Wonderland-- to be used at a later date-- from our family.  While I can pretend that hanging out with me was the highlight of her birthday I'm pretty sure that she was more excited to see her hubby again.

Funfetti cake!

Luke had a G/F muffin with frosting.

Don't ask about the face he is making.

Micah just had frosting.

Lots and LOTS of frosting.