Always rise above.......

This is just some personal ramblings and thoughts I have had lately that I thought I would post. I have been working on a presentation for my weekend class that my group chose the topic of Autism for, not me. I figured well it's easy for me and at this point I am ready for easy so I agreed to it. Well just like the other three projects I have done with this group, I am the only one to do any work. In this process it has made me reread and kind re-experience some past emotions and such. The last few years have been really really hard. Then I heard on the news that some talk show person said some really nasty things about children with Autism and it made me really angry. I ranted to Zach about how it's not the child's fault and how unfair that is to the child. It's not the parents fault and it has taken me all this time to finally come to terms with that.....actually it took a pshycologist telling me. Anyway.....

I couldn't sleep last night and then woke up to another email from a group member that could not remember the topic we chose for our presentation! I wanted to email back and chew her out for dropping the ball for the 4th time! I wanted to post a nasty blog about the talk show person saying mean things about children with autism......then I realized it was my time to rise above.

I am educated now about Autism, not by choice, but by necessity. It is amazing how one word can change a person's life, but I like to think I have risen above it. The path has not been pleasant and has required a lot of work, but I look at Cody now and he is amazing! How a year and half ago he had no words to tell me what he needed, wanted or anything to now telling me "mama go away I do it" is absolutely amazing to me. No nasty blog is going to change what was said by that guy.

And as for my group.......well I am taking classes to truly earn my degree and hopefully continue on the path to helping more children with special needs. I am three classes away! and so what if I did the whole presentation myself. That just gives me the rewards not them. Going to college has been one of my greatest accomplishments and also one of the hardest things I have done. A nasty email back is not going to solve anything.

So today I am rising above the nasty words, above the lack of particiaption from my group. I am not going to be hurt by the words or angry (anymore) at my group members. Like this hot air balloon (that I took a picture of on the way home from Legoland) I am rising above it all!

One of Zach's mini movies

Legoland Recap!

So it took me all morning to get the slide show thingy going therefore I didn't put any explanation. We went to Legoland the second week of July with our friends the Burns family (George, Linda, Mason, Trevan and Kennedy). We had so much fun and even got to stay in the new little resort they just opened the end of June. We went to Legoland last year as well and want to go back one more time before we leave Germany in 2009. It's a fun family park with short lines for rides, expensive food, water areas to play in, and of course Lego City. The entire city is made of legos and has working boats, cars, cranes, crowds and is just a lot of fun to walk around. We had great weather too so that just made the day even better! There's not much else to say except WE LOVE LEGOLAND!

Legoland 2008!

I see firewroks at night time?

We had a great 4th of July this year. It was dry and we got

to see fireworks. Ever since Cody has asked every night "I see fireworks at night time?" we tell him no Cody that was just a special thing. He then replies "Not fair!" and still insists he will see fireworks at night time. When it starts to get dark we know what comes next. Cody comes to one of us and says "We go see fireworks now" We tell him no there are not fireworks to go see. Lately he has become so obssessed that he insistes he is actually seeing fireworks and tries to get us to come to the window to watch with him. It is very entertaining and a nice change from his obsession with the car wash, but I am sure in a few weeks this will get very old!

Trip to Berlin!

The boys and I in front of the Reichstag. The big dome on top was awesome! What was even better was becuase Cody was in a stroller and all we got to bypass the long line and take a side entrance for the elevator! Finally having three kids pays off! The dome was added in the 90's and is open to the public for free. The views of the city are awesome and just well worth the walking!
Checkpoint Charlie is not quite what I expected. There are signs on the side that say "You are leaving the American sector or entering in I think 4 languages. we got there right before several tour busses unlaoded! The building on the right is where the CIA sat and watched the other side and spied. It was neat to see.
I have to look up the name of this. I know it is big and in the middle of traffic circle! You can go up to the top, but this was towards the end of the day so the kids were not too interested in the hike up.
Tyler was leaning down to touch the bricks where the wall was and Cody was looking over. I thought this was a cute picture. Part of the wall is still there, but the rest is marked by this brick path. We followed it for quite a distance when walking back to where we parked.

So if you have read the previous post about our GPS then you may wonder how the heck we nagivated the big city of Berlin! Well for 7,50 euro we bought a really, really good map! Not the quickest way to find things and again doens't tell you road construction and such, but we were able to see just about everything we wanted. Berlin has been tops on our list to visit and I wish we had more days to wander and explore. Unfortanately hotels are not cheap so the nights we did have cost us a lot! Like I said though we were able to hit ever major attraction and even discover some others. We walked everywhere which worried me with the kids, but they did pretty good. It wasn't as spread out as Paris and we had Cody in the stroller. He was funny though. He would get out to walk, go ten feet then say "too tired" and get back in. The picture above is Zach in front of what remains of the wall. On the other side is a very detailed history with pictures and tons of information. Zach said he thinks this was called no mans land or something. I was dealing with Cody not being too happy at this point. The pictures tell a very sad story and you could spend quite a while reading all the information.

We are so glad we were able to get up to Berlin and not only mark it off our list, but take back memories from it. On the way home we took the long way to find more of the Havel river. We came across the town of Havelweck and there is also Havelland which is like a county I think. We stoped along the river and walked for a while. Zach says I am not allowed to do any family history for his side till he is dead. He would like to die thinking he found his roots in Germany! So a great trip, full of surprises and a little tiring, but we are very thankful for the opportunity to go!

Berlin Airlift Anniversary

The first re-enactment of the candy drop. I think the picture is too small to see, but all the blacks dots are candy tied to parachutes.
The boys and I on a german plane that looked similar to a C-130. The boys got to sit in the cockpit and the pilots showed them all the neat gages and such.
Why this car was here I don't know, but for Zach it was everything he loves, airplanes and cars! This is a Ford GT for those that don't know (I always mess up the name, not good when you are married to such a car enthusiast) and it is a very very expensive and fast car! That's about the extent of my knowledge there.

I guess I went a little out of order on my posts. We actually went to Wiesbaden before Havelburg. This year marks 60 years since the Berlin Airlift so there was a big celebration held. The orginal candy bomber pilot Gail Halverson spoke along with some others that were children at the time in Berlin. There are a few books out retelling experiences, one being a children's book so the kids got to hear the story. It was a very fun day. They re-enacted the candy drop by helicopter. They had said something about the original place headed out from Berlin, but due to mechanical problems didn't make it. The boys also got to make parachutes and tie candy to them just as the soldiers did for the kids at the time. I am not sure they understood much, but I hope they look back later in life and realize what an important day this was. The chocolate pilot as Col Halverson was known is LDS and came to our ward last year around this time and to hear him speak along with the others that were children at the time was such a neat experience. I was not able to meet him this year, but I am really glad we took the opportunity to go be apart of the celebration even though it was on a Sunday. If you ever get a chance to read stories about this, do! The personal accounts are amazing!