How Autism Saves Us Money

Last week Jamie and I took our 6 youngest children for a short vacation at his parent's cottage in Rumney, NH.  We have been going there for 15 years now, and this was our first time without any of the Original 3.

I am not a fan of highways, and we were making our way up on some smaller roads.  Driving across Route 2 I saw a sign for a Fiber and Knit Shoppe.  If it has the words "fiber" AND "shoppe" in its name, then it must be the real deal, not your typical big store skeins of synthetic yarn.  Jamie saw me read the sign and said,

"Not with our crew."

I do not think he was referring to our six kids traipsing in and doing a little exploring of the shelves.

No, I think what he really meant was Not with our child who has autism and will walk in, look around, and start scream-singing "Happy Birthday to You" at the top of his lungs until we get out.  At least his stress level indicator song has harmless lyrics.

Our vacation options are pretty limited.  On the plus side, there is a lot of money not spent on entertainment for the kids.  No Storyland theme park, no Gondola rides or the Hobo Train.  No eating out at Plain Jane's Diner.   No visit to the Nature Center or hiking up Rattlesnake Mountain.  No bear show or bumper boats at Clark's Trading Post.

We certainly are not going to Six Flags this Summer for the rides or the water park, but Newfound Lake was only $27, and Monday the beaches were almost empty.  Dante loved it.  And the 10 minute wait to watch this water slide blow up was SO much better than the wait we would have had for a two minute slide at a theme park. The only wait in line was behind siblings!

We were able to walk to the Snack Shack and have three meals for less than one would have cost our family at Plain Jane's Diner.

There were plenty of ants in the cracks at the tennis court.  There were lots of frogs and salamanders in the pond.  Thankfully there were no bears (trained or otherwise) on the small hike the triplets, Leif and I took...and I don't think Jamie minded staying back at the cottage with Dante with Kimberly-- when we returned they were napping and he was reading Robinson Crusoe uninterrupted.

The only bumping was the kids pushing Kimberly everywhere.  (She can be kind of pushy about that.)

We have been going to Rumney Bible Conference for our vacation for 15 years now, and while the onset of Dante's autism changed how much we do while there, it has not changed the relaxing peaceful atmosphere that we experience there every year.

Even if Dante did not have autism, and even if we had money....we would still be at Rumney each Summer.

I would just have a little bit more yarn (fiber) sitting around.