A-CAMPING WE WILL GO, A-CAMPING WE WILL GO

Colby and I had a great mini-vaca going camping with my mom and stepdad. We try to do it once a year, pending on Colby's school schedule, health and the weather. They were calling for nastiness, rain, colder temps, etc but overall the weather was cooperative. Last Thursday Colby had school. When he got home at 1:45, his nurse and I gave him a bath. Then did his IPV and cough treatment. Then we were out the door and on the road to Charlestown State Park. Got there about 5:00. Mom and Kenny had everything ready for us, of course. Mom borrowed a twin air mattress from a friend, so we sat that up on the picnic table to serve as Colby's "hangout" while we were outside. It was a quite a task figuring out how to get him in and out of the RV. There are 3 steps to get in the RV, then 3 more once you get in, plus the doorway is very narrow. We played around with a lot of ideas but found that wrapping Colby up in a heavy blanket and transferring him that way proved the easiest.

Our camping time consisted of doing a little of this, a little of that, and doing some nothing, too. Once we got him up and ready for the day, we took him outside and he stayed outside until it was bedtime. No way were we going to keep transferring his big butt in and out of that RV. We went for long walks. I took a bunch of books and read them to Colby. This kid loves, loves, loves to just sit by a campfire. He had the best time either sitting in his power chair or resting on his air mattress, being outside, visiting with grandma and grandpa. I loved making/eating approximately 114 s'mores. It started getting cold Saturday, but did that stop us, heck no. We bundled Colby up. He had on jeans, a t-shirt, back brace, my mom's sweatshirt, gloves, a toboggan, socks, his AFO's, another pair of socks over those, plus we threw a blanket over him. And outside we went! My stepbrother and his family came up for a visit, too. It was great to see them. I'm glad Colby got to spend some time with his cousins.

We weren't totally on vacation, in that I took Colby's AFO's and hand splints and made him wear them daily. Mean old mama. Also took his eye gaze. Of course he didn't want to use the camping page I made him so he could say what he wanted to do or liked best. Also made him a costume page so he could pick out his Halloween costume. Can't say he was all that interested in that, either. He was cracking me up, though. You remember how he used to say Yum! all the time? It drove me completely bonkers, since the kid doesn't get to taste/eat foods! I noticed over the weekend it seems he has switched from saying Yum! to looking at the button above it and saying Delicious! Nice, Colby. Well, at least he's not saying Yum! any more, huh?

The only boo-boo is that Colby's face is incredibly wind and/or sunburned. I feel awful about that. We put stuff on his face so it wouldn't get burned, but obviously it didn't work. The left side of his face is blistered it's so bad. Other than that, I would say the camping trip was a complete success. Looking forward to future camping trips with the sweetest, most thoughtful parents/grandparents ever. Time for bed. No matter what they say, that camping was hard work! But very, very worth the planning, money and effort spent for sweet Colby boy.