Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

In typical families, there might be such a thing as hiring a babysitter to watch your children to give the parents some time together. In families with significant disabilities, that thing is called respite. We have within Teddy's service plan 10 hours of respite to essentially give us a break from Teddy. Sometimes we use respite to get chores done, like mowing the lawn without carrying Teddy on our back or spring cleanup without constantly chasing Teddy. Sometimes we use it to do something fun with AJ, like a movie, to give him much needed attention since so much of our time is focused on Teddy's needs. Perhaps my favorite use of respite was to have our sitter come to our house during a  party with all our friends and their children where we had a bouncy house, so she could chase Teddy and we could enjoy conversations and margaritas. He got to be part of the party, and so did we. 

This summer, however, we've used nearly none of our respite because we have one person who does our childcare and respite. She can't go over 40 hours a week, which means that there's really no room in her schedule to do respite. (And she's moving to New Zealand in two weeks, so we're really screwed then ... know any responsible adults in the Oshkosh area?)

Last weekend my folks stepped in with their Christmas present for Teddy (and us, honestly). They agreed to take Teddy for a weekend, so we finagled that into a long weekend. We headed out with AJ late Thursday evening toward Pictured Rocks in Munising, Michigan. Friday morning we hiked 3 miles into Chapel Beach and set up camp for the next two nights. Backcountry camping is something Dave and I fell in love with before children, but it's really hard with children because you carry everything you need for the entire trip in your backpacks ... plus your small children. We managed one trip with AJ before he turned one, and then last year we headed back with AJ carrying his own small backpack and doing his own hiking. We all enjoyed it so much, that we repeated it again this year. 

This year AJ even managed an extra hike to Grand Portal, which has amazing views. 

Chapel Beach is one of our absolute favorite places. It's become much more popular, so it's too crowded during the day for our liking with people hiking in for the day (which we've done once with both Teddy and AJ) and those in pontoon boats (which would be another way to get Teddy there for a day). But when you camp at one of the six sites there, it's so peaceful later in the evening and in the mornings. We were lucky enough to have the entire beautiful beach to ourselves both mornings and one evening. There's nothing quite like that.

Meanwhile, Teddy had a fantastic time with my parents. They went to Bay Beach and rode oodles of rides ... and learned that $10 of tickets was way too many. They went to the little zoo in Oshkosh and parks here. They went to the Children's Museum, which Teddy loved. Teddy got 1:1 time with his grandparents and loved all the attention. 

This was one of Teddy's favorite rides. He's such a goof. 

This past weekend was so perfect in so many ways. Both children got that special attention to know how loved and cherished they are. AJ got to spend time outdoors exploring, splashing in the water, foraging for wild blueberries and building his hiking stamina. Teddy got his grandparents to do his bidding and be his puppets. We got to spend time outdoors disconnecting from our daily routines. 

Seriously, though, any leads for respite?