Chicken Nuggets and Curly Fries

My parents are what I consider to be gourmet cooks. I grew up eating my dad’s mouthwatering Eggs Benedict, Welsh Rarebit, and Cassoulet, and my mom’s fabulous cole slaw, Brennan’s potato salad, and homemade cheesecake. Together they made the best turkey gravy on the planet. Thanksgiving was always a savory treat. When I started cooking for myself, I followed their lead. I learned how to use Cajun spices, to liberally use Tabasco, and studied the art of making a decent roux.

I never met a veggie that I didn’t like. Brussels sprouts, spinach, turnip greens, salads of all kinds....I thought they were all delicious and couldn’t wait to share a variety of terrific meals with the family I planned to have one day.

And that day came…but in no way resembled the fantasy floating around in my head! My husband, Ed, is willing to try just about anything I cook (thanks, sweetie). But Ed and I were not prepared for the “culinary piece” of the sensory issues that come with having boys on the autism spectrum.

Our two sons couldn’t be more different in their taste preferences and tolerances. When they were young, I insisted that the boys “try a bite” of everything on their plate. My older son literally threw up at the table on two different occasions. My younger son would throw tantrums of such proportions when asked to “try a bite” that the neighbors could hear him two doors down! Where were the sounds of “please pass the peas” or “save some of that Szechuan beef for me”?!?

My dreams of amazing family dinners were shattered. The reality was (and is) that my boys can simply not tolerate many smells, tastes, and textures. The thought of tasting a Brussels sprout would probably send both boys into an orbit from which they would never return. They both agree on one food, however…French fries are fabulous favorites! And chicken nuggets.

(For those familiar, we tried the GFCF diet with both boys while they were still young. My older son showed no improvement, and my younger son showed some gains on the diet. For a couple of years, he was gluten-free. But over time, we discovered that with digestive enzymes, he could eat wheat without negative effects.)

And here we are…many years later. We’ve had to accept that there are battles not worth fighting. As any parent of a special-needs child knows, there are exhausting challenges which we face every day. Ed and I are learning to focus on the most pressing matters. Issues that seemed important “before autism”, have become insignificant. (E.g., there’s no point in teaching “don’t talk with your mouth full”, when your child is just beginning to talk at age four or five).

The “sensory integration piece” continues to affect so many areas of the boys’ lives, not just their food tolerance. We still encourage them to try new foods, and they are getting much better at it.

As we take a light hearted look back, we have to laugh at some of the culinary chaos that’s come our way. We remember those earlier days and have put together a video that depicts some of our favorite food struggles and memories. Hope you enjoy.
Bon appetit!

The Fairly Odd Family Geocaching

Brian approached us recently, all excited about a contest he had seen on Nick. It was called the "Wii Fit Family Challenge", and the winning families would receive a trip to Florida. All that was required was for us to submit a short video showing our family, in action on the "Wii Fit" or engaged in another fitness-related activity. Since we don't own a Wii Fit, we opted for one of our favorite activites, geocaching.

I wrote up a simple script...the boys loved memorizing and acting it out! We were not selected as "Wii Fit Family Challenge" finalists, but it was a great day...for a hike, a geocache, a few laughs, and just for being together.

The Junk Food Challenge

I'm throwing down the gauntlet. I challenge anyone to find more junk food in their house than we have in ours! My money is on the Fairly Odd Family aka Nieves central.

Oh well, I gotta give my kids something they can talk with their therapists about one day (how Mom ruined their culinary habits, abused their taste buds, hardened their arteries, etc.). Anyone out there up to the "Junk Food Challenge"?? If so, please post!

The 2008 Boat Float

One of the first things we did when we moved to Maryland (has it really been 13 months ago???), was to enter the Howard County Boat Float as a family. We spent hours putting together our little cardboard boat last year, and promptly sank it after paddling a mere 100 yards or so.



Last Saturday, we actually managed to float throughout the entire boat float! We weren't very fast, and my arms are killing me (the paddling is much tougher than it looks!), but we made it! We didn't sink, and we won the "Family Spirit Award".

We named our boat the "S.S. Feelin' Groovy", and I had attempted to tie- dye shirts and hats for the kids. Brian was ever so grateful that his homemade shirt turned up missing (hmmm, we still haven't found it), and he was able to wear an old "real" tie-dyed shirt from many moons ago.


It was a glorious day on Lake Kittamaqundi, and we had a fabulous time. Next year though, we're gonna concentrate on design and aerodynamics. Most of the boats in the Boat Float look a little bit more like boats, and a little bit less like furniture boxes. :-)
Oh well, you gotta crawl before you walk, and walk before you run!

Caching Across America

When we first started Geocaching two years ago, I thought it would be neat to find a cache in all 50 states by the time Brian graduated high school. It gave us a goal plus an excuse to travel, which we all love. And guess what? A template’s already in place. We discovered today that there’s a Geocaching series in which one cache has been placed in each U.S. state…it’s called “Cache Across America”. I’m thinking this was tailor-made for the Nieves family!

After you’ve located all fifty states’ caches, you’re eligible to receive the clue to the final cache, located in our nation’s capital. Ironically, the final cache coordinates (at least from the hints we’ve been given) are closer to us than any of the other fifty states caches! Seems the story of our lives…we go circuitously and completely out of the way to finally find ourselves right back where we started.

The Maryland “Cache Across America” stash was in Greenbrier State Park, just outside Frederick. The actual cache location was an easy (in my mind) climb up a (barely steep) hill and had a beautiful view of the Greenbrier State Park lake and beach.

The problem was that we had only hiked less than a third of a mile from our car to find the cache, and with our expanding waistlines and growing sense of not-wanting-to move-much due to the weather getting colder, I figured we were really obligated to do a longer hike.

I feigned ignorance as I suggested the “BIG RED TRAIL”. In reality I had reviewed the park map and determined that the other trails were too wimpy. The BIG RED TRAIL was listed as a “strenuous 4.5 mile loop" and that sounded just peachy to me. (I’m from Georgia, though…a lot of stuff sounds peachy to me!).

Sevan and I soon left Brian and Ed in the dust (or in the falling leaves, rocks and roots, as the case may be). We stayed in constant communication with our walkies and after our refreshing stroll, we compared notes.

Ed and Brian encountered two slightly aggressive barking dogs (off leash with the owner trailing behind) along their route, BUT they had all the snacks in the backpack.

Sevan and I dodged three mountain bikers (all quite courteous, and no barking), BUT we were starving and snackless.

Ed and Brian had figured out a shortcut (maybe doing only 4 miles or so) and Sevan and I completed closer to 5 miles with some extremely rocky and hilly terrain…but again, no attack dogs. We each thought we had the “better deal”.

It’s all good, and at the end of the day, we were scheming to visit the other 49 states and ultimately find the cache that’s closest to home..the prize in D.C. Now if we could just buy that RV!

Cornucopia

The familia Nieves took a little spin (day trip) to a corn maze today near Cumberland, MD. Just a mere 200 miles each way, give or take.

I'm not sure what got into us, but when we were Alpharetta-ites, we made an annual pilgrimage to the coolest corn maze in Dawsonville, GA. It was a different maze every year with different challenges (the goal was to find as many hidden stations as possible, get your maze card punched, and oh yeah, find your way out). Over the last few years, we developed a kind of "corn maze fever".

This corn maze was a bit different. The kind folks at J&B Farms in Oldtown, MD, also design a different maze each year, but they are all educationally-based themes. We learned today that in years past, they had themed mazes including a food pyramid, a map of the U.S., agriculture in America, and many more.

This year's maze at J&B was "Passport to Colonial America", in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. We were sent into the five-acre corn maze which from the air was reportedly shaped like the original thirteen colonies plus the American flag of the original thirteen colonies. From our perspective, it looked like endless corn with lots and lots of paths running through it.

We were given our instructions: find the answers to the 13 questions on our "scavenger hunt" card. Record each answer correctly and report back to the J&B staff. The prize? "I Conquered the Maze at J&B Farms" stickers for each of us!!! Shortest distance to the goal, approximately two miles. If we got lost and went off course....who knew?

Clues and answers were posted on signs that could be found throughout the maze, but we were warned that some of the signs/answers could be a bit tricky, so to read each sign carefully.

We knew one answer without even having to find the sign: "The autumn celebration in 1621 became known as _____". We knew right away it was Turkey Day, and that only left 12 more clues to find.

Along the way, we discovered some games that colonial children played (tops, blind man's bluff, walking on stilts); the names of the three ships that landed at Jamestown (Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery); what colony was founded as a haven for debtors (Georgia by Oglethorpe); what do the red, white, and blue colors represent on the American flag (bravery, libery, justice); and who told the men in his colony, "If you don't work, you don't eat" (Capt. John Smith). These are some of the questions we answered correctly, and the first time.

We did however, have two of the 13 questions answered incorrectly, and we had a choice. Walk away from that pretty green "I Conquered the Maze" sticker, or march our buns back in there to find the correct answers. And march we did.

We discovered that Pennsylvania was founded as a haven for Quakers (not New Jersey as we had thought), and that Squanto was the person who helped the first settlement in Massachusetts survive the first winter.

And guess what? We got our stickers PLUS an ear of corn for each of us! What a day.

Somehow we forgot to bring the camera on our adventure, so the boys were kind enough to reenact their victory pose once we arrived home, with their stickers, their completed maze answer sheets and of course, their corn.

Brian would say that this is the CORNIEST joke of all, but it was a truly an a-MAZING experience!

There's No Place Like Home(s)

We’ve officially lived in Columbia for five months now. At times, it feels like it’s been years, other times, I still feel like a brand newbie.
I asked a doctor friend once, when I might finally stop referring to Alpharetta as “home”. I have no family there. But yet, it became “home” over the almost 20 years I lived there. Ed and I got married in the Atlanta area. Brian and Sevan were born in Marietta. Our first two homes together were in Smyrna and Alpharetta.
So when will I stop saying, “back home, we did such and such”. Or, “in my homeschool group back home, we did xyz, etc.”

One thing my doctor friend said is that it really helps to get involved quickly and to make new friends. We’ve already been so warmly welcomed and loved, especially by the CHC’ers (our homeschool group).
Also, my friend said that after we’ve spent at least one of every season here, a good cold winter, fresh Maryland spring, LONGGG hot summer, and a beautiful fall, then MD would really start to feel more like home. (BTW, on that note, it’s actually cooler in Alpharetta than up “north” here in MD! What’s up with that??? We’re wearing shorts and sandals in October! But not white…it’s after Labor Day, after all, and some rules remain constant whether north or south!)


Thanks to CHC field trips, Children’s Month and Free Fall Baltimore (many museums have free admission in October), we’ve enjoyed Port Discovery Children’s Museum (interactive and hands-on to the nth degree); the "Top of the World" Tower on the 27th Floor of the World Trade Center in Baltimore, and the B & O Railway Museum. We went into D.C. for a field trip to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, but the tour was full, so we simply diverted down the street to the National Air and Space Museum (now how cool is that).
Learning our way around and about the Metro has been a thrill for Brian and Sevan (formerly known as “Evan”).

Even as Chick-Fil-Moo, I’ve had the privilege of representing our store at a few local football games, setting up the CFA tent and selling on-site. Through this process, I’ve discovered four of the local high schools, and can even find their respective football fields and concession stands without getting lost!

I just found out a few days ago that my step-daughter is getting married soon. I met my future stepson-in-law once, several years ago, and I thought he was a great guy. He’s in the Coast Guard, and his ship just docked in Baltimore. Although we weren’t able to visit with him (he was literally bussed out within hours of his arrival at oh-dark-thirty), we took a hop up to Baltimore, and took a tour of his ship. What a neat experience!

What wasn’t quite so neat were the loud and long blasts of the horn that freaked out both Brian and Sevan. The two of them high-tailed it off the ship with hands tightly covering their ears. It was kind of funny to see them trying to walk down a steep ship ladder without hands! (OK, that may sound a little cruel, but sometimes ya gotta laugh or ya gotta cry!)

Today, we discovered Woodbine, MD...the CHC'ers annual Fall Frolic. Hay rides, boo barn, fresh apple cider, hay maze, and pumpkin patch.

We were more than a little a-mazed!!!

Anyway, it’s all beginning to come together. Baltimore, D.C., Howard County, Columbia, mixed in with the memories and the people we'll always love "back home".

Ah...home sweet, homes.