Focus, Fun, & Fishies!

This past week has been hard- the kind of hard where life sees you on the ground and just keeps kicking you.  As you probably noticed from the previous couple of blog post, our family has been going through a tough time recently.  Today was a much needed day.  What made today so special?  Well, it was the annual Focus day at the aquarium, of course!  

Special thanks to Lucy, Joy, and all the staff and volunteers.  You guys rock!!

Our family belongs to a wonderful organization here in Atlanta.  Focus stands for Families of Children Under Stress and it includes all families who have a child with special needs.  This group is AMAZING! Not only do they provide information and support for families like ours, they also bring the fun!  To tell you about all of the things this group does would take too much time, so I will direct you to the website if you would like more information.  The address is http://www.focus-ga.org/ . Check  it out!  If you are a special needs family- you need to be a part of this group.  If you are looking for a deserving organization to make a donation to, please consider this group.  

Aaron, the boys, and I signed in at the Georgia Aquarium at 8:30.  That is right!  The aquarium opened early just for our group!  We were able to explore the attractions for 1 ½ hours before they let in the general public.  That meant we were able to explore the exhibits before they became crowded.  In fact, by the time we went to the Ocean’s Ballroom for brunch, we had toured most of the aquarium.  Brunch was yummy!  Wolfgang Puck catering was responsible for the food and it was delicious.  

After lunch, we toured the frog exhibit.  (My sister would have died!)  We also caught the Dolphin Show.  The highlights for the kiddos were the penguins!  We had to go back to that numerous times and Joey spent a good part of the day explaining to me how he could adopt one of the penguins and keep it in his room!  Tyler loved the whales and the large viewing area.  

Aaron, Tyler, and Joey explore the Jellyfish

 

Do you know what the best part of the day was for me?  It was being with the other families.  There were wheel chairs , feeding tubes, meltdowns, screaming, and some fits. No one in focus blinked an eye.  Aaron talked to a woman in the brunch line.  She was about to fix a plate for her child and herself.  Sighing, she set her plate down and said her child was just going to have to sit while she fixed her plate.  She told Aaron she hoped he could do that quietly.  Aaron smiled and said, “Who cares if he gets loud?  We are focus and we’ve all been there!”  It was wonderful!

Logan becomes part of the exhibit

Joey and Logan "swim" with the penguins