Right before Jacob's birthday we finally got him set up with a new vision therapy office. Since he failed an eye test at his school, we realized he really needed to see an eye doctor since we lost so much time with the move. We were sad to see that his vision had regressed a lot, but weren't surprised since we hadn't been keeping up with activities at home. He got some new transition glasses and started a 16 week session of vision therapy in March, going into the office on Tuesdays after school. It was late enough in the day that usually Luke could meet me there and take the younger kids home while I stayed in the office and observed his sessions with Dr. Kushner.
The office is in downtown in Saratoga, so the location is great, and is a unique old home refinished into multiple offices. So it's a very different feel from what we started in Colorado, and no one compares to his old therapist Miss Kristie! But I felt he was lucky to be able to work with the doctor and he did his best.
[Update: After 16 weeks of vision therapy his acuity didn't improve but his depth perception did. A little frustrating since we both worked hard on activities at home, and if we were to continue paying for sessions he would just be repeating activities. So after these 4 months, we took a break from therapy and will continue to have him checked every few months, and hope it gets better with some extra patching.]
Here is Jacob on his birthday, before heading off to school! Jacob was so sweet to never ask for a party or much for his birthday, but one thing he was excited for was for me to bring doughnuts to his school to share with his first grade class. Since his class had some allergies this seemed like an easy treat and I cleared it with his teacher.
But after I picked up two dozen boxes from Dunkin Donuts and dropped them off at his school, they soon called me back and said that this brand might have nuts and was not approved so I had to come back and pick up the treat. I didn't have time to pick up anything else and so I felt so bad! They wouldn't even let me say hi to Jacob in the cafeteria since I "wasn't allowed in"! It was a frustrating experience and I felt bad letting Jacob down!
But we decided that we would share the doughnuts with the kids in his church class the next day at an Easter activity, and they all appreciated it, so we were happy to have someone to share with!
The kids had fun doing relays, games, and an egg hunt there too. We're so grateful for church friends!
The birthday boy and I with our new glasses! Jacob is getting so big and growing up so fast! I am so proud of him for all the hard work he does at school and at home. He is a patient and kind brother and is such a fun part of our family! He went through a lot this last year and we know that the move was a big adjustment for him, which made it the hardest for us. But he always has a good attitude and we're happy to see him make some new friends and proud that he does his best even when it's hard!
On his birthday, Jacob requested his favorite pasta for dinner, and then we had a small family party at home that night.
Jacob liked all his toys- mostly minecraft and lego related, but I think he might have been expecting more, ha. We also surprised him though with tickets to Legoland in NYC and said we would go next weekend with his grandparents! So with the lego theme in mind, Jacob helped me decorate his chocolate cake with some lego pieces. We didn't feel like covering the whole cake- this seemed good enough since all Jacob cared about that it was all chocolate! So I'll use that to defend my lack of creativity!
So the next weekend the boys didn't have school on Friday so we had a beautiful, easy drive that morning and met Luke's parents at the Legoland just north of NYC. It was located in an outdoor mall so we got some lunch at a burger place first and then went into Legoland.
Even though we had made reservations, they had us enter in groups by time slots, so there was a room where we could wait and the boys could explore how legos were made.
The first thing we did was a ride, almost like at Disneyland, where we shoot at different targets. Brenda was nice enough to wait with Ava so the rest of us could enjoy the ride! They even had an action cam which gave us this funny picture, ha!
Afterwards we were led through a room with a NYC lego display which was huge and incredible! It had all the main buildings and known landmarks- I was impressed by it!
I think this display would have meant more to us if we had visited NYC together before, that way we could've pointed out all the places we've been, but I suppose this gave us a good introduction to the kids about what the city looks like and how big it is.
Luke and I seeing the Statue of Liberty together for my first time! We have never been to NYC together and this was the closest we got, so someday soon we hope to go see the real one!
One of the reasons we chose this location (instead of the Boston one), is they had a whole Star Wars room too. Some of the boys favorite legos are Star Wars so they had fun looking at those displays too.
After the boys had some time in the main playgound area, and built and raced their own lego cars, we went to go see the 3D Ninjago film they had there.
There was also a ride that flew up and down, so after waiting in the long line I rode with Blake and Jacob rode with his Grandpa John. The boys really enjoyed that!
Ava was so patient and happy the whole day! After all those fun activities we bought the boys a snack there and then decided to go to McDonalds and get some ice cream before driving back home.
Oh and of course we had to walk through the gift shop on our way out and bought each the boys a small lego toy.
We were impressed with all the fun activities Legoland had to offer! We were happy that we came and that John and Brenda were able to meet us there too! It was a perfect day for the boys and a great way to celebrate Jacob's birthday!
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