Multi-Generational Cruising with an Aspergian Kiddo

I’ll never forget the day my daughter, Angela, called me in tears because my grandson’s teachers thought he was autistic. Truman was three at the time, and it was devastating. Angela and Jim T – my son-in-law – immediately took him to his pediatrician who sent them to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. The psychologist who tested him didn’t see signs of autism, but did note “OCD” (obsessive compulsive disorder) tendencies. Truman was also given an IQ test and tested at 126…at three years old! There was no doubt that Truman was a smart kiddo.


However, Angela and Jim T noticed some other issues. Truman had never slept all night – ever. He would get focused on something, and regardless of what they wanted him to do, they could not get deter his focus. He was reading at age four. Genius? Maybe.

The time came for Tru to start kindergarten. Angela and Jim T were so anxious because they didn’t know how Truman would react in the classroom. He was beginning to show some ADD (attention deficit disorder) tendencies along with his other quirks. He was not making close friends like his butterfly sister, Maeve, who walked into a room and knew everyone instantly. However, Truman excelled in reading and math, yet his fine-motor skills were lacking and his handwriting was not up to par. He could spell, but writing so his teacher could read his ideas was a challenge.

Finally this spring, during Truman’s second grade year, Vanderbilt asked to do a genetic test on the entire family to determine is Truman had Asperger’s Syndrome. As it turned out, he is definitely an Aspergian, but there is no genetic link to either Angela or Jim T, and Maeve tested just fine. At last, a diagnosis.

Asperger’s is on the autism spectrum, but is at the extremely high-functioning end.

We’ve all done so much reading about this disorder in the past months, and found out that Bill Gates, Albert Einstein and Mozart were Aspergians. At the end of second grade, Truman was reading and comprehending on an eighth grade level. He excels in math and science and loves the chess club at his school. His handwriting is still lacking, but his theory is “Well, I can read it.” It doesn’t matter if anyone else can, including his teacher.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Because we just took Angela, Jim T, Maeve and Truman on an NCL cruise. This was the first cruise the grandchildren had ever taken. We knew Maeve would have a wonderful time and would meet and make new friends immediately. However, our concern was for Tru. Would he adapt to ship life? Would he want to participate in the kid’s program? We quickly found out that freestyle cruising is the best way to cruise with a kiddo who is Aspergian.

Jim T’s mom was with us, so the kids had all of their grandparents onboard. We had lunch the first day in Cagney’s, and just watching Truman order a steak for his first meal onboard was wonderful. He kept asking over and over “Is this FREE???” We explained that he could eat at Raffles, the Blue Lagoon, Windows, The Garden Room and numerous places on the ship at no charge. The Blue Lagoon became his restaurant of choice because they served chicken strips and French fries, his all-time favorite.

By the end of the first day, Truman had visited places on the ship that none of us knew existed. He knew immediately that the elevators forward of the ship had red carpet, those in the middle had blue carpet, and those aft had green carpet – details that none of us had noticed. He told his mom after the first day “In his cruise ship elevator riding experience that you can only push all of the elevator buttons at once if ALL of the passengers are ok with it, and he had not found that particular passenger group yet.” As Charlie – my husband – was getting off the elevator on Day 2, Truman pushed past him and was announcing “Come on, I’ll show you.” and was immediately followed by a posse of his new friends. Where he was going and what he was showing them has yet to be determined.

Freestyle cruising allowed the freedom that Truman needed in a controlled environment. He begged to go to the Kid’s Club every afternoon. Tru would miss dinner with us and eat after he had his Kid’s Club fix. This was a perfect scenario for an Aspergian. On the last day of the cruise, we were treated to a private bridge tour. Of course, Mr. Technical Truman was in heaven. All of the computer screens and the joystick that, according to him, was used to “drive the ship” were fascinating to him because they reminded him of his video games.

Cruising is such an incredible way for multi-generations to enjoy the vacation of their lives.  What's stopping you from taking a family cruise?

Cozumel - Where it's HOT, HOT, HOT!!

29 July 11


Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico

I’ve used the term “hotter than a Mexican summer”, and boy, did today live up to that. It was 95 out and humidity so high that I couldn’t tell you what it was. We were dripping!!!

We rented a couple of jeeps this morning and made a round of the entire island of Cozumel. First stop was San Gervasio, the Mayan ruins on the island. When Charlie and I came here years ago, these ruins were practically nothing. Today, archeologists have unearthed more of the ruins and it is quite something to see. Maeve, our amateur archeologist, was amazed by all of them.

We drove to the east end of the island and stopped at a little beach where the waves and water were beautiful. Maeve got to hold an iguana, her dream!!! Jim T sat on a Brahma bull. Of course, he would do that!!! The Texan in him showed up in full force.

We drove on to Chankanab, the state park, where we came in the 80s and paid $5 admission for an entire cab full of people. The Mexican government wised up and today, admission is $21 per person!!! We passed on Chankanab, and instead, went to San Francisco beach and Carlos & Charlie’s where the beer is cold and the beach is free!!! Great fun for all of us and a wonderful way to cool off in the aqua-blue waters of the Caribbean.

Did a little shopping and found Truman an onyx chess set and Maeve a Mayan mask made out of onyx, marcasite, and abalone shell. What a wonderful way to spend the day in our last port of call. Tomorrow is another day at sea, then back to reality.

Cruising with the Grands

Charlie and I have been on more cruises then we can count. We are fortunate that the business we are in allows us the opportunity to experience many cultures and countries. It has been years since we’ve been to the Western Caribbean, but this week we are experiencing cruising from an entirely different perspective. We have grandchildren with us who have never been on a cruise.


My daughter, son-in-law, his mother, and two of our grandchildren are on the Norwegian Spirit which sailed yesterday from New Orleans. Let me regress for a moment and tell you about taking children into the French Quarter and especially down Bourbon Street at night. Truman, our eight-year-old grandson, was intrigued by catching as many Mardi Gras beads as he could that were being thrown down to us from balconies above the shops and restaurants. Our ten-year-old granddaughter was interested in buying a Mardi Gras mask and going into one of the gaudiest costume jewelry shops I’ve ever seen. Of course, she had to get a snake ring filled with rhinestones that will only fit her first finger. But Nana and Grammy had a great time shopping with her.

We boarded the Norwegian Spirit yesterday (July 24) at midday. We had lunch in Cagney’s, a wonderful steakhouse on the ship. Teaching the grandchildren how to order from the big adult menu in a fancy restaurant and learning how to make a “b” with their left hand and a “d” with their right one to indicate which side holds their bread plate and which side their drink is on was quite interesting. Now, Mr. Literal Truman makes certain that everyone knows which bread plate is theirs.

Both of the children easily adapted to ship life. By late afternoon, they had made new friends and explored the ship on their own. Last night my daughter commented to Truman that he was acting so responsibly. His retort was “The cruise is making me do that.” Why hadn’t we thought of this earlier and taken him on a dozen cruises already!!!

Maeve instantly met a girl her age at the pool and at dinner let us know her friend’s name and that she was from Oklahoma. She is having a ball being able to get out on her own and meeting new friends.

Truman has found places on the ship that none of us have found as yet. This morning as Charlie was getting off the elevator on our floor Truman came barreling in announcing “Come on! I’ll show you!” as he was followed by a posse of his new best friends. Where he was going and what he was going to show them is yet to be known.

The seas are calm and beautiful. The sun is hot, hot, hot. Sea days are the best!! After a massage and facial, I feel like a new woman. More tomorrow from Costa Maya, Mexico.

It's Showtime!!!



Charlotte Lawson, our NCL rep

Well, it's that time of year again.  We are definitely in Wave Season, as the cruise lines call it, when the wave of bookings for vacations for the year, picks up steam and culminates in a tsunami as we had last Sunday.  On January 30th, we held our 24th Annual Cruise & Vacation Supermarket at the Cool Springs Marriott in Franklin, TN.  After a very, very snowy week, we didn't know what to expect.  But on that day, the weather was perfect - 50 degrees and overcast.  

Sabrina Hampton, one of our agents





  

We set up our show the night prior and all of our reps from our travel providers were in town getting ready for our show.  We had done all the right things.  Our advertising had been effective and people were calling our office and the hotel daily to get more details.  The unknown in this equation was how many people would show up and how much business we would book.  As it turned out, everything gelled perfectly.  We opened the doors at 10:00 am and about 100 people swarmed in.  By 10:30, our reservations area was full.  By 11:30, we had a line waiting to see an agent to make a reservation.   What an incredible day!!! 

By the end of the day over 3000 had come through our doors.  They attended our seminars on Alaska, Europe and the Caribbean.  They visited the Holland America Alaska motorcoach parked outside the hotel.  The won hundreds of door prizes from our travel providers.  And, they booked vacations - lots and lots of vacations and cruises!!!  We are still booking vacations as hard and fast as we can.  If you were unable to attend, you can still take advantage of our show specials and super sail deals by clicking here.  

We could not pull this show off without the support of our travel providers - Sandals, Island Routes, Travel Impressions, Regent Seven Seas, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, Apple Vacations & AM Resorts, Holland America Line, Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Cunard, Globus Family (Avalon Waterways, Globus, Cosmos, & Monograms), Azamara Club Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and Celebrity Cruises.

The room at 10:30 am

Here's some more pictures from our show.  Don't you deserve a vacation this year?

Royal Caribbean's booth was very busy all day

Celeste Pevahouse with Princess and Cunard



Erin Miller with Apple Vacations and Carlos Gonzalez with AM Resorts

Dawn Bolte and Kyle Brock with Sandals



Steve Smith from Oceania Cruises



Tracie Mosley with Carnival







Some of the best things that happen are accidents

You've probably made some of those vacation videos.  You know the ones - the voice over describing things that you know should be interesting and you want your friends to be jealous that you've been there, but as hard as you try to dress it up, it's dry and it's bo-ring.  That was pretty much the case when the Brentwood Six went to Italy on a "free" vacation built around a 14-day Eurail pass (that's another story and there's another two or three blogs from that one trip yet to come), and we found ourselves in Rome.

There we were at the Spanish Steps, and I was panning around the square at the foot of the steps and describing the shops, the architecture, the ..., and that's when I panned around and there, full frame, stood my buddy Jim Tidwell.  Who knows why, but I blurted out "Excuse me sir, are you an American tourist?" to which he replied in his own inimitable accent "Why, yes I am!"  A bit of banter about what brought him to Rome ("an airplane") led to a discourse on what he had seen while in the Eternal City.  He assured me that he had seen every "church" and every "picture museum" that was ever built.  And his wife, Linda, had dragged him to every shoe store in the country, whereupon he confided "You know she'll buy shoes just to keep another woman from gettin' 'em.  And another thing - gun control.  You know I ain't seen a single gun since we got here!  But ever'body's got a knife.  'Cept me.  And I really wanted a knife, and they was two or three stores I saw that had them, but could I go in and look at 'em?  Nooooooooo.  I had to go look at shoes." 

We discovered that day that we all but read each other's minds, Jim taking my questions and improvising hilarious replies that led to other questions that fed the fire like gasoline on a barbecue grill.  The interviews became the "Man on the Street" series that we did all over Europe, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, and the Caribbean.  Like the time The Six went to one of I, Snorkel Bob's dive gear stores in Maui and. totally improvised and spontaneous, became a crew from WGN, channel 20 in Chicago, doing a story on famous icons in Hawaii.  Or the time we were in the South of France and shot fifteen minutes at a junk pile that Jim insisted had come from his wife Linda's suitcase.  Sometimes the dialog would drift off on a tangent that would have squeezed a PG13 rating, but the bits were always really funny and made many good memories.

We've compiled about two hours of video that maybe someday I'll get really adventurous and convert to digital and upload to You Tube.