Spring Break fun in San Diego area.

3 am send off. Boys clean up nicely, don't they? Go Indians!!

Our hosts in Tempe on our way to San Diego; sweet Maddie and her parents Bubba and Tina.

View from our room in Oceanside, Ca

Molly loves a hike along the ocean as well as in our mountains.

Our future "tiny house"? I'm down with the idea :)

Team photo after their last game! Great time for the boys over break.

Water was FRIGID!! Even Molly didn't go all the way in :)

Selfie. Don't you love her glasses that she quickly grabbed off of a wall full of options? Girl knows what she wants.

Great people watching from the Sky lounge. We attempted a "selfie".

I love these for some reason. Part of our 18 hour road trip to San Diego fun.

Oceanside Pier. We loved this area. Had a great lunch at the end of the pier one day.

Yummy authentic Mexican restaurant. Ate here twice. Good margaritas too :)

Didn't last long on Coronado Beach as it was SO windy and cold. But warm where we had lunch on the main strip.

Molly will dig in the sand all.day.long. Dribble castles are her forte too.

Jack snuck in a goofy face to go with his ruby red, sun burned thighs.

Last day on the beach.

After 19 years of Molly's influence, we are experts at detecting autism around us. Brooke and I couldn't decide if there are just a lot of kids with autism in general, or if those families all love to migrate to the beach on Spring Break with their kids like we do? The first day we were out, there was a big fella standing in the shallow part of the water flapping away. This is the first sure sign of autism. He seemed SO happy. He had a younger sister, in the 12 year old age range, who was standing guard nearby totally immersed in her phone. Brooke tried to engage her in conversation and left feeling like she might have some special needs too? Or maybe she was from Mexico and wasn't very fluent in English? He wasn't sure. He shared this with me when he came to sit back down. It didn't take long for the girl to realize that Molly was like her brother. It was fun to watch her watch Molly. She couldn't take her eyes off of Molly as a matter of fact. Wonder if she had never seen another kid like her brother?

In the old days, I would have gone down to the water or over to the hot tub that Molly was sharing with others to explain and buffer the looks and stares. I think that the difference now is a) I'm tired of that role b) We'll never see these people again c) Molly is so sweet and has such an innocent air about her that folks don't seem to be TOO judgey. d) I was SO comfy in my beach chair absorbing the sun, listening to the crash of waves, and smelling the salty air. I was in my happy place and didn't want to move.

On their daily walk along the beach, Brooke saw another flappy boy outside of his condo playing in the sand. When getting onto the elevator to go up to our room, I exchanged a meaningful mom look with an exhausted looking mother whose son was on the verge of a melt down. He made the same sounds that Molly makes and I just wanted to tell her that I totally understood what she was going through. But I didn't as the doors closed and we went our separate ways. "Good luck soul sista. I hope you get a little down time on the beach" I thought.

These kids are everywhere!! As are their exhausted parents.

The beach is the PERFECT vacation for families battling autism. Our kids seem to universally love the water. The ocean makes a lot of noise which buffers our kids noises (i.e. less stares). It's wide and vast so that you don't have to be on top of others.  My guess is that the white noise is comforting for them? That the weight of the sand on their feet as they dig feels good? Molly loves to be buried in the sand so I guess others love it too?

On an off the beach note, our girl shocked us a few times on this trip with her willingness to eat new foods. She is such a picky protein eater: no meat, no chicken, no fish. And yet on this trip she tried: fish and chips!! Of course it was deep fried and who doesn't love that? She NEVER wants fish in any form and yet she ate every bite. She also chose fried pickles wrapped in prosciutto and cream cheese over ordering her typical pizza or salad! Note the common denominator is "fried"! We were just thrilled to see her willingness to try something new. Love that!

Jack was able to join us the last 3 days of our trip and help with the looooooong 19 hour drive straight through to snowy home. His lacrosse team had a great 5 days of "bro time" on and off the field. There is a lot to be said for down time hanging in a hotel room, having rap offs, eating meals out together, competing as a team against schools that you have no rivalry against and where you can fine tune your plays. Where you can chill at the beach playing frisbee, volleyball, skim board and if manly enough get in the water. As a parent in the stands for their two games (and the only time we were allowed to see them which I thought was a great rule), it was fun to see the sideline camaraderie as the boys bantered with each other. It felt like we gave our sons a gift to go on this trip.

Vacations are good for the soul, good for family togetherness and a great way to hit reset. What's next world?