Skateboardin' Fools

The boys and I attended a skateboarding clinic for autistic kids today, hosted by Etnies and the A.skate Foundation in partnership with Autism Speaks. I'm not generally a big fan of Autism Speaks (they tend to view autism as a disease to be cured, and I'm not really on that bandwagon, myself), but this was an *awesome* time for the boys and they had *so* much fun! It was totally free, they allowed Joshua to participate, and every skater had a volunteer working with them, 1:1, woot!

From what I could tell, the volunteers were not autism experts, therapists, etc., but just ordinary people who loved to skateboard and donated their time and energy to giving these kids a fun morning of skating freedom. I wish I could remember the names of the people who worked (played really!) with my boys, but whoever they were, I loved you and THANK YOU for making my kids so gleeful. To be honest, the volunteers seemed to be having as much - or MORE - fun than the kids. See for yourself! (as always, click on an individual photo to view a larger version)