Bulgarian snakes and a hole in the floor kinda day

An early start this morning enabled us to benefit from chocolate croissants, nice cake and cold milk! We then went off to meet the jeep for the safari.
To say this trip was merely a gap filler it was exceptional. A lot more off roading than on the previous trip and wow this man can drive! Boy Wonder shrieked with excitement as we dived into the dried out river bed, and out the other side! We spent a lot of time on two wheels and hanging onto the bench seats and roll bars. The slight problem here was that it wasn't our intention to heighten Boy Wonder's senses twice in a week, this trip had been sold to us as a 'sight seeing tour!' It certainly was that and much, much more.

We went through Bulgarian mountain villages, saw lots of different animals and creatures including a snake in the road. Boy Wonder was amazed by this and as we stopped on top of the mountain, he asked the guide what type it was? She said it was a Smoka but didn't know the English translation. Boy Wonder insisted that I googled it and wasn't taking no for an answer. We found out that it was Bulgarian for Grass snake much to his disappointment. I never thought that google would be required on top of a mountain but hey ho.
We stopped off for drinks at an ostrich farm which was very traditional. There were three ladies selling woollen socks which they sold to us with great skill to say it was 30+ degrees! Cat Girl made friends with a cat, Super Man fell off of an old metal framed seesaw which the three ladies found hilarious ( but of course we didn't laugh!) and Boy Wonder befriended a puppy that he attempted to train to 'sit.' I don't think the dog understood English so struggled with the command but Boy Wonder was determined and eventually managed it, albeit very briefly. We felt a little sorry for the puppy but happy for the distraction which meant that Boy Wonder had stopped talking at us about 'everything!'

We moved on to another place for lunch and was greeted by a gentleman handing us bread and dipping spices and salt. We were informed that this was a Bulgarian welcome tradition. Lunch was served alongside home made Brandy and a bottle of beer. They know how to treat their guests!
We had a look around the little museum of a traditional Bulgarian home and wine cellar before having a go at shooting with an air rifle at hanging plastic bottles. Boy Wonder was surprisingly good at this as was his Daddy and the Scottish man that was with us. It got a little competitive to say the least ! Unfortunately the hole in the ground toilets stole the show for Boy Wonder who was absolutely fascinated by such a concept.
The final part of the journey consisted of lots of talk about WWE wrestling as the Scottish lady made the very BIG mistake of telling Boy Wonder that she watched it with her Grandson. We attempted to move the conversation on and ended up getting back onto the snake subject, oh well!

After the jeep safari we went back into the complex for a drink. It was obvious that Boy Wonder was tetchy and anxious so we made this brief and returned to the apartment. After some down time he appeared to calm but his hyper/anxious mood re-escalated rapidly as we went for tea. If I said that he sat down for more than a minute during tea this would be exaggerating. He was up and down so frequently that he barely ate a thing. He did however attempt to flood the toilets by jamming the plug hole of the sink with tissue and leaving the tap on. But still with an ounce of control at this point, went back and rectified the situation.
We gave up tea as a bad job and went ten pin bowling. They were not equipped for children at all as they had no buffers and no ramp , all the balls were also heavy and their shoes were in adult sizes only. Therefore the children played with bare feet and a great deal of adult assistance that Boy Wonder would not accept and consequently lost!

Now those of you with autistic children will know that this combination of events is the perfect recipe for meltdown and some of you will be wondering why it hasn't happened already?! As parents of autistic children we will at times accept the inevitable and go through the motions of a meltdown because there isn't always a way back. This was one of those times. It was a case of peaking to come down and I wore a dress for the occasion! After wrenching him out of bowling and into a quiet area, I attempted reasoning. This didn't have any real affect except for moving him on to the next problem - no Minecraft on his iPhone. He demanded an immediate download which wasn't going to happen even if we felt the need as much as he did , because there wasn't a sufficient wifi connection.
I walked Boy Wonder back to the apartment, holding him by the wrist to prevent any running off. He was very anxious and flighty. Back in the safety net of the apartment he sat on the top bunk kicking his feet about, reciting the book 'Chimpanzees of Happy Town' his favourite feel good book. He wasn't safe on the top bunk so I suggested that he sleep next to me. With a period of firm hold 'hug ' he fell to sleep. It was very late!