Jyl over at And So It Goes nominated me to answer these 10 questions on my blog. Since I am trying to get back into blogging on a more regular basis, I thought I would oblige :)
1) How did you decide on your blog name?
I started this blog back in 2004, and I think I was at a loss of what to call it. So because it is my thoughts on day to day things, I went with Angie's 2 Cents. Not the most exciting name, but it seems to work.
2) How has blogging enhanced your life?
I have gotten pretty slack with writing posts over the last few years. I was quite diligent in my first few years. But I think once social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram took off, I really stopped blogging. It takes more thought and effort and especially with Fiona, I have less time to sit down at the computer, so most of my online posts are done on my phone. And typing a blog on my phone does not sound like fun.
To answer the question....haha....I appreciate this blog, as a sort of a journal of the last 11 years of my life. I like to go back and read old posts to see what I was up to 5 or 8 years ago, etc. I also think it is interesting how many people I have met through blogs. Not specifically my own blog, but I had a friend who blogged, and her brother blogged, so I followed a couple of the people he had linked in his blog, and some people that they had linked in their blogs. So from my one friend, I have connected with a number of people at least online or on Facebook. It can be an awfully small world.
3) What tip would you offer new bloggers?
I am not sure. Write about what you know and what you enjoy.
4) What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
I have to agree with Jyl on the Netflix. These days, once the baby is in bed, and I am avoiding doing the productive things I should be doing, I can be found with my feet up watching Doctor Who.
5) What are you reading now?
I started reading The Rosie Project by Graeme C. Simsion when I was in Swift Current at the end of July. It was quite interesting, but I haven't picked it back up since I got home. I should spend more time reading, and less time watching Doctor Who! Haha
6) What are 3 things you can't live without?
Family/friends, lip balm and pizza
7) What season is easiest to dress for? And what is your favorite season?
I am such a lazy dresser....when you work at home, and you're a new mom, most of my clothes look the same all year round, haha! I think my favorite season is late summer/early fall. When it is still nice enough to be outside without a heavy jacket but cool enough that you at least need a sweater. I love the leaves changing and the smells of fall.
8) What would you love to get paid to do now?
I have just been thinking lately about going back to school. When I think back to the jobs I have done over the years, one that I enjoyed was working in a lab where we tested soil samples for different minerals and elements. I just enjoyed working in a lab setting. I think once Fiona is in school I may go back to school to get some training and then I could work in a lab, maybe.
9) What is your favorite place to visit?
I have not done a lot of traveling in my life, but if I could revisit one place tomorrow, I would choose Vandusen Botanical Gardens in Vancouver. It was beautiful and quiet. One of my favorite stops on that trip.
10) Have you ever done anything that has taken you out of your comfort zone? If so, what?
The one thing that comes to mind is speaking in front of our church. Any time I have spoken in front of a group of people it is outside my comfort zone. A few years ago our church did a series on marriage. Each week the pastor had a couple from the church get up and share a personal experience based on the theme for the week. I am pretty sure when he asked us to share it was about serving each other. It was pretty scary when we first got up there, but we had some good things to share and a lot of people approached us after the service to tell us how much they appreciated what we had shared.
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Monday, May 05, 2014
My How Time Flies
I knew that April was going to be a busy month. But, I can't believe how quickly it disappeared!
We had planned months ago to have Easter dinner at our house, with my family. It is usually just easiest for us to host family dinners. Then Jason has access to a good bathroom, and doesn't have to worry about being hauled up and down stairs. We also thought it might be nice to have Jason's parents up for the weekend, as we hadn't seen them since we shared our big news at Christmas time. We did have a nice visit, but the weekend was full of work projects and cooking/tidying and hosting 18 people for Easter dinner on Saturday. But we did get to enjoy a nice Easter brunch at the German Cultural Centre on Sunday morning before they headed for home.
The biggest project of the weekend was getting the baby's room set up. Dale and I spent probably 4-5 hours on Saturday assembling a dresser and crib from Ikea. I am really pleased with how they look, and I am sure the dresser will be used for many years to come. Because of the setup in our house, the baby's room will be in our spare bedroom, so we had to move the guest bed out of there and into the rumpus room area of our basement. Then I had the great idea of moving our old leather reclining couch into the baby's room, as place to lay/sit/feed the baby. I don't know if I had done any measuring, but for some reason, I assumed that we would be able to get this behmoth of a couch around a 90 degree corner in a hallway. I was starting to doubt that it would be able to be moved into there. But my ingenious father-in-law and father made it work, and the couch is now in that room. We did figure that by the time we are ready to move the couch out of that room, that it may need to come out in pieces. We will see, haha.
Also, months ago, we decided, that since we will be sticking close to home this summer, that we would like to get away for a weekend to Calgary while I am still feeling good enough to go. We chose the weekend after Easter, expecting that we would have some nicer weather, considering it was the end of April (haha, right!). We did have fine weather for traveling, but the Saturday that we were in Calgary it rained/snowed for the better part of the day, and just was cool and not all that nice. Thankfully on Sunday the sun came out and we were able to get outside a bit and enjoy some fresh air. We did a lot of shopping on Saturday, which is always hectic and tiring, so I was glad on Sunday that we had a much more relaxed day. We went and hung out at a small farmer's market just north of Calgary, that I stumbled upon after Jason Chadney recommended a coffee shop to us. The coffee shop's first location was at this little market, and now they have 3 or 4 other locations in the city. It was nice to browse and talk to the vendors and try a lot of generous samples.
In the afternoon we ventured in to downtown Calgary. We had always avoided downtown, as it seemed kind of intimidating, but after our trip to Vancouver and Seattle last summer, we felt pretty invincible, and Jason did a great job getting us around the city. We spent the afternoon checking out the Core Shopping Centre and walking down Stephen Avenue to the Olympic Plaza. It was a much more relaxed day. (Except for the fact that the only bathrooms in that mall are on the 4th floor (in the food court area) and there was only ONE freakin' elevator that EVERYONE wanted to take. So usually it was at least a 5-10 minute wait to get on the elevator and it was always packed like sardines in there. Seems like a pretty big design flaw :P
I also decided a couple of months ago that I should tackle some of the continuing education credits that I need to get before the end of next year. Since I will likely be tied pretty closely to home until at least next spring, I started looking closely at any of the course offerings that were coming up. There was one, that was kind of expensive, but was three days long, and would give me just over half of my required credits. So, I believe I will now only need about 10 more credits in the next year and a half, which seems much less daunting. There are even online courses that I can take for free to get one or two credits, so that is probably what I will do next year to fill the rest of the requirement.
My course was this weekend, and was really good. It sounded somewhat interesting, so that is why I was willing to jump in and pay the money for it. It was called Ligamentous Articular Strain Technique for the upper body and extremities. I am not sure that I will incorporate every technique I learned into practice, but will definitely be using my clients as guinea pigs in the next little while to try out some of the things I learned. The guy who taught the course was really engaging and down to earth, and I think I would be willing to take more courses from him in the future.
So, now that those three very busy weekends are behind me, I feel like I have some time to breathe, and relax and prepare for baby. There is not THAT much that we need to do or prepare. I need to pick up a few things in the next couple of months, but I feel better now that baby's room is painted and furniture is set up. We are taking prenatal classes through the health region starting at the beginning of June. They run for one evening/week for three weeks. I hope that they are interesting and informative. Time is really flying by....and I think this baby is going to be here before we know it! And life will change....but that's okay :)
We had planned months ago to have Easter dinner at our house, with my family. It is usually just easiest for us to host family dinners. Then Jason has access to a good bathroom, and doesn't have to worry about being hauled up and down stairs. We also thought it might be nice to have Jason's parents up for the weekend, as we hadn't seen them since we shared our big news at Christmas time. We did have a nice visit, but the weekend was full of work projects and cooking/tidying and hosting 18 people for Easter dinner on Saturday. But we did get to enjoy a nice Easter brunch at the German Cultural Centre on Sunday morning before they headed for home.
The biggest project of the weekend was getting the baby's room set up. Dale and I spent probably 4-5 hours on Saturday assembling a dresser and crib from Ikea. I am really pleased with how they look, and I am sure the dresser will be used for many years to come. Because of the setup in our house, the baby's room will be in our spare bedroom, so we had to move the guest bed out of there and into the rumpus room area of our basement. Then I had the great idea of moving our old leather reclining couch into the baby's room, as place to lay/sit/feed the baby. I don't know if I had done any measuring, but for some reason, I assumed that we would be able to get this behmoth of a couch around a 90 degree corner in a hallway. I was starting to doubt that it would be able to be moved into there. But my ingenious father-in-law and father made it work, and the couch is now in that room. We did figure that by the time we are ready to move the couch out of that room, that it may need to come out in pieces. We will see, haha.
Also, months ago, we decided, that since we will be sticking close to home this summer, that we would like to get away for a weekend to Calgary while I am still feeling good enough to go. We chose the weekend after Easter, expecting that we would have some nicer weather, considering it was the end of April (haha, right!). We did have fine weather for traveling, but the Saturday that we were in Calgary it rained/snowed for the better part of the day, and just was cool and not all that nice. Thankfully on Sunday the sun came out and we were able to get outside a bit and enjoy some fresh air. We did a lot of shopping on Saturday, which is always hectic and tiring, so I was glad on Sunday that we had a much more relaxed day. We went and hung out at a small farmer's market just north of Calgary, that I stumbled upon after Jason Chadney recommended a coffee shop to us. The coffee shop's first location was at this little market, and now they have 3 or 4 other locations in the city. It was nice to browse and talk to the vendors and try a lot of generous samples.
In the afternoon we ventured in to downtown Calgary. We had always avoided downtown, as it seemed kind of intimidating, but after our trip to Vancouver and Seattle last summer, we felt pretty invincible, and Jason did a great job getting us around the city. We spent the afternoon checking out the Core Shopping Centre and walking down Stephen Avenue to the Olympic Plaza. It was a much more relaxed day. (Except for the fact that the only bathrooms in that mall are on the 4th floor (in the food court area) and there was only ONE freakin' elevator that EVERYONE wanted to take. So usually it was at least a 5-10 minute wait to get on the elevator and it was always packed like sardines in there. Seems like a pretty big design flaw :P
I also decided a couple of months ago that I should tackle some of the continuing education credits that I need to get before the end of next year. Since I will likely be tied pretty closely to home until at least next spring, I started looking closely at any of the course offerings that were coming up. There was one, that was kind of expensive, but was three days long, and would give me just over half of my required credits. So, I believe I will now only need about 10 more credits in the next year and a half, which seems much less daunting. There are even online courses that I can take for free to get one or two credits, so that is probably what I will do next year to fill the rest of the requirement.
My course was this weekend, and was really good. It sounded somewhat interesting, so that is why I was willing to jump in and pay the money for it. It was called Ligamentous Articular Strain Technique for the upper body and extremities. I am not sure that I will incorporate every technique I learned into practice, but will definitely be using my clients as guinea pigs in the next little while to try out some of the things I learned. The guy who taught the course was really engaging and down to earth, and I think I would be willing to take more courses from him in the future.
So, now that those three very busy weekends are behind me, I feel like I have some time to breathe, and relax and prepare for baby. There is not THAT much that we need to do or prepare. I need to pick up a few things in the next couple of months, but I feel better now that baby's room is painted and furniture is set up. We are taking prenatal classes through the health region starting at the beginning of June. They run for one evening/week for three weeks. I hope that they are interesting and informative. Time is really flying by....and I think this baby is going to be here before we know it! And life will change....but that's okay :)
Monday, March 05, 2012
There and Back Again
A month or so ago we decided that we would like to make a trip to Edmonton once I was done working to get away for a weekend. We arrived back today a few hours ahead of the biggest snow storm that we have had this winter (there is up to 20cm or 8inches forecast to fall by tomorrow!).
We arrived on Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel. We have stayed at the Wingate Inn the last couple of times we have stayed in Edmonton and I would recommend it. It isn't super cheap, but it is nice and there is a great breakfast included in the price. There is even a pool, hot tub and water slide for those who like that. I think one of the biggest anxiety about traveling for us is finding a hotel that is accessible enough for us to have a comfortable stay. I don't think we could stay at the Wingate for an extended period, as the shower is not usable for Jay, but for a couple of nights it is perfect. I also think that the Wingate is in an ideal location. It is on 100th Ave which is really close to lots of great restaurants and is only a few blocks northwest of the West Ed Mall.
Friday evening we had supper at the Olive Garden. I have to say that my meal was adequate but not too spectacular. There was nothing wrong with it, but it was kind of bland. However, the salad and bread sticks were delicious and the service was top notch! After supper we decided to check out Kingsway Mall.. It was nothing too exciting. We walked around but didn't end up buying anything.
Saturday morning we went to the Massage Therapy Supply Outlet for me to pick up a few things. Then carried on to the South Edmonton Common. We spent a couple of hours at Ikea picking up some things that we had wanted to get and had lunch there. We then checked out a few stores in the South Common and I ended up buying a pair of pants and a top at Banana Republic and a pair of shoes at the Shoe Company. We drove all over trying to find the Gap Outlet, but somehow missed it (according to the map it was near Banana Republic, but we didn't see it!). Since we were done shopping before supper time we headed back to our hotel to drop off our purchases then went to Joey for supper. We have always enjoyed it in Calgary and wanted to eat there. When they seated us, they asked if we were okay with poolside. We said, 'uh, I guess so'. They have this huge indoor fountain/pool thingy that we sat next to. It was really nice, and the food was great!
We were hoping to find something a little bit unique to do in Edmonton, other than just shop, so we looked online at some museums. We opted to check out the Royal Alberta Museum Sunday morning and it was worth the trip. The museum was divided into four sections. There are two permanent exhibits (Aboriginal culture and natural history) and two feature exhibits (moth photos and Aboriginal art). I think the natural history part was the best. There were a lot of different types of minerals/rocks/gems on display, a bug room (including live cockroaches and tarantulas, ugh!), a dinosaur room, and a section about animals found in Alberta. The moth photos were really interesting. I have never seen such colourful diverse looking moths. The way the photos were produced by scanning the moths made the photos almost look three dimensional. The first couple looked like the moth's body was actually fuzzy. Really neat!
After the museum we headed to West Ed and walked from one end to the other, upstairs and downstairs for a total of about three hours. I could not believe how busy that mall was! I would say worse than the Midtown at Christmas time. And I always feel like when you go to a mall and it's busy, if you duck into a store it will be less busy. Not at West Ed...ugh, so many people everywhere! I bought another shirt and we just did a lot of walking and people watching. We weren't sure we wanted to be at the busy Bourbon Street restaurants for supper, so we headed to the Cheesecake Cafe and it was quite quiet in there. Supper was good and we got a piece of cheesecake to go to share later in the evening.
After checking the forecast for today we woke up early this morning and got on the road by 9am. It was a relatively uneventful drive home and we were anxious to get here. We picked up Kiwi from my parents house around 4pm and came home to unpack and have supper. It is so good to be home and it will be so nice to sleep in our own bed tonight!
We arrived on Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel. We have stayed at the Wingate Inn the last couple of times we have stayed in Edmonton and I would recommend it. It isn't super cheap, but it is nice and there is a great breakfast included in the price. There is even a pool, hot tub and water slide for those who like that. I think one of the biggest anxiety about traveling for us is finding a hotel that is accessible enough for us to have a comfortable stay. I don't think we could stay at the Wingate for an extended period, as the shower is not usable for Jay, but for a couple of nights it is perfect. I also think that the Wingate is in an ideal location. It is on 100th Ave which is really close to lots of great restaurants and is only a few blocks northwest of the West Ed Mall.
Friday evening we had supper at the Olive Garden. I have to say that my meal was adequate but not too spectacular. There was nothing wrong with it, but it was kind of bland. However, the salad and bread sticks were delicious and the service was top notch! After supper we decided to check out Kingsway Mall.. It was nothing too exciting. We walked around but didn't end up buying anything.
Saturday morning we went to the Massage Therapy Supply Outlet for me to pick up a few things. Then carried on to the South Edmonton Common. We spent a couple of hours at Ikea picking up some things that we had wanted to get and had lunch there. We then checked out a few stores in the South Common and I ended up buying a pair of pants and a top at Banana Republic and a pair of shoes at the Shoe Company. We drove all over trying to find the Gap Outlet, but somehow missed it (according to the map it was near Banana Republic, but we didn't see it!). Since we were done shopping before supper time we headed back to our hotel to drop off our purchases then went to Joey for supper. We have always enjoyed it in Calgary and wanted to eat there. When they seated us, they asked if we were okay with poolside. We said, 'uh, I guess so'. They have this huge indoor fountain/pool thingy that we sat next to. It was really nice, and the food was great!
We were hoping to find something a little bit unique to do in Edmonton, other than just shop, so we looked online at some museums. We opted to check out the Royal Alberta Museum Sunday morning and it was worth the trip. The museum was divided into four sections. There are two permanent exhibits (Aboriginal culture and natural history) and two feature exhibits (moth photos and Aboriginal art). I think the natural history part was the best. There were a lot of different types of minerals/rocks/gems on display, a bug room (including live cockroaches and tarantulas, ugh!), a dinosaur room, and a section about animals found in Alberta. The moth photos were really interesting. I have never seen such colourful diverse looking moths. The way the photos were produced by scanning the moths made the photos almost look three dimensional. The first couple looked like the moth's body was actually fuzzy. Really neat!
After the museum we headed to West Ed and walked from one end to the other, upstairs and downstairs for a total of about three hours. I could not believe how busy that mall was! I would say worse than the Midtown at Christmas time. And I always feel like when you go to a mall and it's busy, if you duck into a store it will be less busy. Not at West Ed...ugh, so many people everywhere! I bought another shirt and we just did a lot of walking and people watching. We weren't sure we wanted to be at the busy Bourbon Street restaurants for supper, so we headed to the Cheesecake Cafe and it was quite quiet in there. Supper was good and we got a piece of cheesecake to go to share later in the evening.
After checking the forecast for today we woke up early this morning and got on the road by 9am. It was a relatively uneventful drive home and we were anxious to get here. We picked up Kiwi from my parents house around 4pm and came home to unpack and have supper. It is so good to be home and it will be so nice to sleep in our own bed tonight!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Happy Anniversary to us!
We just got back from Temple Gardens Mineral Spa in Moose Jaw. We headed out there on Sunday afternoon and stayed two nights to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary (which is on Friday January 22nd). First of all I would like to say, it has been a long time since I drove down to Moose Jaw and it is quite a pleasant, quick two hour drive from Saskatoon. When we got into town Jay showed me around some of his old hangouts and where he used to live (he went to SIAST there for two years after high school). Then he took me over to the mall. Let me say, wow, what a crappy mall. Haha :) I think I am spoiled to live in Saskatoon. Not that we have all the best stores, but I think the mall in Moose Jaw was smaller than the mall in Swift Current. Thought it did have Zellers, Pennington's and Sport Chek which are not in Swift. After killing a bit of time until check-in time at the hotel we headed over there.
I checked us in and we went to locate our room. It was in the skywalk wing, which was just fine but we had to go down a lot of long hallways and use two elevators to get from our room to the pool. Our room was very spacious (though the bathroom could have been a bit bigger, it was not a designated wheelchair accessible room, because that room had two double beds and we preferred to have one bigger bed), with a nice low king sized bed that was ideal for Jay to transfer in and out of. The mattress was a little old however and I could feel springs poking me when I rolled from side to side. I found the bed in our $70/night, run down, Super 8 motel in Calgary more comfortable to sleep in. Oh well!
The first night we went down the street to Nick's Place for supper (at the recommendation of Jay's dad). We could see why he recommended it. As soon as we got there, Jay remembered having gone there when he lived in Moose Jaw. They are quite generous with portions and very reasonably priced. After our supper settled I decided to go for a dip in the wonderfully warm pool. It was lovely! I even wore the bikini I bought this summer for the first time in public and did not feel self conscious!
Monday we had planned to sleep in then get up and get Jay in the pool. We had checked it out the first night and the pool did indeed have a ramped entry and a pool chair. I went down to get a pool chair so Jay could transfer into it from the bed and should have realized it was not going to be an easy feat. It took a LOT of pushing and grunting to get it up to our room without someone in it. I guess because it is a pool chair they don't grease the bearings or look after it, because that thing handled a million times worse than a shopping cart. Once Jay got into it, I could hardly push the thing. However after a lot of grunting and groaning I got it down the many long hallways and down the one elevator and up the other elevator and into the pool. I have to say that their ramped entry into the pool has got to be more than the legal 1 to 12 angle! However once we got in, it was a very nice relaxing swim/float/hang out for over an hour. Then we decided it was time to get out. It just happened that my aunt and uncle were staying at the spa at the same time as us and they just happened to be at the pool at the same time as us. Uncle Hans helped by pushing the pool chair up the ramp and I pulled from the front. I did okay until I got to the top of the ramp and slipped a little bit, but thankfully I didn't hurt myself or Jason. We got him out. It wasn't so bad. We realized at one point during the trip down that the chair seemed to handle better when being pulled backwards, so I pulled Jason down all the long hallways and into and out of the two elevators to get back to our room, backwards. Then there was a pretty harry transfer to get out of the chair. I was almost ready to go and find a strong man or two to just hoist Jay out of his chair into the bed, but finally managed to find a way to help Jay get out of that silly pool chair! It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed swimming with my hubby :)
I think if we go back and hope to go swimming again we would do two things differently. As much as it would be a little extra work, I would consider bringing along his shower wheelchair. It is also meant to get wet, but he has a lot less trouble transferring in and out of it, and it handles somewhat better than a shopping cart. I would also make sure he put on a life jacket before we went in the pool. We didn't think of this until he was already in the pool and it is really hard to get a lifejacket on in a pool when you can't stand up. So we just did a really half-assed job of it, but it did help keep his head above the water.
After being in the pool for that long and all the work of getting in and out of the pool we rested for a while then had lunch at the restaurant in the hotel. After lunch we weren't sure what to do until our supper reservation at the same restaurant. We decided to go walk through the casino. That is only the third time I have been in a casino and I have to say they all really look the same. Just a bunch of zombie like people sitting at their slot machines pushing a button over and over and over. Just for fun I plugged $5 into a penny slot machine (one that you could actually pull the handle!) and I ended up getting up to $17 but then lost it all, but probably played for at least half an hour to forty minutes! Jay decided to try a different machine and plugged in $5 and the machine took it in a matter of ten minutes. We decided to head back to the hotel. We just read and napped in our room until it was supper time.
We had planned to have a nice meal in Moose Jaw because we were given some money from Jason's parents for our anniversary. We ate at Harwood's Dining Room and had a nice meal. I had pork ribs with a wonderful light maple glaze on them, and Jason had these orange crepes filled with marscapone cheese and crab with shrimp and scallops. It was a very nice leisurely meal. I had another swim before bed last night and we headed home today at lunch time. All in all a very nice little holiday :)
I checked us in and we went to locate our room. It was in the skywalk wing, which was just fine but we had to go down a lot of long hallways and use two elevators to get from our room to the pool. Our room was very spacious (though the bathroom could have been a bit bigger, it was not a designated wheelchair accessible room, because that room had two double beds and we preferred to have one bigger bed), with a nice low king sized bed that was ideal for Jay to transfer in and out of. The mattress was a little old however and I could feel springs poking me when I rolled from side to side. I found the bed in our $70/night, run down, Super 8 motel in Calgary more comfortable to sleep in. Oh well!
The first night we went down the street to Nick's Place for supper (at the recommendation of Jay's dad). We could see why he recommended it. As soon as we got there, Jay remembered having gone there when he lived in Moose Jaw. They are quite generous with portions and very reasonably priced. After our supper settled I decided to go for a dip in the wonderfully warm pool. It was lovely! I even wore the bikini I bought this summer for the first time in public and did not feel self conscious!
Monday we had planned to sleep in then get up and get Jay in the pool. We had checked it out the first night and the pool did indeed have a ramped entry and a pool chair. I went down to get a pool chair so Jay could transfer into it from the bed and should have realized it was not going to be an easy feat. It took a LOT of pushing and grunting to get it up to our room without someone in it. I guess because it is a pool chair they don't grease the bearings or look after it, because that thing handled a million times worse than a shopping cart. Once Jay got into it, I could hardly push the thing. However after a lot of grunting and groaning I got it down the many long hallways and down the one elevator and up the other elevator and into the pool. I have to say that their ramped entry into the pool has got to be more than the legal 1 to 12 angle! However once we got in, it was a very nice relaxing swim/float/hang out for over an hour. Then we decided it was time to get out. It just happened that my aunt and uncle were staying at the spa at the same time as us and they just happened to be at the pool at the same time as us. Uncle Hans helped by pushing the pool chair up the ramp and I pulled from the front. I did okay until I got to the top of the ramp and slipped a little bit, but thankfully I didn't hurt myself or Jason. We got him out. It wasn't so bad. We realized at one point during the trip down that the chair seemed to handle better when being pulled backwards, so I pulled Jason down all the long hallways and into and out of the two elevators to get back to our room, backwards. Then there was a pretty harry transfer to get out of the chair. I was almost ready to go and find a strong man or two to just hoist Jay out of his chair into the bed, but finally managed to find a way to help Jay get out of that silly pool chair! It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed swimming with my hubby :)
I think if we go back and hope to go swimming again we would do two things differently. As much as it would be a little extra work, I would consider bringing along his shower wheelchair. It is also meant to get wet, but he has a lot less trouble transferring in and out of it, and it handles somewhat better than a shopping cart. I would also make sure he put on a life jacket before we went in the pool. We didn't think of this until he was already in the pool and it is really hard to get a lifejacket on in a pool when you can't stand up. So we just did a really half-assed job of it, but it did help keep his head above the water.
After being in the pool for that long and all the work of getting in and out of the pool we rested for a while then had lunch at the restaurant in the hotel. After lunch we weren't sure what to do until our supper reservation at the same restaurant. We decided to go walk through the casino. That is only the third time I have been in a casino and I have to say they all really look the same. Just a bunch of zombie like people sitting at their slot machines pushing a button over and over and over. Just for fun I plugged $5 into a penny slot machine (one that you could actually pull the handle!) and I ended up getting up to $17 but then lost it all, but probably played for at least half an hour to forty minutes! Jay decided to try a different machine and plugged in $5 and the machine took it in a matter of ten minutes. We decided to head back to the hotel. We just read and napped in our room until it was supper time.
We had planned to have a nice meal in Moose Jaw because we were given some money from Jason's parents for our anniversary. We ate at Harwood's Dining Room and had a nice meal. I had pork ribs with a wonderful light maple glaze on them, and Jason had these orange crepes filled with marscapone cheese and crab with shrimp and scallops. It was a very nice leisurely meal. I had another swim before bed last night and we headed home today at lunch time. All in all a very nice little holiday :)
Friday, July 17, 2009
Hawaii? Who's going to Hawaii? Am I going to Hawaii?
For the non Simpsons fans out there, the title is a Simpson's quote. Well not exactly, but I have had Hawaii on the brain. In the last few weeks I have done what I feel is a LOT of research on the subject of Maui. I have looked at flights, over and over again. Tried to compare prices between Westjet, Air Canada and United Airlines. But after seeing the video for 'United Breaks Guitars' made by a Canadian band, after their guitar was broken by United Airlines, I am not sure they would be my first choice for handling Jason's wheelchair. I have heard good things about Westjet so they would be our preferred choice for flying. I found a seat sale today for $369 per person each way (average regular flight price is around $600 each way per person). With taxes and fees and whatnot that saves between $800 and $1000 depending what day you would like to fly otherwise. I would love to find a cheaper seat sale (maybe $299 each way....I think that's the cheapest sale price I have seen for Saskatoon to Hawaii) but I am not going to hold my breath for that.
I emailed a number of VRBO properties in Maui and heard back from a few of them. Some were not wheelchair accessible, some became clear that they weren't wheelchair accessible on hearing certain details about them. We got a response from a place called Lahaina Shores. It is a condo complex in the town of Lahaina. It is a unique place, in that a number of the suites are privately owned, but it also has some hotel type amenities as well (ie front desk staff, housekeepers, etc.). The ocean front studio suite we were told about is actually ADA approved (wheelchair accessible, including roll in shower, etc) and for a fairly reasonable price. It also has a full kitchen so we could do a good portion of our own cooking. There is even access to a shared bbq grill!
I have managed to locate two companies that rent vans similar to Jason's on Maui as well. The only problem is I have emailed both of them and haven't heard anything back. I think I will try calling their toll free number next week to get an idea of what it might cost to rent for 7-9 days. I would pay the extra to rent a mini van if it meant that Jay didn't have to transfer in and out of his chair every time we wanted to stop somewhere. Though it might be fun to rent a convertible or something ;)
One more place I emailed was called Maui Classic Charters. They are a company that does snorkeling excursions from Maui. There is sunken crater called Molokini crater a few miles from Maui and it is a wildlife preserve and the most popular snorkeling destination on Maui. You take a glass bottomed catamaran out to this place then they drop anchor and let you snorkel for a couple of hours. Then they bbq lunch and take you back to land. I asked in the email if they had ever had people in wheelchairs on their boats and they said they have many times. I also asked if they would be able/willing to help Jay into and out of the water to try snorkeling and they said they would. Pretty awesome!!
We still have not booked anything, and are not 100% decided at this point, but I think this would be such an awesome adventure!
I emailed a number of VRBO properties in Maui and heard back from a few of them. Some were not wheelchair accessible, some became clear that they weren't wheelchair accessible on hearing certain details about them. We got a response from a place called Lahaina Shores. It is a condo complex in the town of Lahaina. It is a unique place, in that a number of the suites are privately owned, but it also has some hotel type amenities as well (ie front desk staff, housekeepers, etc.). The ocean front studio suite we were told about is actually ADA approved (wheelchair accessible, including roll in shower, etc) and for a fairly reasonable price. It also has a full kitchen so we could do a good portion of our own cooking. There is even access to a shared bbq grill!
I have managed to locate two companies that rent vans similar to Jason's on Maui as well. The only problem is I have emailed both of them and haven't heard anything back. I think I will try calling their toll free number next week to get an idea of what it might cost to rent for 7-9 days. I would pay the extra to rent a mini van if it meant that Jay didn't have to transfer in and out of his chair every time we wanted to stop somewhere. Though it might be fun to rent a convertible or something ;)
One more place I emailed was called Maui Classic Charters. They are a company that does snorkeling excursions from Maui. There is sunken crater called Molokini crater a few miles from Maui and it is a wildlife preserve and the most popular snorkeling destination on Maui. You take a glass bottomed catamaran out to this place then they drop anchor and let you snorkel for a couple of hours. Then they bbq lunch and take you back to land. I asked in the email if they had ever had people in wheelchairs on their boats and they said they have many times. I also asked if they would be able/willing to help Jay into and out of the water to try snorkeling and they said they would. Pretty awesome!!
We still have not booked anything, and are not 100% decided at this point, but I think this would be such an awesome adventure!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Mmmm warm
I am so glad it has been so warm outside for the last few days. I know some might say it's too warm, but after the cold winter and spring we have had up to this point, I would take a week of +40C with a minimal amount of complaining. As long as I have a cool refuge and didn't have to spend every waking moment outside.
I am not sure what twigged in my brain. Maybe it was the cold spring we were having.....not sure. But recently I have revived my desire to go on a hot holiday next winter. I know next winter may seem like a long ways away, since it is only June and we have just had our first taste of summer weather. But I have learned that summer disappears quickly around here and winter comes and drags and drags and drags.
This past winter when Jay and I started toying with the idea of a hot holiday next winter to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, I did some online research about wheelchair accessible travel. Since so many people who use wheelchairs have completely different levels of ability, it was important to me to find a travel agent who had a fair bit of experience in booking travel for people in wheelchairs. I saw an ad in one of the Total Access magazines that Jay gets as part of his Canadian Paraplegic Association membership each year. The ad was for a company called World on Wheelz, and it claimed to specialize in planning trips for wheelchair users and others with difficulty walking. I checked out their website and I have to say I was impressed.
The man who operates the website is a C4 quadriplegic who uses a power wheelchair. He had a passion for travel and after having some disappointing experiences himself, he decided he wanted to help other disabled people to have the best trips they could. He became a travel agent. He has traveled a lot in his life and on the website has posted numerous travel reviews from the trips he has been on. I have emailed back and forth with him a couple of times and he is very friendly, helpful and has returned my emails within 12 hours of receiving them. A week or two ago I sent an email to Expedia Cruise Ship Centre's website and am still waiting to hear back from them.
I know that both Jay and I still have some reservations about traveling abroad. What if they lost Jay's chair? I know it sounds like it's almost impossible, but we know someone that happened to. That would probably be about the worst thing that could happen. Lost luggage, well you can buy new clothes, and toiletries.....a wheelchair on the other hand not so much. I also asked James about the possibility of renting a shower wheelchair for Jay. That was one of those logistical things that was on my mind. I would hate for Jay to not be able to have a proper shower for an entire week. James responded and said the ones you can rent usually are quite useless, however he always takes his own shower chair along with him when he travels. That seems pretty crazy. I wonder if you have to pay extra to check that at the airport? That could be awfully cumbersome to take along, but would definitely be worth it. It could be a luggage cart :)
I have given it a tremendous amount of thought and feel that you can't just stay home in the off chance that something bad might happen. But I also think that if they lose Jay's wheelchair that we will never go anywhere again. Haha.....he can say 'I told you so.' and I will never ask to go anywhere ever again. On the other hand, maybe it will be an amazing time with NO problems whatsoever. Or more realistically there may be a few hiccups but it would be an overall amazing trip.
When I contacted James from World on Wheelz he suggested that January or February would be a good time to do a southern Caribbean cruise. He said if you want heat and sunshine, that is the place to go. The itinerary that I have been interested in is a seven night cruise starting in San Juan, Puerto Rico with stops at Aruba, Curacao, Dominica and St. Thomas. All of those ports are ones where the ship can pull right into the port and not have to dock at sea and use smaller boats for people to get on shore. Often wheelchairs are unable to go on the small boats, so you are stuck at the ship for those days. James also said that all four of the ports on the itinerary I was looking at have wheelchair accessible tours that can be booked, to give you a chance to go for a ride around the island and see some of the highlights. We were thinking it would be awesome to take some friends along with us. Just to hang out with, and maybe if not everyone wants to participate in every activity, someone could go do something else. But I am not sure that there are any of our friends who are in the position where they could take off for a week. If you are a friend, and reading this and are feeling interested in going, definitely let us know. I think having someone to go with would also help alleviate some of our anxieties.
I am not sure what twigged in my brain. Maybe it was the cold spring we were having.....not sure. But recently I have revived my desire to go on a hot holiday next winter. I know next winter may seem like a long ways away, since it is only June and we have just had our first taste of summer weather. But I have learned that summer disappears quickly around here and winter comes and drags and drags and drags.
This past winter when Jay and I started toying with the idea of a hot holiday next winter to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, I did some online research about wheelchair accessible travel. Since so many people who use wheelchairs have completely different levels of ability, it was important to me to find a travel agent who had a fair bit of experience in booking travel for people in wheelchairs. I saw an ad in one of the Total Access magazines that Jay gets as part of his Canadian Paraplegic Association membership each year. The ad was for a company called World on Wheelz, and it claimed to specialize in planning trips for wheelchair users and others with difficulty walking. I checked out their website and I have to say I was impressed.
The man who operates the website is a C4 quadriplegic who uses a power wheelchair. He had a passion for travel and after having some disappointing experiences himself, he decided he wanted to help other disabled people to have the best trips they could. He became a travel agent. He has traveled a lot in his life and on the website has posted numerous travel reviews from the trips he has been on. I have emailed back and forth with him a couple of times and he is very friendly, helpful and has returned my emails within 12 hours of receiving them. A week or two ago I sent an email to Expedia Cruise Ship Centre's website and am still waiting to hear back from them.
I know that both Jay and I still have some reservations about traveling abroad. What if they lost Jay's chair? I know it sounds like it's almost impossible, but we know someone that happened to. That would probably be about the worst thing that could happen. Lost luggage, well you can buy new clothes, and toiletries.....a wheelchair on the other hand not so much. I also asked James about the possibility of renting a shower wheelchair for Jay. That was one of those logistical things that was on my mind. I would hate for Jay to not be able to have a proper shower for an entire week. James responded and said the ones you can rent usually are quite useless, however he always takes his own shower chair along with him when he travels. That seems pretty crazy. I wonder if you have to pay extra to check that at the airport? That could be awfully cumbersome to take along, but would definitely be worth it. It could be a luggage cart :)
I have given it a tremendous amount of thought and feel that you can't just stay home in the off chance that something bad might happen. But I also think that if they lose Jay's wheelchair that we will never go anywhere again. Haha.....he can say 'I told you so.' and I will never ask to go anywhere ever again. On the other hand, maybe it will be an amazing time with NO problems whatsoever. Or more realistically there may be a few hiccups but it would be an overall amazing trip.
When I contacted James from World on Wheelz he suggested that January or February would be a good time to do a southern Caribbean cruise. He said if you want heat and sunshine, that is the place to go. The itinerary that I have been interested in is a seven night cruise starting in San Juan, Puerto Rico with stops at Aruba, Curacao, Dominica and St. Thomas. All of those ports are ones where the ship can pull right into the port and not have to dock at sea and use smaller boats for people to get on shore. Often wheelchairs are unable to go on the small boats, so you are stuck at the ship for those days. James also said that all four of the ports on the itinerary I was looking at have wheelchair accessible tours that can be booked, to give you a chance to go for a ride around the island and see some of the highlights. We were thinking it would be awesome to take some friends along with us. Just to hang out with, and maybe if not everyone wants to participate in every activity, someone could go do something else. But I am not sure that there are any of our friends who are in the position where they could take off for a week. If you are a friend, and reading this and are feeling interested in going, definitely let us know. I think having someone to go with would also help alleviate some of our anxieties.