Day 1397 - Mar 25, 2012

Boots.  Check.  Gloves.  Check.  Coat.  Check.

Guess what Kevin is doing this week?  Kevin will be SNOWBOARDING!!!

Yes, we are in Aspen, Colorado for the whole week for the VA Winter Sports Clinic for paralyzed veterans.  This is the first time that Kevin agreed to do something with the other vets and I am hoping that the camaraderie will instill a desire to do more with them - maybe the paralympics (sp) or something like that.  He needs a goal - something to work toward and if anything is going to inspire him - this is it.

Anyway...we flew in yesterday and although I was expecting snow everywhere - there is none at all until you get up the mountain (I believe it's being 'made' because nearly every other mountain is dry).  Personally - I am really happy with the 65 degree temps as I am quite spoiled now and don't do well in the cold, lol.

So today we just registered for the event and then Kevin was fitted for snowboarding boots. We aren't sure how it's going to work because he will be boarding without his brace -  it just wouldn't go into the boot at all.  I made the decision to just let him go without it because I am thinking that the boots are sturdy enough to keep his foot correct.  Keep your fingers crossed anyway.

So tomorrow Kev will be snowmobiling first and then maybe doing some rock wall climbing.  There are MANY events here for these guys/gals and I have to say - everyone is so nice!  I think there are over 300 disabled veterans and I believe over 700 volunteers.

What's been really great is having folks come up to me that read my blog and meeting others that I know of throughout the brain injury world.  I am excited that there is a TBI group meeting on Tuesday night too and I think it will be fantastic to get to know some of these folks even better.  It really is a small world.

And speaking of a small world - Kevin and I met a man last night that is our old neighbor's brother-in-law from East Brady!  Joy - it was great meeting Kevin!!  And what are the odds, eh?

And to finish - I want to thank Rene and MOAA for all of the ski gear and other necessities for both Kevin and myself (love you, Rene!!!) and I also want to thank Rosie at Help Our Wounded for the hotel room and food.  This trip wouldn't be possible without your help!!

There should be LOTS of pictures next week!

Day 1390 - Mar 18, 2012

Well Kevin is just hanging out with all kinds of famous people lately!  We had to go to the docs at BAMC one day this past week and guess who was there visiting?  Some of you ladies are just gonna swoon...

Yep - JR Martinez was there and what an absolutely awesome guy!  He came through BAMC years ago and feels it's home - just like we do.  (for those of you that don't know who he is, he is a wounded soldier and he was the winner on Dancing with the Stars last year).

Other than this, it was kinda a slow week.  If I remember correctly we only had the one docs appt - which in itself is news, right?  LOL.

I do have some video here of Kevin and Johnnie skating on the back porch though:



Other than this, I don't really have anything to say, but since it's been a long time since I posted some pics of our little guy Christian, I am going to leave you with some of those.  To give you an update on him, we came back from LA and he was walking all over the place.  He is still sick ALL THE TIME and he has an appt with a hematologist this week.  We really need to try to figure out what is wrong with him and get him well.  Here's hoping the specialist can figure it out.  He also has a MRI scheduled and a bunch of other tests.  Keep your fingers crossed that we find the answer soon.  He's just too darn cute to be sick all the time.

He's getting so big, isn't he?

Day 1384 - Mar 12, 2012

I am so sorry that I didn't post last night and in reality - that I haven't even posted the rest of the photos from our trip to LA.  Here are some photos of us on a bus tour called 'A Day in LA'.  It was awesome and you should definitely go on this tour if you ever make it out there!

First, here is the bus we were on, lol!

And here is a photo of the beach in Santa Monica.  Sadly, we never actually got to touch the water, but we are going to make sure we do the next time.  I just didn't know how to get Kevin to the water with his wheelchair.  Even if he walked, it would have been very difficult to push his chair over the sand so we never even tried.

From Santa Monica we went on to Venice Beach, which was so where I could envision Kevin living if things didn't happen the way they did.  Here is a photo of Kevin watching the skaters at a skate park on the beach.

And here is a candid shot of Kevin with a very sad look on his face while watching the skaters.  To the normal eye it may appear that he is angry, but it's just the burns making his lip snarl upward and his droopy eye.  If you put your hand over the right side of the photo,  you can see the sadness in his left eye. It was kinda heartbreaking to see the longing, but we didn't let it get us down for long.

And this is the Whitney Houston memorial outside of the hotel where she died.

And here we have Rodeo Drive.  Obviously Kevin and I didn't even bother stepping into any stores, lol.

But I do have to tell you about this 3 million dollar car!  Don't ask me to remember what it's called, but if I remember correctly there are only 10 in the world.  Kevin reached down to pretend that he was going to open the door and I snapped a pic.  The owner came running out of his shoppe though (which has a price tag of $2500 just to set up an appt), but quickly stopped when he realized Kevin wasn't really touching it. It was hilarious.

Next we headed to Griffith's Observatory to view the legendary Hollywood sign.

And from there we drove down the mountain to the Walk of Fame.  We didn't have enough time to really look for some of the stars we would have liked to see, but next time.

From here we would normally have been dropped back off at our hotel, but we opted to go back to the Santa Monica Pier.  I got a very dark shot of the sunset.

And here is one of the fun at the pier.

And to end a most wonderful day, we had a fluke trip in a limo, lol.  I don't know how many of you have ever been to the SM Pier, but it's down this massively steep bridge.  Of course I wasn't worried about us going down in his wheelchair (although Kevin would love it if I would just let him go and he could race 70 mph down the hill), but I admit I was worried about getting back up the hill.  Kevin weighs over 200 pounds and there was no way I was going to be able to push him back up.

So anyway, as we were leaving this couple got out of a limo.  I pushed Kevin over and kindly asked the driver to take us to the top of the hill.  He said he was free until midnight so he very nicely took us all the way back to our hotel - about 40 minutes!  Kevin was ecstatic and was uploading pics to Facebook while still in the car.

What a truly awesome day.  What a truly awesome trip.  Thanks again to all that made it possible!  You can all see what a wonderful time that Kevin had and it made this momma happy!

Day 1375 - Mar 3, 2012

I am so sorry this has taken me so long.  I promised to upload more photos and just haven't had time.  When we got home we had a bunch of doctor's appointments as SSI decided Kevin could go back to work.  No joke.  It's all fine now - I got a call late yesterday that he's been cleared for his disability to continue.  What a mess though!

So anyway, here are some awesome photos and videos from our day and a half at Universal Studios.

And here is a video of Kevin and Lucy

And Kevin dancing on stage with The Blues Brothers 

Honestly, can you not tell that Kevin had the time of his life? He loved Universal Studios!!!