Friday, September 22, 2017

A couple of updates

Well I am finally starting homeschool again now that Caleryn is back in preschool. I'm doing online courses now. The first course I'm taking is economics. Economics is a little hard and I kinda regret saying that I want to do economics over and over again to my mom because when I did the first week, I got confused. My mom seems really impressed that I'm doing all of it by myself. I finally have a good set up for doing work on my own, I don't have everything I need working just right but I'm getting close. Believe me it's not easy when you have to rely on so much to help you get something done. Usually, I always needed help with one thing or another to get school accomplished but with my Surface, Tobii eyegazing, Bluetooth and a clicker botton to control my joystick it's a lot easier. Now if only I had a couple monitors so I don't have to constantly change from one screen to another and a proper desk in my room then I would have the perfect setup. After taking my first test, I've realized that I do still need my moms help to break things down for me and kinda explain what the teacher just talked about. Teachers always go too fast for me! I've decided to work it like my dad does with his school and take one class at a time so I can really grasp everything and then take another class instead of taking multiple classes at the same time. It takes me all day to get through one lesson but that's okay...im doing it by myself!!

I just started youth group also and so far I like it. They don't have it every week more like every other week. You would think I went to a mega church with the size of my old confirmation and youth groups at St. Anthony because it was so huge. But here, it's just a lot smaller and intimate. The first week was about getting to know the group leaders and doing games. There were about thirteen people there for the Lifeteen. Which was the size of my old confirmation group (note there were about 15-20 different groups) to give you perspective. So it' a lot smaller! The second week we went inside, watched a video and did bible study. The people seem really nice so far and very helpful. Since the church is pretty old and not very accessible, they help me get into class. The good news is that dad finally got into our storage unit and found my other ramps so we can use that for now on. 

Power soccer is getting into the groove again and my dad gave the team some awesome news that we have some grant money to use for the team and he is going to be ordering everybody proper metal guards and brackets for everyone's chair and goal posts. The team was pretty excited to move into a more competitive direction. Not only will the metal guards be safer for the chairs but you can actually play better too, rather than using plastic guards. The team also has money for travel expenses but we aren't that good yet...that will take some time!

And finally, all my therapy (physical, speech, occupational) has started up again since moving here. So, my blogs are probably going to start being a little more sparse since everything is kicking back into gear now. I'm finally starting to feel a little more settled here.

I'm adding some oddball pictures from our second camping trip just for fun.



















Monday, September 18, 2017

Mountain Climbing!!

Last weekend we went to Staunton State Park to go mountain climbing, yes...I said mountain climbing, in a track chair. Now if you read my posts, you'll remember this is the same state park we went to when we first moved to Colorado and it's only a mountain climbing park. On our first expedition, it was a big fail and I was a little disappointed. After my mom did a little research, she found out that this is the same park that has two track chairs for people with disabilities to use to experience mountain climbing. This is the only state park that has them in Colorado but you have to schedule it way in advance. When I first saw the track chair, it reminded me of a tank chair. I did have a little experience with driving the track chair before when we went the abilities exbo in Houston and I tried one out. The problem was that the joystick on the left side was too far away from me and the one on the right side was closer but I had to drive with my right hand which is my non dominant hand. The cool thing is they have a joystick on both sides of the chair! So I tried both sides to see which side was better. When I drove with my left hand, my elbow kept locking up and it was hard to bend my arm to stop and let go. The lady who was guiding us on the 5 mile hike toward the pond told me what each toggle does. Every once in awhile, she would tell me to go left or right a little bit to make sure I don't go off of the trail. My dad couldn't believe that I was driving so well with my right hand. I let go of the joystick a few times but once I got a good strong grip onto it I drove it pretty well. Along the side of the trail there were numbers which indicated there was something to see. The lady said that the leaves turn red and yellow at around October. Too bad we won't be there to see it because we are going to Disney World. Caleryn is so going to explode because there is going to be princesses everywhere! Then by the time we get back, it will probably be snowing. Anyway, Caleryn and my mom was slipping on rocks walking down a slope because they had the wrong kind of shoes on. Caleryn's stomach was hurting a little bit too so, not too long after that my mom started heading back to the car with Caleryn around half way to the pond. The trail was smooth for the most part. There are three different trails and we tried the easiest one on our first outing. There were lots of tree roots sticking out of the ground. When we got to the pond, I parked the chair on the fishing dock and sat out there for a while. We didn't fish because my dad didn't bring the poles but apparently it's a great stop to fish because we saw lots of people catching. Ten minutes later we headed back. I liked riding in a track chair. I thought it was fun. Kinda wish I could've gone faster but I get it, we had to have a guide and she probably wouldn't let me. All in all I had a great time driving my version of a monster truck.















Thursday, September 14, 2017

Going camping in our new rv

     The new rv that we bought is so nice. We were going to go with the Mercedes sprinter route for an accessible travel vehicle and put a King size bed with a bathroom in it but when the salesman at the showroom showed us some sprinters that had bathrooms, kitchen sinks and couches already in them, we realized that there was no way that my F-Five power chair could've fit. Plus, they were having trouble finding one that would work for accessibility without having to wait 6 mos. to order it. So mom thought we should try Camping World just to see if maybe that would be a better option...and it was! Soon after we picked the rv up from the rv place and took it to the apartment and parked it at the parking lot outside, we kept thinking of a funny name for it. We struggled with a name at first because we always name our stuff. Caleryn calls it the Driving House, mom calls it Prescious, I call it Hogg of course, dad calls it Leroy Jenkins so we called it Leroy Jenkins! We were going to drive it to Dallas to see Nanna and Papa since it was a holiday weekend but since Hurricane Harvey just happened the week before, there was gas issues so we decided to stay closer to home.

     On Friday afternoon for the first time of living in Colorado, we actually went camping. We rode in our new rv. I was so happy that I was able to take my F-Five power chair with me. There is so much room in the back! Thank goodness we went to the rv place and looked around, rather than just going with the flow and wait until the people who work at Mercedes to find us a black sprinter. The problem is that the back door on the rv that opens up like a ramp is a little too steep. So my dad brought the ramp that he uses for his truck with us. Before we even started heading towards the camp site, we had to go to Target to get sheets, covers, pillows and a wedge for me so I can be prompted up a little bit when I'm laying down. During the drive to the camping place outside of Colorado Springs, it got bumpy. So I just watched Masters and Grand Masters play quick one or three minute chess games. Now I have been playing chess again.  I think I started back to playing about three months ago. I have to say that I beat my dad all of the time! He sucks! I do play against harder people for an actual challenge.

     When we got to the rv camp and found the spot where we were going to stay at, my mom had to get out of the rv and shine the flashlight at the rocks to notify my dad while he was backing up. Then my parents started setting up all of the beds because it was already late. That night we didn't sleep too well because the air conditioner was on a super low temperature. Me and my mom was freezing to death and my dad was being so stubborn and couldn't just turn up the ac, he was too lazy to get off the bed and climb down the ladder.

     The next day we woke up and saw the beautiful scenery of the mountains that we had right in front of us when my dad opened the back door. I couldn't go out there until I was done eating my bag of feed. Caleryn was playing outside with the rocks. That day we just stayed in the rv for a while and then we went shopping for some groceries and more supplies, apparently, you have to buy a gazillion things to go camping. When we got back, I reclined back my F-Five power chair and raised the the feet up and took a little nap. When everyone got up, my dad turned on a movie for Caleryn on my t.v. In the evening, we had a campfire and cooked hot dogs. My dad started the fire. The hot dogs were good. It took about five minutes to cook them too. We ate other stuff to like chips, dips, cantaloupe and later on we had smours too.

     On Sunday we went to the Royal Gorge Bridge, which is a bridge you walk on and down below is a river and it is scary when you look down because it's so far down and when golf carts drive across it, the bridge shakes a little bit. It was pretty scary. We saw people zip lining down across the Gorge and helicopter tours above us. I totally wanted to do that but I would have to ride a ski lift up to the zip line tower and the line was super long as well. You kinda have to make a reservation and come back later. You can see the Arkansas river down below and if you get lucky you can see the royal gorge train or whitewater rafters floating down the river. It was a long walk up and down hills to get back and forth and of course on the way back Caleryn started throwing a fit because the hill was too steep for her and it was hot and she's a whiney baby. She thinks she can hitch a ride with me whenever she feels like it! It was a fun experience to get to see it. By the time we got back into the rv then drove back to camp, everyone crashed and took a nap. That night mom made hamburgers, mac n cheese, fruit, beans then we made cherry pies over the fire and hung outside, the weather was quite nice and no bugs!

     On Labor Day we had to check out by 11am so we kinda saw a bunch of rv's packing up and heading out at the same time. I think that our first rv camping experience was a total success and we had fun!!