A Very Busy February Vacation!

Vacation for Ed and the boys is almost over and it certainly flew by quickly.  President's Day weekend we spent at a hockey tournament with Thomas which was held south of Boston.  This was our first hotel stay since I lost all ability to walk.  I must say.... it turned out pretty good and we will certainly do it again.  We stayed in a handicapped room in the Sheraton.  It had an extra large bathroom that I could wheel into with the wheelchair, a roll in shower with a bench, a raised toilet seat and a sink that I could wheel right up to.  Our only complaint is they need to downsize the furniture in the room to make for more ample room for moving around in a wheelchair.  Of course this tournament fell on  the coldest weekend with a windchill of about "0"!  Oh, I can not wait to get my new wheelchair that we won't need to fiddle with foot rests!!!  The "rink"..... I have never been in such a cold rink with absolutely NO heat!  This rink has Greenfield and Blunt beat by a long shot!  They tied their first game in which Thomas had a penalty shot that he scored on.  Second and third games they lost.  Oh well, the positive is, Thomas played some really good hockey and Ed and I gained some confidence in being able to stay in hotels that are equipped with handicapped rooms. Life moves on!

After coming home from the hockey tournament on Monday, Ed did some wash and the next day we were off to NJ to visit my mom.  We did not get to see her over Christmas because of a major snow storm that hit the east coast.  We finally got to give the GPS that the boys bought Ed for Christmas a try on our trips.  It worked great until we pulled into a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike because Mark had to use the restroom and we lost signal in the parking lot.  As I was trying to figure the darn thing out we missed the exit for the NJ Parkway!  Thank goodness I got it working again so it got us to my mom's place in Lakewood.  We had a really wonderful visit and we got to see her new place which is very nice.  They even have apartments that you can rent for family members to stay in.  Ed said it was like a very elite country club.  My mom looks wonderful and Mark told  her that she looked like she was 71, which of course made my mom laugh and she gave him a big smooch.  Got to love Mark for his way with words, he does remind me a lot of my dad at times. The boys got to go swimming at the beautiful indoor pool and also enjoyed time in the hot tub too.  We had a very nice breakfast with my mom on Wednesday before we had to head back home.

Mark is hooked on legos right now especially the Star Wars by Lego and he had mapped out where the Lego stores were in NJ.  We found one that was on the way home in Paramus.  I thought it was at Paramus Park so we stopped there.  It was kind of funny going in that mall that I had not been to in years.   I remembered it to be a lot nicer then it actually was.  Well we get me out of the car and into the wheelchair and into the mall only to find out that the Lego store was no longer at Paramus Park.... I thought Mark was going to have a major breakdown.  We asked a security guard and found out that it had relocated to the Garden State Plaza which was only down the road.  So back into the car and down the road we went.  Now, when I lived in Mahwah  26 years ago that plaza was just that a plaza, shops that were next to one another but the whole thing was outside.  Now it is two floors with crazy expensive shops!!  Guess you  have to be one of those "Real Housewives of New Jersey" in order to shop there (no wonder there were very few cars at the Paramus Park mall).  Well, the closer we get to the Lego store it was like Mark was drooling.  We finally find it and Mark was in heaven.  We were a little let down thinking it would be a much larger store and have some big figures made out of legos.  Still Mark was so excited and could not wait to get his hands into those bins with the colored legos he needed to build onto his lego Star Wars building he was making.  Mark had been given some money for good grades on his report card and had saved his money from Christmas so he was money bags in that store.  On our way out of the Plaza we missed the exit for route 17 to head to the Tappanzee Bridge so we ended up going home via the George Washington Bridge.  Boy am I glad we don't live in Bergen County anymore, Boston is much easier to deal with LOL

Happy Valentine's Day!



 Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Birthday to our adorable pug Otis, he is four today!



Our adorable pup is 4!


This is how he spends most of his day... sleeping and SNORING

OK, many of you might find pugs kind of ugly but this breed grows on you because of their personality.  I always tell people, if you want a dog that thinks it is a cat then a pug is the dog for you.  Otis and I are attached at the hip.  He loves sitting in my lap and giving kisses.  He follows me around the kitchen (I think he is looking for a morsel of food when he follows me).  He sleeps all morning and eyes the door when he knows Dan will be walking in from school.  Enough of my friend.

Belchertown is officially out of snow days.. last day of school June 23rd.  This week there is no snow in the forecast and we might actually see some melting.  The following week is February vacation and then we are into March.  Granted we have seen some major snow storms in March but maybe we are done with the snow??????????  Oh, how much I want to see the ground.  Right now we are into the winter "yuckies", this is when all the snow on the sides of the roads is black and it just looks like YUCK!

We had a really nice surprise this past weekend as Matt came home.  He did come home for a friends 21st birthday but it was still a great weekend seeing him. 

Lots of things coming up next week.  Tom has a hockey tournament in Needam, MA so we will be traveling..  This will be our first time staying at a hotel since my complete inability to walk.  Praying that it won't be to challenging but looking forward to a weekend away from the doldrums of winter.  Later in the week we are going to visit my mom and the boys are very excited. We where not able to go visit at Christmas because of the snow storm.

It being Valentine's Day I was greeted this morning with super cute cards from Mark and Thomas and roses along with a beautiful heart necklace from my sweetie.  This being a day of "love" I pray that our boys see what "true love" really is by the example that Ed demonstrates daily towards me.  Ed's devotion to me is a clear example of our wedding vows," for better or for worse, in sickness and in health".  I have lost the ability to do simple tasks, getting in and out of bed, getting dressed, bath rooming, and showering.  I need Ed's help to do these tasks that I once could do on my own.  It is almost like I have become another child in our family that Ed needs to take care of.  This man works a very stressful job all day and comes home and must do all the other things I can't do that I once could such as; taking me to all my doctor appointments, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, helping prepare dinner and driving Mark and Thomas to sports.  He does all these tasks out of love for me and our children.  Whoever thought that we would be facing life with me as a para in a wheelchair.  The cancer was one thing we fought together but now throw into that mix as I became that 1 to 2% of people to suffer radiation myelitis as a result from a treatment that was supposed to help fight the cancer that returned in my spine.  I thank my Lord and Savior for providing me with such a loving and caring husband to face life's challenges and road blocks.