Some Spirit

This year we have been a bit lax with our Spirit Wheel Walk Run for the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario. I may have mentioned it before...

But today is the day!
The kids thought it was so cool that we were all wearing the same shirt!

We decided to try out a new location this year.

Starting at the Oshawa beach in Lakeview Park.

Somewhere to keep the kids occupied while we organize ourselves...

But not too exciting that they have a complete meltdown when it's time to go.
And of course it is a beautiful background for some pictures.

Here is our group of walkers
Thank you so much for coming out and walking with us!
Cheryl, Lisa, with Emily (broken hand and all) and Hannah
Gwenda and Gord Bartley
Jamie Mack (Laura sent her regards)
Jennifer Daviau and kids Emma and Mason - who were a big help!
Antonella and Alejandra and friend (sorry I don't have her name) with 2 month old son
of course Kyle, Amanda, Katheryn and Nickolas Ridding

Special thanks to my in-laws Marie with Shannen and Madison and Austen who helped with all the set-up, food, but weren't able to walk.

We got our family picture right before setting off.

We have a vareity of different 'rolls'
a wagon,

a wheelchair,

2 strollers,

even a scooter - but I don't have a picture.
No bikes this year.
There was lots of space to have a rest and let slower walkers to catch up

Even injured walkers did a great job!

Mostly we all stayed together

And had a chance to chat, catch up
And think how lucky we are to have each other.

Craziness and all!

The weather and the walk was beautiful
We had all sun, sun and sun!

And alot of the walk was surrounded by green and water

I recently found out that all of the trails in Oshawa are completely accessible!

Something that makes those boring summer days a little better.

We walked for over an hour and then took a bit of a breather before turning around and heading back

I even got a bit of a break from the camera - when Katheryn wanted to play photographer!

And then we were off again!

Nick got tired of his wheelchair and wanted some wagon rides

We set everything up in a little unused corner by the beach for our own picnic!
We had lots of people walk by and see our sign
Mental note for next year - definitely print out some of my information pamphlets for anyone who is interested (I say this every year)

We had a good layout of food

Nick has his favorites!

Nick had some time to walk with his walker - but no luck on the sand

We had Lake Ontario all ready and waiting for some cool down time!
Nick got brave...

Katheryn got braver!

The key a successful walk is to end ALOT dirtier than you started!

I think we were successful!

From beginning to end of our walk I think we had a great time!
We had friends and family, awareness and food.
We had wheels and feet and matching shirts.
We had fun, we had sun and even some shade when we needed it.
And it all ended with a good dip and sandcastles!

I don't have a total for what we raised, but I think it's somewhere in the $400 range.
Not nearly as well as we have done in previous years, but we certainly showed what spina bifida looks like!
If you feel like donating - http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=s10136 is the site, and just pick 2012 SWWR - Nick's Cheering Squad (Ridding Family) from the pull down menu. Or of course I can take donations in person or at work - until the end of June.

Getting Ready for Nick's Cheering Squad

Tomorrow is our families 3rd annual Spirit Wheel Walk Run.
The month has been very busy and I haven't done nearly enough fundraising or organizing that I wanted to do. I'd be surprised if we've raise more than a couple of hundred dollars.
But tomorrow is the day!

The kids are excited, sandwiches are made, bags are (almost) packed and our meeting place is set.
Nick's Cheering Squad is ready to go.
We are ready to show people that spina bifida isn't scary, and that this is what spina bifida looks like!

Anyone in the Oshawa area is welcome to join us at Lakeview Park - at the beach. 11am.
Our plan - simple as always. Walk 90 minutes, then turn around and walk back.
Followed by a picnic at the park.

Pictures will of course be posted this week.

If there is anyone out there wanting to donate to Nick's Cheering Squad - just follow the link
http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=s10136
and pick us from the pull down menu.
(Thanks in advance)

The weather is supposed to be beautiful!
So I'm off to pack the hats and sunscreen!

The end... change is good... righ?!

2 years of going to every SB mom and baby group. Seeing Nickolas going from being the youngest, the smallest to being one of the oldest. Following how other kids Nick's age (Natalie is a month older)

And it ended this week

We had a little party and spent some time just talking.
Talking about how we wanted to continue and what we could do.

And we eventually got our acts together and took some pictures.

It was a sad day for everyone
But Nick was just really happy that there was some watermelon!

This is some of the parents, kids, staff and volunteers.
Our last baby group.

I am going with the idea that this is a good change.

This will provide us parents with the opportunity to direct our group, to maybe reach people who were unable to attend group but were still interested in the support.

We have a couple of ideas and tricks up our sleeve, and hope we can start in September with some kind of plan about how we will be able to expand our changed group and have what we need.

A couple of us have our feelers our to the SBHAO to become a more official parent group, using the facilities and faculties of Holland Bloorview as a resource.

I also went home and great a facebook group to get us started as a place to 'meet' and plan hopefully together.

I was trying to come up with a name for the group.

What I came up with was Our Kids, with spina bifida - Toronto and area.

Because first and foremost they are our kids. And yes they have spina bifida, but they are kids first, and we are parents first.

I'm hoping that this will allow us all to connect with people that receive services at Holland Bloorview that we just didn't know was out there.

I am not sure how the link will work. But if you are reading this and you think hey! We go to Holland Bloorview for services! Then contact me on facebook and we'd love for you to join our group. I say it is for parents, but really we won't deny anyone who is interested. 

Retouch

I have recently found a great feature in my photo program.
The RETOUCH.
Have an annoying pimple - no problem RETOUCH and it's gone.
That dirty face but beautiful smile - RETOUCH!

Sometimes I photoshop a couple of pictures together - especially when I have 2 kids that like to look and smile at the camera at different times.
I generally use the old fashioned paint program, but this retouch lets me smooth out some of the edges.

Or to put some open eyes on my sister!

But then when I was going through some of my favorite pictures I was retouching other things.
First it was one of my favorite new years pictures - a New Years kiss!

Here is the original picture. I love this picture, but the marker (even 3 weeks later) at the scar just takes away from the picture.

I was going through over 600 pictures on the computer - and these are just my favorites! To run through as a background or screen saver, so I was fixing up the colours and rotating them ect. And of course using RETOUCH to take away those pesky distractions.

That's when things took a wrong turn.
I got to this picture.
It is from last summer, look how happy they are!
(Actually Nick's shirt says my mommy is totally going to blog about this)

And I brought that little RETOUCH arrow down.

Down to that distraction. It's not a pimple, or bits of food.
That ugly, ugly belly scar. I hate it, the back one, I'm good with, but I don't like that belly scar...

And there is his beautiful tummy sans scar.
It felt wrong right away. And I immediately changed it back.

Food and pimples yes, but scars. A definite, definite no!
Scars are permanent, scars are part of who we are (the same with mole and birth marks - I don't want to retouch those).

Because I love this picture. This is my son, he is strong, he is whole, he is perfect.

I don't feel that this retouched picture is more perfect. Where is the scar?! I really don't like this following picture at all. It is flawed. It is just wrong.

I never, ever would have RETOUCHed a back picture, except for the purposes of this blog.

Pictures are supposed to show who we are, they are supposed to show joy, sorrow, laughter, boredom or just plain life. I don't need a RETOUCH button for my life (just maybe for some pimples)

Ready for a Sunny Summer!

The weather has been simply summer-ish!

So out comes all of the outside toys and our backyard looks like it belongs to a couple of kids!

First comes out the art supplies. What better place to paint than outside in the natural light.

And now that Nickolas realizes that he can actually walk around in the play house, it is his favorite place to be. Nick has full freedom inside that house. The two of them can actually play together outside! And not just sitting in the sandbox.

There is playing baseball!
We have a gazebo, and Katheryn likes to run around the bases. That is actually how we spent Mothers Day!

STRIKE ONE!

I had to buy a t-ball stand when I found out I am a horrible pitcher - if I didn't hit Katheryn with the ball, I was too high/too low/too wide!

 Nickolas really happy to hit the ball, I'm still teaching him the right side of the bat!

Nick was actually just really happy to stand at the T-ball thing in his walker.

He was significantly less happy when he realized I wanted him to walk on the grass with his walker!

This is his 'ha ha I'm getting down' face... "NO WALK"

The slide is another great toy that is perfect for the kids this summer too!
Katheryn has loved the slide right from the beginning, Nickolas was never that sure about it.

Now he climbs up himself, slides down, then crawls around and climbs back up.
I'm counting this as physiotherapy.

And what better way to end a nice spring/summer day than to pass out halfway up the couch!