Short and Sweet Vacation

In June 2007 not long after we first got our van and just a few months after Joseph got his power wheelchair, we took Joseph to his very first outing out of town - to the Aquarium in New Orleans.  At that time we were introduced to the challenges of the physically disabled.  We learned just how much we took for granted our ability to walk.  Going from one place to another was not easy or spontaneous anymore.  Curbs, cracked and uneven sidewalks and rough terrain are no friends to the wheelchair and us.  We found out that the accessible path was never close enough and that it was not unusual for the ramp to be blocked by some unthinking individual.  I still think with disgust about that New Orleans police car that was haphazardly parked in front of a ramp to a sidewalk and that caused us to backtrack and push (manually!) Joseph's power chair against ongoing traffic to get to another ramp.  I still wish I took a picture of that police car and plastered it in big billboards or on every newspaper in New Orleans.  (I was very angry and HOT at that time.)  I remember how very stressful it was to push the power chair around the crowd in the aquarium, or rather, operate it using the finger joystick ourselves.  Joseph, at that time, was still not proficient with driving his chair and he did not have the regular joystick yet.   Joseph had a great time looking around, despite his parents being grumpy, stressed out and sweaty.

                   Joseph liked the slide in the little playground inside the aquarium the best.

A few days after our visit to the Aquarium, we took

Joseph to a zoo (Alexandria Zoo) for the first time.

Now, four years later, we are better at taking vacations and moving Joseph around

 in his power chair.  Of course it helped that we have a parent's control/handle in the

back of Joseph's chair that makes it easier to push the chair around, sort of

power-assisted, whenever Joseph doesn't feel like driving his wheelchair.

          Our first stop on Tuesday afternoon after we got to New Orleans was the Aquarium.

The aquarium has a new attraction called Parakeet Pointe where you can buy a feedstick

 for $1 to entice the parakeets to come close and eat off the stick.  It was beautiful and fun.

I love this bird.  He looks like he's doing chin-ups.  He's actually
trying to hold on to the stick while I tried to bring it closer to Joseph.

Brady, the bird man.



Joseph checking out the fat, white alligator.




Resting in the hotel and waiting for American Idol to come on.

          On Wednesday, we took Joseph to the Audubon Zoo.  It was his first time in this Zoo. 


The guy who took the picture for us was more concerned
in keeping the flamingos in the picture than us.

 The brochure said that it was best to go to the zoo in the afternoon so that there would be less crowd.  Well, there were less animals to see, too.  It was hot and humid, so most of the animals were asleep or standing in the shade.  We missed seeing the elephants and only saw their backsides while they kept cool in a shed.  We mostly saw something like this:

   Well, at least Joseph got to ride in the train.  And he liked it.  Brady and I LIKED the breeze.

After the zoo, we went to the French Quarter to eat a very late lunch, very early supper.



Joseph checking out the Kids' menu

 When we went back to the hotel, we got in the pool that was just outside our room.  The water in the pool had not caught up with the hot temperature.  The water was c-c-c-cold.  Joseph didn't mind it at all.  He kept telling us, "Don't hold me.  I can do it.  See?" 

(On a sad note: During our drive home yesterday, we learned that a 2 1/2 year old girl

 drowned in their backyard pool on Wednesday.  The girl and her family lived about

a quarter mile up the road from us and her older sister was in the same class as Joseph.)

We were back home around 4pm Thursday.  Joseph was anxious to play on his computer, which he wasn't able to do at the hotel.  Brady was anxious to set up some lines to catch fish in the flood water behind our house.  I was anxious to see how high the water has gotten and how close it has come to the levee.  Whew.  The water has not risen significantly since Monday and is not at all close to the base of our levee.  Thank God.  I think we are not going to flood at all.

The Water's Coming, So Off We Go

With all the talk, and the reality, of flooding, the folks in our town have developed

a new interest in driving around, down from and on top of the levee

to look for any significant influx of water in our area.

Driving on top of the levee last Sunday

Oh, that bayou sure has a lot of water in it now.

Joseph got bored of driving around and pretended to play on Ipod.


This is the levee that we hope will protect us from any flooding.

                                       

This is the view on top of the levee looking towards our house.

This is the view of the levee from our backyard.

Over the weekend, the backflow from the Atchafalaya River, due to the release

of water from the Morganza Spillway, has begun to flood the slues and pits

on the other side of the levee.

Hmm, maybe it's time for us to leave.

Drake running after us.

So we packed up and left for our impromptu short vacation in

New Orleans.  It was really a little vacation we planned for just

about two weeks ago when I finally got my vacation request approved. 

It would also be a good photo opportunity to see all the spillways that

were opened and the swollen rivers.

 

This is the Atchafalaya River.  When the Morganza Spillway was

partially opened weeks ago, the water was diverted to this river.

This is the Morganza Spillway.

We crossed above the bays that were opened on the spillway.

(I missed out on taking a picture of the Mississippi River

 in Baton Rouge because I was feeding Joseph.)

This is the Bonne Carre Spillway, twenty minutes from New Orleans.

Unlike the Morganza Spillway, all the bays of the Bonne Carre

Spillway are open in order to divert the water to the

Lake Ponchartrain.

And this is the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

By now, you may think that Joseph was bored out of his mind

looking at all the water.  Brady, for sure, was getting very

impatient with all the picture taking.  But that was not all we did.

Joseph was content watching movies on the way to New Orleans

and he had fun with this bird.

But, the rest of the story will have to be continued tomorrow...

Threat of Flood

Last Sunday, Joseph took a ride in his Daddy's truck (first time ever)

to check for any flooding in our area

 following the opening of parts of the Morganza Spillway.

We found water beginning to inundate a log road
a few miles northeast of our house.  But not to worry,
there's drought in our area, and there are
slues (slough, slew) that need to fill up first, 
and thankfully, levees to protect our houses.
So, in the meantime, we just enjoyed driving in the water.

And we were not the only ones on the road.

                                     

Of course, the threat of flood is not to be taken lightly.

Some of the people in our community, including some

family members and friends had to pack up and move

because they live in unprotected areas. 

The latest news indicated that the authorities had lowered

the expected crest of the rivers in our area.

Whew!  That's good to hear.

Using the Ipod and the Joypad

Mother's Day

We are wishing all mothers a Happy Mother's Day and especially mothers of children with special needs, mothers of children who are very sick,  mothers who are away from their kids for whatever reason, and mothers who are mourning the loss of their children.

This Mother's Day, I remember my Mom.

My mother and I were not very close. It had always been more because of geography than anything else. I spent the first twelve years of my life at home with her. From 13 and on, I had been away: first for high school, then college, then work, and then off to the US to work. In the twenty years that I had been in the US, my mother was able to come just three times. And I am very thankful that all three visits were meaningful and happy times. The first time, she stayed five months with me. We went places and we talked like friends. I felt closer to her than at any other time since I was born. The second time, she came to my wedding. She approved of Brady and appreciated how good he was to me. And the third time, she met Joseph for the first time. Joseph, unfortunately, was not very friendly to his Lola (grandmother) and the pictures I took even showed it. I was just so happy that they got to see each other in person and not just in photographs.

 

It has been five years since I last saw my Mom; three years that she's been gone.  I wasn't with her when she died and I didn't go to her funeral.  It was something that we discussed about a month or so before she died, when her sister's husband just passed away.  I told her that if anything should happen to her, I would not be able to come because I couldn't leave Joseph.  She responded that she probably would not know any better by then.  That talk comforted me when I really did not make it to her funeral. 

What do I miss most about my mother?  Her Faith.  I just knew that she was always praying for us.  When Joseph was in and out of the hospital on the second year of his life, I often called my Mom and cried to her.  And she would tell me that she lit a candle for Joseph, prayed a Novena or had a Mass said for him.  I also miss her stories/gossip about our family and the people in our town.  I miss her reminding me whose birthday was coming up.  She always said that she was forgetful, but she remembered the birthdays of all her family members, friends and people she worked with. 

What did my mother use to tell me? Three things that I remember distinctly: Smile, Save Money, Always Pray the Rosary.  My Mom did all these things when she was alive.  I try my best to do one of these things everyday, and I have not been very good at all with the other two.  I need to do better.

This Mother's Day, it will just be Joseph and me for the most part of the day.  Brady lucked out from pampering me today.  Maybe next year.