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.

Tennessee Vacation

We had a great time during our vacation in Tennessee. I'm a bit sad that it's over, but Jojo was ready to go home because he missed, in his words, the fast Internet at home, the Wal-Mart in Bordelonville (it's actually in Marksville, LA), and his Nana. The drive was tiring, especially the almost 14-hour drive home. We had to make frequent stops due to bathroom breaks, diaper changes, meals and wheelchair<>back seat changes for Jojo. After all's said and done, our best vacation so far.

We went to the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, where Jojo's favorite part of the trip was playing with the gears that simulate the controls/regulators for temp, filter, etc. of the water in the aquarium.

Jojo "controlling the water" in the aquarium

A visit to the little museum with sculptures of dinosaurs

We also got to visit a rainforest zoo, where Jojo enjoyed meeting "King Julian" the lemur, i.e., the lemur in the Madagascar movie/tv show on Nickelodeon. He also finally got a chance to feed goats and sheep.

We enjoyed driving from Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg, and through Townsend to go to Cade's Cove. It was so nice to see mountains and streams; things we don't see where we live. We could just imagine how beautiful the vista would be in the Fall.

Another favorite activity of Jojo's while we were on vacation: getting in the hot tub at the end of the day. I regretted not getting a head float for him in time for our vacation because he really liked for us to keep his whole body and legs submerged in the water while he "stood up" with his head above the water.

Our last day in Tennessee

Now the whirlwind of activities for the month of May is over. Jojo will be spending a quiet summer at home, with a few doctors' visits here and there. Brady and I will be back to our alternate work schedules, but we'll try to take Jojo out once in a while to see a movie, go bowling. That's our plan anyway.