Dallas Extravaganza 2009!

This past weekend was very busy for us! I think it doubles as both our week of Summer Vacation activities and as my 15 minutes of fame. :-)

Thursday night, Alexander and I went to see Glenn Beck in the movie theatre, just a fun thing for the two of us, since we both like him.

Cornfield near Dallas

Friday, we packed our bags and drove to Dallas, 4 hours away. The next day, Saturday, was a huge event with 25 different sports activities for the disabled. Here’s the organization. http://www.turningpointnation.org/ We just showed up, signed in, and had a great time. We got to go fishing, shoot bb guns, archery, bowling, rock wall climbing, and the best: waterskiing! The waterskiing was fun. While I was skiing, my husband and kids got to ride in the speed boat that was pulling me. That’s why the pictures are from the angle they are from, instead of from the shore. Here are some of the pictures. …

Friday: Sleeping on the drive there.

Sam and Alexander bass fishing, in a pool. This is the best way to fish, because you catch a fish about every other minute!

Archery!

Yay Brian!

BB Gun shooting.

Rock wall climbing. Alexander.

Brian reached the top!

Sam liked to climb over and over. He couldn't get enough. This is mom's silly attempt to climb. I didn't go anywhere.

Waiting for my turn at waterskiing!

In the "cage", the sitski, about to be lowered into the water.

The guys are helping me get in position before we take off!

Wheeeeee!!! I giggled for the first ten minutes straight!

Alexander on the boat during the skiing.

What great looking men!

Afterwards, they carried me back up to shore and to my chair.

You can see all of the pictures from that day here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=18130&id=1617935716

It was a great day. They had a raffle at the end of the day. Every event you do gives you one entry into the raffle, so, just because we followed little active Sam around, we ended up doing a LOT that day, and had a lot of entries.

The awards waiting in the middle of the gym.

We didn’t expect to win anything, of course. I was the last person to go waterskiing, and the raffle was about to begin, so we thought we’d missed it entirely. But we’d been waiting hours to go waterskiing, so we wanted to do it. After skiing, we went to the raffle location, and turns out we didn’t miss much. They apparently had some basketball scrimmage while I was skiing. Cool.

Enjoying our first three raffle winnings.

After a lot of things were handed out, they called out “Brooke Hook?” I raised my hand high and said “that’s me!” I’d heard the guy mess up on names before that, so I decided that if he called anything remotely close to my name, I would say it’s me, and we could work it out later. It was funny, we told him I wasn’t Brooke Hook, but Brooke Hack, which arguably isn’t much better. :-) We won a pool float, which I love and will totally use, since I can’t swim anymore. :-) I was happy, I actually won something, so cool! Later, he pulled my name again, “Brooke Hack!” – and all the people near me yelled back “Brooke Hook!” while laughing. It was so hilarious! I still smile remembering it! :-) I felt so happy. We won a disc golf set. Brian’s been meaning to play more disc golf for about 8 years, so now he can! :-)

Soon after that they called my name again, and by now, I’m starting to feel really special. We won a $50 gift certificate to Bass Pro Shops, who sponsored the event. Some people who won these just returned them, but we were thrilled to have it because my two boys have wanted their own fishing poles and equipment for about 4 years, and I kept putting it off because of the money. But the coupon was only good at a Dallas location. So, instead of driving straight home after the event, we went to the Fishing Store, and picked up poles and fishing gear that afternoon. It was 8pm before we even left Dallas for the 4 hour drive home. Good thing Sam and Alexander fell asleep on the way home – since Sam had a piano recital the next day. (See my next blog entry for video of Sam's recital).

Then, and we still can't believe this... he called my name again. I wasn't paying attention that time, so I didn't even know what I had won. It was a top of the line electrical scooter!

My favorite parts: it's a beautiful blue, and it's indoor/outdoor. And since I'll mostly be using it outdoors, that's perfect for me! Most are just indoor types. But this one is made to go over rocks, dirt, bumps, and grass, which is exactly what I'm going to use it for! I don't know how they knew, I mean, they didn't. But it's been my biggest sad point lately, is when I want to go over rugged ground, and I really can't, because I end up injuring my shoulder too badly. So, it was very limiting. Now, maybe, when the boys go fishing, I can go with them!!!

Here's another shot of it, from my phone camera, while it's charging in the garage. It's a Pride Celebrity X, 3 wheel. I'm having some trouble sitting in it, without sliding off of the seat. I need help sitting up, and my wheelchair is specially adjusted for me to hold me in it, since my torso muscles don't work that well. This is why the seat cushion is missing in the photo above. We are adding some modifications to make it work for me. Hey, you know, free scooter! We'll make it work.

So, this is the 4th thing we won at the raffle! Seriously, lots of people won nothing, and we won 4 times! They only gave stuff away to disabled people. Anyone standing had to explain what was wrong with them. One guy was an amputee, leg, but people were blocking his legs, so the guy in charge couldn't see. So, the guy in charge joked "show me your leg!" It was hilarious.

The top prizes for the day were trips on Carribbean cruises for a week. I somehow, thanking God, won this scooter!!! It's a $2,000 value, and they just handed me the keys and said "can you get this home?" And I'm like, ya!! (Good thing we had extra room in the back of our van). We used the long 7 foot ramp in my living room to get it out of the car (it's 191 pounds!).

I can use it to go on trails and such, and not destroy my shoulders! It's going to be a lifesaver! I'm so excited. And I can go around my neighborhood, like I used to do when I went on walks for years, and I can go with my kids when they ride bikes! I couldn't keep up before, in my w/c. Plus, in the neighborhood, the sidewalks and roads are all graded, at an angle, for rain runoff. But it makes me have to push with just one arm, which is a killer on my shoulders. I can't do it. Another thing we've been wanting to do is find a way for me to keep up with Brian when he goes running. This will solve that problem!

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And it's BLUE! It's so pretty. I actually cried when they gave it to me. They called me out into the middle of that gym, as seen in an earlier picture. And it started to hit me what was really happening, and I started crying. They gave me the microphone so I could thank everyone. I didn't know what to say, but I did my best.

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Later, at the fishing store, people actually recognized me from the event! I think this is my 15 minutes of fame! It was lots of fun.

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I'm so happy about this scooter, because it's really going to open up the world for me. Yesterday, I was able to water my grass, while being on the grass! I can go over grass in my chair of course, but our front yard has very steep hills which are too much to do in a w/c. It's such an amazing feeling to go up the hill in my front yard without killing myself! I'm really going to be able to do a lot more, and maybe not need shoulder surgery in 20 years like some people need.

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Thank you God! I'll use it well! :-)

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