This past spring break my family and I took a 4 night Western Caribbean cruise docking in both Key West and Cozumel.Celebrity Cruises had a reputation for being very wheelchair friendly and we choose The Constellation for 3 reasons-accessibility, dates, and we got a kicking deal booking last minute. The Constellation was built in 1991 and while its age is showing a bit, we thoroughly enjoyed our time on board. We had two balcony staterooms, cabins 6107, which is handicapped accessible and 6108. I wrote about the wheelchair accessibility of Celebrity Constellation on Traveling Mom if you want to check that out as well. Here are the Top 5 Things We Loved About Celebrity Cruises Constellation Ocean Liners In order for us to do a Celebrity Constellation review the PR department was kind enough to arrange a special dinner for my birthday at Ocean Liners, their premier pay French restaurant. The restaurant is beautiful and any foodie would be in heaven here. My family was treated to all the special menu offerings but the highlights were the flambéed lobster and the dark chocolate soufflé. If cruising on board with kids I suggest sending the kids to one of the many activities ...
How Does the Chevy Traverse Work With a Wheelchair?
When we visited Florida for Spring Break Chevy was kind enough to loan us a brand new Traverse for the week as part of a campaign with She Buys Cars so that we could experience how it would work for our family and, specifically, Carter. You may remember that I was *this close* to buying the Traverse a few years ago but Carter just did not have the strength at that time to make the transfer with the seat height difference from his wheelchair to the car seat. I was nervous about that going into this test drive and worked on simulating it in physical therapy for a few weeks prior to the trip. I need not have worried. His gigantic arms are more than strong enough now. Look in the video at how long his arms have gotten--74 inches at last measure! He certainly isn't a little kid anymore and his arms are longer than Connor's now. So, now that we know Carter could make the transfer with someone else loading his chair into the car...what else? 6 Things I Loved About the Chevy Traverse It’s Got Style. I love the body of this car. It looks less like a minivan and more like sports coupe. The crystal red color of the one I test drove was fun and I loved the way it made ...
If You Don’t Have a Disability in Your Everyday Life, You Don’t Get To Have One In Line at Disney
I am going to let you in on a little secret. Wheelchair users love Disney Parks. They are one of the few places where being 'special' pays off. Despite spending the majority of your time looking for accessible entrances, staring at people's butts in crowds, and trying to smile politely when people run into you because they didn't see you 'down there', there is a major perk to being a chair user. You get to skip most of the lines. That's right, when there is a 90 minute wait for Toy Story Mania, wheelchair users roll happily past to a private loading area where they usually get on in less than 10 minutes. Want to know an even bigger secret? If there are no other chair users in line, Cast Members have been known to let you ride over and over to your hearts content. Why? The answer usually comes down to logistics and a little bit of sympathy. Most ride vehicles have to come to a complete stop and it takes quite a bit of extra time for a wheelchair user to transfer themselves. The process isn't pretty and usually involves having a family member lift them into and off of the vehicle or completely strapping down the wheelchair. Instead of stopping the ride each time a chair ...
Leprechaun Tricks
Leprechaun tricks were very popular in our house as the kids were growing up. You never knew quite what they would do from year to year. This post was originally written in 2008 (gosh the kids look so young). I wanted to re-post it for those of you looking for some leprechaun tricks to step up your game. My kiddos still talk about this one 5 years later. Those tricky leprechauns somehow turned all the water in our faucets green this AM! The toilets flushed green water, too! It was a big mystery for a while but then the boys started to figure bits and pieces of it out. They guessed that the Leprechauns must have put green paint or something in the faucets. After a lot of fun and teasing I brought out the fizzy tablets from Steve Spangler that does this. They had fun mixing the colors...Carter did not know that yellow and blue make green...I just assumed he learned that in Kindergarten (maybe he was absent that day, lol). Connor remembered back to 4th grade where I taught him chromatography and made black with the primary colors. Thank you Leprechauns for the fun color reminder and for leaving us extra fizzy tabs to play with! ;) Leprechaun Tricks: New ...
Fairy Gardens | How I Love Them
Fairy gardens make me happy. There I said it. They are silly and fun and girlish and I just love them! Lately I have had some friends have some awful things happen in their lives. I feel surrounded by sadness and I just want to share some pictures of the fairy gardens they had last year at Tagawa Gardens because well, they just make me smile. It's blizzardy and blustery here in Colorado today and we could all use a light dusting of fairy dust! For all my friends having darkness in their lives I hope for you some fairy magic comes soon.... ...