Squeezing a Lot of Summer In To August

First stop- Easter Seals Family Camp

Easter Seals is an amazing charity.  One of the great things they do is run camps that are completely accessible (no saying you can't play here!)  Zoe was able to do the climbing wall, sledge hockey, high ropes, zip line, etc.  She was very tired but had a great time.  On the high ropes- she was so relaxed she actually fell asleep!  Mommy was not so relaxed- I needed a lot of encouragement to complete the zip line!  

Zoe and Gavin getting ready for the climbing wall.

 Gavin said Zoe was laughing the whole way up and down.  She kept sticking her hands out trying to touch the wall.  The entire time the blue hammock was swinging and you could see Zoe's little brown boots kicking back and forth.

 There was a big dance party the last night.  Both girls had a lot of fun the entire week.

Next stop- Wheelchair Rugby, aka Murderball

 Michelle (our amazing nurse/ respite worker/ friend) got us all tickets to the Parapan Am Wheelchair Rugby games.  The first game we got to see Brazil crushed Chile.  The second game was more evenly matched with Argentina vs I actually forget already.  We did not stay for the third game (Canada vs USA) because the girls were pretty tired by that time. 

 We met Michelle's partner, Jason for the first time.  As you can see- Zoe was really shy around him!

 We even got to try out wheelchair rugby.  Ailsa threw the ball right at Zoe's face which Zoe thought was hilarious!

Last stop (for now)- Camping with cousins in New York

We met up with my little brother Joe, his wife Kristen, their three beautiful children, my cousin Elena and her three wonderful children to go camping.  All the cousins had a great time playing together.  Zoe loved how loud everyone was!  And Aunt Kristen really loved Zoe's honesty when Zoe asked for a hug and Kristen said, "Oh, you want to give me a hug?" Zoe answered "No"!  It was Kate (the baby) that Zoe wanted to snuggle with.

We all decided hiking 1.5 miles down 800 plus steps and through narrow passages was a great thing to do with 8 children!  Everyone was happy to stop and get wet at this waterfall halfway through the 2.5 hour hike.  I love how Zoe is practically jumping out of the backpack in this picture.  Joe and Elena kept complaining about carrying their youngest children but they never did take us up on our offer for them to switch and carry Zoe instead.  I wonder why...

So far August has been great and we are not done yet!