Thanks to an adventurous friend, I recently discovered several beautiful parks near Wilmington Delaware. I found irony in it, though. For the past two decades we ventured to that area, south of Pennsylvania, for the girls' appointments at DuPont Hospital for Children. The drive is about an hour for us. We typically high-tailed it home after doctor appointments. We found it funny to willingly head south along I-95 for Wilmington, Delaware. Nevertheless, on an overcast day we set off to check out Alapocas State Park and the Can Do Playground. We planned lunch along the Christina River and a stop at the Russell Peterson Wildlife Refuge. *I should note that this was during Covid-19 precautions. Immediately the forest at Alapocas beckoned us in. Just as quickly, we also found ourselves a bit lost! The most stressful part of our day was, in fact, finding parking at an accessible entrance to the Alapocas Park trails. We started by heading to the Can Do Playground completely underestimating the size of this state park. Fortunately, all was not lost when we found the Continue Reading
How to print a pictorial grocery list in minutes…it’s a game changer for our daughters.
The girls always enjoy having a purposeful trip to the store. Coincidentally, I always have trips to the store...not necessarily enjoyable. Over the past decades we learned to head inside with a deep breath and a prayer. I know that the girls will want to assist with the task. They will want to find certain items to add to the cart. Subsequently, I can guarantee they'll go rogue when it comes to the list. Next they'll get distracted in the aisles and take out a few people with their wheelchairs when they lose focus. As a result, I have ten extra gray hairs when we leave. But we do it anyway. Life skills. Entertainment. The Pandemic of 2020 changed how we do our grocery shopping. For a few months I was the only one, the designated shopper, who went into grocery store. Thankfully, the girls understood the fears and stopped asking to join. By early summer I realized that my attitude towards getting groceries had changed and I dreaded the whole ordeal. Although a little late to the game, I finally tried ordering groceries online for curbside pickup. I love Continue Reading
4 Diverse accessible parks in the Lehigh Valley area
If you are reading this in the future, then let me explain that we are currently in some sort of Pandemic lock down due to COVID-19. walking along the Rodale bike and fitness paths Just three months ago I could NEVER have imagined this. Nevertheless here we are: social distancing with two active daughters and power wheelchairs. They are anxious to get OUT. As I noted in an earlier post, we started out walking more rural isolated areas and moved on to cemetary paths at churches. They were actually interesting and easy to navigate. But throughout the past 80 days we needed a little more variety. If you are reading this in the present, please check the regulations and hours before heading out. I am going to share our four favorite paths in our area, thus far. I'm certain our trailblazing days are far from over. Not all of them were close by, some were an hour drive for us. No matter, though, since C likes to say "take me for a drive...a Looooooong one." What is it about a Sunday afternoon that creates the need for a long drive, anyway? I feared the long Continue Reading
*Updated: 3 ways I’ll communicate for my kids if I can’t be with them during a hospital stay.
*As of June 9th a press release was made for the Office of Civil Rights regarding those with disabilities bringing a support person to the hospital when admitted. I was surprised to know that this was still continuing to be an issue! Find the details here: Press release from June 9, 2020 Know your rights booklet https://youtu.be/9y1rOWyf_XM East to follow video with guidance A few weeks ago I watched a friend live out that concern. It had been an unspoken fear for awhile as we heard that those admitted to the hospital during the Covid-19 outbreak have to go alone. Each meal and snack I have become a broken record of "chew that food!! We are NOT going to the Emergency Room with all the germs!" Any walk we take becomes even more concerning to me, "Watch where you are going! Don't drive into anything or off the curb...WE ARE NOT going to the ER!'. This is in addition to the excessive hand washing and social distancing to avoid Coronavirus exposure the best we can. Then a friend asked for prayers as her son aspirated and needed to head to the Continue Reading
How we are surviving the quarantine…so far.
There are reasons this site is called Wheel Life Adventures. Our girls haven't sat still a day in their lives. They were born feisty and stayed that way. Some people like to say it has worked to their benefit. It has certainly kept us on our toes...and on the move. First, some background. The girls have cerebral palsy as a result of prematurity. They were born at 30 weeks and struggled to breathe with immature lungs. The lack of oxygen to the outermost parts of their brains caused the loss of those cells. That can result in varying types and degrees of cerebral palsy. The fact that they are twins did not cause the similar cerebral palsy. In fact, doctors were surprised how similar they stayed as they developed. While they are not exactly the same, they do have a lot in common. I am not sure which was harder for us to swallow, the loss of motor coordination (they both drive power wheelchairs) or the slowly revealed struggle to read and write. Obviously there is a whole lot more to their stories, but the current status is that our girls like to have plans, Continue Reading
When the Night to Shine ends, please don’t forget us.
When I saw the request for volunteers it said something like "this event is the highlight of the year for the attendees, so please come out and help with the Night to Shine." I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I mean, in our house, we try to have a good time all year long! While it is a good time at Night to Shine, and we do look forward to it, it is not the only event of our year. Our daughters love our family vacations, family dinners, holidays, Double H camp and lots more! If you know our girls you know they love life...and many people. Also, if you know our twin daughters, you know they are both very different. One craves crowds with lots of activity and the other prefers one on one time. It’s the latter one I was concerned about as we headed to this prom started by Tim Tebow. As I caught her eye in the rearview mirror I commented to her that she could find quiet places to visit with friends during the evening. I began coaching her on manners and ways to enjoy the night when she interrupted me with "I’m fine tonight, mom!". In my mind I said the words "we’ll Continue Reading
