Journey to Alaska

Oops. There goes my #mombrain.

I just realized I forgot to write about our adventures to Alaska! A week after we returned home from our month long road trip, we found a smoking hot deal to go on an Alaskan cruise on Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam! A bucket list trip for my husband, who has always wanted to do that cruise.

In front of our ship in rainy Juneau

Fresh from unpacking, it was a strange feeling to be packing again - except this time we had to bring warmer clothes (sweaters, toques, extra pants!) and evening clothes for the dining room. I'll be honest...we actually brought slightly more on our 1 week cruise to Alaska than we did for 4 weeks in California! Weather makes a huge difference. Though note to self: glad I brought more underwear this time.

The four of us hunkered down in a single cabin, mom and dad in a queen size bed, toddler in a pull out bed and babe in a pack&play. There wasn't much room to spare. Originally our stateroom was set up in a much more space efficient configuration (pack&play was placed next to our bed), giving us ample space to move around. The biggest problem for us was that there was no outlet nearby. Most cabins only have one or two outlet spots for hairdryer and cell phone use. This is usually located in a very obscure spot, far away from the bed. 

What's the importance of having an outlet nearby anyhow, you may ask? 

The Biracial Cochlear Implant

My Cochlear Implant is Biracial!

When you're out and your rechargeable battery dies... 

And then your SPARE battery dies...

My last resort was my husband's SPARE battery!

All I can say is: thank goodness I have a hard of hearing husband.

Enjoy this hot weather everyone!

A HOH Wedding

Wedding season is on! And a few of my fellow Hard of Hearing (HOH) friends are getting hitched. 

They've also been asking me what kind of accessible services I had at our wedding, in 2011. This is a great question, as it could mean missing out on important things - in particular the wedding vows! Now who would want to mess up on that anyway?

Communication Access Realtime Translation, or CART for short, is our preferred method of verbal translation. CART can produce over 200 words per minute, and is to date, the fastest translation system we Canadians can access. In essence, the Captionist operating a stenograph machine translates what's being said in verbatim - similar to what you would find in court reporting.

Hear By the Sea

Five days ago we wrapped up CHHA's 35th Anniversary in Sidney, BC, a mere 15 minute drive away from our home. With approximately 130 participants, it was a great opportunity to network, meet new (and old!) friends, and listen to a presentation with minimal difficulty. Captioning and hearing loops were provided for all sessions!

I did not see whales... but thankfully we see them for free on our many ferry rides!

Many of you know that I also met my husband at the very first Canadian Hard of Hearing Association's (CHHA) National Conference that I attended in 2008. That conference was also in partnership with the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People's Congress. In a way, CHHA has become a part of our lives.

Our Minimalist Road Trip 2017

We are back!

Actually, we got back 10 days ago - I needed a few days to recover, organize my meals, sort the mail, and do all the responsible 'adulting' things.This will be a long post as we did a LOT. 44 American License Plates found, and plenty of punch buggy fists were thrown between myself and Curtis.

In case you didn't read the last couple of posts, I left you in San Diego, where we enjoyed the San Diego Zoo, Coronado Beach, and Legoland. A brief overview of each attraction is described.

San Diego Zoo: Our airbnb was a short 5 minutes' drive from the zoo. Incredibly convenient as we were there from opening to about 3:30pm. Long day for two little girls! We pretty much covered the entire zoo on foot, only taking a break for lunch and nursing/snack breaks. I'll never forget hearing my 3 year old tell us "come ON! We need to go and see the other animals!". Her favorite animal was the jaguar; I'll never forget the look on her face when she told me that the jaguar had "scary eyes".

Love this :)

Coronado Beach: A must see! We went on a prime weather day. I packed lunch for all of us and we ate a splendid feast right by the water. We weren't the only ones there - lots of people to 'people' watch, and yes, I even did my 'Baywatch' run with Rachel (unfortunately I'm not as hot as the actors are). Rachel loved rolling around in the sand, and Sarah just enjoyed waving to random people.

1 Week!

We're officially one week in of nearly 4.5 weeks of travel! Technically today is day 9.

The long haul driving is over. Thanks heavens. No meltdowns going south, fortunately. We did do a couple of quick stops along the way - such as doing a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory, walking along the wharf in beautiful Monterey and visiting Solvang, a little city that doesn't know if it's Dutch or Danish.

Some fun lessons we learned along the way:

-book a hotel/motel/campsite/whatever you like when you know you'll be driving on the days when the kids are happy. It's kind of exciting to wake up in the morning and go as fast as the wind takes you. Ideally we prefer mini suites, but managed fine in a single room. It just means I actually get to go to bed when the girls go to sleep!

-Squeegee packs. I can't rave more about them. Should have brought my reusable squeegee packs from home to save some $$$. 

Baby girl trying to get Daddy's Hearing Aid (and yes, we got Jelly Bellies to go!)

Travelling with Les(s)

Another Les(s) pun to use!

We are on the road! For a whole month! One Madza CX-5 and the four of us, two adults, a 3 year old and a 9 month old.

So far, it's going pretty well... knock on wood.

We also opted not to take our cargo box, to avoid potential underground parking lot issues.  This meant that we'd have to fit everything in our trunk space. Success, given that we're newfound minimalists. Instead of bringing our double chariot stroller, it's just the single Bob. Since our 3 year old can walk pretty much everywhere. Though, should toddler get tired, we have a Deuter Kangapack (used!) for baby to ride in - that way everyone gets a ride (and a good workout).Bonus, it doubles up as our diaper bag.

This is serious business! ;)