Wednesday, September 24, 2008

FA Camp in Adelaide

Well, we are home again after a whirlwind trip to Adelaide over the weekend.

The very first FA Camp Australia was this weekend - it started Friday and ended Monday. Jasper and I flew out Friday and came home Wednesday. (I am an Adelaide girl, so had 2 extra days to see some family).

The camp was a lot of fun. I have not laughed like that since meeting Lori at Camp Sunshine this year!

Jasper and I both made new BFF's. Helen and Ray are also from WA, and we all really hit it off. Here are Jas and Ray having some boy time on the top of one of the bunk beds at bed time.









The camp was not a focus on medical things like in the US, but more of a time for families to come together and have some fun.

There were 3 families from WA (we rock!!), and 2 from SA. There was another family from NSW. It was small, but it was a lot of fun!

It was so freezing cold at night. Helen and I were lucky enough to get a heater for our room - we had one room per family, but where is the fun in that??? We decided to bunk in together as there were 4 bunk beds per room.

Here are some of the photos of our antics.....

This is when we landed at Adelaide airport... We had a couple of hours to wait before the camp bus picked us up, and "the boys" decided to have a boys only table...
Front Left is Ray, behind him is Jasper and back right is Adam. All of these boys have Fanconi Anemia.









This is Adam and Ray with one of their favourite volunteers, Amy. They had so much fun with her!!









Here are Jasper and Ray with some of the volunteers swimming in the "heated" pool... it was NOT heated!! The boys didn't last long because of a total lack of body fat!!!









This is the handsome Ray. His smile melts your heart. We love you Ray!!!









On the Saturday night we had a bonfire with singing and marshmallows. There was singing all weekend, but only one bonfire! Totally perfect for a freezing cold night!










This is Karen (left) and Helen. Karen is Adam's mum and Helen is Ray's mum. We had met Karen and Adam prior to the Adelaide Camp, and it was great to see them again, and it was the first time meeting Helen and Ray. They are such great people, I see a lot of fun together in our futures!!!









This was at the bonfire - Jasper with his favourite volunteer Jaime.











Here we are, left to right - Charisse (FA Adult), me, Helen and in front one of the volunteers, Andrew.








Want to see what a full few days at Camp does to the kids??? please see below!!



Could he be sweeter?? (only when he is awake!)







Thanks for reading.

I will post again after Jasper has his blood test next Thursday (9th Oct I think). I will have photos of the Royal Show then... guess who we are going with???? HELEN AND RAY!!!
thanks for the tickets mum!!

Bye for Now!!
Brooke
x






Sunday, September 7, 2008

New York, New York

When we told Jasper were going to the Museum of Natural History, he was excited. He loves museums.. then when Paul told him it is where they shot the movie Night at the Museum, all we heard was "hello dumb dumb, where's my gum gum" and where was he and when could we see him.. etc etc. It was never ending!
Well, as you can see, we found dumb dumb, and he did not want any gum gum. We had one very happy boy though!!
At Central Park Childrens Zoo, there was a spider web with a HUGE spider near by... Jasper served himself up as dinner!!!

One of the pathways had these lilly pads on them.. there was water underneath and I was a bit hesitant at crossing, but my little leap frog showed me just how it was done!! Then he pretended to be a turtle hatching out of an egg!
There were these logs and he just climbed outta those holes! you know Jasper, if there is something that looks like it could be climbed onto or out of, he will give it a go!
Smiling crazy was always part of the plan... this is on a tour bus.. a double decker with no roof that had stops you could get on and off of. It was the best way to get around and see what we wanted to see. We did a heap of walking, but this got us to the parts that were just that bit far..


This was outside the United Nations.. the Aussie flag is so far down the road it is not funny. We searched and searched for it, and Paul finally saw it!
This gun is also at the United Nations building. It is tied in a knot, Jasper was curious to know how the bullets came out to kill the baddies!
Random shot of Jasper and I walking across a street in NY.
Back to the Central Park Zoo. They have 2 polar bears and they were active and playing it up for the cameras. Paul took this shot. I think it is amazing! they are beautiful creatures.
Jasper under the wing of an eagle at the zoo...


Time Square. Lights are everywhere on all the buildings... even the Police Dept there has neon lights out the front. It is maddness.

This is near Battery Park. There was so many people around this bull.. it is on a traffic island, and the way people drive in NYC, you take your life into your hands getting to the bull
Yes, it does have a bum, and all the male anatomy (as Jasper will tell anyone who wants to listen).
When Jasper first saw the Statue of Liberty, he said "look, mummy, it's the Queen". I nearly wet myself laughiung!!! He now knows it is the Statue of Liberty. She is beautiful.
All the family with the Lady on the background.


That is it for a while. Jasper was meant to have bloods done on Thursday this week, but the doctor we were meant to see has decided to take the week off. We are rescheduled for early October instead.
Thanks for reading.
Brooke


Who's Got Wax Hands??

These are some of our shots in Canada.
We went to a place called ZooZ. It had all animals around to look at and some areas where you could touch and feed them.

This goat was so pregnant, she could not get up. Jasper was so gentle with her, and had about 10 photos taken with her. We were really impressed with the tigers. there were 2, and they hid for a long time, but got all up and active when one of the keepers came to clean out the cage. they are magnificent.
Hungry Hungry Hippos!!
While we were waiting for the real hippo show, Jasper decided to expel some extra energy by running up and down hills.. where does he get the energy??? It never stops!!
Here he is telling me some tall tales. I think this one was about how fast he was running and how he bashed all the baddies that were in his way. (great, somewhat violent imagination).
We got some wax hands done.. one of each of Jasper's hands. Here he is getting his left hand dipped in one layer of wax. it was pretty warm, and he loved it!

After all the wax layers were on, he got to pick a colour.. the left one is red, and the right one is black. no suprises there!!
Smiling for the camera, wax hands and all.
There was a WWE (or something) store there, and behind Jaspers hands are the hand imprints of Batista - who he loves - they are so GIANT!!! bigger than Jassies head!! This night was too funny. In our room we had a jacuzzi bath (benefits of an upgraded room). jasper wanted to have a bath and asked me to come in with him. I decided we needed bubbles and put some in.. little did I realise that the air jets pumping into the water would make the bubbles go out of control!!! They were EVERYWHERE. We had so much fun, and laughed and laughed.. not sure how housekeeping felt the next day, but we had fun!!
Still nothing medical to report.. Jasper has bloods due next week, so will post results.. I have more photos coming! nearly at the end... promise!!!
thanks for reading.
Brooke


A Town Called Jasper and Niagra Falls

One of the many suprises that Paul had planned for us was a detour thorough a little town in upstate New York called Jasper.
Jasper was pretty excited that there was a town named after him.. thinks he is famous now!
There is not much there... a school, a shop, church and cemetary, then the town is finished.. we took some snaps, and here are 2 of our Jas under some signage to prove it is real!!!




We got to go to a wax museum when we were in Canada, and while some of it was scary, The Simpsons were not! Jasper thought Bart was "cool" and said "eat my shorts" just like Bart does... hmmm...




Here is the motorbike fiend having a ball on a bike...

There was a minigolf course that had dinosaurs all over.. Jasper was a bit scared of this one as it made noise.. once daddy was there with him, it was all bravado and guts!!!

Here are some shots of Niagra Falls.. This one os on the American side and was so beautiful. The Canadian falls are more picturesque, but it is all awe inspiring - they are so powerful and magnificent.
The falls are behind us in these shots... we were up in a Sky Wheel. It was super high and a bit unsettling.
Here are my boys being brave way up high in the sky.
Our jacuzzi suite... nice upgrade or what???


Here are the falls at night from our hotel. The views were amazing, and like nothing else!
Here is a shot of the Canadian Falls. They are just WOW.

This a view from our hotel room, we could see the falls when we woke up in the morning!
Here is my baby and I having a cuddle on the American side of the falls.
Jas and Paul having a look through the viewfinder.
This one is so funny. You really have no idea how powerful the wind is.. Jasper's hair was neatly brushed here, and the wind just blew him away!! Crazy. We were in hysterics!

Ok, that is all on this one.. more coming, trust me!!!