Paralympic Event

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to participate in a Paralympic experience put on by Hartford Life. I was very excited to attend this event. It was everything I hoped it would be and more.

The day started out with sled hockey. I was strapped into a sled complete with helmet, neck guard, and two ice picks/hockey sticks to propel on the ice and pass the puck. We were given a couple of minutes to practice before participating in a little friendly competition! During warm-up I have never laughed so hard in my life. I literally thought I was going to pee my pants when my co-worker Holly flipped her sled on it's side and couldn't get up. I don't think I stopped laughing until it happened to me and I was stuck! We lost our first game and won the second (no thanks to anything I did). I was truly amazed by the 3 actual sled hockey athletes that were there. What they do is amazing.

Next we headed inside for some Paralympic trivia and then out for some cross country skiing. Before this I had never cross country skied in my life. It was a good thing that my team's leader was a Paralympic cross country skiier! After a brief crash course in cross country skiing we took a tour of the lap we would be skiing as part of the relay. I thought it would just be a little loop, oh no it was a huge loop complete with an uphill section and a downhill section. I was totally winded after the "warm-up" lap and then told I was only going to get to use 1 pole for the real thing. All I can say is that I made it through my lap of the relay without collapsing and my team captain made up for my pathetic time! All in all it was an incredible day and a wonderful experience.

Cyclops Cat

Ever had a project that didn't turn out like the picture on the box? We've all been there right? Meet Cyclops Cat, affectionately referred to as CC. On one of my many trips to Michaels I picked up a "Cuddly Pom Kit" which makes one cuddly cat, or so I thought! I thought it would be fun for our neighbor Erin to do while she was over at our house. The kit says a "fun and easy project" ages 7 and up. Perfect, I thought, because Erin is 7, plus she loves cats. About the only "easy" think about the project was getting the box open. We quickly determined that regular Elmer's glue wasn't working, so we switched to instant adhesive gel, which is not suitable for children 7 and up! We did end up having a pretty good time putting it together. We were laughing so hard while trying not to glue our fingers together at the same time!
The end result, looks just like the box right? Oh, we got the name Cyslops Cat because the kit only came with one eye. Either that or we lost the other one, who knows! I have to admit: Fun, yes Easy, absolutely not! It doesn't advertise that it is cute, just cuddly, so I can agree with that!