Saskatchewan

From May 9-19, I was in the Far North (as they call it there) of Saskatchewan, assessing children for qualification for speech/language services as part of my job as a TinyEYE therapist.  I went to four different First Nations communities, drove over 1200 miles (more than half of it on horrific dirt roads) and tested close to 90 students.  It was a very eye-opening experience; the people there live in fairly poor conditions and have major issues with drugs and alcohol but the children are just children.  They love to play (especially basketball and street hockey), ride bikes and be with their friends.  I took some lovely photos of the lakes (there are over 10,000 lakes in Saskatchewan, in case you were wondering) and enjoyed the peace and quiet.  I was grateful for Internet and cell phone access when I was able to get it (which was about half of the time) so I could stay in touch with Jeremiah.

I had a very enlightening time but I was super happy to get home to my husband, cat and house.  There really is no place like home.

Red Earth, my first area.

One of the (many) dirt roads I drove on.

Pelican Narrows, my second area.

Deschambault Lake Resort, my third area.  I was

here for two nights.

Flin Flon, the "city" I stayed

in over the weekend.  It is

actually in Manitoba.

Sandy Bay, my fourth area.  I stayed at Slim's Cabins

for three nights.  It was really pretty.

Disney!!!

We decided to do something completely spontaneous last week and wound up in Disneyland for 3 days with our good friends, the Hortin's.  We had a fantastic time, the weather was gorgeous (sure beat the snow that was coming down when we left) and Disney without children is fantastic! (See, there are some perks to being barren.  Disney and going to WalMart without screaming toddlers are two of the biggest :)

Here are some photos from our trip:

Pretty birdie

On the sailing ship Columbia in Disney Bay

California Adventure bumper cars

My favorite picture of us

From the Buzz Lightyear ride--it's a 

video game!

Trying on a pirate hat (and face).

Climbing the giant LEGO outside

the LEGO store.

Loved the dust motes on Tom Sawyer's Island

Had to post at least one pic of him

on his phone.

All of us in line for Soarin'

The picture of the picture they

took at Space Mountain.  I don't

remember it whipping around

so much when I was younger.

Trying to pull the sword from the stone.

Driving us to hell in Mr. Toad's ride--that's really where you

go in the ride, kind of creepy (and then there's the

random child whose mother didn't notice we were

already occupying the photo op and sent him in to get his

picture taken).

Pirate's booty on Tom Sawyer's Island

With LEGO Vader at the store.

Final group pic in front of Mickey's Wonder Wheel.

Maybe next time we should ride that...