Starting down memory lane....

Skating was on the agenda for the first day of Buffalo exploration, but first we made a stop at the University's south campus for a quick visit with my former professor, J.  For those who don't know, I'm a Speech Language Pathologist by profession though I'm not working in the field right now, been kinda busy with other stuff :-).

As a graduate student, and then later in the so called 'work force', my focus was on what's called Alternative and Augmentative Communication or, AAC.  That means working with people who cannot or do not use their speech mechanism and/or language systems like the norm, for one reason or another, and helping them utilize alternative methods of communication or augmenting the abilities they do have.  Boy that's a mouth full.

I spent many many hours in what's called the Communication Assistive Device Laboratory as one of J's research assistants, I took every course he offered and was his TA for an undergrad course.  His influence on my academic and professional life was tremendous.  He is the one that stands out when I look back at the time I spent in the Communication Disorders and Sciences department.

Well, he hadn't changed a bit!  Though the location of the department has changed, the lab looks almost exactly as it was, same furniture and all.  The only difference was the new generation of computers, lab assistants and students.  Oh, and the three kids that thanks to us were now running around having fun drawing on the whiteboard :-).  We caught up on each other's lives and the goings on at the lab.  Talked about new research as well as the results and influences of the older research I was involved in.  The whole thing kind of made me miss academia......For a while way back then I was torn between graduating to move on professionally and staying on to work towards a doctoral degree.  The debate within me didn't really go on very long since I was slightly older than your average student, 27 when I graduated with my master's,  and knew I wanted my life to go more in the direction of creating a full time family life rather than academia and full time employment.

The path not chosen and all that.....but I have no regrets at all, it's just fun and interesting to wonder about what would have been and then be so thankful for what HAS been.  I think one day it might be fun to go back to school for one thing or another, or maybe just take some courses.  Not sure what my brain at this point in time would have to say about that though.....it hurts just thinking about it....

OK, back to reality and our next stop - the ice rink, finally!  This rink is located just outside the University of Buffalo (UB) north campus, our third stop that day.

I never would have imagined back when we lived here that I'd be here with my kids, showing them around and taking my eldest figure skating off Maple Rd!  The tradition that is Buffalo is instilled in the next generation.....





Goofing around is also an important part of skating practice -



As per usual, the boys, all of them, were occupied with what they love to do best.  You can't really tell from this picture but S is reading the newspaper online.  These rinks usually come equipped with wireless.



Skating wrapped up, we headed over to explore the campus!



'Our' buildings remained the same, but my oh my have they been building and adding student housing to this place!  Wow!  They look like regular 3 story apartment buildings, but really nice!  Nothing like when we were there.

We parked close to our former dorm, walked over to the engineering buildings, the Student Union -



Popped into some empty lecture halls.  Of course they are now equipped with sockets at every seat for your laptop.  Does anybody take notes the old fashioned way anymore??  Guess not.  We also gave the kids a lecture about the best place to sit in these classrooms, especially the larger ones:  Front and center rIght in front of the professor!  Both S and I had done this, independently of each other, in our respective courses. Great minds....  :-)



Some pics are taken with the iphone, as you probably can tell.



We continued to walked around, going through and in and out of buildings.  All the buildings at UB are connected by above and under ground tunnels.  It's a fun, and warm (!), way to get around the campus.  The kids definitely got a kick out of it.

In the engineering building we walked down 'professor row'.  Some of S's profs were still teaching though only one was in his office.  This prof was one in a long list of profs S TA-ed and RA-ed for.  S had not been in touch with him since graduation but as soon as we walked in the prof recognized him and addressed him by name!  That was pretty cool.  S had a nice time catching up with him and sharing what has transpired in his professional and personal life since he left 12 years ago and the kids had a nice time running up and down the long corridors.

Once the visit was over we headed back to the car and just had to snap this picture -



David and Goliath.....hee hee

With that image we ended our trip down memory lane, as it pertains to college anyway.  There were still other meaningful areas of Buffalo to be explored.  But those we saved for another day.

Lovin' those trees......

Our Walmart in Rapid City was a crowded one.  We literally squeezed in between two RVs when we arrived late at night.  In the morning we woke up and met the neighbor to our right.  A single woman in her 60's (or there abouts) who was traveling across the country in a conversion van on her own!  Wow!  She'd done this before too.  A sweet lady, she shared with us her experiences at the locations we were heading to and thought what we were doing was great, if I do say so myself :-).

Well, the morning dragged out what with our side conversations and all, and here we were at 11 heading to the local RV supply store to pick up a few items.  While there, S consulted with the owner regarding a tire issue and said owner strongly suggested we head straight to the tire shop and get it replaced! Yikes!

Off we went to the auto shop that luckily was down the street.  Hung out there while S and the mechanics worked out what needed to be done.  Turns out two tires needed replacing and others rotated.....We were apparently on the verge of a tire explosion.....Someone's watching over us.....

Leaving our home behind, we headed to the local skating rink for another skating session.  Ice rinks are not easy to come by in these parts, surprisingly enough, so we take them where we can get them, no matter what else needs to be done.






She was lucky enough to share the ice with a more experienced figure skating teen this time and very soon was asking her for pointers.  The teenager was so sweet and helpful and even left her boyfriend hanging while she helped Analyzer :-).  Spins are what Analyzer's really working on now and those are apparently one of the hardest thing to accomplish, taking at least several months.  Given that her practice sessions are few and far between, it will obviously take much longer.  It's been pretty frustrating for her.....

Well, skating wrapped up, back we headed to pick up our home and drop in on a local food coop to do some shopping.  We were itching to get out of Dodge already but fresh food must be purchased when we have a chance.  It was a cute little place with a surprisingly large selection.  After dropping quite a bit of cash, we finally headed out of town.  It was 5PM.....Thankfully we didn't have far to go.  We were looking for a national forest campsite somewhere south of Rapid City in the Black Hills.

From our limited experience we've come to learn that if you can dry camp (sans hook ups) national forests are THE place to be.  Every private RV park we've come across has RVs lined up side by side with very little space between them.  Yes, they have full hook ups, usually, but no room to move!  Not to mention privacy.  We've never stayed at one and have no plans to do so if we can avoid it.  The second best kind of campsites so far have been national parks.  Sometimes they have one hook up or another, rarely all, and they do offer more elbow room generally in beautiful settings.  National forest sites however have so far offered large roomy sites with plenty of space to park AND run around in!

Back to our search now, we were lucky enough to come across the national forest visitor center just as it was closing.  Got directions to the closest campground not 15 minutes down the road (Orville, in case you're interested).  It was a beautiful wooded area with lots of room to roam.  The next morning we woke to some cooler temps which of course called for hot cocoa -




Temps quickly rebounded so out came the Blendtec for some breakfast smoothies.




After many nights in a Walmart parking lot it was such a breath of fresh air to be in nature again!  We were all feeling the stress of the cities (from small to large) and were so relieved to be back home again among the trees.  That morning the kids had a great time just hanging out outside, feeling the earth beneath their behinds and inhaling the luscious pine trees.  Us 'old' folks took it all in too, enjoying the peace of it all and breathing a big sigh of relief.

The wild west of Cody! Alternatively, the wild west of...Walmart?!

Pulling into Cody, the town founded, among others, by the famous Buffalo Bill Cody, we stopped at the visitor's center, per usual. Hoping to camp out by the lake at the state park, S went in asking for info and directions and such. Thinking we were on our way to a beautiful campsite yet again, come to find out we were apparently heading to the Walmart parking lot down the street......Turns out the winds in this area of the world are fairly fierce, especially down by the water.  Soooo, the kind man at the visitor center recommended we stay in a more secure location, the local Walmart!

Now, we already knew RVs can spend nights and days free of charge at most Walmarts (and Sam's clubs), depending on city ordinances, but we had yet to actually do it.

We pulled into the parking lot, settled into a nice spot on the far end right by the grass, along with many other RVs and their inhabitants. We were not the only ones there, by far.

Well, given all the things we ended up doing in Cody, combined with our nice 'campsite' and it's lovely neighbors, we ended up staying there 5 nights!  5 nights in a Walmart parking lot! How funny!  To us anyway :-)

Our new neighbors were, yet again, a lovely retired couple that we visited with frequently.  S helped them work out some major computer problems and they gave us advise on other free places to stay and most importantly, on how they heat their RV without using the heating system!  I.e. a large propane heater.  This has changed our life, but more on that later.

Our stay in Cody involved ice skating, almost daily -





Library visiting (I was still frozen from the ice rink, hence the heavy jacket! That rink has got to be the ccoollddeesstt rink I've ever been in!)



Workin' on her blog,



RV lego building - actually, that's pretty much a constant around here, not Cody related necessarily.  I've been asked to note that the RV includes a bathroom, couch, beds and slideouts!



This RV has two slideouts too, as you can observe :-)



This next event is definitely Cody specific, though I'm sure other wild west towns have something similar:  The Buffalo Bill street gun fight show! This one included Buffalo Bill (of course), Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, WIld Bill Hickok, the obligatory drunk jail keeper, and some well known outlaws, apparently.

The show began with the National Anthem, recognition and appreciation of all active and retired military personnel, a mention of the charities they raise money for by selling posters of the show, and of course, thanking their long list of sponsors. On a side note here, a nice couple in the audience had 'Buffalo Bill' give the kids a poster that they had paid for.  Wasn't that sweet?


In anticipation of gun shots by the outlaws, Inventor has prepared his ears.....



Those shots were REALLY loud....


The show included plenty of funny action scenes -



But the funniest part of the show was watching a tourist, who obviously didn't understand the whole gun fight show phenomenon, peer into the horse trough at the 'dead' man laying in it!  I wish I had gotten a shot of her actually peering in there, but the puzzled look on her face was priceless!



After the show the kids were excited to have their picture taken with the cast -



Jokin' 'round with the outlaws -



The girls, Calamity Jane and Analyzer -



The gun was a rubber one, not one of the real ones, not to worry!



My thought was maybe to leave them all in jail..... ;-)



The whole skit was very cute and entertaining with great adult humor that, mostly, went right over kid's heads.  Though the whisky joke apparently was well comprehended..... :-).  The guns were real but the bullets were blanks.  We soon learned though that even blanks can destroy a coke can if shot from close range......so watch out!

I have to tell you, I didn't expect much from the show, but it was really fun! I love being pleasantly surprised like that.

After the show we walked around the Irma hotel (Where the gun fight took place).  This is the original hotel built by Buffalo Bill and named for his daughter and where many famous characters stayed, including Annie Oakley!



Once home from the show all were excited to 'work' in their own way:  Analyzer sat down to report the evening's events on her blog.  Inventor kept repeating, about 14,000 times, "That gun fight was sooo cool!" and "I loved that gun fight!".  Followed by "Who invented the first gun? I know it wasn't Benjamin Franklin!"  Since I had no answer, I guess we're about to embark on a history lesson on guns.  Whirlwind came up with a little project of his own.  He set off to write CODY on his self made name tag that he then hung on his bed.  It's become his password so he says.

Tomorrow, The Buffalo Bill Historical Center!

Rain, wind and ice............. 8/4/10

Yesterday we took the trip into town, Steamboat that is. It’s a 40 minutes drive, no not exactly a hop skip and a jump. Seems taking ‘trips into town’ is another set of skills we’ll have to perfect. Though this was not a food shopping trip per say (Walmart was involved however), a cooler would have been a good idea for any items we might decide to pick up not to mention packing food for the afternoon or day. The real reasons behind our excursion were access to wireless and taking Analyzer skating at the olympic size rink they have in town. She had a chance to practice and later S and I had a chance to access the real world (briefly) and plan our next stop. The kids were remarkably well entertained during that time with legos, books and Shape by Shape, one of Whirlwind's favorites. Oh, and Starbucks banana bread was involved, that helped too :-).

Obviously Analyzer's skating will not get the attention she has given it this past year while we’re on the road. It seems this will be a source of frustration for her (and a small source of heartbreak for me) as her skills won’t progress as fast as she’s accustomed to. You can’t really expect the same level of development when you practice once every week or two (if she’s lucky) as opposed to 4, 5 and often 6 times a week! It makes me sad for her. Yes, I know, she’ll benefit and gain so much in other areas of her life thanks to this trip, but still, like I said, a little bit of heartbreak.

Apparently while we were out yesterday, a huge storm blew threw our campsite. We were very lucky. We had left our windows, and worse, our roof window vents (or whatever the heck they’re called) open.....The storm was so bad it lifted our beach umbrella (that was in use over the picnic table and tied to it!) straight up in the air landing it right behind our neighbor’s camper. Amazingly enough our camper was dry inside, just a little dusty coating on the table.

This morning we were again blessed with another storm, though this one did not involve such winds. It’s our first day cooped up inside thanks to the weather and I have to say, the kids and I are fairing quite well. They’ve been in their room most of the day playing and I’ve made some miso soup, since it’s gotten chilly as well. S is back in town trying to figure out our wireless situation. Hopefully when he comes back we’ll have wireless up and running here, or wherever we may be.



Tomorrow we’ll head out as soon as we can get organized and start our way towards Dinosaur National Monument (DNM). Not a long drive, but we’re still not sure where we’re staying. Unfortunately due to the length of our RV, we can’t stay in the park itself.

Skating determination

Going at it on your own.....

Watching your child accomplish something that you could never dream of doing, is truly a humbling and amazing experience. I’m sitting here watching Analyzer skate. It’s an amazing thing to watch. She’s managed to teach herself such amazing moves that she caught the eye of a skating instructor and is now, you guessed it, in figure skating lessons! How does *that* happen?!

Problem with all this is that as a tried and true homeschooler with a lot of unschooling mixed in, she doesn’t get so much joy out of following the lesson’s instruction and progression..... She’d so much rather just do her own thing, and boy does she excel at it! Freedom. It's what it's all about! She wants to take lessons though, not ready to give those up. Yet maybe? But she thrives when she’s out there, truly in her element, on her own, picking moves up from ‘real’ figure skaters.

Watch and learn - a lesson in determination.........7/30/10

As a baby, we always joked that she would sit and stare at people, things, what’s going on around her. She would study things by intensely watching. She didn’t walk until 17 months, carefully watching other people do it first. Then, when she felt she knew enough by watching, she got up and did it.

Here she is studying her toes, wondering what the heck those things do....

Skating at the age of 9 is apparently no different. She has taught herself to skate, figure skate, by watching others do it. She watches, thinks, and only then, attempts things on her own. She gets disappointed when there aren’t other skaters out at a higher level than her to learn from. It makes me so happy that instead of being intimidated by those better skaters and feeling bad about her own skills (as I would have done) she takes advantage of other’s remarkable skills and learns form them with an open heart. Don’t get me wrong, she gets frustrated and upset just like anyone else, but for the most part, her determination shines through, we work through it and out she goes again watching, learning and trying herself!

 

One very important note of recognition: Analyzer has also been blessed to have adult skaters take notice of her and offer advice and informal coaching. These people have tremendous hearts, are beyond wonderful and we both appreciate them to no end! THANK YOU!