Sturbridge

Yeah, yeah, I'm a slacker blogger! We all have been amazingly busy so I'll break things into parts. First, Sturbridge, better known as the Northeast Cochlear Implant Conference. The theme this year was Technology Rocks - it was an excellent get together all the way around. The kids' program was great - both boys met new buddies - and Hugh and I enjoyed our sessions. Sam was a panelist at a break-out session on the last day. He was one of 7 kids (with about 100 people in the audience) and did a great job. I so remember when the boys were young sitting at conferences like that hungry to hear from older kids/young adults/adults who were deaf I think for two reasons. One was reassurance -these folks were happy and doing well so surely my guys would too? I always found we learned so much as well. It's really good to be able to give back.

Here's the panel of kids - aren't they all cute? Sam really enjoyed Kathy and Catherine in particular.


And here's the tatoo that Sam got in Boston:



I was so happy to finally meet my friend, Lydia. Her son was also on the panel - such a cutie and so well spoken. Lydia is as delightful in real life. I also met Cathy and re-met Terri as well. Then of course, there's Jim, Joelle, and Jonah (the "J" family).

I was also a picture-taking slacker but here's a picture of the "J" family with Tom and Sam, minus Jim. It was mid-afternoon and it was time for a nap for Jonah - he's still such a cutie!


It was wonderful to see my buddy, Nell and to finally meet her husband and son (Mike and Mikey - and boy, are they a pair!). Tom and Mikey really hit it off. I'm a complete slacker here but here's a good resemblance of Nell:


Don't ask!

On the way back, we ran into rain that was so hard and heavy - it was unbelievable. We drove out of it fortunately and stopped in Putney, VT and found the 9th wonder of the world - a BBQ place!


It's always a good day when you get BBQ! They have BBQ kitties there - Tom snapped these pictures. The first is Katama, the second is.......... Oreo! I'm sure we thought of that name first!