Today we went to the Great Oregon Steam Up in Brooks. We saw cars and motorcycles, trains and trolleys, tractors, trucks, a saw mill, a blacksmith, hot air engines, steam engines, and lots of heavy equipment. Most of it was running and working or being driven. Needles to say, Ben was in Heaven!
Just one of the many!
Ben and Mommy rode on a little train. It was fun!
Grandma Mary's friend Katie brought us a yummy lunch.
Addilyn enjoyed this part the most.
Ben got to drive a real firetruck.
The hoses were extra cool.
Ben and Daddy added to their Christmas wish lists.
We all rode on an antique trolley.
Ben loved lurching through the park.
Grandpa and Addilyn enjoyed the scenery too.
All in all it was a fantastic day!
The highlight of the day for Mommy was meeting a 24 year old man with a Cochlear implant. He got his at age 7 after losing his hearing at 5. He and his mother told me about his public schooling, how their whole family learned to sign, the controversy they encountered when they decided to implant, hearing in noisy places, and his balance issues. He still wakes up nearly every morning nauseous- what I think is happening to Ben, he just doesn't have the vocab to describe it. I learned so much in just 15 minutes. Ben loved seeing a guy with an 'ear' just like his!
We talked as the tractors sputtered and he listened with his 17 year old implant ( a real antique!) I asked if he thought about getting his second ear done. He said, "No. This is just the way I am. I do fine."
And on the way home, as Ben screamed with his ears off, taking them apart into tiny pieces to fling throughout the car, Grandpa and I said, "He'll do fine too. God help us all!!"
Oh, and that mom was a fighter. I could tell. Her kid is fine because she was his advocate. Hmmm....
