Miss T in Toronto

We have about a zillion photos from our trip to Toronto last week, but I just wanted to put a few of Miss T up as her school asked more about it and we've not yet had time to do a proper write up. 

We had been invited to the Cassie + Friends #ConnectingJA family day. Cassie + Friends are an amazing JIA charity in Canada with the same passion for pushing forwards for a cure for JIA as we have at Juvenile Arthritis Research charity in the UK.

Miss T with her Cassie + Friends t-shirt at the #ConnectingJA family day

We got to go on an iconic yellow school bus - the type we see only in movies in the UK (it's a bumpy ride!)

Miss T made some amazing friends - She's planning on staying in touch with them. It's incredible that something so positive can come out of having a horrible medical condition.

Following on from the #ConnectingJA family day was the Childhood Arthritis and Beyond conference

We added a day at Niagara falls to our trip

And Miss T's new friends had recommended a visit to the CN tower - It was sooo high!

Miss T's JIA flared a lot on the last couple of days - meaning that by the time we got back to the airport, she was unable to walk. We're hoping that her new injections start to work soon as she's still having a lot of pain each day in multiple joints. 

Meeting Jennifer from Cassie + Friends plus the ice hockey mascot for the scoring goals event that we enjoyed later that day.

 

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Easter 2024

We've had an Easter tradition for about the past 18 years or so of visiting Granny and Grandad's house on Easter day for an Easter egg hunt. It had to be skipped during lockdown year and there has been at least one occassion where it had to be held indoors due to the weather but other than that, I don't think it's ever been cancelled. 

It's even made it onto the blog a couple of times... 9 years ago for Easter 2015 - I remember Miss T's gorgeous yellow dress which was perfect for springtime! And Easter 2018 - I tell a lie, reading that post, it looks like we did have a year when it got postponed in 2017 when Miss T ended up in hospital.

If you want to watch a truly heart-melting video, this is our post following Easter 2017 on the day Miss T returned home from hospital. She was such a cutie!  

The sun was shining this year so we popped to our local lake to enjoy a bit of nature. 

Instead of Easter eggs, we chose chocolate gifts in line with some of their hobbies. So D had guitar-themed chocolate. 

And Miss T had cricket-themed chocolate. Both were from Choc on choc. 

 By the time it was time for the Easter egg hunt, I had overdone things. My right hip has been rapidly deteriorating (I'm dreading the day it will need replacing like my left one) and then I had a really painful headache that ended up lasting all night. 

So I had to stay home and miss the easter egg hunt! The others went and had a lovely time. 

In place of characters to find this year, Granny had created a bit of a maths challenge for the kids! 

 

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Raisin Flapjacks

 

A very speedy write up of the flapjacks that turned out well today so that I don't forget the recipe.

I did my usual 'not measuring very accurately' so I have no idea if repeating the recipe would turn out as well.

ingredients:

200g butter/margarine

100g coconut sugar

7 tbsp maple syrup

2 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch salt

400g oats

160g raisins

Method:

1. Line a tin with baking paper and preheat the oven to 160 C degrees (fan)

2. Gently heat the butter/margarine with the coconut sugar, maple syrup and vanilla on the hob. 

3. Add the oats and rasins and stir well.

4. Spread into the tin and bake for 25 minutes. Them remove from the oven and leave to cool. 

They probably won't last long as my whole family loved them that most got eaten already! 

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