Abilities Expo

Well today Nuri and I went to the Abilities Expo that is being held this weekend at the Raritan Center. CCI always has a table, or booth, here and the NJ Chapter has the job of staffing it for the weekend. This is one of the funnest events of the year and I look forward to it every year. The people are so much fun to talk with and everyone is just having fun being themselves which you don't see very often out in public.

For those that don't know what the Abilities Expo is, I'll explain a little bit. The Expo Center is a huge building where Exhibitors have booths showcasing many different items and services for people with disabilities. There are many booths for different types of wheelchairs, scooters, and even some bike type wheelchairs. There are many different car companies there with vehicles that are handicap accesible. Booths have items that you can buy to "trick out" your wheelchair. There was one booth last year that had little wheels that, when in motion, flashed different colors. I think I saw a booth today that sold hubcaps for the big wheels of chairs. They were really neat too! Anything you can possibly think of to help someone, there's a booth there and people to offer advice.

I spent the whole day there from 10-5 and the time just flew by. Nuri was a little bit sluggish today which is what I mostly expected of her. When dogs come out of their heat cycle they seem to be a little bit subdued, but within a few days they are back to their normal self again. So I expect that in another week she will be back to her spazzy self again. Can't wait! So most of the day she spent in the pop-up crate that I brought along for whenever a pup needed "down time".

I was happy to see a lot of graduates there today which was so nice! Service Dog TIKI, Service Dog JANUS, Skilled Companion TULANE, Facility Dog PETE, Skilled Companion EFRAM. And there were a few of us Puppy Raisers there as well. We had CALLIE, NURI, ELLA IV, and IVANA II. CCI Pup-in-Training CALLIE

I know that tomorrow we will have a lot of puppies and graduates showing up. Saturday is usually the busiest day and so we will have people walking around and handing out brochures to people. I know that Nuri and I attracted a lot of attention when we walked around! Unfortunately I can't make it to the Expo tomorrow, but my mother will be taking Nuri instead. I have to head to work, not fair! Hopefully I will be able to go on Sunday to the Expo and spend one more day hanging out with the CCI people!
If you're heading to the Expo, it's a lot of fun and there are some interesting exhibitors there this time!