Something important is happening

This September from 24th to 30th here in Toronto, a type of Olympic games called The Invictus games. The games were created by His Royal Highness Prince Harry in 2014, he started the games to spotlight soldiers who were wounded or injured as a direct result of active service.

There will be over 550 competitors from 17 countries, participating in 12 sports over 6 days.

Now, the reason they are called Invictus Games, well that stems from what Invictus means, it's a Latin word that means unconquered, there's a poem that I think explains it better then I ever could.

Invictus

By: William Ernest Henley

OUT OR THE NIGHT THAT COVERS ME,

BLACK AS THE PIT FROM POLE TO POLE,

I THANK WHATEVER GODS MAY BE

FOR MY UNCONQUERABLE SOUL.

IF THE FELL CLUTCH OF CIRCUMSTANCE

I HAVE NOT WINCED NOR CRIED ALOUD.

UNDER THE BLUDGEONINGS OF CHANCE

MY HEAD IS BLOODY, BUT UNBOWED.

BEYOND THIS PLACE OF WRATH AND TEARS

LOOMS BUT THE HORROR OF THE SHADE,

AND YET THE MENACE OF THE YEARS

FINDS AND SHALL FIND ME UNAFRAID.

IT MATTERS NOT HOW STRAIT THE GATES,

HOW CHARGED WITH PUNISHMENTS THE SCROLL,

I AM THE MASTER OF MY FATE,

I AM THE CAPTAIN OF MY SOUL.

The motto for the Invictus games is I AM.

INVICTUS

GAMES

Me and daddy are going to be going to as many of the free events as we can.

More stuff

I've got some pictures and updates on me and daddy's Wheel-Trans rides. So, since my last blog we fixed the problem so we don't need to fold my stroller up and not have room in trunks for our stuff. Daddy had them designate my stroller as a non-folding walker, it is sort of, basically all it means is that we won't get anymore car type rides. Instead, we'll only be riding in the accessible vans and buses.

This is the kind of taxi we won't be using anymore

I really like this kind of bus, it's awesome

I don't really like this kind, I can't see out the windows

 Now, the reason I like those big buses. The windows are low enough to the floor that I can look out the windows while still in my stroller.

The black rubber is the bottom of the window

I can see out the window

There's loads of room for us, plus several more people in the big bus.

We used the regular bus for a very short ride yesterday (it was one stop), it was the first time we'd done so in a very long time (a month). But we got dropped off at one place, and were being picked up a short trip away at a grocery store.

Last weekend was a busy one, Saturday we went to PetSmart to get some toys and a special surprise.

You see that green toy, Sunki had one like that, that's why daddy won't let me have it near water

Don't worry we got a toy for Chewie too

This is what happens when that green toy gets in water, it turns the water into toxic waste

Daddy got us a new kind of hay to try

This is the surprise daddy had, a picture with an Easter Bunny

I'm sorry, but that Easter Bunny SUCKS. It looks like Elmer Fudd hit Bugs Bunny in the face with a shovel. I know the truth, this Easter Bunny was a girl in a costume.

The very next day April 9th was a very important date in history both military and Canadian. 100 years ago the first world war was at a stalemate, both sides had dug in and thousands of miles of trenches had been dug across the French countryside. The Germans had dug in and fortified a ridge in northern France near the town of Vimy. Vimy Ridge was a thorn in the sides of the allies, both the French and British had tried to take it, and both suffered more then 100,000 casualties in the failed attempts. The allied commanders tasked the Canadians to take the ridge, what would be different? The Canadians would use planning, advanced intelligence gathering, and new combat techniques. The Canadians used aerial photography to make new maps of the trenches, they use those maps to make exact scale models of the battlefield, every single man would know the battle plan, from the lowliest infantryman to the highest ranking general.
The artillery launched a nonstop bombardment for weeks in advance of the battle, at 5:30am on April 9th 1917 15,000 Canadian troops (the first time all four Canadian divisions had fought together), went over the top. A creeping artillery barage preceded the infantry. On April 12th, three days later, the Canadian's had taken all of their objectives and taken the heavily fortified ridge. However they suffered heavy losses 10,000 plus killed or wounded.

In my tartan vest

This is a Maxim machine gun that was used by the allies

This is also a Maxim machine gun, only this one was used by the Germans

 Yep, Maxim supplied both sides with machine guns.

The entrance to Fort York

Poppies grew wild in France and thrived on the battlefields because they love to grow in chalk.

 The poppy is where we get the poem "In Flanders Fields" which is read during Remembrance Day November 11th.

This is a Casualty Clearance Center, a first-aid station

Aid stations used triage, sorting the wounded based on severity of their injuries. Triage is still used today in modern hospitals, which is why someone gets taken in before you, even though you arrived first.

WW1 was the first war where motorized vehicles were used alongside horses

Horses gave way to horsepower

Now horses are used more in a ceremonial roll

Tomorrow me and daddy are going to my Granty Flo's place to watch movies, then on Sunday we are going to watch an Easter parade, hopefully they'll have better looking Easter Bunnies then PetSmart.