Tuesday, May 20, 2008

My sister's visit

Hayley, Steph and Quinn outside the ferry terminal.
Me and Steph - photo taken by Hayley!

My sister flew here for five days to take in the National Celiac Convention with me. We had such a good time! Actually, I am a big believer in "you never get more than you can handle" - and she arrived on Wednesday and was able to be here and be a HUGE help to both Roger and I during the time of Chantal's funeral and all the arrangements that needed to be made. I love her! So do the girls, who had a blast with their "Aunty Stuffy".

The Conference was a huge success. Every year a new city has the privileged of hosting it, and Victoria seems to have a huge drawing card with it being the provincial capital and home of the gardens. It was held adjacent to the Empress, with a gluten free tea provided to all those who had nothing better to spend $60 on than tea and sandwiches with the crusts cut off as well.

We had over 400 people registered (the last conference was capped at 280) and when we opened it to the public on Saturday afternoon - we had a staggering 850 people come through the door! We had to have security and everything! It was a huge awareness weekend for us in the Celiac Community - we had home tests that are approved for use here in Canada for sale and over 100 untested individuals took them home! Poor doctors.....

Steph and I had a great time, it was a huge bonding weekend for us, with us both sharing the common gene of Celiac and sisterhood. I miss you Steph!

5 comments:

Lynn Barry said...

What a nice memory for you two. HUGS

Unknown said...

I would so love to go to a Celiac conference. I am going to have to look around for one nearby.

I am glad to see you are blogging on here again. I have missed you.

Lea Ray said...

That is great that your sister was able to fly out to go with you and just spend time. I've been wondering how she was doing. :)

Unknown said...

meesh, where the heck are you?

Sistercooks.blogspot.com said...

I was wondering what these home kits are, if you dont mind telling me...