European Grand Prix--Ranking Round

Today was Eric's craziest day of shooting yet.  His release head (the device he buckles his bow into, and what holds the string until he's ready to release it with his mouth cable) wouldn't hold any weight on it.  That means that every time Eric would go to shoot, he didn't know if the bow string would stay in place while he aimed at the target.  He told me the bow misfired at least once on every end (there are six arrows shot in every end).  Fortunately there weren't any misses, but he did have a much lower score than he's used to.  He's in 7th place going into the elimination rounds on Thursday.  He should still do well in the eliminations as long as his equipment is working.  Luckily, a local guy is helping him get a new release head and since Eric doesn't have to compete tomorrow, he'll have time to set it up and get it read for Thursday.

I told Eric these last two competitions have been all about getting all the kinks worked out of everything possible so that he'll be 100% ready for London.  When he was at the Endeavor Games in Oklahoma the first of the month, his mouth tab broke and he discovered he had a twisted bow limb.  He got both of those things fixed, and now he's going to be able to fix his release head.  There won't be anything else left to go wrong in London!

A Concerned Question from a 6 Year Old

Often when Eric is away, we take advantage to eat things he wouldn't eat with us (I'm sure you all know Eric is a VERY picky eater!). Well yesterday for lunch, my mom and I decided to order "real" Chinese food, not just from Panda Express! :) We had yummy Sweet & Sour Chicken, Lemon Chicken, Beef & Broccoli and Teriyaki Chicken with white rice, fried rice, and Lo Mein.

Our 6 year old Logan tends to follow in his dad's picky eating habits and so we told him yesterday was a taste adventure and I wanted him to try some of everything and if he didn't like it, he didn't have to finish it. He ended up really enjoying the Sweet & Sour Chicken, the Beef (but not the broccoli), fried rice and the Lo Mein. I was very proud of him for trying everything.

As we were all finishing eating, there was quite a bit leftover. Sweet Natalie suggested we save some for Daddy. I reminded her that Daddy was gone and my mom told her that Daddy doesn't like Chinese food. In fact, Eric's biggest concern in making the 2008 Paralympic team going to Beijing, China was that he would have to eat Chinese food. Does anyone remember this post or this one of him having to eat in an authentic Chinese restaurant?

Anyway, after my mom's comment about Eric not liking Chinese food, I could tell Logan was deep in thought. After a moment he said, "Mom, if dad doesn't like Chinese food, what did he eat when he was in China?" My mom and I chuckled and I replied, "Luckily dad stayed in a place that had a McDonald's and he ate lots and lots of McDonald's!"

I know Eric is looking forward to going to London where he can enjoy lots of fish and chips!

European Grand Prix 2012

Eric left early yesterday morning to travel to Stoke Mandeville, England.  He is competing in the European Grand Prix and he should see about half of his competition for the Paralympic games.  After a very long day of traveling, he was finally able to go to bed and get some rest.  Monday will be practice time on the field and Tuesday he will shoot in the ranking round.  Elimination rounds are Thursday and Friday.  Everyone is having a hard time connecting to the WiFi there, so I'm hoping to at least hear from him every day.  He will return Saturday night, so it's a quick, busy trip.  It will be good for him to be in the same conditions as London and see his competition.  Will keep you posted as soon as I know anything!

I have my flight and hotel to be with him when he competes in London...we're both soo excited!  Thanks for everyone's support.  Everyone has been so generous and thoughtful and we can't express our gratitude enough.

Chick-fil-A Night is TOMORROW!

We are excited to see everyone at Chick-fil-A in Surprise (corner of Bell and Grand) tomorrow night.  It's going to be a lot of fun and who can forget the great food?!  We will be there from 4-8pm.  Please remember to print out/bring a flier with you so we get credit for your presence!  We can't wait to see everyone.

Chick-fil-A Night

We are so excited to invite everyone to the Chick-fil-A on the corner of Bell & Grand (in front of the Target) in Surprise, AZ on Wednesday, May 30th from 4-8pm.  Eric will be there signing autographs and T-shirts which will be available for sale for $15.  Here is a picture of the shirt-

We will also be handing out red, white and blue star bracelets and temporary USA tattoos for the kids.

Even better than the fun is the food!  Chick-fil-A is donating 20% of all the sales of food, drink and desserts that come in from people who have this flier:

Print out, share with a friend, and bring in with you to Chick-fil-A

Please feel free to share this flier with anyone and everyone, we look forward to seeing you all there!

Scentsy Fundraiser

I'm so excited to start our first fundraiser and am very grateful for our consultant Cenia Nielsen and all her help.  The fundraiser starts today Monday, May 14th and goes for two weeks until May 28th.  Here are some details on how you can help us (we get 20% of the total sales!) and get some INCREDIBLE products in return.

Ordering online:  You can go directly to Cenia's Scentsy website and see the products available there.  Just click on her link "buy from party" for Eric Bennett-Paralympics to begin shopping.  Products will be sent directly to you and is perfect for those friends and family who don't live nearby but would still like to support us.

Ordering through Eric or me:  Eric and I both have fundraiser flyers we would be happy to share one with you.  We also have scent samples if you want to take a sniff or two.  Payment will be required upon ordering and your order will be processed after closing.  Your product will be delivered to us and we'll make sure to deliver it to you as soon as it arrives.  One benefit to this is you won't have to pay shipping.

I love the Scentsy product and have several in my house and one in my classroom.  I'm also excited to announce a new branch from the Scentsy company called Velata.  They took their idea of warmers and turned them into a fun fondue pot!  You can also visit Cenia's Velata website to purchase the brand new product (it launched May 1st!) and have it shipped to you directly.  Or as with Scentsy, Eric and I have order forms and brochures you can browse and order through us as well.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us or email Cenia at cenia.nielsen@yahoo.com.  Thanks so much for helping us and enjoying two wonderful products.

We're back...

...and London bound!  A couple of weeks ago Eric qualified to compete in the London 2012 Paralympics in archery.  He is the first US Paralympic archer to go in the Standing Recurve class.  He is also the first to have gone to the Paralympic games in two different disciplines after having switched from a compound bow to a recurve.   Eric is excited to go because this was his one and only chance to shoot a recurve in the Paralympics, as the rules change at the end of the year. 


It's been a whirlwind of a couple weeks as we've celebrated, read press releases and tried to figure out how to make this trip possible for him and me.  We have such a short amount of time before he'll actually leave.  The Paralympic opening ceremonies are on August 29, 2012--just over 3 months away!!!   And it doesn't help that it will be the third week of school for the both of us.  But who passes up an opportunity like this? NOT ME! 

Here's a link to one of the press releases since he made the team if you would like to read it.  Here's another article that featured him preparing for the trials.  It is personally one of my favorite articles written about him.

Fundraising efforts are beginning and we would appreciate any contributions.  I'm starting a Scentsy fundraiser on Monday and will post details then.  We are also hoping to have the help from local business and we have talked about a dinner/auction and a car wash.  It's going to be a great summer preparing to go to London.  It's my goal to keep this blog updated with all of Eric's accomplishments and our progress toward London 2012!