After we registered our team and turned in our donations (THANKS) we got our t-shirts and started checking out what there was to do.
The first thing they saw was a bubble pool. They had 3 kiddie pools full of bubble solution and wands. They stayed there a long time playing around.
As soon as Eva saw a Care Bear, she was gone! The characters were all nice enough to pose for this picture, even though they were trying to go on their break.
Our friends, the Stoddards, came to walk and play with us. That's Shauna (the mom), Parker, and Emma. Eva is very much in love with Parker. It is too cute. 
Everything at this event was FREE. The committee worked really hard to make sure that this was the case. They figure that we pay enough out of the wazoo for therapies and treatments that we don't need to be paying for this stuff, too. We got Subway for lunch, popcorn, sno cones, lots of candy, meatball sandwiches, bbq, and drinks. They had little carnival type games for the kids. All the volunteers were great and didn't bat an eyelash when Caleb needed, very specifically, 3 lollipops (blue, pink, and purple) for his prize.
There were 3 huge blow up toys...a moon bounce, a caterpillar, and a slide. Our kids liked the slide the best and by the end of the day had gone down it AT LEAST 100 times each.
Eva is my little daredevil. She would jump up and belly flop onto her belly to go down. 
The walk consisted of a lap around the ballpark. This is where our kids lost it a little bit. It was kind of crowded on the sidewalk and there were lots of people. Considering that a good portion of the kids there are on the autism spectrum, I was amazed at how well they all did. It was loud and chaotic but I don't think there were any major problems.
After the walk, we played at the play area (slides, monkey bars, etc...) for a while and then we went to get some more food. Everyone else headed over to the bouncers again while I stuck around to see if I won any of the raffles. You know, I'm lucky. I won a free night's stay at the Quality Hotel in Hastings, NE. Sounds like a nice weekend trip for the family is in order. We've never been to Hastings---it is the home of Kool-Aid! It also included $10 to the hotel restaurant.
A couple of months ago I was lucky and won 5 tickets to the Saltdogs game for the night of the walk. After we rested in the afternoon, we headed back to the ballpark for the game. It didn't start until 7pm (the kids' bedtime) but we figured we would stay as long as they were good. They lasted about an hour--with most of that time on the playground. I think maybe we'll try to go back and catch a game some other time. Eva left the playground running when she saw Homer, the mascot.
She came back to me, running, and saying, "DOGGY LICKED ME!".It was an excellent day and I have a feeling that A LOT of money was raised for Autism Speaks.
Sounds like you guys had a great time. You deserved it!
ReplyDeleteThat looked amazing! What an event to put together for a great cause. BTW, thanks for responding to my email about the immunizations. I feel a little more informed. :)
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