Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Tonight's picture was taken on April 9th of 2002, only five days after Mattie was born. Most likely this was our first day home from the hospital, since we spent the first five days in the hospital with Mattie. This was actually a VERY unusual photo!! You maybe asking yourself why? Well, first Mattie rarely slept and second Mattie NEVER slept in his crib. Certainly not for the first three or four months of his life. Mattie preferred my shoulder or even sleeping in his car seat. Some nights we literally strapped him into his car seat and put the whole car seat into the crib. That was how we would get an hour or two of sleep! But it never lasted long. 



Quote of the day: You can find anyone that will tell you what you want to hear, but the only one worth valuing is the one that tells you what you need to learn. ~ Shannon L. Alder

Peter and I are still downloading huge photo files from the Walk. The professional photos are looking fabulous! We want to share some photos that we or some of our friends took with you tonight! The area featured in this photo was under the Lego Tent. It featured several free build Lego tables, where kids of all ages could build on their own and then there were tables manned by Play Well TEKnologies (http://www.play-well.org/). This company teaches kids the principles of engineering and physics with the use on hands on lego projects. Needless to say, some of the kids were occupied for hours under this tent.

This photo captures some of our poster displays! We tried to consolidate how posters were displayed this year, in a more gallery type of format rather than dispersed around the HUGE track!

Orange is the Foundation's official color, and it was everywhere at the Walk. From tablecloths to merchandise. 

New to the Walk this year was Wacky World! This was a combination moon bounce and obstacle course. Kids could bounce, slide, twist, turn, and do all sorts of stuff inside of there. In fact, today I received an adorable text message from a friend who alerted me that her daughter loved Wacky World so much that she wants to have it for her birthday party! Very cute!

This special threesome is Greg, Jim, and Becca! As our faithful readers know, Becca is the executive chef at Clyde's of Tysons Corner. Becca donates and cooks all the food at our Walk! She is an amazing, talented, and incredibly generous individual. She had back up help this year, which included her husband Greg, her father-in-law, Jim, and Greg's daughter, Rachel. We had the whole family participating and we felt very honored!

Mattie adored Legos. Not only when battling cancer, but he gravitated to them even as a toddler. Which is why we try to feature them at every Walk. This is the fifth year in a row that the WAMALUG and WAMAltc Lego Groups participated in our event and set up their incredible city scapes and Lego Trains. These are works of art, incredibly intricate, and the team's enthusiasm for the work that they do is appreciated by Mattie Miracle!