Mattie Miracle Walk 2023 was a $131,249 success!

Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation Promotional Video

Thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive!

Dear Mattie Blog Readers,

It means a great deal to us that you take the time to write to us and to share your thoughts, feelings, and reflections on Mattie's battle and death. Your messages are very meaningful to us and help support us through very challenging times. To you we are forever grateful. As my readers know, I promised to write the blog for a year after Mattie's death, which would mean that I could technically stop writing on September 9, 2010. However, at the moment, I feel like our journey with grief still needs to be processed and fortunately I have a willing support network still committed to reading. Therefore, the blog continues on. If I should find the need to stop writing, I assure you I will give you advanced notice. In the mean time, thank you for reading, thank you for having the courage to share this journey with us, and most importantly thank you for keeping Mattie's memory alive.


As Mattie would say, Ooga Booga (meaning, I LOVE YOU)! Vicki and Peter



The Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation celebrates its 7th anniversary!

The Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation was created in the honor of Mattie.

We are a 501(c)(3) Public Charity. We are dedicated to increasing childhood cancer awareness, education, advocacy, research and psychosocial support services to children, their families and medical personnel. Children and their families will be supported throughout the cancer treatment journey, to ensure access to quality psychosocial and mental health care, and to enable children to cope with cancer so they can lead happy and productive lives. Please visit the website at: www.mattiemiracle.com and take some time to explore the site.

We have only gotten this far because of people like yourself, who have supported us through thick and thin. So thank you for your continued support and caring, and remember:

.... Let's Make the Miracle Happen and Stomp Out Childhood Cancer!

A Remembrance Video of Mattie

April 7, 2017

Friday, April 7, 2017

Friday, April 7, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2007, right before Mattie's fifth birthday party. That party was one NEVER to be forgotten. We held it at the National Zoo. The Zoo has a rain or shine policy, and when I tell you it was torrential rain, I am NOT kidding. However, we had the Zoo to ourselves, every animal was out and enjoying the weather and the kids thought walking around the Zoo with umbrellas was a total adventure. The beauty of being a child! That year Mattie had a Lightning McQueen themed cake, since he was in LOVE with the movie, Cars. 


Quote of the day: I don't remember who said this, but there really are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child.  Anne Lamott


A while ago I bought these socks for Peter. They say "dog lover" on the bottom and at the toes it says, "my dog loves me." Peter wore them today and I know Sunny would approve. 
Each day I monitor how Sunny is doing on Dogtopia's webcam. I am in love with this system, because it makes me feel like I can see him when away and determine for myself how he is doing. However, Dogtopia has sent me periodic text messages with an update on Sunny. Which I appreciate. 















Today is our last day in Florida. Fortunately Peter is feeling better and is able to eat today. We ventured to the Anne Kolb Nature Center in Hollywood, FL. This center has 1,500 acres of coastal mangrove wetlands -- one of the largest urban parks in Florida.




You can see that the board walk took us through swamp like terrain. To our surprise we saw very little bird traffic here. 









There is a 68 foot observation tower at this park. It was quite the walk up!!! 








Here is one of the views from atop of the tower. That is Hollywood in the background. 


The majority of the walk we were in and among the mangroves. You can see why they call them the "walking trees." They have a very sturdy and significant root system. 
We ran across several crabs hanging out in the mud near the mangrove trees. 
Peter snapped a photo of me along our walk. 
Mattie would have loved this! As we were walking, we were joined by a grasshopper. He was springing up and hopping all around us. 
We could hear the pecking of this red bellied woodpecker above us. It was a clear and cooler day today, with NO humidity!

Tomorrow we head home and what I do on the last day of our trip, I record where we went for meals each day, to remind me for future trips. 





Friday -- stay at hotel
Saturday  -- Patio Delray
Sunday -- Tramonti
Monday -- Blue Moon
Tuesday -- Ocean 2000
Wednesday -- Lobster Sea Grille (where Peter got sick)
Thursday -- Chart House
Friday -- Boca Landing

1 comment:

Margy Jost said...

Vicki, I think the idea of listing restaurants is a great idea!!! Over time, you may remember some but it is hard to keep a week in your memory.
I like the picture of Sunny and the texts. This place sounds like they understand a Pet's importance in a family.
I love the quote, know it to be very true. Another enormous truth is your heart carries lots of love in it! So glad you are my friend!❤️🍧🐞🚗🎗