Buddy Walk!

This last weekend Seth and I drove to Arizona for the Buddy Walk!! For those of you that don't know, Seth's mom Gina runs a non profit for families who have children with Down Syndrome (Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona). Every year they host the Buddy Walk, which is their primary fundraiser and CELEBRATION for families and friends.

The day started out early--we showed up at about 7:30 AM to a park that was already full of volunteers, tents, workers, and families preparing for the 1/2 mile walk and festival! DJ Ron helped everyone get their groove on with some line dances before the walk, and then we lined up, got our pictures with the Phoenix Suns Gorilla, and went on our way!

It is so fun to see all the families who made tshirts for everyone honoring their child(ren). And of course, it's fun to see Gina running around greeting all of her friends. She really has made such a difference in the lives of so many people! CJ was the volunteer coordinator extraordinaire and did so much to make the volunteer campaign run smoothly! I love watching the Johnsons all work together to make things happen :)

After the walk, we got to explore the rest of the Buddy Walk. Annie's sister Katie was helping with the face painting, and drew some beautiful ladybugs all up Emmy's arm. She offered to draw a cockroach on me, but somehow we ran out of time! There were booths for everything! They had free cotton candy, snow cones, ice cream, jamba juice, hamburgers and hotdogs from Charlestons, face painting, coloring, bean bag tosses, cake walks....and even the big blow up trampoline things!! It was pretty much a huge carnival and big day of family fun!!!

David, Seth's brother, is pretty much hilarious. He had a little "camp" set up by the stage with his guitar, about five changes of clothes, food, snacks, and a blanket. He changed his shirt for the different activities (i.e. he put on his boy scout shirt during the pledge of allegiance). His latest nickname for me is "Aye-aye, Skipper" (as he salutes me).

Every year Sharing celebrates an outstanding citizen. This year Sandra won the award! Sandra is an amazing 53 year old woman. A few years ago she was on vacation with her parents in Oklahoma, and a robber held them up at gunpoint. Later that night, he robbed and murdered two other people. When the police were working on the report, they connected these two incidents, and discovered that Sandra would be able to identify the robber, since she got a good look at him and they were able to leave unharmed from the robbery. The police flew her back to Oklahoma to testify, and because of her accurate identification, the man recieved his proper sentence. Sandra was so cute and happy! Her mom was also one of the ladies who lobbied for the first act that has led to people with disabilities full inclusion in schools, so she was honored, too.

I'm so glad we got to go and see what the Buddy Walk is all about--it was a fantastic day!!!