Every year the Buddy Walk brings something new and this year was no different! Our team had the best mix of people we have ever had. I was able to convince our therapy center to sponsor our team (it wasn't very difficult! Justin and Travis are both faves!) and we also had people from my work and Randy's work, plus some of our family and church family, and even a family friend from Minnesota! We were really looking forward to having everyone there, but when Justin got sick the night before we weren't certain we would be able to walk. Since Justin seemed fine when he woke up, we decided to brave it and hope for the best with Travis and the rest of our family. Our shirts were jade green and Justin's was sky blue. Justin liked showing off his shirt for me!
Mary, our friend from Minnesota, helped us blow up all the balloons before the party began! Travis was a good helper too. It was windy and a little cool, which made for good walking weather, but not so good balloon-blowing-up weather.
Our team opted to meet outside of the plaza since there were projected to be more than 5,500 walkers this year. Last year was crazy and we only had 3,500 walkers. I had to get some shirts for our team, so I braved the plaza. The volunteers were lined up greeting everyone with thunder sticks. I took Justin with me and he was a little overwhelmed. We ran into the Buddy Walk organizer and she told Justin that all the cheers were for him! He still wasn't impressed.
We ate a little lunch while we were waiting. The kids didn't sit down for very long. There was too much excitement!
The volunteers had made little welcome signs for each of the teams. There were over 190 teams, and each team had a sign on the barricades. The signs were all over and I just happened to see our sign!
Here's the view inside the plaza. This was still over a half hour before we started. It was swarming with people!
Pop and Justin. They do lots of snuggling and this day was no exception. I think Justin might have shared a few germs as both Me-Me and Pop were sick this week!
A sign of things to come. Travis does not normally lay down when there are other children around. He said he was tired, but really it was more.
Travis rode in the back of the stroller all curled up for the whole walk. This is the best picture we have of him from the walk.
Our whole team! Some of the balloons got in the way of some faces, but our group was great this year. We missed some of our group that has been with us the past two years, but we also had some new faces. I love the Buddy Walk because it reminds me so clearly that we are not in this alone. We can see the people who support us. One family had a schedule conflict and mom gave her teenage sons the option of which one to do. "There's no option, mom. We have to do the Walk." I love that! It's pretty cool when teenage boys choose you. Teenage boys didn't even choose me when I was a teenage girl!
The walk goes over and around the Buffalo Bayou in downtown Houston. It took over two hours to get everyone through the 1.5 mile route. So there were people on both sides and over the bridge and everywhere. It's such fun to watch. There were volunteers cheering us on as we walked.
The Walk is always so much fun for us. It is good to see the people with DS who have grown up and the great things that they do. There are posters around the plaza that share success stories and accomplishments that will never make it on the news or in a magazine, but they're the things that keep us going as parents. They call the posters "Imagine the PossAbilities". Our kids are filled with potential! It's great to see that potential exploited in creative and constructive ways. There is a song my mom used to sing to us that had a chorus that said, "I am a promise, I am a possibility. I am a promise, with a capital P. I am great big bundle of potentiality!" It's great to see what these big bundles of potentiality have achieved!
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