After pictures, we bundled Miss M up and headed out for the 9 am registration.
As we were pulling into Hudson Mills Metropark, Ryan asked how many people were going to be there and I told him I had no idea. I had secretly been worried all morning that because of the weather we'd end up being a hand full people there.
Boy, I couldn't have been any further from the truth!!! It was absolutely packed and it was a HUUUUGE event! There were a number of tents giving away freebies (like Ashley's sweet new Flagstar backpack), face painting for the kids, balloon animals, etc. There was a refreshment tent where a local bakery, Bearclaw coffee, Coke, and Dominos were giving away free food all day. I'm really bad at estimating the number of things, but I'd say there were easily over 1,000 people there (Ryan would say easily over 500, but close to 1,000).
We made sure to make our way over to the balloon tent to get a balloon for Maddie to release during the balloon ceremony:
After picking up M's balloon, we started to wander around to check everything out. Ashley picked up a sweet Flagstar backpack and Ryan drooled over the Chrysler's on display (specifically the Dodge Challenger SRT8). We also ended up finding the start/finish line.
During the opening ceremony, a woman talked about the loss of her baby who was born 21 weeks early. It was heartbreaking to hear her talk and choke up during the speech. Afterward, she lead the release of the balloons:
After the opening ceremony, we started the walk. I knew there were a lot of people milling around the main area, but I had no idea how many people were actually there until I saw all of us stretch out onto the walking path.
I don't know if you can see in the picture, but the people wrap all the way around to the right at the very front. As shocking as it might sound, or maybe it doesn't, we were near the front of the pack. There were still a TON of people waiting around to start the walk!
There were a bunch of check points along the way where area sponsors were handing out water, freebies, and food. We picked up a sweet doggy bag for Bebe from Pet Supplies Plus and it has a bunch of awesome toys and snacks for her! There was also a huge check point that they set up as "Superhero" themed and it had all kinds of stuff for the kids to do: bounce houses, games, balloons, snacks, face painting, etc. We all snagged a bag of pretty awesome popcorn there!
Along the way, there were signs of local preemies and some of their stories. A lot of them were very touching:
In the end, we raised over $500 in honor of Maddie. We had a wonderful time at the walk, and can't wait to do it again next year!
A huge thank you to all of those who donated to the cause! You are all amazing!
And, a special thank you to my friend, Lauren Edwards, for designing the back of our t-shirts! I loved them and it will be something special we can save for Maddie to see when she's older!
