2017 Dallas Heart Walk {and a little fun around Dallas}

This weekend was the 2017 Dallas Heart Walk by the American Heart Association.  Pepsico/Frito Lay were major sponsors for the walk so Stuart registered to participate.  He even got one of their cool Pepsico Dallas Heart Walk t-shirts.  The kids and I walked along with him.  It was fun.

The walk began at the grounds below Reunion Tower in Dallas.  I love the reflections of the blue sky in the windows of the ball.  

We had hoped to arrive earlier than we did so we could check out all of the sponsors tents and do some fun warm up exercises and Stuart was supposed to be in a Pepsico/Frito Lay group photo.  But we lost a lot of time due to a crazy long line at the parking lot so we ended up having just enough time to stop at the port-a-potty and get in line to start the walk.

I couldn't help but notice that LPB had a big truck on the grounds.  Kind of cool (and odd) that they would come here from Louisiana.  I had wanted to ask them why they were there but didn't have time.  The walk was about to start!

We each grabbed a bottled water - donated by Frito Lay.

This was the pack of people slowly moving along towards the big red starting bridge you see in the distance.  The race had actually started about 5 minutes before this picture was taken so this is more the tail end of the crowd.  There were a lot of people there!

I had plenty of time to take a picture of these people.

We are almost there!!

Lots of people were taking selfies at the starting line.  I don't do selfies but Rachel wanted to get a picture with me so I gave it a try.  It's still not my thing.

I loved listening to Stuart talk to the kids about random things while we walked.  He's such an awesome dad!

The course was divided up with two options: 1 mile or 3 mile.  We chose the 3 mile course.

I liked having the total strangers on the side of the road cheering for us.  They had signs that said, "You are Stronger than you Think!" and "The Body Achieves What the Mind Believes!".

Along the walk I found myself taking pictures of architecture and signs.  This was taken at the First Presbyterian Church of Dallas.

This was, of course, The Majestic Theater.  I've never been to this theater but I imagine it must be quite majestic.

More strangers with signs. "Sweat now, Shine later!"

For each mile there were these signs to let you know where you were along the course.  There were also stations all along the course where people were handing out bottled water.

The Heart Walk is not like any other 5K walks I've done.  Usually there are a lot of people walking but also many people jogging and trying to work their way to the front of the crowd.  The Heart Walk isn't like this.  You just mosey along the whole time without anyone running past you.  It was a pretty relaxing walk.

We made our way to Woodall Rogers at Klyde Warren Park where all of the food trucks were starting to get set up for the day.  I tried to stop for some pizza but my family just kept walking so I decided to stick with them instead.

I have walked by this building many times while on various field trips in Dallas but I don't think I've ever looked up.  What an unusual design.

Ok this t-shirt wins the day!

We made it back to Reunion Tower and the Finish Line.  We all did fine and had a good time.

There was a live band playing fun music even though most of the people on the grounds now were just the sponsors.

I looked at all the reasons why people participate in the Heart Walk and this one jumped out at me.  My kids are why.  Those little guys are counting on Stuart and me so we have to keep our hearts healthy and strong.

We didn't have time before the walk to go to the Pepsico/Frito Lay tent so we made our way over there afterwards.They were in a special fenced off area with these fancy balloons.

Apparently that was a VIP section for the Platform Sponsors like Pepsico/Frito Lay.

There were more fancy balloons at the Pepsico tent.  Of course, these were in Frito Lay colors!

There were a few people in the tent but you could tell the party was over.  There were some left over bagels, fruit, and some cold drinks.  It was nice to relax in the shade for a while.

By the time we finished our drinks, everyone else had gone and the grounds were practically empty.  We were about to leave but the kids didn't want the giant balloon bouquets going to waste.  Stuart found someone to ask permission and then cut the balloons down.  Look how big they are compared to little Rachel!

They were so proud of their balloons that I think they may have had a little strut to their walk.  Isn't it amazing how magical balloons can be for a kid?  And here these kids had 30 or more each!

On our way back to the car, we walked past the Dallas Morning News.  The front of the building is inscribed with words spoken by George Dealey in 1906 in an address to the employees.

The inscription reads,

BUILD THE NEWS UPON
THE ROCK OF TRUTH
AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
CONDUCT IT ALWAYS
UPON THE LINES OF
FAIRNESS AND INTEGRITY
ACKNOWLEDGE THE RIGHT
OF PEOPLE TO GET
FROM THE NEWSPAPER
BOTH SIDES OF EVERY
IMPORTANT QUESTION

We found a B&G which is a part of a #DallasBIG tourism campaign.  You find these B & G's scattered around town and you get to pose as the "I".  Rachel's balloons made quite a statement.

Dallas has many Pegasus statues and sculptures.  Here is one of the cool ones up close.

Nicholas posing as some kind of superhero dude with a giant balloon bouquet that I'm sure is supposed to be some kind of giant ray gun or other cool weapon of some kind. 

We had some extra bottled water so Stuart passed one out to this man that was walking along with us.

We couldn't help but pause at this cool Lexus.  There was much ooo-ing and ahh-ing over it.

We finally made it back to the car but realized that there was no way that we were going to fit all of those balloons in.  Stuart was struggling to just get one set in.  It was funny because when the kids ask his permission to do something, his default answer is always "NO".  But for some reason when the question involved taking 60+ balloons home with us, he says, "SURE" and then jumps up and helps them get the balloons down.

We ended up giving some of the balloons away to some little kids in the parking lot then we let the rest of them float away over Dallas while we watched.

So we had one complete string of balloons inside the car....

And one giant red balloon floating outside the car because they just couldn't bear the thought of getting rid of it.

We were hungry for lunch so we decided to head over to the Dallas Farmer's Market.  We got a few funny looks from people on the street as they watched out big red balloon zoom by.  I took a few pictures along the way.

I'm not sure why this giant dog is on the side of a building. Oddly, there is no advertisement to go with it. It's a little strange but he is a cute pup.

At the Farmer's Market we had lunch at Cajun Tailgators.  The food looked great and it had good Cajun spice but it was no Ralph and Kacoo's or The Chimes.

We spent some time just exploring the unique shops and businesses at the Market.  You could definitely stay for a while just shopping and eating.

Our favorite discovery was Chelles Macarons.  These are not the same as the coconut covered macaroons.  Those are a different yet also delicious treat.  These macarons are like little cakes filled with creamy icing.  They come in lots of different flavors and in a rainbow of colors.  This was the first time we've ever had macarons and they were definitely a hit with our whole family!

We had a great time together on the Heart Walk, exploring Dallas, eating lunch, and shopping at the Farmer's Market.  

On the way home, Nicholas tried to hold to big red balloon in close to the car but as we picked up speed on I-35 the poor balloon just popped from all the force put on it.

But don't worry.  There is no shortage of balloons around here.

First Day of School 2017-2018 (Candy Card)

We have always tried to make the first day back to homeschooling an exciting time.  When they were younger we had a Back to School Book Hunt.  A couple of years ago they really enjoyed watching the show Race To Escape so we had our own Race to Escape: Back to School Edition.  

This year I took the easy way out and just bought them a bunch of candy!  Seriously!  They saw the big bag of candy a week before school started.  They know I rarely buy candy so they tried to guess what I was doing.   Hee hee!  What fun Stuart and I had making these Back To School Candy Cards!  They each got the same wording and candy on their card.

In case you can't read it well, here is the wording on the card.  The candy names are in parentheses.  

Welcome to 3rd grade!  We hope you have an {Extra} great year.  Don't be a {Goober}.  Take your education seriously so you don't end up a {Dum-Dum}.  You will never become a successful {Whatchmacallit} like that.  Reading {Mounds} of books will set your possibilities to the ends of the {Milky Way} and Mom and Dad's teaching will prove to be {Life Savers} some day.  Don't wait until it is {Crunch} time like an {Air Head}.  Work hard every day like {Smarties} and you will {Skor} big in life.  We love you!  

Hugs and {Kisses}, 

Mom and Dad

Rachel sat down at the school table and just stared at the card for a minute then she finally got a big smile on her face when she realized what it was.

Nicholas was a little more excited from the get-go and he laughed aloud as he read it.

We have a lot going on this year with school work, a new homeschool co-op, and extra curricular activities.  But I know it is going to be an amazing year!  We will be continuing with Tapestry of Grace.  We are on Year 3 which is a study of the nineteenth century.  Stuart is teaching math to both kids with Math U See before he goes to work in the mornings.  We use Apologia for science, Institute for Excellence in Writing, EPS for their Wordly Wise and Vocabulary for Classical Roots programs, just to name a few.

Help for Houston {Hurricane Harvey}

During the Louisiana floods last fall, some good ole' boys decided they couldn't just sit there watching TV while people across their city were trapped in flooding houses with the waters continuing to rise.  So they started up their pickup trucks and took their boats into the flood waters to rescue people.  They weren't asked to do it.  They was no boss, no payment, no praise.  They just did it.  They used their personal boats and paid money out of their own pockets for the fuel to do it. And they did it throughout the day and night for several days.  Anyone who jumped in their boat to help save a life became what people affectionately call the Cajun Navy.  I thank God for these guys in their boats because they rescued my in laws from the flood last year.

They developed a system of communication through a phone app called Zello which turns your phone into a walkie talkie that can communicate with anyone on your channel.  The rescuers used Zello to find out where they needed to go for rescues.  It was a brilliant solution.

When Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast, the Cajun Navy decided they couldn't just let their fellow Texans stay trapped in their flooded homes so they loaded up their boats and came to Texas.  They used the same Zello app for communication.

People in need of rescue or if they knew of someone who needed rescue could send a text message or fill out a form that would ask for information like how many people, any pets, and any medical issues.  This data was then compiled into a spreadsheet that was used to get rescuers in their area out to save them.  

There was a lot of people like myself who wanted to help with the rescues but who were not in Houston or didn't have a boat.  We were able to help out behind the scenes though.  Some people were posting on The Cajun Navy (Rescue Ops) Facebook page asking for rescues so I was asked to monitor that page to help them fill out the form so they didn't get overlooked.  Sometimes I called them to see if maybe they had been rescued since they first posted or if not I got the information from them to fill out the form for them.  It was challenging talking to these people.  It reminded me of my days in social work because these people were in crisis, some were crying, some were terrified, some were completely at a loss as to what to do.  I could really relate with a mom I spoke with.  She had talked to her son and daughter in law the night before and they had water up to their knees in their house.  They had lost power and the son's cell phone battery died while on the phone with his mom.  The mom had not heard from them in about 18 hours and she was an understandable mess.  It reminded of me of how worried I was for my family last year when their town was flooding and I couldn't get in touch with anyone.

As hard as it was, it was also incredibly rewarding to get text messages like this one below from a man I had spoken with.

Or emails from the Cajun Navy that someone I had entered on their form had been rescued.

The kids heard that Dallas had set up a shelter for people who evacuated Houston and that they were in need of supplies.  We talked about how their grandparents had been taken to a shelter and they had nothing with them but the wet clothes they had been wearing.  Rachel decided to start a drive to gather donations for the people in the Dallas shelter.  She was pretty excited to see all the donations her friends so generously gave.

We took everything to Trusted World who is managing the shelter.  The line for dropping off donations was quite long.  What a wonderful problem to have!

This truck came in from Arkansas to deliver items to the shelter.

The Red Cross was there too.

As we left we saw stacks and stacks of items that had been donated.  I hope that these items can bring at least a little bit of comfort to the hurting people of Houston.

Our church, Valley Creek, is also collecting donations for for people affected by Harvey.  Here is their drop off information.  Please consider donating even if it is just a few items.

Donations for personal items are still being accepted but I also want to recommend another way to donate that will incredibly bless the people who have been flooded.  Now that the waters have receded, there are hundreds of thousands of homes that are wet and starting to grow mold.  There are not enough government workers or even private companies to go in and tear out the ruined material before mold takes over and completely ruins these homes.  But there is another group of volunteers who have committed to come in and help gut the wet stuff to try to save these homes and that is The Cajun Army.  I helped them behind the scenes last year and I can tell you there will be work to be done for months if not a year getting to all of the homes that were affected.  The Cajun Army is all volunteers who just want to help their neighbor.  They do not accept monetary donations but they do have an Amazon wishlist which will provide the volunteers with tools, respirators, air mattresses to sleep on, etc.  Here is the link to their wish list:  https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3315Y979AL1OV/ref=cm_go_nav_hz
Please consider helping them out with some of these items.