A beautiful day - not just the weather.

Today was the DSSW Buddy Walk. That is the Down Syndrome Society of Wichita. The weather was a bit breezy but comfortably warm and sunny. For my children this is the highlight of the year! There were well over 1,000 people registered this year, the 5th year of the Buddy Walk here.

Yesterday we all took a road trip to my hometown for the homecoming parade and to visit family. We had to make a detour to deer camp on the way home so we didn't get home until 11pm last night. I committed to bringing 5 dozen cookies for the buddy walk. They didn't get baked yesterday. They didn't get baked last night. They got baked this morning! I'm sure they were still warm when we arrived at the walk!

I was so worried about getting the cookies done that I forgot to grab the camera on the way out of the house. I'm very thankful for the friends we met at the walk who agreed to email us some pictures. The DSSW makes signs out of pictures of our children to place along the one mile course. We all had our picture taken next to Ralph's sign. Brian and Kellie from KFDI were there as emcee's and handed out the medals to the children with DS. I thanked them for being there. They seemed to be genuinely humbled and pleased to be there, in fact I think I heard Brian's voice crack just a bit. Good people.

After the walk, the kids played carnival games until the lunch line got a little shorter. I'm not one for waiting in a long line with kids who would rather be playing! All the little kids got tattoos, including Ralph. Somehow Rose wandered off and went through the lunch line on her own. I wonder how she managed this.

Leroy, Rose, Jordan and Thomas each went home with a bag full of prizes, little toys and trinkets. They all said that the games were the best part of the day. But I say, that the very best part of the day was watching all the kids (kids of all ages I should add) play together. There was an authentic atmoshpere of acceptance and respect. I wish you could all experience this. It was a beautiful day.