Survivor Picnic 2005

Today, we went to the 1st Survivors Picnic that our clinic/hospital had. It was a BLAST! They really went all out for the kids!

They had a DJ playing music the whole time, including musical games such as the hokey pokey, and dances such as YMCA, and some others that I forget. They had a company come in and set up all kinds of inflatables. One that had spots to throw 3 different kinds of balls, you know those things you stand back and throw the balls into, football, basketball, and baseball, only this one was inflatable. They had 2 different kinds of bouncers, a dunk tank, and a obstacle course that ended in a big slide. They had face painting, Hannah was the only one of ours that got one. She had her face painted like a frog.

They had lunch, oh the food! lol hamburgers, hot dogs, and every imaginable sidedish, desert, chips and drinks. Door prizes galore, and certificates to restaurants that they handed out, as well as certificates for oil changes. The cancer kids got “Survivor 2005” t-shirts. Norma, the nurse that organized it, stood on the steps and threw out other tshirts, from a tire place that said “drive like you own it”, Relay for Life, and The Lexington Dream Factory. We saw a lot of the nurses that Calen used to have at the hospital, and 3 of his doctors were there. The 4th may have been, and I just didn’t see her.

It was so great to see some of the kids that were in treatment at the same time as Calen. To see the kids so happy and healthy was just awesome We can hardly wait until next year!

Here’s a pic of Calen throwing a ball at the dunk tank. They said this was a dr on here, but not one that Calen had. He’s new, I guess, I’ve never seen him before.

Here’s the kids in one of the bouncy things. whatever they’re called.lol


This was a Noah’s ark one. You can just barely see my 4 little ones in the windows.

The highlight of the day, was when Dr. Geil placed Survivor medals around the cancer kids heads. This is him, putting Calens medal on.

Calen and his medal.

They had lots of fun games for the kids. Here are pics of Hannah,(don’t the frog eyes look freaky?) , trying to find a piece of bubble gum in a pie tin full of whip cream. They had to be the 1st one to find the gum, and blow a bubble with it. lol

Chew faster Hannah!

In the next game, you had to chew 3 saltine crackers, with nothing to drink, and be the first person to whistle. LOL You could eat the crackers however you wanted, all at once, or one at a time. Here are Hannah and Melissa chewing. I’m not sure why Melissa is doing this game, as she can’t whistle even without crackers! lol

Chew, Abby, Chew!

We had a hard time getting the kids away from the obstacle course w/ big slide. They loved it! Zachary tried 3 or 4 times to climb up with Melissa. He kept quitting. He finally made it! When he got to the bottom of the slide, he jumped up, and said “I’m going again!!” LOL

He Loved it! You can’t see his face in this pic, but he’s laughing, he likes it so much!

The event was on the 6 o’clock news tonight. But we didn’t make it home in time! I called all the grandparents on the way home, and told them about it. They watched, and Grandma taped it. But they’re cable went out for a few seconds because of a storm that was going over. They said we weren’t in the piece, but when we watched it we were! Well, in the background! Duane was shown twice, Kenny once, and there was a closeup of Calen’s hands at the end holding his medal. The reporter asked to interview us on camera, but Calen said he didn’t want to be on tv, D and I declined also. But I didn’t know at the time that I was talking to the reporter, that Calen had already talked to the camera man about his medal, when he got the pic of C’s hand and the medal. Calen meant that he didn’t want to be on, because he was already on! He was disappointed that he wasn’t on, well, except for his hands. I guess since he told the reporter he didn’t want to be on, the reporter didn’t use Calen, except for his hands.

It was an AWESOME day! And we really, really appreciate all the time and effort the staff put into this!