Always up to something....

The VanWey's are officially on vacation!

We started our vacation with a trip to Lost Island Water Park courtesy of Dance Marathon. We spent the day Saturday going down water slides and braving the wave pool. We always have fun seeing our DM friends and the weather was beautiful.

We left the water park and headed to Sioux City. We are spending the week with my dad. The kids were so excited to get here. My dad has a pool with a diving board in his back yard and the kids wanted to get in as soon as we got here (at 10pm!) but we put them to bed instead. They were up and in the pool by 8am the next morning and didn't get out except to eat. It is going to be a fun week of swimming and relaxing by the pool. They are already in the pool again this morning after begging the adults for at least an hour! I will post some pictures later in the week of our pool fun!

I wanted to let everyone know of some exciting things that are going on. You may remember that September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This year Sept 12th is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. There have been many people who have been working hard to make the Gold ribbon, representing Childhood cancer, as well known as the Pink Ribbon is today. A group of parents from Iowa noticed that Childhood Cancer Awareness Day fell on the same day as the BIG game in Iowa. Iowa vs Iowa State. We are hoping to utilize this connection to bring awareness to the state of Iowa. You can get all the details as they unfold at beatcancertoday.org

This is also where you can order your t-shirts to support Childhood Cancer AND your favorite team at the same time. Aren't these shirts perfect?

The cost for the shirts is just $10, you can order from the site and have them shipped directly to you (all orders will ship the end of August, in time for the big game!). Soon you will be able to order online and choose to pick them up from me (or other committee members) to avoid shipping charges. You can also order by mail with the printable order form. Wouldn't it be awesome to fill the stadium with Beat Cancer shirts? Please pass on the website to everyone you know, our whole focus is awareness and we want to get the word out.

Thanks for helping raise awareness for Childhod Cancer. Kids get cancer too!

Christie

The can drive was a great success. The kids enjoyed giving back to Dance Marathon and other cancer families. They did learn that sorting cans is a dirty, messy job. They all said they didn't want this to be their job when they grew up. LOL But they were doing it for Dance Marathon and that made it all ok.

The kids were already talking about what they want to do to make it better next month. They will be doing this once a month until the big event at Dance Marathon. The next date is August 15th, so if you missed us this month come bring them by next month!

Tyler has his goal for the total by the big event set. I think he will make that goal but I don't want to share that goal just yet. I will tell you that the equivalent of almost 5,000 cans were collected this month!

You should have seen Brent hauling the trailer away with those cans. I wish I would have gotten a picture! It reminded me of the scene on The Grinch where his sled is bulging at the seems. LOL

Thanks for supporting Tyler (and the rest of the kids) AND Dance Marathon this weekend. We look forward to doing it again next month.

This week the kids will be at bible school every night, Brent is out of town and mom is getting some much needed down time in the evenings. Perfect timing for a week that Brent is gone!

Have a great week!
Christie