Survivor Walk

Yesterday we woke the girls and headed downtown for Northwestern Hospital's Cancer Survivor Celebration and Walk. We parked at the hospital and took a trolley to the walk. The girls had fun playing with a dog while we waited for the trolley and thought the trolley ride was fantastic!
The walk had started when we got to the park, so we got our rain gear on and headed out for the walk. (After being so cold the previous day we were prepared for all weather!) Reagan thought she would walk for a while, but since it was a 4-mile path we knew the walking would be short lived, and it was.
Along the walk there were water stations set up and in addition to giving us water they were giving out fans, dolphin key chains, leys, and suckers. Such smart planning for a walk with a lot of kids. The girls loved their goodies and were fascinated by the boats in Lake Michigan. We stopped by the lake and got our picture taken and then continued on.
Also along the walk were banners with pictures of survivors, their names, disease and then a quote. We knew that Nikki had a banner so Reagan was searching for Nikki's banner all morning. We were almost to the turnaround on the walk when we found Nikki's banner. How cool was it to see her smiling face as we walked. We obviously stopped to take pictures and other walkers took our picture for us.
On the way back we saw one of the survivors standing next to his banner and his family and friends were taking pictures (and so did we).
When we got back to the park the girls went right into the jumpy house. It was a great way to end the walk - Pat and I had burned lots of energy walking but they had been sitting a lot. While they jumped I walked over to take a picture of the Survivors. They invite all of the survivors to come to the stage - what a sight to see all those purple shirts and know that they all had overcome their cancers - quite emotional.
The girls then took a couple turns on the bouncy slide - Nola held up the line for a while but couldn't understand the concept of waiting in line.
We then had a little picnic. All walkers received a Subway sandwich, pretzels, cookies, banana and water. We had a good break and then waited in line FOREVER to get a blue monkey made out of a balloon.
We did have to wait a while to get a trolley back to our van, but that's ok. The girls were excited to be downtown and Reagan loved being so close to the Searses (her words) Tower. Only drama was when the blue monkey balloon broke right before we got on the trolley.
Unfortunately Nikki was not able to walk with us because she was still in the hospital. I know she wanted to see her banner - but I did tell her she would have had to walk a long time to see it! Luckily I was able to go to the hospital yesterday to see her and show her the pictures. Not quite like being there, but at least she could see a glimpse of an amazing event.
Please keep Nikki in your prayers as she had an MRI today and will get results this week. It was quite a declaration of her faith to see the quote she had on her banner 'Trust in God, he will take care of you.' I pray we all can have her faith.