Great Strides May 16th 2009

Hello everyone. I wanted to do a quick update on my Great Strides walk last Saturday. We had pretty good weather and a great group of walkers including Grandma and Grandpa Eaton, Grandma and Grandpa Otteman, Scott, Kym, and Toby Randall, Merritt, Carolyn, Brennan, and Connor Gillilland, and Joe Tychewicz. My babysitter Amy Harrison also stopped by to say hi with Justin and her puppy Phynn. Our fundraising efforts were very fruitful raising over $2600. After the walk we invited everyone out to our house for a cookout and some playtime. This was my first time having other kids out to my house to play. I was a great host and shared all my toys with my new friends. Here are a few pictures from the walk and the cookout.

I'm looking forward to a trip home to Iowa this weekend. I'll get to see all of my grandparents, Uncle Jason, and my Godparents Jessica and Jason Unruh. Mommy and Daddy are planning to take me to Eden Valley to camp out on Saturday night with Grandpa Larson. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures for the blog when I'm there. That's all for now, I'll leave you with a couple random pictures of me napping on a coffee table with an Aquadoodle for a blanket and sitting in a drawer playing with my V-Tech toy. Take care everyone.

Luke William

Kalahari

I have been such a busy boy that I decided I should write another blog. First and foremost, I started saying a few words. Yup, that's right, words. Can you believe it? On Friday, I surprised my Mom while reading a book and saying "oval" while pointing to the shape. I thought her jaw was going to hit the floor. Later that night, I was laying in bed with Mom, and we were having one of our nightly chats when she asked me to say "kitty". So I said it. Again, my poor Mom about lost it. I felt that was enough for the night. The next morning I was playing basketball with Mom and Dad before we left for Kalahari and I said "ball". Okay, so that's it. No more for now. Oh, and I can also spell my name. I surprised my Mom on Friday with that too. I brought my alphabet paper over to her, pointed and said the letters to my name. Okay, so to wrap it up, I can say "kitty", "oval", "dada", "eight", "six", "ball", "three", and about 85% of the letters of the alphabet. I can also count to 10 and know the entire alphabet, even though I can't quite pronounce all the letters yet.

So on to our fabulous weekend at Kalahari indoor water park in Sandusky, Ohio. We left Saturday morning and arrived at the water park around 12:30p.m. We quickly checked in and hit the water park. They have tons to do. I became quite adventurous right off the bat. I spent a lot of time in the kiddie area going down the many slides and climbing through tunnels. Here I am enjoying the kiddie area.

I also enjoyed taking a dip in the huge wave pool. Jumping the waves was really fun and exciting.

We spent the whole afternoon swimming and sliding. After dinner we went back again and didn't go to our room until 9 p.m. I was exhausted. No nap and tons of fun equals one tired boy. I was up at 7:30 a.m. and after a breakfast of Tim Hortons donuts, we were back at the water park. We had pizza by the pool and then hit the lazy river. I was just laying back on Mommys lap being very quiet so Mommy and Daddy thought I had enough. What an exciting weekend. I can't wait to go again!!


Okay, so I've said it many times, but this is the final week to donate to Great Strides. We will be walking this weekend so I am making one last plea for your donations. We've done great so far but of course we can always do better. Any one who would like to walk with us, you are certainly welcome. Just show up at Gallup Park by 10a.m. We are also having a barbeque immediately after the walk at our home. Everyone is invited. Even if you can't walk with us, come enjoy some food and fun. I can't wait to show you pictures from the walk on my next post. Take care everyone.

Love,

Luke William

Happy Spring - Philly visit

Happy Spring everyone!! It's nice to be out and about again. Winter can be so long and boring. We traveled to Philadelphia, PA the end of April to see my Uncle Josh, Aunt Maria, and new cousin Marlee. We arrived Friday evening after a 10 hour drive. We enjoyed a nice meal and then off to bed to rest up for a weekend of fun.

Saturday, we drove to Fish Town by the Delaware River for Shad Fest. We enjoyed some music, food and time to play at the park. Then it was off to Smith Playhouse for some more play time. This play house was built in the 1890's in memory of a couple's son. It has several rooms filled with toys and a large outdoor playground as well. My favorite part was the large wooden slide. I went down it a couple times with Mommy and a few more with Daddy.


Sunday we went to The Philadelphia Zoo. It was really hot, almost 90 degrees!! We got to see tons of animals and Daddy took me on the carousel. This was my first carousel ride. It's hard to tell but I did enjoy it. We were very hot and tired by this point. I fell asleep in my stroller on our walk back to the car. When we got home, we played outside and made dinner. It was really nice to spend some time with my family. I hope we can go back soon.

I also wanted to share a picture of me with my Grandpa Larson at Easter time.

I want to remind all my friends and family that you still have time to donate to Great Strides, just click on the picture at the bottom of the page. You also still have time to send it in the mail to my parents if you don't want to donate online. If you use Paypal and want to donate that way, you can send the donation to Daddy's email at poorbackslider@gmail.com and we will turn in the donation the day of the walk.

Just to tell you what your donations are doing, my parents attended a CF conference where they learned about two new medications that are in adult phase trials right now. One medication, called VX770, is a pill you take twice a day. This med could eliminate most of what I do today. It's not a cure but very close. Of course more research is needed but it is looking very promising. Your donations could get this drug to market faster.

Here are a few pics of me after one of my treatments, they can really wear me out.


Take care everyone,

Luke William