Competing in Christi's Memory Tomorrow

Oh, I feel TERRIBLE! I am so mad at myself! I knew this trip to Philly, for Shayne's triathlon and for business, was going to be incredibly quick, but I didn't realize that a sweet woman, named Melissa, and her brave cancer warrior would be so close by. I just learned she was only 20 minutes from Dorney Park and would have met us there. I would have loved meeting her and her precious one in person!!

(PIC: Near Washington's Crossing. We walked over the bridge from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, very cool!)
Shayne had a business meeting all morning, and then a flat tire, but eventually, we made it to the sweet Grant's home. Shayla has been TERRIBLY EXCITED about visiting with them; it's been all she's talked about for the past couple of days. The Grants took very special care of us during our years of treatment in Philly and Shayla grew especially fond of their two girls (the same ages as Christi & Shayla). Mrs. Grant would bring the girls to the hospital to play with Christi and she'll NEVER know how grateful we all were for that. Mr. Grant safely delivered us to and from the Philly Airport to the Ronald House or CHOP, countless times. Christi really missed playing with her friends at home and she absolutely loved making friends with and playing with their beautiful daughters. During tough times, the Grants took Shayla off of our hands. Shayla has really developed a special relationship with them and thanks to email and telephone she has "Philly Friends". So sweet!

The Grants took us to Washington's Crossing late this afternoon. It was very interesting, but I wish I would have prepared for the visit so I could have learned more. It was gorgeous and I hope to study and return one day soon! Next, we went to the most charming little town called "New Hope" for dinner, followed by ice cream. Shayla is overnight with our generous friends while we are in Philly - very tough for us actually, but at 6:30 AM Shayne will be registering for the Philly Triathlon. He's competing on the "CHOP Team" and is racing in Christi's Memory at this fundrasier. While Shayla was entered, it was long before we decided to lease her horse and since she hadn't had any training, we decided it was best to drop out of the race. (We thought her first competition should be a good experience.) When Shayla learned it would be more time with the Grant girls, she said she'd sit out this year from the race. Our alarm is set for 5:30 AM, GOODNIGHT!

Shayla's First Horse Show is just EIGHT days away. I don't know if she'll be ready, but she's really excited! Ironically, our hotel tonight is just a few minutes from "Fairmont Park" where Christi & Shayla rode their first horse in July of 2005, while stranded at the Ronald McDonald House waiting for a scan after the holiday weekend. Wild, just wild. OK, honestly a little sickening too. Being in this city is very, VERY hard!
The little one needs a "leg up" from daddy.
Shay & Skeet
Practicing in the arena.
Shayla's 4H (horse) club has a "Mounted Meeting". There were about 15 horses working in the ring together. This was Shayla's second time to participate WITH Skeeter. Unbelievably, he DID lose another shoe at this meeting. Wild! With horse shoes now costing us $75 a pair, Shayla wants to talk with the guy putting them on to see if he's doing a good enough job, or if he's doing it poorly to make $$. (We had to laugh!)
All lined up while the "judge" evaluates them. (We did go back to the fairgrounds very late at night to see if we could find Skeeter's shoe, but we didn't have any luck!)(Christi, age 8, August 2005)
(PIC: Shayla, August 2005, age 6)