We even asked our patients to donate by going to our link. We handed out purple bows and exchanged information via word of mouth. I'm not sure how much we made this way.
The deadline got closer and closer. Of course since this event has been on the calendar for quite some time some of our co-workers conveniently took the time off so they couldn't be at the event and help. Why would they want to do anything extra?
I applause those who were at the tail end of their vacation or just about to start theirs and showed up like they said they would and did their share. It is appreciated.
People we knew from previous Relay for Life walks told us to have some sort of fun onsite fundraiser...something fun, unique or edible. We decided to sell ice cream with our new freezer Kim acquired. We used it at our patient appreciation day. It was very handy.
We should have gotten a hold of everyone the night before but for some reason no one did. The morning of I heard mom and Michele planning what we all still needed to do before we met up at 11. I had to run to Yelm to grab some stuff at the store and get some money at the bank. All that took about an hour. As I drove past the office I saw Kallie's truck. She must be grabbing the stuff from the fridge, the freezer, the boards and other misc things.
I got back home, grabbed a few things and both mom and I headed down to the school to meet up with Michele and Carrie. Kallie and Mike arrived shortly after. We put up the two tent gazebos and three camping tents. Mike had to help us with the gazebos because we were all too short.
We got everything set up and relaxed for a bit. Mom and I went home to grab the rest of our stuff, blankets, warm clothes, pillows, sleeping bags, etc. I even brought cards and some coloring books and crayons. You just never know.
The opening ceremony began at 3 and they had all of the cancer survivors walk the first lap. It was emotional for some people. After their lap, Carrie and Sue started walking their laps. Dr. Smith joined in a few minutes later. Kallie walked a few, I walked a few and Michele just hung out for a while because she had some late night shifts.
Lisa, Kim and Skylar showed up in the early evening about an hour or two before we had to do our hula lap. Kallie and Michele spent some time making tutu's for everyone, well...everyone who wanted to wear one that would be there during that time. I brought my actual Hawaiian hula outfit complete with a coconut bra. We had hula hoops as well.
We were given punch cards to go visit each tent and see what kind of onsite fundraisers they were offering. There were raffles, games, a dunk tank, freebies, popcorn, cotton candy and a really neat idea, lap beads. You purchased a string for $5 and every time you make a complete lap, you added a bead to it. The team leader signed off our card to go win a prize at the registration table. When we got to the Yelm Key Bank booth and Carrie and I were suckered into signing up for their mini event at 8:30. At that point we had no idea what we were really going to do. We shall soon find out.
We finished our booth visit and took our cards to the table and we were given purple Mardi Gras beads. Our cards were put in a container for another chance to win something. I never actually heard what it was.
I did a few more laps and then sat for a bit. We got the fire going and made hot dogs for dinner. I had one and a handful of chips. When I finished, it was time for our hula lap. I got my grass skirt on, the coconut bra and my lei.
We were off. I wasn't sure how many laps we were suppose to do. We were represented for an hour but I think many of us just did the one lap. I walked around with Lisa. I started a new lap when Kim called me to let me know the group picture was being taken. I hustled on over.
After our sponsored hula lap, some of our team went home for good, went home for a while and came back, some walked laps and others chilled in the chairs while people bought ice cream from us.
Just before a few people left for the night, some of us wandered over to the Yelm Key Bank tent to see what kind of a game we were going to do. We were to shoot a squirt gun at a antacid stuck to a target. First one to dissolve it moves onto the next round. Carrie and I were suppose to be teammates but lack of interest made us pair up against each other. It was a close race and I barely squeaked by. I moved on to the next round and my finger was stiff.
I ended up losing by a few seconds in the next round. I continued doing laps afterwards. The weather started getting nicer as the evening approached. They started getting the luminaria bags out for those who have been affected or died from cancer. As a group we bought four of them and set them up near our booth. One was for Dr Smith's grandma, one was for Dr. Kay's wife, one was for my aunt Janet and the other was for my friend Brenda.
It started getting dark as I walked a few laps with Michele. I got back and mom told me to go home and put the chickens and ducks to bed. That was about 10 p.m. For some reason I knew I was going to miss the luminaria bag ceremony. That is when they turn off all the lights and the bags glow. There were some that circled the entire track and the ones on the bleachers that said Hope Cure with the ribbon in between the two words. Sure enough, when I left and came back, mom said I missed the ceremony.
Around midnight I walked with Michele for a while. The midnight to one hour they did Zumba. We did about a minute or so with the instructor and then messed around with it each time when our lap back around. There was a lot of laughing and uncoordinated Zumba moves.
Kallie went inside her tent and fell asleep for a few hours.
During one of our laps, Michele and I saw a woman with a cigarette. Hmmm...ironic, we're trying to beat cancer, yet she is aiding in the creation of cancer. Plus, there were signs around about no smoking in the facility.
We hadn't heard from Shonna and we got worried. She had been busy with a yard sale all day and we didn't know if she was going to come for her shift or not. Michele and I were on one of our last laps for a while when we saw Shonna walk through the gate. She totally envisioned it being dead silent with very few people walking the track. Instead she found quite a few people walking and music blasting from the DJ booth on the stadium. Dr. Smith went home just after she arrived.
Sue, Michele and I sat around the campfire and Kallie joined us a bit later. Sue then tried taking a short nap in our tent but was disturbed by a man yelling at his son as they tried to take down a tent. Shonna powered out several miles during her walk around the track. She was involved in the 2 a.m. mustache dash. They drew a mustache on her and the first one to finish the lap got prizes. She got fourth.
Around 3 a.m., I walked a few laps with Shonna. I had about nine miles at this point according to my beads. Michele jumped in there for a few laps and so did Kallie and Sue.
I did a few laps at 4 a.m. This was the time were there weren't very many people walking around. There was one lady who was constantly running and she ended up walking over 50 miles. Shonna, Michele, Sue and I did the hokey pokey.
Dawn finally approached and it was pretty chilly. I had layers on. A few people went home shortly after. I took a seat again while someone else walked around the track.
Lisa got there close to 5a.m. She brought her dog with her. Her dog ended up pooping on the track. I went home to feed the chickens and ducks and let them out for the day. It took me about a half hour to cut up cucumbers and make sure everyone had water since it was suppose to be a very warm day. Lisa ended up being kicked out because there weren't dogs allowed. The signs weren't clearly marked and some lady had some dogs inside earlier during the event. We felt bad she drove all the way out here only to turn around and go home.
I ended up passing out in the chair for about an hour and a half. In the meantime, Michele and Shonna went home and Sue and Kallie did a scavenger hunt and they ended up finishing and winning a prize. By this time Mike and Wyatt joined us in the tearing down of our campsite. We did laps in between taking down the tents.
Around 8ish Dr. Smith came baring maple bars and chocolate milk. It was delicious. He did some laps while we tried to clean up our area. We had a misunderstanding with the people in charge about bring vehicles onto the track. Apparently we couldn't until noon but there were some vehicles on the track packing up. So we had to walk everything out to the parking lot beyond the fence. I had a goal of finishing 15 miles (60 laps) before we called it quits and left. Mom finished 18 miles.
They handed out awards around 11 and we got one for having one person at all times walking around the track and for having the most people up in the middle of the night.
Michele came back and helped us pack up everything. We got out of there by 11:30. I ate some food and took a 5 hour nap when I got home.
Next Adventure: Block Party Weekend
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