Camp Del Corazon - "Heart" camp

We just sent will off to Heart Camp for 5 days. I am totally missing him. I know he is having fun . . . but I am still missing him.

He left with 40 other kids from Arizona to go to Catalina Island for Camp Del Corazon! It is a wonderful camp for kids with Heart Defects just like Will. He is in the most capable hands . . . all the nurses and doctors that already know him. Other Heart parents that volunteer for this camp. I know so many of the people that I know he is OK.

I used to be so involved with the support group and the Heart Center at PCH i.e. raising money, volunteering. Aprox. 5 years ago I had to pull away from every thing if I was ever going survive the emotional impact of everything.

I am so grateful Will has pulled through much of the worst part of his defect. Many of the kids have passed on. I'm not sure why some have survived and others not . . . but I know Will has a reason to be here. I love him so much.

The day ended up being an emotional day. Sending Will off then attending Ethan's Skidmore funeral. The funeral was done very special. Heidi handled everything with such class - I totally admire her for being such a brave person. Greg is a great dad! My hat's off to them and everything they went through. My hats off to Ethan for being a brave little boy!

Just a quick Shout out - Thanks to the Nick & Kelly Heart Fund for funding all of these kids and paying for them and their transportation to the camp! I appreciate it sooo much. I know Will does too. Every year they have a big Golf Tournament and silent auction to help pay for things like this. If anyone ever has things they can donate for this event, let me know. I want badly to be able to help with this as a token of our appreciation!

"Out of Africa" Wild Animal Park! Grrrrrr

We had the opportunity to go to the "Out of Africa" animal park up in Camp Verde this last weekend. It was the most amazing Zoo or experience we could have with animals I HIGHLY . . . I mean HIGHLY recommend you get a chance to go. We had so many hands on experiences that it was so enjoyable.

Check out their Site CLICK HERE

Carson had a friend that just moved from Utah to Prescott. Their grand-parents own the park. We have been wanting a chance to go . . . so why not now??

Just Carson, Will, Rowdy, and I went up there. Tucker had a scrimmage game . . . so Doug stayed back with him.

We want to go back with everyone so bad - Prescott was so beautiful.

These animals actually would walk up to the bus that we were on. We could feed them. They would take food right from our hands. WE were not allowed to feed the Zebras - I guess they are really violent. But the other animals were fun. Rowdy loved it sooo much!

The Giraffe would not come over to our side - oh well . . . it still was amazing!

This majestic animal was lazily resting on his house. how he got up there? They said it's not often that he is up there. It was kinda intimidating to go over to him. he was barely 3 feet away from us. It seemed like if he really wanted to he could just leap over to you. YIKES!

We were late for the "Tiger Splash" and in our efforts to get their we were running. Both Carson and Will were wearing bright colors. It attracted this animals attention because we were running by it. It leaped at us and growled loud at us - it frightened all of us. But it was worth it!

The "Tiger Splash" One of a kind show!! No where else in the WORLD! do they have a show like this. They play with them and get them to jump in the water, chase balloons, play with each other. The difference??? Many shows try to get tigers to be like humans. This show gets them to be tigers - encourages different instants that they have (mildly) but still - I was taken away with how entertaining this show was.

It was a rainy day - the tigers were a little more aggressive then usual - it was so fun!

A couple of times the tigers tried to attack the owner. he totally knew how to push them away and get them to think about something else. It was remarkable and scary at the same time.

There a few times the tigers would pace back and forth and follow Rowdy - I didn't like that they were looking at him like he was food.

They actually had the chance to feed them raw meat!

Carson's friend Christian

They day was so pleasn't. It rained for about 10 min straight - when I say rain I mean POURED!!! It actually was so fun - we had never been caught in a desert storm like that before. IT made the day memorable!