I was given the wonderful opportunity to attend The Snowball Express with my niece and nephew (Gracelynn & Ammon). It was a very incredible experience, I wish I could share all of the feelings that I was able to experience but I will have to resort to only being able to share pictures. I hope that you will be able to see how truly amazing it is for these people to have this 4 day gathering for hundreds of families...almost 2 thousand people, free of expenses for those who attend, for families who all have at least one thing in common - having lost a loved
one in the war since 9/11.
Santa was waiting for us at the airport, Gracie was SO excited, she practically jumped into his arms!!
I couldn't help but take a few photos of our view, I hadn't been on an airplane since I was in the 5th grade
Our airplane was full of Snowball families so the children were allowed to do basically anything they wanted to...and even encouraged!! at lift-off one of the volunteers slid down the isle on a cookie sheet!! All of the children were given Silly String and we all had a Silly String war!!
SO FUN!!
Another AMAZING view!!
We had many people awaiting us at the airport with flags, balloons and gifts, the Coca Cola Bear, Princesses, Clowns making whatever the children requested out of balloons...Ammon wanted a gun.
Gracie wanted a butterfly.
At one point we got off of our buss and began walking down a street, I could hear cheering...I didn't know that we were about to be in the middle of a parade...a parade full of ONLY families who had lost a Mommy, Daddy, Wife, or Husband in the war since 9/11.
I had to stop and take a picture of this. I couldn't stop the tears from coming to my eyes.
Ammon and Gracie posing in front of the Liberty Bell.
Every child who wanted was given the opportunity to ring the Liberty Bell.
Ammon and Gracie with one of the men from the Patriot Guard.
Ammon was pretty excited to see ALL of the Star Wars characters, we were lucky enough to get a quick picture with a few of them.
They had some kind of special Tribute every day for our fallen soldiers
The Mavericks gave us a visit!!
Every child was given a balloon to release in remembrance of their loved
one...this isn't even a quarter of how many balloons there were, I couldn't capture them all...
We were able to go to Six Flags!! Ammon was not too happy about his aunt Becca making him pose with Tweety, but he sure was a good sport :)
Here we are on the Tea Cup ride right before it started...and right after Ammon smashed a bee on my head ;)
Gracie was such a big girl and rode this ride, and she LOVED it!! (she was BARELY tall enough to ride)
This is what breakfast looked like every morning...
We took this picture just for their Mom...she absolutely HATES clowns ;)
Every single road, everywhere we went was closed to the public. Everywhere we went we were escorted by the Police and the Patriot Guards...I can't even tell you how incredibly touching this was.
We were able to attend a real, Texas style, rodeo!!
Our days were so full of fun that we were only able to sleep for about 4-5 hours a night (which was partially my fault. We'd get back to the hotel at around 10, and then I would take Ammon and Gracie to play with all of the other kids until 12. It was important to me to let them connect with the other kids, and I didn't want them to miss anything). The bus rides were perfect places for little cat naps :)
The Patriot Guards were at every single event to line the walkways and shake everyone's hands...every single event...every single hand. I cannot tell you how touching it is to see this big strong biker hugging all of the children while tears are streaming down his face. I could not help but shed a few tears of my own, I wish I would have captured that moment.
At Gilley's we were able to play a variety of games, a few that I can remember: horseshoe with toilet lids, Curling with pretend cow pies...there were big blow up toys for the kids to climb on and slide down. If the kids wanted to they could take pictures with a HUGE REAL bull (Ammon and Gracie were a bit intimidated to do that).
Gracie and I were able to get our faces painted. I was not going to but Gracie sure was adamant about it :) I loved that all of these little girls were getting sparkly snowflakes and flowers, and Gracie wanted..."A Christmas Tree on my forehead!!" I sure love that girl!!
This was so fun!! Get this: A blow up swimming pool filled with water and big blow up balls that the kids could climb inside of.
I'm sure this was one of their favorite games!!
The Gary Sinise & the Lt. Dan Band was at Gilley's too!! Gary Sinise was super cute with Gracie showing her his Mickey Mouse shirt :)
The Patriot Guard were nice enough to set up some of their bikes and let the kids take pictures on them.
The Race Car driver, Martin Plowman, was at every event with his car so that every child, and every adult that wanted to, had a chance to sit in his car and get an autograph.
I'm sure he had to put a hold on his life for four days, I thought this was so kind of him.
Here we are at the Winspear Opera House. Before the program started everyone totally had a dance party, with a DJ and everything!! It was so fun, and too funny!!
This sweet little girls name is Autum, she is an 11 year old with a Brain Stem Tumor. She asked for teddy bears for her birthday so she could give them to each and every child on the Snowball Express. I thought this was incredibly selfless and beyond her years. What an amazing little girl!!
Gracie was loving this band of boys, The Final Four, they were 7th graders...and they were pretty dang good!! But I think Gracie was loving the bubbles even more :)
It's a little difficult to see but Santa TOTALLY REPELLED down a 40 story building!! He also flew over us wearing a JET PACK...I didn't get a good picture because I was plugging my ears, it was SOOO LOUD!!...and UBER AWESOME!!
They gave us our very own firework show!! It was super pretty!! Pictures never do fireworks justice.
They had a airport car decorated specifically for the Snowball kids just to ride around on if they wanted to.
The Flight Attendants were encouraging the kids to climb into the overhead compartments...did I mention that the Snowball kids could do WHATEVER they wanted??
Aunt Becca was, unfortunately, a bit air sick on the plane ride home. This sweet volunteer was so sweet to play a card game with Gracie.
Like I said, the pictures do not do this trip justice at all. I am very blessed to have been able to experience The Snowball Express. It is, although, very unfortunate for sweet Ammon and sweet Gracelynn to be without a Daddy here on earth to play with, hug, snuggle, and share memories with. Even though Ammon and Gracelynn are much younger, and much shorter than I...I look up to them so so much. I love them and I hope that they know that I will always, always be there for them. Thank you for letting me share this experience with you. More than anything I wanted to put this up here so that I could always remember.
