24 hour Skate-a-Thon

1. My mom and I working one of the hourly shifts, early in the morning!
2. Liam and I messing around on the deck

3. Connor and cousin Emily warming up with a book

4. The "kids shift" doing the Cha Cha slide this morning

5. Connor and I during a break

6. Although they aren't skating, they still count as on the ice!!

7. The boys in the warming hut

8. My dad finished up the last seconds of the final hour on the ice with Connor. He did it all by himself almost the whole time!!

Last night at 6pm we kicked off the 2nd annual Skate-a-Thon to raise money for Parkinson's research. My mom was diagnosed with Parkinson's three years ago and is having much success battling the disease with a low dose of medication, lifestyle and diet changes and regular exercise which include cardio, weights and yoga. Although she is winning the battle there will always be a need for funding the research that she, and the thousands of others, count on to one day find a cure.

My dad floods our backyard every year so the event was hosted at our house. The weather was not kind this week leaving the ice a bit soft, thus post-poning the start by two hours. Friends and family gathered to watch my parents take the "first skate" and from then on there was someone on the ice, almost always with a drink in hand, until 6pm tonight. Donated pizza, coffee and bagels kept the night crew awake(so did the donated keg and Jager!), the crowds shuffled in and out morning, noon and night, and in the end we surpassed our goal of raising $4000. Thank you to all who supported this event with food, money, skating or stopping by.