I get to go camping with a bunch of bikers in an enormous field, with a live band and what I hope is to be many families with kids on the autism spectrum. It's a motorcycle/poker run weekend! Wooohooooo!!!
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| My hubby and I with our five bambinos (last year) |
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| The camera couldn't capture the entire group of bikers... this is the right half of the group (last year) |
What the... Someone call 911. Lou's fallen off her rocker and hit her head. She's gone bonkers. Where is Mike?
Well, Mike went with me last year. So did my kids (and yes, they survived, and what's even better, they had a FANTASTIC time!).
We met some pretty funtastic people, people I hope I get to meet up with again this year.
The Ride Thru The Park began three years ago. The first year, these look bad do good folks did the run to raise money for a family with a newly diagnosed child on the autism spectrum. These folks had never seen autism before, and worried about their friend and what the diagnoses meant not only for her child, but for the entire family. Watching her struggle, and not knowing what to do to help as it seemed whatever works for the neurotypical children didn't work for this kiddo or make things worse. The bikers learned while their hearts were in the right place, they desperately wanted to help, it seemed autism exceeded their skill set and decided to do what they knew best: RIDE!
OK... How the bleepidy, bleep, bleep does leather and bikes do good for autism? It works when you play a poker run and split the winnings in half: one half for the winner and the other half is given as a donation to people who need it who DO have the skill set to help! Taaaadaaaa!!!
For the second year's Ride Thru The Park, these look bad do good amazing folks decided to spread the joy to a grassroots kind of group that give all proceeds back to the autism community... I don't know how they found us, but they did, and I am grateful. This year marks their 3rd Ride Thru The Park year, and they hope to continue every year to make it bigger and better.
Here's the rules of the game:
THERE ARE NO RULES!!! bahahahaha, love it! I'm not the kind of girl who does play by the rules anyway! And even better, and I'm totally excite about this part, because as you all know, I'm the Queen of Klutzes and there's no way a bike would survive me trying to ride it, the run accommodates Ghost Riders!!! Yeah all right, I didn't know what that meant either, so I asked Shawna if that meant we turned into Nicolas Cage, erupting in flames riding a bike and becoming a lean, mean killing machine, to which of course she just shook her head and mumbled under her breath. I think I heard an OMG, and in what moment of insanity did I agree... but it's OK, we're still friends, she's just decided to introduce me to the rest of her friends and potential new ones as an acquaintance twice removed.
Anyhow, ahem (I know something you don't, te-hee-hee), a Ghost Rider is someone who doesn't ride through the run, but drives a vehicle (woo-hoo!!! That's me!!!) in the run! Funtastic! This means everyone can join in 100% in the run, and stand to win half the winnings! And if you can't drive (for example, our kids), you can STILL participate and roll for an eligible hand! A win win for everyone!
Cost: 20.00 per rider, and $10.00 per Ghost Rider, payable at registration before the run.
For more information or questions you may have, please contact Shawna at https://www.facebook.com/RunThruThePark/
Anyways, back to last year's event, the fun part for everyone was putting aside all stigmas about autism and bikers alike and getting to know each other.
It was tricky at first. Some of them had a perception of what autism was and were nervous, but once they met my kiddos, they felt at ease and carried on with the kids like anyone else. My kids had a perception of them too, because people quickly jump from Harley's to a motorcycle gang like Hell's Angels. They quickly learned that couldn't be farther from the truth. By the end of the day, my kids were all over them!
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| Yeah, even I got in there, it wasn't moving so the bike was safe ;) |
I met a family who came riding in to support us all after witnessing the birth of their niece. I'm serious. They waited at the hospital for the birth, got to say hello to baby and hold her, then ran out the hospital doors to come to this amazing event. Talk about dedication! Another man came all the way from Alberta to show his support - amazing!
We had some vendors out there too selling autism awareness items! It was amazing! And then the games for the kids...
There was a small splash pool surrounded by tires, a tire toss, a number of interactive kid games with prizes... A huge bonfire (go big or go home folks!), a fantastic live band and fun for adults too.
If you're already a member of Autism Winnipeg PACE Facebook Group, check out the photo album called "Run Through The Park: August 27th, 2016." I know, I know... I spelled it properly last year when naming the photo album, but in my defense, I was super excited to get all the pictures up to show everyone what a great time we had!!! It was sooooo good!!!
Anyways, Here's a few more pictures to show you a snippet of the fun times we had! I really hope you can come this year, we're inviting riders and families to come out and show your support to riders and families living with autism. Camping on the premises is an option you should take, there will be facilities for all your needs, but you must bring your own food and drink, and tents or trailers. Fees are only $10.00 per tent or trailer! You can't beat this for camping fees PLUS a lot of entertainment!
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| Because we're all young |
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| Remember the red wagon? |
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| Start off shy, but in the end, they all come down to the basics... I wanna play! |
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| How about I take you out for a nice dinner baby? Oh look at that, let's start our date now! |
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| Get a great tee-shirt! |
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| Everybody is a winner! |
There were many more games, but I don't have any of those pictures to share, my favorite being riding up on a bike with the passenger catching a hot-dog in their mouth as they rode under the hot-dogs. I'll try to get good pictures this year, or better yet, come out and see it yourself!!!
As in the past, consider yourselves hugged,
Lou
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