Our first Grand Stand was a great success! We were so worried, but everything went smoothly and we were able to have a wonderful time!

There is so much to tell, I just don't know where to start!! We had over 60 volunteers, and I just can't thank them enough. We had a great DJ donate his time, and made everything so much fun. Then we had Grizzbee, the Grizzlies mascot, come join the party, and brought another mascot, Willie, with him. Brinley fell in love with Grizzbee, I mean when she cried about something, she ran to Grizzbee for comfort! She wanted him to go down the slide with her again, and again, and again! When he left he sent me a text about how touched he was with Brinley and how much he enjoyed being there. When I asked Brinley what her favorite part was, she said "Grizzbee!" It was really cool. We may even have to become hockey fans to take her to visit him!

We had so many people come to show support, many we knew and many we didn't. I tried to ask people how they heard about it if I didn't know them. One man donated $200.00 from his construction company, so I asked him how he heard about us. He said that someone had left a flier on his door. How cool is that? Talk about compassion.

It was so cool to see the beginning of something that I feel will be really big. This was our first "grand stand" year, when we didn't really know what we were doing yet, and we all felt like it was a great success. As of today, our total raised is around $6300.00! I know our goal was $10,000, but are really feeling good about what we raised our first year. We multiplied last year's by 5!! Look out $10,000, we're coming for you next year!!

A big thank you to all of you who donated online. You made up $2700.00 of our total! That is huge and shows that even if you don't live close to us or couldn't come to the stand, you can make a difference in our efforts to rid the world of childhood cancer. You can still donate online if you missed it at http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/67204.

Another thank you to the donations to our stand, we had cookies donated, a bounce house, the DJ, prizes, supplies, items to sell, rentals. It wouldn't have happened without your donations.

The best part in my eyes was seeing all these people coming together against cancer. We all have our stories, so many people have been touched by it somehow, and we know how to fight back! There were gold ribbons everywhere, it was a great feeling. We are still exhausted from it, but still basking in how amazing it was. It felt so good to be kicking childhood cancer's butt, one cup at a time :) More pictures to come when I get the rest of them...

Brinley and Grizzbee sliding together

Think she's happy?

Our AWESOME volunteers! The morning ones were missing, so add about 20. That's a lot of people who wanted to help!

The committee counting the money we raised!