Cutler got into McQueen last night, discovered that he could reach the pedal, learned how to shift in reverse, and the insanity quickly ensued. At least he didn’t lose a bumper.
Monthly Archives: August 2012
Light The Night 2012
As many of you know, Cutler, our now 3 year old son, was diagnosed with a rare form of AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) when he was six months old and thanks to many amazing people and organizations he was home recovering from his bone marrow transplant in time for his first birthday. I am happy to say that as of his most recent oncologist appointment, he is still cancer free and living a normal life.
Cutler riding in a St Jude bikeathon at his school earlier this year.
Through countless nights in the hospital I would sit awake at night wondering why this was happening to us and I finally came to a conclusion that it was to raise money and attention to the noble cause taken on by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). We, as a family, have done this in many ways including Melanie running a marathon, but primarily we do it annually by participating in the Light The Night Walk. Light The Night Walk is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s annual fundraising walk to pay tribute and bring hope to people battling cancer. Hundreds of thousands of participants raise funds for lifesaving research and patient services. For more than 60 years, The LLS has been solely focused on people with blood cancers. Presently, we have more than $250 million committed to research across the United States and in ten other countries. Every dollar is provided by concerned donors.
LLS invests in the best, outcome based science:
- Anywhere, with no geographic or institutional boundaries
- Without profit incentive
- To meet unmet Medicare needs of people with blood cancers
So how can you help us in our cause? You can go to our fund raising site at http://pages.lightthenight.org/ntx/Plano12/teamcutler2012 where no donation is too small. If you are fearful or unable to donate via the internet, we are more than happy to receive checks made out to the LLS at our house:
429 Whisperfield Dr
Murphy, TX 75094
We are also in favor of you forwarding this to your own circle of friends that might be interested in helping us abolish blood cancers.
If you want to join us on the night of the walk, there is a link at the bottom to join our team where you can then set up your own page and raise funds as well. I highly encourage anyone interested and available to join us on October 20th in Plano as it is a very special event to be surrounded by so many people dedicated to such an incredible cause. If you can’t make the event, we will also be having our annual Turning Lemons Into Lemonade Stand that is growing in size and success every year in the near future.
Basketball Jones
Last night Mason scored his first basket of the season in his last game of the season. In fact, due to his typical unselfish play (see lack of aggressiveness) this may have been his only shot of the season so his FG% is out of this world. I did happen to bring along the camera for this game and was snapping photos almost non stop. Good news and bad news occurred during this portion of Mason’s dominance. Good news is that I took the camera down in time for me to see him make the shot, bad news is that I took the camera down without snapping a shot of making his first basket.
The whole play started with him stealing the ball and then dribbling up court, passing it to a teammate at the top of the key and then heading down low for the return pass at which time he drained the swish from an impressive 5 feet away. 🙂 Below are a couple of photos from the game including the HUGE smile on his face after he ran to the other end to play defense (see look for me to make sure I saw it). I have to say that I was looking at the stands afterwards ready to yell “that’s my boy!” I am one very proud father.
A Young Boy’s Dream
In Mason’s continued love of baseball we have set a goal to attend a baseball game at each of the 30 MLB stadiums by the time he turns 30 years old. This past Monday Mason and I took the first step in this effort as we traveled to Houston for an Astros game against the Nationals and I don’t know if I have ever enjoyed a game as much as I did this one. The excitement and joy that Mason showed was incredible and this trip proved to be a great father/son trip that I will not soon forget. Below are some of the pictures from our trip.
Checked into the hotel and taking the 28 floor climb in the elevator
Kicking back and enjoying the hotel shuttle ride to the game with his complimentary water…He was very fired up about riding in the shuttle
Arrived and ready to enter the Juice
Note the Astros gear, another portion of his dream is to get a jersey from each ballpark. Still learning the loyalty to one team trick.
Starting the game of musical seats with a stop in left center field.
While enjoying centerfield we ran into this overly enthusiastic fan with a glove. Was pounding away at his glove talking to the players and stretching in anticipation of the next ball hit to him…which never occurred. Quite certain he may have passed the age limit for bringing a glove, but I guess you are only as old as you think you are.
With the Astros down in the 8th I got to introduce Mason to the rally hat
In our fifth and final seats for the game, the rally hat worked, temporarily, as the Astros went on to lose in extra innings.
Truth be told, this could have been titled a Daddy’s dream as well.
Team Fricke 