Day 128 - KEEN Picture Day!

Today was a wonderful day.  We spent a good part of the day taking pictures at KEEN.  It was so much fun, and I think the families really appreciated it.  Then, the Redskins actually won!  The only down side was that I only got in one hour of exercise. 

KEEN (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now) is a wonderful program where kids with developmental disabilities get matched with a volunteer coach for several different types of programs – open gym, music, swimming, bowling, etc.. It’s a great program.  Michael has been participating with them for a few years now.  He loves going to his music program once a month.  And, a wonderful things about KEEN is that all their programs and activities are free. 

Because it’s such a wonderful program, it felt really good to do something with the families that I know they appreciated.  It’s so hard to get good pictures of our kids.  Tom, a friend of ours who is a wonderful photographer is so amazing with the kids, and got some fantastic pictures.  Even if a child was nervous at first, he won them over when he let them look in the camera and see their picture.  Some of the pictures were of entire families, some were just the KEEN participant, and some included siblings.  I don’t remember the last time I smiled so much as when I was cropping and printing the pictures!

The challenge of the day was trying to get both hours of exercise in.  Because we were at KEEN so much of the day, I didn’t start my exercise until almost dinner time.  Then, I got a headache and decided that one hour was going to have to be enough for the day.  But, even though I didn’t get in as much exercise as I’d like, it was still a wonderful day.

The surprise of the day was definitely my interactions with the parents.  I know how hard it is to get a good picture of Michael.  And a family picture is almost unheard of.  So,  it was great to be able to do this, and get so many wonderful pictures.   My heart is going to be smiling for quite a while!