Rumble Pictures

Colby(host of New American Thunder)wearing his "Natalia's Friends" bracelet
Interviewing Edgar for New American Thunder
Pia Dancing The Night Away

The Rumble to the Summit episode of New American Thunder will air on Wednesday, July 1st at 5pm. Check it out!!!!

Love to you all,
Roni

There and Back Again

Well, we made it! The first few miles on the road were really tough. Pia wanted to listen to all of Natalia's favorite songs. We almost had to pull over in the middle of "Bleeding Love" her ab fab song. Then the memories of her little bopping to "I Like To Move It". It was a hard drive...it was hard to cross the Bay Bridge and drive straight to USCF. It was hard to turn into the parking lot...then Pia says we need to park in the pink lot...and we laughed til we hurt...it was all going to be ok. We went upstairs to Dr Banerjee's office...and who do we run into in the hall just before the office...Karina, Sophia's partner in crime. Karina used to take Sophia on "adventures" while Natalia was getting chemo. They would deliver samples to the lab or go to the nurse's break room. She made Sophia's trip. While we were talking to Anita and Melissa at the front desk, out walks Dr Banerjee. It was great to see her. How could we do this trip without seeing her? She helped to give us more time with Talia. We saw all our fav chemo nurses. God truely blessed us with this meeting. We needed to see the office and chemo row and say thank you to them all.

Next it was the long walk to Family House on 10th. The people we went to see weren't there but the 10 block walk was, well, every step was a tribute. Then back to Family House on 2nd & Irving to see Paul. We had just seen some of the most important people in San Francisco...at least to us they will always be. The ceremony for children who have passed away at UCSF was a good healing experience...we even got to see Janelle, one of our favorite nurses from 7 Long. Then it was off to Nan King Road Bistro for sweet and sour raspberry chicken. Edgar got the best sleep he has had in a long time and in the morning we had donuts at Donut World. Then back home...this time actually singing Natalia's favorite songs at the top of our lungs...it was the first time I was able to listen to "Life in a Northern Town" by Sugarland since she passed...I sang at full volume for her. The circle has been closed and another weight lifted. It was a good trip...no great trip!

****New American Thunder***the Make A Wish Episode will air on Wednesday, July 1st, at 5pm on the Speed Channel. For those of you in the Fresno area that have Comcast it is channel 35. For everyone else...the Speed Channel is part of the ESPN family...find it!!! HAHAHAHAHA! Edgar did a really good interview and they needed more pics of Natalia for the show. Hopefully, they will be able to spotlight how much these wishes help a child and their families.

Much love to you all,
Roni

Harder then I Thought

I have spent the better part of my quiet moments the past few days crying. It sucks! Too say the least. It's not just me, Edgar is in on it as well. Going back to San Francisco is harder then either of us realized it would be...oh and Father's Day just happened in there as well. We miss her giggles and belly laughs...her ooo yeas. I made the decision that it is time to pack away some of her clothes...well I bought a large plastic box to put them in anyway. Edgar says it is too soon. I told him that he doesn't put Sophia's clothes away and have to see that I don't have any of Natalia's clothes to put away. It hurts every time I go to their closet and see her favorite pieces, picture her wearing them and then not have her to hold.

We are heading out tomorrow morning. A stop in Patterson for chicken fries...a must on their bi-weekly trip. We are going to park the car and walk to old haunts, visit familiar faces and close the circle. Another must...a chocolate twist donut from Donut World.

Memories keep crashing in and alternate between being crushing in intensity and warming in their love. Sophia just hands me a tissue, hugs me and tells me I can cry on her shoulder. Wow, welcome back to the here and now. Sophia is beyond amazing. We are changing her pre-school. They have done, yet another, staff/curriculum change. This time we are not rolling with the punches. Always before there was someone left who the girls adored and we felt they were in good hands...not the case anymore. There is no one left, teachers or kids, that we know. Pia actually says she hates one of her teachers and we do not care for the director...great as a teacher(Sophia has learned a lot) but not a very good administrator. So today we checked out a few and will take Pia to see them when we get back.

I guess that's it for now.

Much love,
Roni

Growing Experiences

Wow, the past 2 weeks have been an incredible growing experience.

1) Edgar and I have been getting involved with the PTC at Weldon Elementary. We have had nothing but amazing support from Weldon all through the past year and a half. When Natalia started 1st grade, I thought this would be a great way for a 9-5 Mom to help out the school. Unfortunately, I was only able to go to 1 meeting before Natalia was unable to go to school. We went as a family to the last few meetings of the year. We thought this would be a good way to get our feet wet and meet some of the other parents but we did not want a leadership role. After all, we had never done a full school year. I went to the June 10th board meeting to offer our helping hands and guess who was nominated to be president…can you say desparate!!! The sad fact is they were. Not many parents get involved in the fund raising aspect of schools, but, it is extremely important to help keep a school running smoothly. No, I declined president…but I am the treasurer. I am now actually looking forward to it. It will be a great way to meet new people. And important for us…a great way to meet and get to know the kids of Weldon.
2) Sophia is officially a Weldon Warrior. All of her transfer stuff came through this week and she will be in Mrs. McMillian’s class. She is currently thriving at Jan Thomas Swim School. Oh yeah!!!! It is amazing to see how quickly she is picking up all her strokes. To see her racing diving and crawl stroke across the pool just blows me away. Needless to say her original 10 lessons have now become the entire summer. Her education is thriving at preschool. She is writing all her letters and numbers, adding and learning to tell time. She is rocking along.
3) RUMBLE TO THE SUMMIT…can you say amazing! Make-A-Wish is just an incredible thing to be involved with. If we can help them earn just $1 more to help other kids…count us in. The Pre-Party Friday night…tons of people, tons of fun. Sophia danced and boogied all night to the band. The fire dancers were a huge hit. We met another BT family. We have been reading each others blog for a while. The Hatfields live up in Coarsegold and their son Isaac has a BT. That was both wonderful and hard. To look into their eyes and know that their hard journey continues. To know all you can do is offer support. I think Edgar and I babbled a bit because it was either that or cry. Saturday morning…Well, we were hoping for crowds lining the street…what we got were eager, awesome volunteers and tons of fun. I laughed ‘til I hurt. We decorated the entrance of the school so it looked cool. Some of us directed the riders into the driveway while others had a system for giving out raffle tickets and getting donations for “Natalia’s Nest”. We started at 7:30am and completely finished up by 12pm. Thank you to everyone who helped and those who donated to the Nest. Edgar was interviewed for the Speed Channel’s New American Thunder. He talked about our journey, Make-A-Wish and Natalia’s Nest. The Rumble was something that we were truly proud to be a part of. Thank you, again, Fresno HEAT hockey team for sponsoring the stop in Natalia’s honor.
4) Next week we are heading back to UCSF. Compass Point is having a dinner/service for those in their care that have passed away. It is time to close the circle. The dinner is Tuesday, so, we are going to head up in the morning and spend the night. We hope to see everyone in Dr Banerjee’s office that helped us and to see the staff at Family House. We definitely NEED to get a chocolate twist donut from Donut World and chicken fries in Patterson.
5) It is also time for us to start looking for a house. We know it is going to take time and we still need to get prequalified but the market is too good right now for us to not to begin looking. We know generally what we want in a house but still are unsure if we will live in the house or just buy it and rent it out for a while. My job depends on my living on site so we need to consider the last option carefully.
That’s all for now. Much Love, Roni

Rumble 1 Week and Counting

Make A Wish's Rumble to the Summit on Saturday June 13Th.

It is awesome when you have something this great to focus on! Everyone we do need help...if you can volunteer at Weldon on Saturday morning...please do...just email me at vivavalle@att.net. We are going to start setting everything up at 7:30am and should be ready to go home by 11:30am. We need help setting up and for traffic/crowd control. If you just want to come watch all the motorcycles, they should start riding in around 9-9:30am. We are asking that you do not park on Dewitt in front of the school grounds but rather on the side streets. This will make it easier for everyone to see the bikes and easier for you to leave without running across Rumble traffic. It is going to be a blast for the whole family and you might just be on TV.

Friday night, June 12Th, the Rumble pre-party will be at the Clovis Rodeo grounds. It is going to be a blast...yes, Karen, I hope to see you and your family there. Please come to these events and help kids get their wishes.

Much love to you all,
Roni

Rumble to the Summit

Get your game on everyone! We need volunteers and watchers. Make A Wish's Rumble to the Summit will be stopping at Weldon Elementary on the morning of June 13th. It is going to be big...motorcycle lover's, or if you just want your face on TV, the Speed Channel's American Thunder show will be filming at Weldon. Also, their newest show(not yet up and running) will be called "Wish Ride" and have celebraties riding bikes to help raise money for Make a Wish...they will be filming footage at the Rumble as well. Weldon is the 1st stop for the rumble. The Fresno Heat hockey has sponsored this stop in memory of Natalia. We are going to have a bucket for spare change or bills(hehehe) for Natalia's Nest. The Nest will help sponsor families at the holidays, as well as, send students, who otherwise could not afford it, to the yearly Sanora outdoor ed. trip.

Usually, people would line Clovis Ave to see the Rumble parade. This year, due to financial considerations, they are not having the parade. Therefore, we are asking people to line the sidewalks at Weldon...show your support to Make A Wish. We know for a fact that Natalia's trip gave her great strength and comfort in her final days. She was given a couple months to live just before the trip. She came back from Cancun and was able to start 1st grade and lasted 8 more glorious months. During her "actively dieing" period she kept going swimming with the fish and asking her Papa to cut her pancakes..."it was the best vacation ever." How huge is that to give a child!!! Wishes can be anything...from a laptop, meeting a famous person or dream vacation. The point is that they do so much to bolster a child. They get a renewed hope that dreams can happen. Anything is possible! Please stop by and show your support. Check out http://www.rumbletothesummit.org for more information about events.

Much love,
Roni