Wish Riders

First off, let me say a huge THANK YOU to the Wish Riders and ABC for allowing our family to be part of this project. This weekend was an amazing experience for us all. I just want to get this posted without crying my way through it so for now the highlights. I will go into more details soon.

We met Edgar's brothers of another mother this weekend and it was a truly amazing experience for them all. Joey, survivor of childhood leukemia and Wish Kid. Paul, father to Maddie who passed away from bone cancer. I will go more into their stories later...part of the crying experience.

We arrived in Phoenix on Friday at 1130am. When we arrived at the hotel we had an invitation to a welcome reception at 6pm so since we had time we headed off to the Arizona Bike Week site and met up with the Central Valley Make A Wish crew...Tony, Lori, Shelly and Diana. Miss Sophia got her cute on and once we convinced her to talk louder she sold 5 raffle tickets. I was so proud of her!!! She has to get past that 5 minutes of shyness with anyone new and to have to approach a whole bunch of new people...go Pia. I must say that she melted several hearts even if she didn't sell them a ticket. Pia would jump in front of people and Shelly would reel them in. We took off at about 5pm...at that time there were close to 1000 bikes in the parking lot with more arriving every moment.

The reception was a get to know you session and a briefing of what generally was going to happen for filming over the weekend. It was a crying and bonding session. Sophia met Alyssa, Joey's step-daughter, and they became instant BFFs. The guys also instantly bonded. We Moms bonded over our girls and husbands. It was just an incredible evening. While the guys were going to be busy filming and traveling all over, their women were going to be hanging out. So the girl posse was (Joey's family) April(wife) and Alyssa & Ashland, Sophia and I. It was so nice to have someone to hang with. We went to the Zoo on Saturday and talked about heading over to Bike Week but the guys were determined that their daughters were not to be brought to Bike Week...too many biker babes not wearing enough clothing and too many bikers guys looking scary. They had spent the morning there and gotten an eye full. This would be some of the reason why the biker community is not tapped into like it should be for fundraising purposes. There were sereval local charities at work out there and most had waiting lines. Bikers look scary and the babes might be scantily clad but they have big hearts and pocket books...the Wish Riders want to tap into that for Make A Wish.

The guys were all gone from 8am to 630pm Saturday. They stopped by the hotel to grab some food and overnight gear. They were on the road to the desert by 715pm and arrived at their destination about 11pm. They had to be in place for sunrise filming at 4am. The girls headed to the Arizona Science Museum Sunday and spent the day doing hands on experiments. Everyone got back to the hotel around 530pm. Edgar, Paul and Joey were all sun burned and exhausted. The whole Wish Rider gang went out for dinner that night. It was the first time they had all gotten to sit still in two days but it was well worth it. An amazing few days for everyone involved.

Everyone flew home on Monday afternoon. Paul to Michigan. Joey and family to Texas and us to California. As I said I will post more about the whole weekend and Edgar's Wish Rider experience in a later post. After a full day of work I just want to get Pia ready for bed and fall into it myself.

Much Love,
Roni

P.S. Sophia is heading to camp next weekend. She got in!!!! She is so excited about going.

The Birthday Girl

Princess Pia is now 6! Wow, that year went by much too quickly. Yes, I know they are only going to get faster and while I can’t wait to see how much she will grow and mature this upcoming year, I don’t know if my heart will be able to stand it. She has matured so much this last year. This year you could truly see all the life’s lessons of the past two years come to light in her big brown eyes. While, at times, she can show all the impatience of a child she has the ability to process and understand information that most adults have problems with. It was 2 years ago on her birthday that Edgar, Natalia & I headed to UCSF for the first time to get a second opinion. We left her birthday party at my parents early to go…and left Pia with them. She was left with them several times while we went back and forth in the early days. She hates being left behind now for any reason. Sophia, at four, was already learning that she was not the center of the universe. That there are times in life where others MUST be placed before yourself. She learned how to be adaptable and make the best out of most situations. She learned that even in times of crisis you can still have fun. It is ALL in your attitude. I am not saying she didn’t have some melt downs while learning these things, heck, even Mama had meltdowns while learning them, but she developed her own sense of grace and dignity that shines through. She can handle any curve or bump in the road with a smile and a “let’s do it” attitude. She has inherited Natalia’s trait of sharing. Natalia must have passed this one on because Sophia wasn’t very good at it (unless you were her sister) before Natalia got sick.

She is as simple and complex as girl can be…she is Sophia Isabel Valle (Pia to her Family) and she ROCKS!!!

Much Love,
Roni

Things can change in a day

Yeah!!! I'm not the baby of the family anymore!
The Easter Sophia

Yep plans can change and excitement builds. I was holding off fundraising for Relay for Life until last Monday because it looked like we might not get to take part but then we got the news that yes we would be here in town that weekend. Awesome event, Relay, please stop by on April 17th at Jefferson Elementary and walk a lap for Natalia!!!

If you can remember back in June of last year, Edgar did an interview for the Speed channel show "American Thunder". They were here filming the Make A Wish Rumble to the Summit motorcycle event. If you can't, flip back to June 2009's postings and take a look. Wellll...back in early March the Central Valley Make a Wish asked Edgar if he would like to be considered for a new pilot show on ABC called "Wish Riders". The producer of "American Thunder", who has also produced several well known shows, was very interested in using him. The original premise of the show was for several "bikers" to ride into Arizona Bike Week (April 14-18) and help grant a Wish Kid their wish. All of these bikers have a Make a Wish story like ours. As we all know, things change and the powers that be decided that just one biker would be used...the awesome thing is...he is a Wish Kid survivor. Yep, he will get to show the world that not all Wish Kids are terminal. He will get to be a voice on how much wishes help you body and spirit from the Wish Kid point of view. How powerful of an impact is that going to be?!?!!!!

Back to our story...Edgar was told at the beginning of April about this change and we decided to get into the Relay groove. Monday I sent out all my fundraising info...Tuesday lunchtime Edgar gets a call from the national MAW thanking him for his desire to take part. Edgar was his usual eloquent self and thanked them for even considering him. As we are fond of saying, if we can raise even 1 more dollar for MAW, in any capacity, we will go the distance to make sure it happens. I guess he impressed them and they saw why Kirk, the producer, wanted to use him. Tuesday late afternoon...Kirk called Edgar and asked him to pack the family bags because they were flying the 3 of us down to Phoenix for Bike Week. They want to film Edgar riding into Arizona next to Frank(the founder of Make A Wish). How TOTALLY AWESOME is that!!!!!! We fly in early Friday so that Edgar can "be fitted" with a Harley. Our friends at the Central Valley Make A Wish are all heading down there Friday as well. Sophia and I are going to do our part by helping our local chapter sell raffle tickets for a custom Ron Simms motorcycle, and it is a sweet bike!!! Fresno will be well represented. NOTE: raffle tickets are $10 and the raffle will take place on October 2nd. Check out www.wishriders.org for more info on the show or you can become a fan on facebook.

Natalia's godmother, Marcy and her husband AJ...as well as Sophia's godmother Jeannine and her boys Brett & Conner are going to walk in our place for Relay. Even if they weren't, the money raised goes to a great cause. Yes, I know, childhood cancer does not get the attention it so needs and deserves from the ACS but if we can find the cure to even 1 type of cancer the rest are sure to follow. And every family fighting the beast of cancer needs support. Mom and Dad are coming to our house to watch the dogs and fish. I don't trust Coco on any one's carpet yet and she is still to young to board. Besides...we have a big lawn to mow, Dish Network and beer in the fridge...everything my father requires to be happy.

Much Love to you all,
Roni

We Walk For Natalia

9AM Saturday April 17th at Jefferson Elementary (corner of Shaw & Fowler)...RELAY FOR LIFE...Clovis

We walk for Natalia...we took a small part in this event last year and it was incredibly amazing. I was there in the morning and was an opening speaker, yes I actually spoke in public about Natalia without completely losing it. It was supposed to be Edgar but he didn't get home from work until 2 hours before opening ceremonies. We then went back after Sophia's play performance and spent several hours just walking the track. It gave us the feeling of physically being able to help fight cancer. Walking the track in the evening after the luminaria are lite is very moving experience. This year we are walking with TEAM ASHWOOD POWER. One of their team, Kim, is a mom to one of Natalia's friends. She got us involved last year by having Natalia's class design some of the luminaria and asking us to speak.

If you would like to help us by donating, please visit www.relayforlive.org/clovisca in the middle of the page on the right side will be a large purple 3 WAYS TO DONATE box click on it. Go to the bottom of the page, click on find participant and enter...Sophia Valle or Edgar Valle-Sandoval or Roni Curtis-Valle. That will take you to one of our pages where you can donate.

If you just want to come out and walk a lap or 2 for Natalia...it is going to be a blast with lots to do and see both for the adults and the kids. 9AM Saturday to 9AM Sunday, yes we are going to have at least 1 team member on the track for 24 hours. Sophia and I are going to camp there. Edgar is walking Saturday then going to work and coming back to Relay after his shift finishes.

We hope to see you there...Much Love...Roni

Camp...maybe

Yes, if she is accepted Sophia will be off to camp at the end of the month. It is a camp for kids whose siblings have died from cancer called Camp Hope. She would go on Friday and return on Sunday. It will be the first time she has ever been away from us that she hasn't stayed with family. The camp offers swimming, an adventure course and tons of fun for the 6-16 crowd. She is so excited about doing this...I just hope it lasts. She gets really excited about doing something new but then when it's time to take part she shuts down and completely does not want to do it. I think this stems from Natalia having to try everything first...only then was it ok for Pia to do. I sent off the paperwork this morning for it...so prayers please.

Much Love,
Roni