Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day

On February 7, 2009 Children’s National Medical Center held their Annual Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day. This is a day dedicated to raising awareness about Congenital Heart Defects. It is also a day of fun and celebration for children with Heart Defects. Educational speakers for parents, and nurses in the community (from schools, pediatrician offices, etc) were held in the Auditorium and fun events for children were held in the main Atrium. Inpatients from various units as well as Cardiac Patients who came from home decorated beautiful arts and crafts (donated by Starlight MidAtlantic Children’s Foundation). Children also participated in the “Doctor for a Day” station where they could take their mom or dad’s pulse and blood pressure. Children could “see their heart” by having an Echo-cardiogram. This was not such an exciting activity for kids with heart disease (as they have it done all the time!) but their friends, siblings, and other non-cardiac patients really enjoyed the opportunity.  Lastly, all who participated enjoyed delicious refreshments, also donated by Starlight MidAtlantic. It was a great day of fun and education for all who attended.

An Afternoon of Fun and Games at Dave and Buster’s

The Philadelphia Great Escapes families headed to Dave and Buster’s Restaurants last Saturday, January 31st for an afternoon of fun and games. After enjoying a delicious lunch buffet including yummy chocolate chip cookies and brownies, the group headed to the Midway to play video and arcade games.  It was terrific way for friends and family to spend time together on a very cold January afternoon!

Starlight at J. Sergeant Reynold’s Culinary Arts School

Chef Taylor & Chef Jordan

Ben showing off his mater piece.

Anna thought the marshmallows were finger licking good.

Sophia is cutting out marshmallow for her lollipops.

Jordan is making powder sugar clouds.

All our Starlight Chefs with the guest Aramark Chefs & J. Sergeant Reynold’s Chefs & students.

Richmond Starlight families were invited by our friends to learn the art of candy making at the J. Sergeant Reynold’s Culinary Arts School. We started off making chocolate truffle. Everyone had to roll pieces of chocolate in their hands to get it smooth and round. Then we dipped the chocolate in lots of different toppings including sprinkles and chopped up toffee, which Dawn was eating plain. We had a few different types of Valentine themed take out carton to store our truffles, that we could take them home or give them away to friends. The kitchen was filled with picture taking and singing. Especially when it was time for trying the second recipe. “We want marshmallows, we want marshmallows,” we all chanted along with the chefs. Who knew that you could make marshmallows? We never did figure out how they get them puffy shaped like the ones from the store. Our marshmallows were sticky and gooey. We used powdered sugar to roll them out and cut shapes out of cookie cutters. Then we used lollipop sticks and cool boxes to keep them in and take them home. The kitchen was a huge mess and so were we. Powdered sugar was all over the floor and even hand printed on some of our faces! We finished off the night ready for Valentine’s Day and full of sweets but not without continuing our tradition of judging the most creative chef’s hat and receiving our cooking certificates. Anna was our winner! But all of the hats were wonderful and creative. We even managed to get a group photo taken with all of our great chef friends at J. Sargeant Reynolds.

Cooking up some fun at the Young Chef’s Academy!

This past Saturday, our DC families were busy whipping up some goodies at the Young Chef’s Academy.    The Young Chef’s Academy is a very cool place, and the kitchens are all designed to be kid-friendly, colorful, bright, and with cooking tools just for kids!  The  kids busied themselves with the making of homemade breadsticks.  ( The kids were nice and let some of the the parents in on the fun:)  Our fun, interactive and goofy chefs taught us how to make bread, knead it, roll it out, and form breadsticks.  We already learned many cooking tips and tricks that we can use at home in our own kitchens!  We go to customize our breadsticks to our own tastes, covering them with fresh herbs such as rosemary, oregano, and basil, and of course cheese!  Many of the kids got cheese-crazy, and covered their breadsticks with gobs of cheese…all while singing the cheese song that we learned:) Finally the time had arrived for us to feast on our breadsticks, which we all enjoyed!  We can’t wait to go back to cook up some more fun in April!

 

Our young chefs hard at work!

 

Putting the finishing touches on our breadsticks!

Lucky Strike Bowling!

 

Checking out our high scores!

Washington, D.C.

 

On Saturday, January 24th our families enjoyed an action-packed day of bowling at Lucky Strike Bowling!   We were a big group of bowlers, with 65 attendees, plus members of our Young Professionals Council, and interns.  For many of our families, this was their first visit to Lucky Strike, and it certainly was impressive!  We had a whole section of Lucky Strike to ourselves, with about 8 lanes.  To top it off, there was cool lights, flat screen TV’s, and plenty of awesome wall decorations.  Upon arrival, our families were excited to wear their Starlight MidAtlantic long-sleeved t-shirts (check them out below!) and getting their lanes set up.  To keep up our energy for bowling, we munched on chicken skewers, dumplings, pizza, chicken tenders, and mini hot dogs.  There were some very serious bowlers in the bunch, we had a bunch of strikes. Everyone enjoyed meeting the Young Professionals Council and bowling with them.  We finished off the day with cookies and plenty of high scores!  See what one of our families said below:

Thank you, thank you , thank you! Zane, Jordan, Bill and I had a wonderful time. It was our first time visiting Lucky Strike Bowling Alley and it was a real treat:)

Janet Mosby, Starlight MidAtlantic mom