DreamDrive

We live in Wisconsin, which prides itself in the Green Bay Packers. There's tremendous support for the team, and the team makes itself a part of the community in various ways. I'm not sure how many other football teams have their fans come out to watch practice, lining up the entire way from the locker rooms to the practice field to cheer for them, wish them well, snap pictures and hope for an autograph ... oh, and loan them a bike. That's right. It's a tradition that kids line up with their bikes, no parents allowed inside the gates, hoping to have a player ride their bike across the street to the practice field. Kids ride along, run along and sometimes have really creative bikes designed for two people. It's a really cool experience that you won't find anywhere else.

Now, Teddy could care less about football because he has minimal interest in television, but he really likes people. AJ is a Packers fan, and we happened to have a connection who knows Teddy participates in myTEAM Triumph. I say connection because her husband works for the Packers organization, and he was willing to work with us to arrange a rider for Teddy's adapted bicycle.

Teddy thought Wes was pretty darn cool. I tend to agree. 

We had arrangements made for today, and we got a specific time to arrive to avoid having to wait in the heat. This was the only way we'd even attempt this because something like this would either be amazing with Teddy or an absolute disaster. There's absolutely no way we'd have been able to line up early with all the other hopeful kids and wait on the chance that someone would ride with Teddy. He wouldn't have lasted more than 15 minutes, much less the hour or more that we'd have needed to wait. We were able to hang outside the gate instead and sneak Teddy inside right before the staff closed it for all the players to come out (and trust me, even that 5 minutes was tough for Teddy to wait).

Teddy and AJ with our new favorite Packers player, Danny Vitale.

Danny Vitale is a fullback who's been making quite the impression at training camp this year. Today he made quite the impression on our family because he strode right up to Teddy, introduced himself and guided Teddy's bike down DreamDrive to training camp with AJ riding right next to them. I chased along snapping pictures as best as I could with an idiotic grin on my face because it was really cool, especially when I heard other fans saying things like, "Oh, look at that. That's awesome!"

Teddy loved the attention. And didn't look where he was going. 

See, Teddy doesn't care about the Packers. He doesn't get the concept of sports or professional athletes. As a family, we cheer for the Pack, so this was cool in that regard. Teddy likes people, so he made a few new friends today. But it was as much about creating visibility of kiddos who are different like Teddy who are still very much a part of our community. He's the kid with the knee-high braces that Mom made him wear today in case he was running or walking a lot to be part of this experience. He's the one who has the bike that costs more than probably any other kid's bike because it's an adapted bike that holds his feet into place, supports his core, theoretically allows him to steer and has a jousting stick for when he's driving like a crazy kid. And he's also one of only two kids who showed up wearing bike helmets because apparently bike safety is not a key factor in this experience. At least he has a really cool bike helmet that makes him look like the rough and ready kid he is. Poor AJ just looked like a dork. Whoops. At least he was a safe dork. (Gosh, I'm going to be in trouble when AJ reads this blog post. Sorry AJ.)

There's a cool picture of Teddy on the Packers web site from the DreamDrive today. You can check it out as number 16 of 17 pictures in this gallery.

Today was a really cool experience for all those reasons. I ducked out of work for an hour and got to witness an incredible experience for my kiddos. I'm extremely grateful for our connection, her husband who was so nice and for Danny being willing to work with us. And today wouldn't have happened without our amazing sitter Bri who is probably the only person outside of Dave or I who would be willing and able to wrangle two kids and two bikes to a very crowded Packers practice.

I'd be lost without Bri. She's amazing. 

We're pretty darn lucky.

#runlikeangels #mttambassador