"Much more than a car ride..."

Rowan has gotten to do some pretty amazing things in his 9 years of living so far, and today was one of those special times. A huge thank you to Manny Diotte, The Ferrari Kid organization, and all of it's amazing volunteers.  Rowan became a Ferrari Kid today, and participated in one of their red carpet events in San Antonio.  It started at the Ferrari dealership this morning, and ended at the grand opening of a new Walmart out near the Dominion.  On the way home, I asked Rowan if he had fun riding in the Ferrari and he said, "it was much more than a car ride Mom."  Then he went on to say, "It's so kind of Manny to do this for kids like me.  I felt really special, and lucky...not like a sick kid."

Here is Rowan at the Ferrari dealership.  The cars were beautiful, and it is so wonderful that they have these awesome volunteers who bring out their personal Ferraris just to show these kids a good time.  And it was a beautiful day for a ride!

Once the Ferraris arrived at the new Walmart, there was a huge reception, a red carpet, people taking pictures, etc...truly first class all the way.

Rowan was tickled that people were even asking for autographs;)

As if the Ferrari ride and reception weren't enough, each Ferrari kid received a goodie bag and another big surprise... Manny told us all that Walmart had contacted The Ferrari Kid foundation and told them they wanted to give them money for the kids to spend at the grand opening, so each child received a Walmart giftcard to go on a shopping spree inside.  So generous of them!

Talk about FUN!  Rowan had a hard time choosing what he wanted, but the gift card was so generous that he was pretty much able to get it all!  

(Someone recently gifted Rowan a bike, so he didn't get this one, but he did ride it around the store and did pick out an awesome helmet, bell/buzzer, bike pump, and "Jesus loves me" license plate for his new bike.)

Then he and Ian headed to the video game section, where they picked out 3 new xbox games...

His final choices...walkie talkies and new tennis balls.

At lunch afterwards, Rowan had a blast using the walkie talkies.  They will work 23 miles away from each other, but he had fun even using them a foot away from his Dad:)  And I have a feeling we are going to be hearing "over" A LOT!

Thank you so very much Manny, Sunday (Rowan's Ferrari driver today), Walmart Dominion, the Ferrari dealership, and each and every volunteer that made this day super special for Rowan, our family, and all of the other Ferrari kids.  And Rowan was certainly right..."it was much more than a car ride!"