Walk for Wellness

Bit of an opening ceremonies!

A bit of a brisk morning in Omaha April 17th, but that didn't stop the Walk for Wellness.  And for a first time event and a cold rainy morning, it was a great turnout.  The Walk for Wellness was set up by Girl Scouts in Omaha to promote healthy life styles in our youth.  For every mile walked you got to enter your name into the raffle for prizes.  Let me tell you, they had quite the selection.  Two children's bikes, jump ropes, hula hoops, basketballs, kickballs, soccer balls, and best of all...a Wii system and WiiFit system!  All of that, just for walking!  Entrance was free with a canned food item too.  After the opening ceremonies kids took to the track to get their laps started.  There were a lot of vendors there too to encourage healthy lifestyles as well, both through fitness and through nutrition.  Kids were able to learn about healthy snacks to eat as well as some fun ways to exercise.

Some supporters!

Mayor Jim Suttle and I 

I choose to do a bit of hula-hooping!  I must say that I am quite the hula-hooper and have won many contest before so when I took the challenge of a contest against this young lady, I had no doubts that I would win!  As we were getting the swing of things, I thought it would be a great idea to capture a photo...unfortunately my camera was in my jacket pocket.  Ever so carefully I snatched it out of my pocket without disrupting my hula hoop and got a photo snapped.  I'm not sure how long we went at this but of course I was doing everything I could to win that competition.  I was walking with my hula hoop, letting it start to fall down and then using my hips to get it back, even turning in circles.  This girl wasn't a quitter.  I finally realized that my clutch was in my pocket and it was beginning to throw off my motion so I went to, ever so gently, pull it out of my pocket AND I lost my hula hoop!  She beat me!  I suppose I wasn't too torn up from it, especially because I got myself a watermelon Jolly Rancher out of the deal! :)

a hula-hooping contest...that I lost!

They also had an activity...one that for the life of me can't remember what they are called.  You know, the things that have hoops you have to jump through and cones you run around and then you have to jump rope five times then do the hula four times...  I feel as though someone is going to read this and think that I should be smacking myself in the head for not remembering!  Anyway, I did one of those whatever-you-call-them and got quite a few laughs when they saw me Army crawling through the grass with a crown on.  I think it's quite the skill!

Army crawl with a crown...skill?

Don't forget to hula-hoop!

Girl Scouts

Liza Zysset put this on and did a great job!

I had a great time interacting with the supporters and even got to play some football with one of the boys!  He was quite impressed that I could throw a spiral.  So impressed in fact that he ran over to his dad to tell him to watch, "she throws the football like a boy, dad!"  I don't take any offense to that either.  For someone as nonathletic as myself I don't mind being referenced to a boy with a good arm!

Looking forward to sunny days,

Kayla

Miss Omaha