Denise M. Godfrey Photography

I've been quite busy lately! It looks like I missed writing anything for the whole month of September! I'll try to play catch-up and fill you in on what's been going on for the past month.

Aside from Senior season picking up, I went on the first-ever Buddy Cruise last weekend as their official photographer! The Buddy Cruise was created to promote Down syndrome awareness (think "Buddy Walk" - but it's a cruise!). More than 80 families came, and about 10% of the ship's guests were with our group. A great turnout!

I brought Amy, my assistant extraordinaire. (That's her with the blue backpack.) We spent the entire cruise photographing the wonderful families we met and the speakers who gave workshops. Some of the guest speakers were Emily Perl Kingsley, a writer for Sesame Street, who was responsible for introducing kids with disabilities to the show. Her son, Jason Kingsley, was the first child with DS to appear on Sesame Street when he was about 4 years old. Now 34, he has written a book and held a workshop for the cruisers. Also an inspiration, 26-year-old Sujeet Desai spoke and performed for the guests. Sujeet not only plays 6 instruments, he is also married and holds a black belt in Karate. In the Bahamas, we took a tour of a local Down syndrome center that recently opened. A cold front came in the next day and we were unable to go to Cococay. That night, there was a dance for our young adults -- For me, that was the highlight of the trip! I am really impressed at how I seemed to be the only one who doesn't know the Macarena! It was a great night - tiring, but so much fun!

Sherry from Cruise Planners greets our guests

Pamela Arnoldson (her family came up with the Buddy Cruise concept and ran with it) is interviewed by ZNS Network (Bahamas News) while Sujeet plays sax in the background

L to R: Pam, her daughter Teresa, Andrew Whitehead, his mother Nikole Whitehead, Theresa Mastella, Lori McDermott (FRIENDS Board of Directors - minus Teresa and Andrew hehe)