SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE

June 29, 2007

We have just returned from a three-day visit to Seattle, where we didn't get a lot of sleep but had the BEST time, thanks to our amazing hosts Judy and John Schneider and Mindy and Mitch Leflfer. Mindy and Mitch are parents(and Judy and John are grandparents) to Aidan Leffler, the smartest and most adorable almost-four-year old we know. You'll hear more about him later.

On Monday, we arrived in Seattle from Minneapolis/St. Paul. Our flight was way too early in the morning, and we got there feeling exhausted and famished. Mindy met us at the airport and whisked us off to her parents' house where there was a huge spread of cold cuts waiting for us (free lunch!). After getting settled in--the Schneiders also gave all six of us a place to sleep (although, again, we didn't do too much of that)--and really made us feel at home. Before we knew it, it was dinner time, and Judy and John were cooking clams and shrimp kabobs on the girll. Not only that, we also had Copper River Salmon, which is a HUGE deal in the Pacific Northwest..."like fine wine," everybody said. We agree!!!

Tuesday morning, we woke up to a full breakfast and--get this--a $50 bill at each of our plates to go spend at Seattle's famous Pike Place Market! Mindy handed us the keys to her and Mitch's van, and we spent the day having a blast exploring the city. Tuesday evening, we had our first DGW private screening/Charley's Fund benefit. This event took place at the Sammmamish High School Performing Arts Theater in Bellevue Washington. What a lively crowd and a great Q&A!

After a night of celebrating the success of our first screening, we had more fun in store for us on Wednesday. The Schneiders took us out on their boat for a private cruise of Puget Sound. The weather was perfect, and it was awesome!

Throughout our stay, we had been hanging out--and bonding big time--with Aidan, who has DMD. He was such a trip...one night, he begged Jason to sleep in his room with him. Anyway, Wednesday night was the big private screening/Charley's Fund benefit at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington. Tickets were $75 per person, and it began with a reception that featured incredible hors d'oeuvres, drinks, and desserts, followed by the movie, followed by a Q&A. We were hoping to raise a lot of money at this event, and the good news was, an anonymous donor had agreed to match any donations we received up to $100,000!

The crowd was huge (almost 200 people), and they were laughing so loud during the movie (we love it when that happens). But the Q&A afterwards may have been our most memorable one to date, and that's because Aidan stole the show!

After the film ended, Mindy began to talk about donations to Charley's Fund before introducing the guys. While she was talking, the audience members began to chuckle. She was puzzled as she wasn't being particularly funny at that time. When she looked behind her, she noticed that Aidan was on the stage, had just pulled the mic off the stand and was putting it into his shirt pocket. (Sam had suggested to Aidan's Uncle David that Aidan should be the one to introduce the guys.)

She asked him what he was doing and he replied, "I want to talk in the mic." Aidan then stood beside Mindy and as each DGW crew member came up, he said their name loudly into the mic. It took some coaxing to get him off the stage so the guys could talk. Playing with legos in the foyer finally did the trick.

From the comments of people as they left the theater, this spontaneous moment made a wonderful finale to the celebratory evening.

Final tallies are not in yet, but we're almost positive that we raised at least $150,000 for Charley's Fund and DMD research!!!

And we think Aidan deserves all the credit!

Know about it!

P.S. We have posted new pictures from Minnesota and hope to have shots from Seattle up soon.