Fox & Friends Appearance

In April 2012, Fox & Friends flew Bob & I out to their live studio in NYC.  They put us up at "The Stay" on a Friday and we were at the studio at 6 am on Saturday.  Below are a few photos from the show:

The Skay Family Dart Vacation ~ After the Trip

Hello Westerfields! :o)

We hope you have all settled back into the “normal” routine well and that you had a safe trip home. We just wanted to take the opportunity to send an email to let you know how much your generosity and kindness meant to us. It’s hard to put into words how we feel about what your family did for ours. We had such a great time and it was amazing getting to know you and the kids. You are all such wonderful people and we feel like we have made friends for life. Because of your generosity we were able to take Dylan on a vacation that we would never have been able to provide for him on our own. He absolutely loved every minute of it and I know he will remember it always, as we will too! He’s come such a long way in a relatively short period of time and to share his amazing recovery with others makes us more thankful and happy every time we do it. He’s such an inspiration to us and we love to share his story with others. I know he’s thankful that he has met and made friends with all of you as well. Back when we first started talking via email and telephone we never would have dreamed that this experience would have turned out as fabulous as it did and there are no words for how much that has affected our family. We are truly better people for having met you. Your strong faith has inspired us to attend our church again, it has been a long time since we’ve been there, and we are really looking forward to getting back to our faith. We are also volunteering with a local church to help do the Sunday morning breakfast and prayer service for the local homeless. I think it will help us appreciate more what we have been blessed with and also provide much needed help to those who are less fortunate. We are very excited to start this “new” chapter in our lives and really have you all to thank for that!! Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Keri, Dan and Dylan :o)

Receiving this Thank You note was such a gift!

What a joy to read how God has used us to give this family a renewed hunger for Christ and service!

Their trip in review:

The Skay Family (Dan, Dylan & Keri Skay flew into Orlando on Thursday August 17th, 2012)

The Sheraton Vistana Villages (Orlando, Florida)

Epcot Center (Orlando, Florida)

The Animal Kingdom (Orlando, Florida)

The Magic Kingdom (Orlando, Florida)

                                                                              Swamp Boat Tour (Florida)

                                                             Daytona International Speedway (Daytona, Florida)

The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame (Florida)

On Sunday, August 20th 2012 our family met the Skays at a condo in Palm Coast, Florida.  

This was the view from our balcomy!   

We spent the first full day together at the beach.  What a blast watching Dylan get "therapy" standing in the waves as we helped hold him up!

On Tuesday, we all drove to Callahan and Hilliard, Florida (where the dart landed) to share with the Skay's what the Dart Vacation was all about.

At the old train depot we were given a grand welcome!  

On the drive to Hilliard, we had to stop and meet the Tow Mater!

This is one of my favorite photos ~ Elle and Dylan at the Mansion in Hilliard.

Hilliard was a great place!  We met up with a councilman and toured the city building.  He then set us up to tour the Federal Aviation center where we crossed high security (thus no photos) to see how our air space is controlled.  This center is a major employer in Hilliard and it was fascinating to spend time there!  We did our best to volunteer in Hilliard, but you have to take classes before volunteering.  Instead we plan to donate to a few of the recommended causes in Hilliard that they gave us information on.

We stopped in Fernandina Beach, Florida on our way back to Palm Coast for a lovely dinner.

A perfect day!  Complete with rides by Dylan!  The boys really love him!

Keri and I bonded as we discovered that we both had lost sons before they were born; Kaiden Skay (2008) and Tyler Westerfield (2012).  Blue butterflies are meaningful to us both.  With Dylan's diabetes that played a large role in us coming together in this way, this ornament at a Christmas Shop in Fernandina Beach was picture worthy to say the least.

Marineland (Palm Coast, Florida)

On our last night together we all walked down to the beach.  Dylan and I sat on the beach together for a long while.  I was so joyful for our time together.  Dylan is an amazing kid having endured so much!  I'm so excited to see the man he will become and the work he will do for the Lord.  He survived that lengthy coma for a purpose!  Jeremiah 29:11 

Dylan and I exchanged shells and promised to think of our wonderful vacation together whenever we see it.

We had an emotional goodbye in Daytona Beach, Florida

Until we meet again....

2012 ~ Laramie, Wyoming

In June 2012, we took off from Waynesville, Ohio in our Side Effects bus with our three youngest children and Bob's mom.  We had a lot of work to do for our Sports Marketing business along the way and therefore pulled a trailer with us.  On our way out to Laramie, we stopped in St Louis and took the kids to the top of the arch.

We were very happy to see the Wyoming welcome sign after many hours in the bus with young kids.

Bob made arrangements to have an old fashion horse and buggy ride through downtown Laramie.  It was the perfect day for it!

We had the perfect weather and the most wonderful time on the ranch.

Boyd & Ben, age 4, are ready to take over the ranch in their "real" cowboy gear.

I love this photo of two-year-old, Elle.  She just LOVED riding the horses.

We had the most incredible experience at the Laramie Valley Chapel.  The service was fantastic at this adorable church perched up on a hill surrounded by mountains.  "The hills are alive" <3

We went the scenic route as we left Laramie and headed to Salt Lake City.  This is one of my favorite memories of the trip as it was absolutely gorgeous up in the mountains near the Laramie Valley Chapel retreat.  It was a blessing that the church people told us this way to go.

This will probably always be a favorite photo of Boyd for me.  This IS Wyoming!

Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States.^[4] The population was 30,816 at the 2010 census.^[5] Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287.

Laramie was settled in the mid-19th century along the Union Pacific Railroad line, which crosses the Laramie River at Laramie. It is home to the University of Wyoming, Wyoming Technical Institute, and a branch of Laramie County Community College. Laramie Regional Airport serves Laramie. The ruins of Fort Sanders, an army fort predating Laramie, lie just south of the city along Route 287. Located in the Laramie Valley between the Snowy Range and the Laramie Range, the city draws outdoor enthusiasts because of its abundance of outdoor activities.

In 2011, Laramie was named as one of the best cities to retire by Money Magazine due to its scenic location, low taxes and educational opportunities.^[6]

All For God's Glory

While we were in Yuma, Arizona on our 8th Dart Vacation, we were interviewed by the Yuma Sun newspaper.  They even had a photographer from the paper give us a tour of the city and take our pictures for the article.  To our surprise it came on out on the front page.

http://www.yumasun.com/news/yuma-75651-dart-jen.html  

http://www.yumasun.com/sections/slideshow/?id=11631281

When we got home to Dayton, Ohio and went into the office on Monday morning, our phone started ringing off the hook.  Apparently the article had been seen by someone with the Daily News in the United Kingdom and their blog hit the associated press.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081789/Jen-Bob-Westerfields-random-vacations-throwing-dart-US-map.html

We then heard from ABC News and Inside Edition within a few minutes of each other.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2012/01/couple-uses-dart-map-and-chance-to-plan-vacations/ 

An email came in from Fox & Friends asking us to be on their show in New York City.  We were excited about the opportunity, but had already thrown our dart for 2013.  After some suggestions from some friends, we thought it would be more in line with our mission in life to send another family on their own all-expense paid Dart Vacation.


For details on the family we chose, read the Blog entry on the Skay Family.  Our hope is that our business, Side Effects, Inc. (www.sideeffectsinc.com), will continue to be blessed with the ability to finance the various missions what we support including an annual gifted Dart Vacation.

The Fox & Friends show will air live at 9:50 am on Saturday April 28th, 2012.   

We then were contacted by a radio station in the quad cities.  They interviewed Bob on their morning show:
http://www.2dorks.com/dart_vacation.html

You can listen to the radio show on our Dart Americaby Chance Facebook page.

Our local newspaper, The Dayton Daily News, featured an article on the Dart Vacations:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/lifestyle/centerville-couple-use-unorthodox-method-to-pick-annual-vacation-spot-1316278.html 

Then, most near and dear to our hearts, our church asked us to come and share our story.  You can listen or watch the interview on the following Podcast.  Bob has been attending Southbrook Christian Church since 1992 and I have been attending with him since 2004.  We absolutely love our church and their mission to help those who struggle with faith live more like Jesus forever.

http://www.southbrook.org/resources/podcast/forewords/signipretation.html 

We recently came across a personal Blog of a family we met in St Johns in 2008.  
http://makeyourbreakaway.com/2008/12/19/the-%E2%80%9Cdart%E2%80%9D-vacation-bob-jen-trust-the-fates/

Following the Skay Family Dart Vacation in August 2012, there was an article written in the Nassau County Record in Hilliard, Florida.  We really appreciated the attention to detail this reporter took.  Great article really capturing that trip.

There was an article written in our local paper that a co-worker told us about:
http://www.springborosun.com/2012/09/westerfields-take-others-on-8216-dart-vacation-8217/

We have no idea if this is heading somewhere more or if we will just continue to blog our future trips, but our hope it to make a difference in each American city we travel to by chance in one way or another and encourage others to do the same. 

Our Mission: To develop and nurture relationships within communities while making a difference, serving Christ, and positively affecting people's lives.

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven." Matthew 5:16