Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Justine Waldron. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Justine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I started Seattle Dinosaur Family Adventures in July 2020, after the start of the pandemic. My family were stuck at home like everyone else across the globe when I saw a photo online of someone in an inflatable dinosaur costume and I thought to myself “that is the PERFECT social distancing outfit” and I went online to place an order. I started with two costumes, a yellow dinosaur and a child size green dinosaur. From there, I would buy one or two more costumes at a time until my collection was 13 dinosaurs strong! (I now have extra costumes that I haven’t even used yet.)

We started with socially distanced birthday greetings and drive-by birthday parties due to pandemic restrictions and it grew from there. We would make appearances at local community events to help promote them, like back to school backpack giveaways and we assisted the local Chamber of Commerce with distributing PPE provided by the county to local businesses. Within months we even did a fundraising event to purchase gift cards for essential employees working at the hospital on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we eventually started doing collaborations with other groups and businesses that benefit children & animal shelters. But one of our favorite things is to randomly appear in public and wave at everyone going by!

Some events we have participated in include two Halloween drive-throughs, a Children’s Day Celebration, and a dinosaur flash mob! Everyone smiles and laughs when they see us and we always have dinosaur gifts to giveaway. Our Facebook page did a month of giveaways for Christmas 2021 & 2022 but unfortunately we became homeless in 2023 and had to put our adventures on pause for a bit.

I do wish that I would have started sooner, only because we would have reached more people with smiles and laughs but it must have been the perfect time because my inspiration came from the worldwide pandemic. I’m not sure there is anything that I would have changed because we still continue our dinosaur adventures when we can and are always open to collaborations with others!

Justine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are a free entertainment service for birthday parties, events, special requests and more! Seattle Dinosaur Family Adventures started during the pandemic from an idea that an inflatable costume is a great social distancing outfit for being in public during pandemic restrictions and grew from there. We are considering becoming a 501c non-profit as all of our appearances have been done for free so that everyone can have access to our dinosaur family, which we are very proud of!

Our family has primarily done birthday greetings and helping to promote community events, but we are also open to collaborations and special requests! One of the first “special requests” we received was to do a fake protest on Valentine’s Day where the recipient would see our dinosaurs “protesting” on a security camera while they were out of the country! We love fun and creative ideas and are always on the lookout for exciting adventures to join in on, or unique places to make random appearances. Volunteers are always welcomed to join us and being in a giant balloon is actually quite fun!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In the summer of 2022 our family was torn apart by untreated mental illness and we ended up in three separate units with myself and my two young children left alone and unable to afford rent in our apartment of five years. We stayed in the apartment until June of 2023 when we became homeless and were sleeping in our vehicle, we couldn’t get into a family shelter because of our dog, and over the next six months we spent everyday looking for bathrooms and food/drinks while I worked part time.

While we were homeless, I ended up in the ER twice, and my youngest child needed two ER visits also – the second being his ear was half ripped off by a friend’s large, vicious dog and required 22 stitches in the cartilage and exterior skin, which meant attempting to keep it clean and properly bandaged while not having regular access to a bathroom and running water.

During this time, our puppy was dog-napped and dumped in the next state over. After 3 weeks I was notified by his microchip that he had been located and the person who had him offered to foster him until we were able to be reuinted. We found an apartment with a roommate by the holidays and are now trying to get back to stability, although the threat of housing insecurity still looms.

Prior to becoming homeless I was researching “vanlife” and nomadic living and after this experience I realized that we COULD do it – so I entered a contest to win a free converted schoolie motorhome for living in to reduce housing costs. I am still hoping to find low-income housing or an RV to live in while we continue striving to get back to a new normal for our little family.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

There are two things driving my creative journey – having fun with my kids doing something that benefits others and that they will have core memories of, for their entire lives; and to get back on track to pull us out of poverty which has been really difficult with the low wages and high cost of living in the Seattle area. It’s a common struggle for a lot of people right now with homelessness on the rise so we also advocate for those who are houseless as well as mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

My only sibling died from suicide in 2016 and my spouse refused to treat his schizophrenia so we have been deeply affected by both issues and I am passionate about helping others, even when we are in a position in need of help ourselves…

Doing our adventures is not only a fun way to see new places but it also brings tons of happiness to everyone who comes across us “out in the wild” of the Seattle metro area! Our planet is suffering from decades of neglect and people are still reeling from the devastation that the pandemic brought so we hope to be a glimmer of light and hope to others as much as we possibly can.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seattledinosaurfamily/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeattleDinosaurFamilyAdventures/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@seattledinosaurfamily

Image Credits

Seattle Dinosaur Family Adventures, Justine Waldron