To the toddlers, releasing balloons on Friday morning was nothing more than a time to laugh and giggle.
To the adults watching and wiping away tears, it was a way to honor the victims of last week's shooting that killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
The children who gathered outside South Scranton's Lil Tikes Playschool Center - bundled in coats and clutching helium-filled balloons - are just a couple of years younger than the victims of last week's horror.
Wanting a way to honor the victims, day care employee Michele Markowski came up with the idea to release balloons. When employee Cori Frable saw the names and photos of the children killed, she immediately thought of the children she takes care of daily.
"This is our family," she said.
Many of the region's schools observed moments of silence to honor the victims on Friday, which marked one week since the shooting. At Neil Armstrong Elementary, a parent of a fourth-grade student made green and white ribbons - the school colors of Sandy Hook - for the more than 600 students and staff members.
Outside Lil Tikes, children held the strings of green and white, and some pink and blue, balloons. Some children also held a sign: "I have a hand and you have a hand. Put them together and we have each other."
A photo of the balloon release, along with the banner, will have a permanent home at the day care center's lobby, said Michele Devine, owner of the center.
"It's heartbreaking," she said. "There's nothing else you can do."
At the count of three, children released their balloons, giggling as the wind took them toward downtown. Attached to the balloons were paper cutouts of angels and the names of those killed.
Parents and grandparents took pictures. Some wiped away tears. A grandmother whispered, "the balloons are on their way to heaven."
Destyni Gaskin, 4, waved as her balloon floated out of sight.
"It's too far away now," she said. "Bye-bye."
Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com, @hofiushallTT on Twitter