Staying Strong: El Paso mom spreads birthday cheer with T-Rex costume

EL PASO, Texas-- During these tough times, El Pasoans are finding creative ways to put smiles on the faces of young kids.

For Ruth Holmes, that creative way happened when she decided to do some late night online shopping.

The result was, Dino-mite.

“I've actually had neighbors recording me taking pictures waving at me, you know it’s not very often that you see a T-Rex walking down your street you know in the middle of the day," said Holmes.

Holmes wanted to surprise her family while still finding a fun way to celebrate hers and her now 3-year-old nephew's birthday.

“My kids and my husband were very surprised. They had no idea that I did this. This is actually out of my element,” said Holmes.

The reason behind the costume was simple. Ruth wanted to put a smile on her children’s face as they have to deal with being separated from their dad during the pandemic.

“It's been extremely hard my husband. He is a first responder and I think the hardest part has been for the kids. Especially my 5-year-old daughter to not be able to hug her dad or kiss him or just eat together as a family. We haven’t been able to do that in three weeks. Almost a month now,” said Holmes.

Holmes enjoys the fact that her neighbors come outside for a few minutes to escape their home and wave to her as she walks around in her T-rex costume.

“I think right now we all need to rely on each other. we need to find our support and we need to just spread love, times are tough for all of us,”said Holmes.

For her, the costume is a message to let her kids know that everything is going to be okay. Even if that message is in the form of a dinosaur.

"I love this thing and its gonna stay with me for a while until all of this is done with. I’m gonna try and cheer up as many people as I can and put a smile on my family and kids,” said Holmes.

She plans on keeping her T-Rex costume and will continue walking her dog, watering her yard and getting her mail dressed as Baby T-Rex.