There are amazing people in this world

One thing we have learned from this wish trip is that in spite of all the bad in this world, there is a whole lot of good.  Today we got a surprise that reinforced that there are just amazingly kind people out there.

When we were in SeaWorld, we met a worker who started up a conversation with us when I asked a question.   He saw Alyssa's Give Kids The World button and told us to wait while he spoke with the person in charge, then he returned and got us into the very next opportunity to feed the dophins.  Afterwards, he suggested that we try to go to the dolphin show at 2:00 and he would take his break and sit with us, but if we couldn't make it to the show we shouldn't worry about it.    We got stuck at a late lunch and didn't make it over to the start of the show, but we eventually got sidetracked and the day got away from us.   I had even forgotten about meeting this nice guy, until today.   Today Alyssa got a package in the mail.  This was inside:

In case you can't read the writing, it says:

Alissa and Family,

It was a pleasure meeting you at SeaWorld.  I wanted to let you know that I went to the dolphin show.  It was very crowded and I wasn't able to find you.  I didn't want you to think that I did not go.  :)

I wasn't sure which animal you liked the best, so I got you my favorite three.  I hope you like them.

                                   - Doe

                                   SeaWorld Education & Conservation

The only return address is from Give Kids The World, who must have forwarded his package to us.   I don't know how to contact Doe, but he made three kids smile big today, and reminded me that the good in this world is far more powerful than the bad.     Thank you Doe, wherever you are!!!

A week to reflect

We have now been home for a whole week.  I needed the whole week to reflect, a week to do laundry, to catch up at work and to help get the kids caught up at school.

I've run in to so many friends and co-workers this week asking about our trip and I just can't even find the words to express what an amazing, heart warming journey it was for us.  Give Kids the World and Wishes Can Happen together joined together to inspire incredible hope and joy in the life our our family.  The memories we have will never be taken away, and we have already spent hours pouring over photos and sharing tales that continue to bring us happiness and hope.

Some of our favorite memories can be explained by the pictures below:

The above picture is Richie, Alyssa, and Reese with our Wishes Can Happen connection Madelyn Sweeney.  Working with Madelyn was so wonderful...she was so kind and helpful.  This picture was taken two days before we left on our trip.  Madelyn shared with us that the day after our return, she was heading to Give Kids The World herself to volunteer for a week.  Meeting all the volunteers on our week, I was so impressed that Madelyn believes so fully in the mission that she is not only doing volunteer work here in Ohio to grant wishes, but also volunteering for her vacation.

Above is when we reached our villa, after traveling for several hours and arriving at Give Kids The World Village.  Our excitement level was so high.  The villa had two bedrooms, a kitchen and living room.  The kids were excited to get the bigger bedroom with a very beautiful bathtub with jets.

Below are four pictures involving Alyssa's star.   Every wish child is given a star and they place it in a special box where the Star Fairy takes it and places it on the ceiling of the Castle of Miracles.  On this ceiling there are just stars wherever the eye can see.   Each start represents a life.  A wish.  A family filled with love and hope.   Forever this star will exist and each child or their family can visit the Village and come back and see their stars.   They keep a registry so you don't have to remember where the star might be.   Alyssa's is in the star tower, in a circle whose center reads LOVE.   

Her star, she wrote just her first name.

Holding the registry showing her star placement.

Hundreds of stars in circles on the dome of the star tower.

A close up of Alyssa's placement.

Another great memory includes the night we stayed late at Magic Kingdom.  We found a great spot to sit for the parade.  The man sitting next to us had a scooter and his name was on the scooter.  His name was Richard Walters.   It was too much of a coincidence not to start a conversation.   We talked throughout the parade and shared that we were there on our wish trip.  They shared some details about their own experiences.  We never saw them again, but it was a really nice time.   After the parade we found a quieter place to watch the fireworks and Wishes night show.  They lit up Cinderella's castle and transformed it just by the lights...it was fantastic, and we are still discussing how cool it was.

The castle lit up to be Wreck It Ralph

I'm sure the memories will continue for a long time.   The kids are working on their own individual posts about their memories.    I will try to post a bit more as they come up, but I'll leave this post with my favorite ride picture.   The picture below was taken on Splash Mountain.  It was our last night at Magic Kingdom and we had wanted to ride this ride one more time all day, but they had closed the ride and the kids were so disappointed.   It was starting to get dark and we were preparing to leave for good and we realized they had reopened the ride.  Everyone was so happy, there was no disagreements about whether we should choose this ride, there was no arguing about who would sit where.  It was just a fun ride.  And the picture cracks me up!   WDW gave us all the ride pictures for download when we returned home, but I love that Rich is posing for the camera in this one.   

Heading home

Today we said our goodbyes to our villa and all the people and places that make up Give Kids The World Village. It is such a wonderful gift for wish families to stay at the village and to participate in so many of the village traditions. From breakfasts served by angels in the Gingerbread House to the nightly parties on the avenue, from early morning ice cream to bed time tuck ins, we were so humbled by the kindness from all the volunteers that make this place function. For every one paid worker at the village there are 30 volunteers!!! The village fills over 1,500 hours of volunteers (known as Angels) each week. Most of the "angels" we met take a vacation to the area just to volunteer their time each day!!

Yesterday in the La Ti Da Spa I met an angel who gathers all her friends each year to volunteer in honor of her birthday! Yesterday was her 31st birthday and she was at the village doing Alyssa's nails and makeup!!!

Another couple we met flew in from Michigan for two weeks to volunteer, as they have done every year since their grandchild was a wish child at the village.

So we said goodbye to all these lovely people. We had our last ice cream and gathered up the souvenirs. We were told to bring an empty suitcase for all the goodies we would be getting. We thought we could manage, but they were right, so we had to buy an extra bag at WalMart to get the gifts home.

We picked up our last lunch at Katie's (funded and cooked by Boston Market) and checked out with some additional gifts. We had time before our plane trip home, so we decided to make one last day of shopping at Downtown Disney. With all the extra goodies packed away the kids seemed to forget how much we already had. But we picked up an Illustrator's Edition Belle doll for Alyssa, a Stuffed Stitch for Richie and a Stuffed penguin for Reese along with some special trader pins to add to their collections.



One of the check out gifts included a service that will convert our pictures into a paper scrap book for us for free. As a digital scrapper who hasn't made a layout in several years (I guess I am a former digital scrapper then) I am just so excited to see this!!! GKTW and Disney gave us all our digital pictures taken at the Village and in the parks on disks. These included all the ride photos, you know the type where they catch you at the most dramatic moment of the ride!! Some of them are hysterical! After awhile, knowing we would get to have them all, the kids began trying to "pose" for the shot. . . Purposefully looking bored or silly. Once I get them loaded I will find a way to share them here.

Well, just thinking about our week has me a little teary eyed. I think I will have some reflections tomorrow or Sunday with the gobs of pictures, but for now I will just say goodbye as I try to give you some of the highlight pictures for the day!!!

Last full day in the village

What a wonderful week it has been. But this special week is almost over and we are reluctantly preparing to say our goodbyes.

Today started with the Disney character visits. Goofy was one favorite, Mickey another. We then decided to spend the day at Seaworld. At first the kids were a bit underwhelmed after the flare and fancy of the Disney Parks, Seaworld seemed a bit bland. But over time they warmed up. Getting up close and personal with the dolphins was very exciting and special.

We returned to the village for a Santa visit and a winter wonderland party. I had some time while Alyssa was getting dolled up in the La Ti Da Spa to talk to some other moms. One was from Ohio, the other from London. Both had little girls in remission from leukemia. It's been a humbling and supportive visit.

Well we need to pack things up...so here are the pictures.

Horses, Hollywood and back to the most magical of kingdoms

This morning the GKTW village had some horses available for riding. When Alyssa heard about this option months ago, she nearly jumped out of her skin with excitement. So we knew we couldn't miss today's horse riding. Each of them earned a cowboy hat. When asked to introduce her brothers, the lady referred to Alyssa as a Princess. Richie jumped in to answer,"she is the princess, he is the prince, and I am the Jester." If any of you know Richie, you know this is the perfect answer!!!

After horsing around, we split our day between Hollywood Studio and Magic Kingdom. Hollywood studio had a great SciFi drive in Movie theater themed restaurant where we had a delicious lunch. But Alyssa was devastated to learn she wasn't tall enough to ride the Rock'n Roller Coaster. I tried to make her laugh by taking these silly hat pictures in the shop while we waited on our boys.

After the scary Tower of Terror we gave up on the studios to return to their favorite place...Magic Kingdom. Upon entry, we stopped at the Firehouse and earned some Sorcerer's of Magic Kingdom cards and set out to use Sorcerer spells to solve a park wide mystery stopping in hidden kiosks along the way.

We returned to our car late enough to see the fireworks and catch a night time glimpse of The Tower of Terror.

Here are the visuals:

(Oh and sorry about yesterday's typos -- blogging from my phone is tough stuff)

Epcot

Today we ate lunch in China and then made it to Morocco for dinner. The world showcase at Epcot was a bit more exciting for us grown ups, but at least the kids enjoyed the food.

Future world was a bit more liked by Alyssa, Reese and Richie. The Test Track was a huge hit. We saw everything, and the weather couldn't have even more perfect... Topping out at 78 degrees, clear skies and a very light crowd to contend with.

Early in the day Alyssa learned that she could own a princess dress and wear it in the park. Armed with some money she had saved from her birthday last January she undertook the task of trying on each princess for size. For awhile there we were thinking we would be dining with Princess Belle or Tiana, But a last minute switch converted Alyssa to Cinderella. She giggled every time a worker bowed and referred to her as Princess!!

We have three very tired kids tonight. We finished up the day by riding the Give Kids the World carousel, signing her star that is going to the top of the Castle of Miracles, making special pillows and having a moonlit swim. Maybe we will have some Icpe cream at the palace before we finally rest.

As always here is the highlight reel....

Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Minions and more

Today started with breakfast at the Gingerbread House. They are sponsored by Perkins and are run almost entirely by volunteers who serve all the families staying at Give Kids The World. People come from all over to spend some time volunteering at the village. We have met "Angel" volunteers from Toronto, Texas, and Idaho just to name a few. Richie enjoyed some yummy looking waffles.

Then we headed to Universal's Islands of Adventures and booked off to Hogsmede and Hogwarts castle. Everyone seemed to be in this particular part of the park, it was packed even though everywhere else we went the remainder of the day was pretty sparse.

Our Guest Assistance Pass got us escorts to the front of every line, often by way of fancy back entryways. Alyssa was very upset that she wasn't tall enough for the Hogwarts ride. But all was forgiven when they got to go to Olivander's Wand shop and pick out their own. It was a tough set of choices but Richie took home Fleur's wand, Reese chose Harry's wand, and Alyssa took a fancy to Hermione's wand.

We rode many simulation-type rides. The overall favorite was Spider Man 3d. But we became minions at Despicable Me, agents at Men in Black and very nauseated at The Simson's simulated roller coaster ride.

Shrek and Donkey shared a few minutes with us, while Richie took the opportunity to make jokes that made Donkey laugh.

We stopped in the late afternoon for a rest only to realize we were in the perfect seats for a parade of Superstars.

We returned to the GKTW village in time for a Halloween party and trick-or-treating. Some of the Universal characters left their day with us to meet us back at GKTW tonight!!

Below are the highlight pictures!

Super long day in the Kingdom

We opened and closed the park today....with the day spent entirely at The Magic Kingdom.

Highlights of today included Reese being named Jr. Mayor during our lunch break (he was so happy he is still talking about it) and Richie missing the exit spot on the raceway and going for a second lap without us (he was pretty panicked once he realized the rest of us had gotten off).

We also had a lovely break in the Wish Lounge, a quiet spot just for wish families. We rode so many rides, and thanks to the Guest Access Pass given to us by Give Kids the World, we were treated like royalty and waited on very short or no lines.

Alyssa's favorite ride was Splash Mountain, but the boys preferred Space Mountain instead. I, myself, was reminded of how much I dislike roller coasters about three seconds into Space Mountain.

We ended the evening with the Electric parade and fireworks. The bed is calling my name, so I will just post some highlight pictures quickly before I fall asleep.