Make-A-Wish trip Day 3

Possibly the best day of our trip? Certainly the day that made me cry with the incredible awe of what we were experiencing, and how this was something we would never experience again.

Before I start this post, let me tell you my regret of the whole trip. I know that we had a trip of a lifetime, and we handled it well. I know in my heart that we did everything we could possibly do in the time alloted to us, and that there will never be a "wish I would have done this" moment. That said, I do have a regret on day 3. What turned out to be the experience of a lifetime was photographed by the pros at Sea World, and we did not go to the photobooth to view or purchase the pics. I have since contacted Sea World, and they are looking for our pics, and there is a possibility that they haven't been deleted, so keep your fingers crossed for us. In the mean-time, I took my own pics that day, and of course I will share them with you.

Day 3

We had decided that because Sea World was Andrew's main wish, we would set our alarm for this day, get up early, and be there when the doors opened. So some pics of the Gingerbread house, empty. Every other time we went in here, this place was packed.




This place, as you can see, is absolutely incredible. You can barely see it, but in the left-hand corner here is a white player-piano. It plays itself for lovely ambiance while you are eating. lol.




So you can't really see it in this pic, but in these tables are thousands of peppermints, yes, they are real. Also, I don't know if I have mentioned it, but all tables and chairs at GKTW are child-sized. Not baby sized, where they would be uncomfortable to sit in, but child-sized, so that adults look quite funny sitting in them.



After breakfast, we excitedly headed out to Sea World.



Just as we planned, we were there waiting when the gates opened. First up, the Stingray Lagoon, where the kids got to pet the Stingrays.

Now, onto what I consider the highlight of the whole trip. What I am hoping Sea World will find pictures of. Bare with me as I post these pictures that you may or may not find as amazing as we do. I took a lot of pics, and I am so glad that I did.



Our Dolphin Encounter!!! Thank-you Sea World. Thank-you Give Kids The World. Thank-you Make-A-Wish Foundation!
























This is where I cry. I hid my face in Rick's shirt and just bawled. I had to hide myself from the crowd that had gathered to watch our experience. Throughout the whole trip I saw it. The question marks in people's faces, the anger, the disgust as we cut in line for rides, to meet characters, and got the VIP treatment everywhere we went. What the people just didn't understand, what they couldn't comprehend, is how difficult it has been for these kids. ALL of them. How so many nights we have held eachother and cried not knowing whether or not we would have a son, a brother tomorrow. How Rick's girls had to leave the only home they had ever known and move in with me when Rick and Andrew went to the hospital. Their young lives turned upside down, scared, lonely, sad. They lost their brother, their Dad. As it was, they had already lost their Mom. How my kids had to suddenly accept this whole new family, share their rooms, their Mom, and adjust to me not being able to give them what I always had.

Our kids have spent so much of their lives without us, and not just physically while we are at Drs. appointments, or living in hospitals, but emotionally, when we are so scared and confused ourselves that we simply cannot provide the attention, the love, the peace that so many take for granted.

And poor Andrew. If only the people who looked at us with anger when we jumped in front of them while meeting Spiderman knew how many nights he had spent in ICU, fighting for his life. How he had to learn how to walk, at eight years old. How the Drs. wouldn't give him a CT scan for two years because he didn't have insurance, and so he was simply slowly dying. There is just no other way to put it. He was just so sick, withering away to nothing, and in so much pain. His body fought so hard for him, as the cancer took over and slowly tried to kill him while we went to Dr. after Dr. and no one would help him.

If they knew that he has been picked and prodded more at 11 years old than most adults are in their whole lives. And how it still hurts so badly every single time. How the statistics say that he has a 50% chance to be alive at 18. What the hell does that mean? Or how because of his vision disability he will never drive a car.

So many nights we have prayed together, been brought to our knees in fear and pain, asking God for one more miracle. And on this day, he gave it to us. One more miracle. And it was one that we never asked for. One that I never would have known to pray for. So on day three, and every day, thank-you God, not just for answering our prayers so many times, but for giving us amazing blessings that we don't ask for.

So yes, people with the dirty looks, I am sorry that you had to wait in such long lines, that you didn't understand why we didn't, why we got VIP treatment. We DID all look healthy after all. And you didn't get to see my tears. I hid them in Rick's shirt. But they came, and they came down hard, because of the joy my kid's got to experience on this day. And I can guaratee that as you look at these close-ups of their faces, you will not see in a single one of them fear, loneliness or pain. On this day, they got to experience pure JOY.












And the picture that makes me cry every time I look at it:



So I will need to write the rest of day 3 later. I am emotional, and it takes a long time to upload photos. Stay tuned.

Day 2

On Day 2, I woke up early. I was just so excited. It was about 5:30, and I made a fresh cup of coffee, and sat enjoying my quiet-time. Rick soon woke up, followed by Josh. There was a Walmart about 1/2 a mile up the rode, and we needed new coffee, so Josh and I set out for the Walmart. How funny to discover that there was a whole Disney section inside of it. This was good to know, because lots of the apparel found in Disney could be found at this Walmart much cheaper.

The kids woke up, and we went for our first breakfast in the Gingerbread house. Delicious! Buffet style, anything you could want for breakfast, and again, all-you-can-eat.

Our plan for day 2 was Sea World. This was Andrew's main wish, and the first thing that he wanted to do. But, because the kids got off to a late start, we decided to save Sea World for the next day so that we could be there when it opened. I was really emotional about this. I just felt that because of it being Andrew's main wish, we should spend as much time there as needed. We made the decision to start with Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure. What we didn't know at the time, that we know now, was that Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure would be two of our favorite parks. These parks for us were better than Disney. I wish that we had spent a full day a piece at these two parks, but we just didn't know. We have decided though, that for our next Fla. vacation, we will invest in visiting these 2 parks.

So my big regret of day 2 was not taking enough pictures.



Straight off the bat we started with excitement. While our kids made all the height requirements at the Disney parks, This wasn't the case for Islands of Adventure. There were a couple of roller coaster's that the boys and Rainia couldn't ride. Kyley didn't want to try it, so I stayed with them, while Rick and the 3 other kids rode this:





They all loved it except for Andrew. He decided that roller coaster's weren't his thing. We had an amazing pass that was the golden ticket. I wore it around my neck, and when we showed it to the ride workers, they back-doored us straight to the ride. Usually it was through some back alley, up an elevator, and right onto the ride. Amazing!

From there, we went to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. On Marvel Super Hero Isloand. This ended up being one of our favorite rides of the whole trip. It was a 4-D adventure that was so thrilling. All of us could ride this one, and it was AWESOME. 4-D is like 3-D, in that you wear the glasses, and the visuals jump out at you. The difference between 3 and 4 D is the added senses. When you see the fire, you can feel the heat. If something is wet in the visual, you get wet. On this ride, it was done perfectly. On day 6 I will describe how 4-D can go tragically wrong. (I'll just give you a little hint. It involves the sense of smell.)





We headed over to Toon Lagoon, where we met Betty Boop:





After meeting Betty, we decided to head back over to Super-hero island to try to meet some characters there. The first one was Spiderman, and we went right to the front of the line with our make-a-wish pins. Our Spiderman picture came out blurry, but we did get the professional one. We got 1 picture free of charge, and decided to use our coupon on this one.

I had no idea, but apparently I have a thing for Spiderman. I didn't even realize it until Spiderman said "What are YOU giggling about Mom? Get over here." This is what Rick and the kids picked on me about for the rest of the trip. Yes people, I giggled like a little school girl when I met Spidey. Anyway, I got over my awe enough to shake his hand and pose for the picture. Spiderman then told us to head across the street, and up an alley for a special meet and greet with a bunch of the characters.

We met another Make-A-Wish family there who were also staying at the village, and we met plenty of characters. None of them, though, had the effect on me that Spidey did. I think it had something to do with the costumes. When I could actually see their faces, it wasn't so great. Capt. America did comment on my "rocks" though while we were posing for the pics. My reply? "Yeah, yeah." What is that? Yeah, Yeah? I don't know why I said that, but it made Capt. America laugh.




Mine and Jake's favorite guy:






Next, it was back to toon lagoon, where the kids rode a few rides. We then headed over to Jurassic Park, where we came face to face with so many dinosaurs. We also took the Jurassic Park River Adventure, and flew on some pteradactons.








We then headed over to The Lost Continent, where there was a talking water fountain. Not a drinking fountain, but a large water fountain that talked to the crowd. There was also another large roller coaster, but this time only Brooke and I rode it. There was also a show that we started to watch, which ended up broken, but that wasn't such a bad thing, because Josh was actually crying he was so scared.





The talking water fountain:



The roller coaster "Dueling Dragons"





Poseidon's Fury. This is what made made Joshua cry.




Finally, the last island was Seuss Landing. A magical place. We truly felt as if we had entered a Dr. Seuss book. It was really cool.











Back to the Spiderman ride for one more before heading over to Universal Studios. (We had park hopper tickets to the Universal and Disney Parks, meaning that we could hop from park to park on the same day.)



First up, watching Shrek in 4-D!



Next, the only ride that I remembered from visiting Universal in my childhood, ET. Here, Jake left his beloved CP3O. He did ask to go back to ET a few times, and we had to explain to him that CP3O and ET were now good buddies. Next was Men In Black. This ride was way too hyped for what it actually was. The cool thing about it though was that there were no bags aloud, not because it went upside down or anything. I think they wanted to make sure no photography got in there. Anyway, they had these lockers to put your bags in, and they were fingerprint operated. I totally felt like James Bond opening that thing.

It was late, and we were tired, but we had time for one more ride. The Simpson's in 4-D. This ended up one of our favorite rides of the whole trip! Everyone loved it.

When we got to the park in the morning, we had rented a wheel-chair for Andrew. He didn't use it for the first half of the day, but the boys did. By the end of the day, We were so glad that we had it, because Andrew ended up needing it.

Another thing I'm glad I did was take this picture, of our parking area:



We missed dinner in the Gingerbread house back at the village, so we went to Friendly's.





We were exhausted, but happy and content after such an exciting day.

In my Prayers

I am trying to get day 2 posted, but I can't because of this page. Little Coleman Larson has ended his battle with cancer. He has touched so many lives in his time here, and was one of the first carepages I started reading when I started this adventure a year ago. Team Larson, you are in my prayers, and your unwaivering faith is so incredibly powerful. You have been an inspiration to me and so many others on how to cherish every single day that we have with the children that God entrusted in us.

(The link is located on CarePages, the health-care community that Duke referred me to a year ago. You need to register to access these pages, as privacy is so very respected there. Coleman's page is called "ColemanScott".)