Make-A-Wish

This past week we were all sent with Sophia to Florida, through Make-A-Wish, to go to Disney World. It was a huge blessing to be sent on such a memorable trip. It gave us a feeling of closure to everything Sophia had gone through. When we were leaving for the airport I got very emotional just knowing that we were about to partake in something so grand but also knowing it was all because of something so horrible that happened to Sophia. It definitely was a mom moment and I felt very thankful to God for taking us this far in Sophia's journey. 
Every day on this trip was all about options upon options filled with lots of fun. There wasn't enough days to fulfill every fun thing so we had to pick and choose. It all started when Sophia's special ride, a limo, picked us all up and swept us off to the airport. Then we blasted off in space into tomrorowland were on our way to Orlando Florida! We took a red eye which seemed to work out great because the kids slept most of the way. It was a bit tough to get used to Florida time since when we left home it should have been bed time but once we arrived the day was just getting started. A 3 hour difference; talk about tired. Actually now that we’re back home we’re on Florida time, haha. Some of the cute things Sophia said on the airplane were: "When are we going to blast off?" (as we were waiting to take off), "The gummies might fall down" (because they weren't buckled), "It wasn't as bad as I thought" (once we were up in the air), "Check what's out there" (looking out the window), "I think we're in space like Miles" (she talking about the cartoon Miles from tomorrowland), "I'm scared of heights" (once we had been really high up), "I just want to go back home" (because the trip was taking too long in her little mind), "Will you love me forever" (I think she was way excited and just started saying whatever came to her mind), "I think I'm not good at sleeping on airplanes" (as she was trying to fall asleep and get comfortable.) Overall both kids did great on the airplane.
Once we arrived in Florida we were greeted by a volunteer from Give Kids The World (GKTW) and he was holding up a sign that had Sophia’s name on it. It was super cute! He helped us get our bags and took us to pick up our rental car and then we were off to the village at GKTW. I can only describe GKTW as such an amazing incredible place that I hope you never visit unless you’re a volunteer because that would mean your child has or had a life threatening illness like Sophia. It’s a super cool, magical, story book village, in Kissimmee Fl., that lets wish families call it their home for one week. GKTW provided our theme park tickets which included a 3 day park hopper to four of the  Disney World parks, a 2 day park hopper to both Universal parks, and a 1 day ticket to Sea World. Also, they gave us a photopass card for the Disney parks so we can get a free archive disc of all the photos taken at their parks. GKTW also provides gift for all the kids each day in their villa so either they can receive their gifts when they get delivered or it will be waiting for them when they get home at the end of the day. Everything from food to theme parks was cost free to us; MAW even provided spending money. It was an all inclusive type of thing which made it even more of a blessing. Each family gets to stay in a two bedroom and two bathroom villa. It can sleep about 6 plus people. The village has a castle with several activities you can do inside, a carousel, a spa, two pools, a splash pad, a playground, a theater, two restaurants, an ice cream parlor, an arcade room, a train, rides, and miniature golf. I'm sure I'm missing something but i cant think of it at the moment. Every day they had several activities on top of themed parties each evening. So you can imagine how hard it was to pick what we wanted to do. Either choice we were going to make was going to end in fun, and it did!
I will try to make a long story short, even though its long already, by breaking down each day briefly and with photos. We have over 3,000 photos so I'll have to pick and choose those also.

Day 1- We spent the day unpacking, exploring the village and had fun swimming!

A sign you see as you drive into the village

 This is where we checked in and got the keys to our villa

Each villa has a welcome sign with the family's name on it

 Our villa

Our patio

A glimpse of the inside of our villa

At the Candyland party

Making candy airplanes

Day 2- We spent the day at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. GKTW provides a special button for Sophia to wear that lets cast members and employees know she is a wish child, she also wore her Make-A-Wish button so Sophia got lots of special attention because of it. 

Ready to go to MK

Sophia's special button

The entrance to the parks

 Excited to be at MK  

The button collection grew even bigger as the day went on

A rainy day parade because it was raining

A cast member giving Sophia some extra attention

Donald Duck blowing kisses to Sophia

My Buddy & Kid Sister being silly

Waiting to get autographs

Sophia loved all the Princesses

It was very special for Sophia to meet Rapunzel because this is who she watched (Tangled) daily in the hospital whenever she was in patient

MK and Epcot have a wish lounge where wish families can kick off their shoes and relax a bit. They also have games and toys for the kids to play with.

The princess relaxing and enjoying the quiet

All pixied up after a visit to Bippity Boppity Boutique

Of course she had to go visit her twin

This Mickey was cool because he talked with the kids and he's Sam's favorite character so he really loved it 

Our little handsome fella

Day 3- We spent several hours at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The kids, and I, were still a bit thrown off and the cranky so we did several fun things and called it a day and did more activities at the village. 

AK's tree of life. Can you spot the different animals?

Dinoland

As you can tell from this picture our littles got a bit cranky so we ended up leaving so they could nap. We got most of the fun in at Dinoland

Every wish child gets to write their name and decorate a star that stays in the castle at the village forever

Sophia wanted a S on her star and she decorated it with dots

Her star about to get prepared for placement by the fairy

 A small section to show how the stars are at the castle. Each one is decorated their own special way. Some belong to Angels, some to warriors, and some to survivors.

Sophia's star is placed in the Star Tower at the end of this hall and she can always go back to visit the village and her star

The super cute mushroom carousel that's attached to the castle. This was one of the kids' favorite thing to do at the village

This is the Gingerbread House where you can eat breakfast and dinner

Inside the Gingerbread House

 Day 4- We spent the day at both universal parks but before we took off for the day Sophia got to go on a horse ride.

All ready to ride the horse

Sam didn't want to ride the horse but he sure didn't turn down a hat

The kids loved the Dr. Seus town

Hogsmeade

We had to try butterbeer. It was quite delicious

 

Diagon Alley

The dragon was so loud that Sammy got scared, so Sophia was being a great big sister and helped protect his ears. You can even feel the heat pretty strong from the fire

Day 5- We stayed at the village and enjoyed all the stuff there and attended their Christmas party that evening. At GKTW they celebrate Halloween and Christmas and they even have a Santa that gives gifts!

Amberville is where kids at the village can ride several rides and can play various games

A very intense game of air hockey was played by Sophia and Sam 

So the village has a mayor that's a bunny, Mr. Clayton, and this is where he lives. It's a super cute air-conditioned little house you can go into

Having some delicious ice cream

Part of the outside of the ice cream parlor

 Celebrating Christmas in March!

Snowing at the village

Sophia letting her nails dry after a visit to the spa

Day 6- We spent most of the day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We got a late start heading there due Sammy getting bit by fire ants so we needed to tend to him and make sure he was alright. He was fine after several minutes. Poor thing.

Getting ready to leave for the parks and seconds after this was taken that's where Sam got attacked by fire ants. That was no fun but he was a trooper.

Sam was too scared to visit with Jake even though he likes him so he's standing behind the camera

Minnie was super cute with the kids taking them around her room and showing off her cute things

This is what too much fun looks like! They're knocked out

Epcot

Some of the Topiaries at Epcot

Epcot has a super cool Aquarium

Day 7- This was our final day in Kissimmee so we packed up and left the villa and spent the rest of the day at the village then headed off to the airport. We decided to skip out on SeaWorld because we saw animals at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We had so much fun that no one wanted to leave. Sammy even had a fit leaving.

Enjoying the grounds before our departure

Oh, I also forgot to mention that at the end of each trip GKTW gives its wish kids a passport that has access to over 200 theme parks around the world. It's good for one year and we can go only once to each one if we want to for free. They also have an organization that will take your photos of your trip and create a photo album for you. And the blessings kept on coming!
We cant thank MAW enough for this trip of a lifetime. They really go all out when it comes to their wish kids. From the limo that picked us up to the limo that took us home. This trip was amazing. We will remember this forever as one of the good times in the cancer world because we don't know what tomorrow holds, but we sure do know who holds tomorrow. We hope you enjoyed reading about it all and looking through part of the fun we had in Florida.