Make a Wish Trip - Day 1

We're home, and I'm sad to be home!  We had the most wonderful time, filled with many special and magical moments.  I can't say thank you enough to Make a Wish and Give Kids the World.  These two organizations allowed us to have an experience that was unforgettable. 

We flew out of College Station, and at 5:00 AM a limo pulled up to our house to take us to the airport.  The kids were very excited!  The plane was small, and Hudson kicked the seat in front of him almost the entire time, no matter how much I held his legs or told him no.  The guy in the seat looked like he wanted to get out of there as fast as he could.  Oh well.

Hudson LOVED the train ride in the airport that connects the terminals, I think he thought it was a ride.  We got on a connecting flight to Orlando, and this wonderful lady is who met us in the airport.  She was a volunteer for Give Kids the World, which is where we would be staying.  They call their volunteers Angels.  She helped us find our bags and get our rental van.



Ready to go!

The drive from the airport to GKTW is about 20 minutes.  We pulled up to the gate, and after they let us in we saw this!

This place is filled with magic and love, and the Angel volunteers are amazing.  Almost everyone who works at GKTW is a volunteer, and after our week there Jake and I have decided that we have to come back someday and volunteer.  This building is called the House of Hearts, and we went inside to check in.


Inside the House of Hearts

They greeted the kids with presents, the first of many to come!  A giant stuffed Mickey Mouse for Hudson, and stuffed Shamus for Aislin and Jake.  After we checked in a sweet man took us by golf cart to our villa.  Hudson loved the golf carts and tried to get on as many as he could whenever he saw them!

Our villa was awesome, it was so whimsical and the kids loved it.  Each villa has a kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms.  The kid bathroom had a big whirlpool tub, while the adult bathroom was just a regular one, it really was all about the kids at this place!  On the kitchen table were more presents for the kids, they were spoiled rotten here!

After we unpacked a little, we went to go explore the Village.  We ate lunch at Katie's Kitchen, and then we stopped for ice cream.  The ice cream shop is open from 7:30 AM until 9:30 PM, and Aislin and Jake ate ice cream here too many times to count!


The Castle of Miracles

The Castle of Miracles is a beautiful place where every wish child gets to place a gold star with their name on it on the ceiling.  A star fairy comes every night to take the stars and put them on the ceiling of the Castle.  The child is now forever a part of GKTW.

It's really an amazing and quite overwhelming thing to see.  Next we saw the Gingerbread House, which is one of two places to eat at the Village.

Above is the Enchanted Carousel, where a kid can get a ride any time they want one.  Really, they do not tell kids no here!  Hudson loved this carousel, and every time we walked by it he would fight to get out of his stroller and ride.  So we let him, every time.

Then we saw Ol' Elmer, a tree that snores when you walk by.

Next we visited the pool.  It was awesome.  There is an amazing splash pad, and the pool is beach entry style and no part is over 4 feet deep.  Made just for kids!

After swimming we went to Matthew's Boundless Playground, which is the coolest playground!  It is modeled after the game of Candyland, and is completely handicap accessible.  In fact, everything in the Village is handicap accessible.  The playground is completely shaded, which was great because Hudson is so heat intolerant.  This was his favorite place to be, and since it was right across from our villa, our kids were there a lot!



Look at that smile!  Can you tell he LOVED this place?

After the park we ate dinner at the Gingerbread House, it was very cute, everything is kid sized in there.  Then I had to go to orientation, where GKTW gave me our park passes and other information about the Village.  Then everyone went to bed, we were exhausted, but our first day at GKTW was so wonderful.  It is truly an amazing place.  To be able to stay at GKTW you have to go through a wish organization, and so we saw a lot of children there who were sick.  All of them had on the biggest smiles.  At dinner the first night, Jakey looked around and said "Hey, lots of these kids look like Hudson, they have lots of tubes too!"  It was a moment that was really very special, because for this week, Hudson wasn't different, he just fit in, and Aislin and Jake recognized that too.  I don't think there are really words to describe the feeling at GKTW, it is full of love, hope, and happiness.  We had an amazing first day there.

Day 2 - Disneyworld!