On July 29th, 2009, Noah earned his wings and is now safe in the arms of our Heavenly Father. We are so thankful that he was granted this very special wish. We will treasure the memories always.
I hope to finish this blog one day soon...
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Day 4 Islands of Adventure
After another wonderful breakfast at the Gingerbread house, and a couple of rides on the carousal, of course, we went to meet some of the Universal characters. Disney isn't the only one who has characters come to GKTW. Every week some of the Universal characters also come. This week was Scooby Doo and Shaggy...
After meeting the characters and getting balloons, we were off to Islands of Adventure (one of Universal's parks). 
This park is divided into 5 Islands. First stop, Seuss Landing...a whimsical, magical island based on the books by Dr Seuss...
This was definately the kids favorite part of this park...and Noah was able to ride most of the rides in this part of the park. We thought Disney did a good job with wish families...until we got to Universal. Universal employees were absolutely fantastic...I think they spend their days scouting for wish families. We would simply have to wander by a ride, and an employee would be running out to us, pulling us towards the ride, right to the front of the line. One particular ride, we didn't see an employee right away. The line wasn't too long, so we just got in the regular line...no big deal to us. But when an employee spotted our button as we were boarding, they reprimanded us for waiting in line. We were given strict instructions to NEVER, EVER wait in a line at their parks...for them it is a huge deal to have a wish family wait in line. Really, they went over the top to make sure we had a wonderful day. My big regret is that we didn't make it back to one of their parks for a second day, but we had planned to go back during our second week.
The carousal...
Noah loved this ride, of course...
One fish, two fish...Noah HATED this ride and screamed through it, as the fish spit water at us. Didn't do that one twice!
As we were finishing up in Suess Land, we spotted the Grinch. After we get autographs, the employee told us to head for the storytime show, and then after, they would set up a special meeting for us with the characters.
Storytime with the characters...
Our special meet/greet with Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 & 2, and whoever that yellow guy is...
After spending alot of time in Seuss land, we breezed through the next couple of islands pretty quickly. The Lost Continent island I think we just walked through...alot of it was shut down as they are building a Harry Potter Castle. Jurassic Park island we stopped and rode Jurassic (a fantastic flume ride), and the kids rode Pterandon Flyers, a kids roller coaster, which I think is one of the shortest rides ever, but people wait over 60 minutes for it! Of course, we had no wait at all.
The fourth island is Toon Lagoon...full of water rides. And these rides you don't just get wet...you get absolutely drenched to the bone! We had our rain ponchos and wore them on these rides, after seeing the state of the people walking off the rides. Even with the ponchos we managed to get pretty wet. Thankfully it was a very warm day and we dried quickly. Noah was too small for these rides, so we took turns riding as Noah entertained himself with a coke can. He was actually feeling pretty good today, so it was a really good day.
Next up...Super Hero Island and a private meet/greet with the superheros.
After meeting the characters and getting balloons, we were off to Islands of Adventure (one of Universal's parks). This park is divided into 5 Islands. First stop, Seuss Landing...a whimsical, magical island based on the books by Dr Seuss... 
This was definately the kids favorite part of this park...and Noah was able to ride most of the rides in this part of the park. We thought Disney did a good job with wish families...until we got to Universal. Universal employees were absolutely fantastic...I think they spend their days scouting for wish families. We would simply have to wander by a ride, and an employee would be running out to us, pulling us towards the ride, right to the front of the line. One particular ride, we didn't see an employee right away. The line wasn't too long, so we just got in the regular line...no big deal to us. But when an employee spotted our button as we were boarding, they reprimanded us for waiting in line. We were given strict instructions to NEVER, EVER wait in a line at their parks...for them it is a huge deal to have a wish family wait in line. Really, they went over the top to make sure we had a wonderful day. My big regret is that we didn't make it back to one of their parks for a second day, but we had planned to go back during our second week.The carousal... Noah loved this ride, of course... One fish, two fish...Noah HATED this ride and screamed through it, as the fish spit water at us. Didn't do that one twice!As we were finishing up in Suess Land, we spotted the Grinch. After we get autographs, the employee told us to head for the storytime show, and then after, they would set up a special meeting for us with the characters. Storytime with the characters... Our special meet/greet with Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 & 2, and whoever that yellow guy is... After spending alot of time in Seuss land, we breezed through the next couple of islands pretty quickly. The Lost Continent island I think we just walked through...alot of it was shut down as they are building a Harry Potter Castle. Jurassic Park island we stopped and rode Jurassic (a fantastic flume ride), and the kids rode Pterandon Flyers, a kids roller coaster, which I think is one of the shortest rides ever, but people wait over 60 minutes for it! Of course, we had no wait at all.The fourth island is Toon Lagoon...full of water rides. And these rides you don't just get wet...you get absolutely drenched to the bone! We had our rain ponchos and wore them on these rides, after seeing the state of the people walking off the rides. Even with the ponchos we managed to get pretty wet. Thankfully it was a very warm day and we dried quickly. Noah was too small for these rides, so we took turns riding as Noah entertained himself with a coke can. He was actually feeling pretty good today, so it was a really good day.Next up...Super Hero Island and a private meet/greet with the superheros.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Christmas in February!
Christmas comes once a week at GKTW...for no child's fantasy would be complete without Christmas! Every Thursday the place is transformed into a Winter Wonderland...Christmas music plays, decorations and lights are everywhere, and even some snow falls. After spending this past Christmas in PICU, I was really looking forward to this evening. I am a huge fan of Christmas and to have our family separated this past year, with Noah doing so poorly, was such a difficult time. So I had high expectations of this evening, and it was everything I had hoped it would be...it truly did feel like the Christmas we had missed. After the spa, and a ride or two on the carousel of course, we headed to the Gingerbread House for Christmas dinner...yep, traditional turkey dinner complete with all the trimmings, right down to the pumpkin pie! Mmmm! Outside the party was starting and we got word that Santa had arrived in the theatre...
After the pictures, each child is allowed to pick a gift from a wall of toys, generously donated each week by Hasbro. This was an agonizing decision for Kailyn & Joshua...there was just so much to choose from! They both finally decided on fur real pets. We chose a glow worm for Noah (which has since become his favorite bedtime toy).
After Santa, and more candy from the theatre, there were very messy snowcones...
beautiful carriage rides...
fun cookie decorating...
and wonderful elves to read stories while we enjoyed more ice cream. The kids even got to keep the books that they chose to read...
That was about all of Christmas Noah could handle. It had been another long day. He spent the rest of the party in this position...
While Noah slept, there was a parade and then dancing to Christmas music with the characters. So he missed out on the characters that night, but I was very glad he was getting some much needed rest...
What a wonderful evening it was! Many of the children who come here will never see another Christmas. They cannot wait another year...we know Noah may be one of them. But GKTW, with the help of an incredible amount of volunteers, make sure that Noah and so many other children don't have to wait. They get to celebrate one more time! The tears come even as I write this...it was just such a special night for us...words cannot describe. The memories from this evening we will treasure always. 
I am sure we all fell into bed that night, exhausted once again. Tomorrow Islands of Adventure awaits...
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Marc's Dino Putt & La Ti Da Spa
When we got back from Dinoland, there was a gift waiting at the villa. Today it was a big duffle bag to help transport all our new treasures home. Noah had a short nap, we vegged for a bit, and then off again for a round of mini golf at Marc's Dino Putt. What a neat place with fun dinosaurs, caves, waterfalls and lots of little surprises along the way. You never know which one will shoot water or start smoking!
The kids picking out their tattoos...
We tried tatooing a sunflower on Noah. He was very unhappy about the whole thing, and ended up with just a yellow blob on his arm. He was feeling pretty crummy though, with a runny nose and terrible cough, so that was the extent of his spa experience.
Kailyn having her makeup done...
The kids were able to choose from a wardrobe of dressup clothes. Josh had to be a race car driver of course...
Kailyn after her makeover...
After the mini makeovers, there were more gifts for the kids. A pony for Kailyn and transformer cards for Joshua and Noah...
We loved the spa...very relaxing, beautifully done, and the kids enjoyed all the special attention. A nice way to spend an hour. But the best part of the day was yet to come. As we were enjoying the day, GKTW was being transformed into a Winter Wonderland...
Brad needed to catch up on some work on the computer, so the kids and I went to the La Ti Da Royal Spa. In keeping with GKTW's theme, this is a special spa created just for kids. (Yep, this place thinks of everything!!) There were massages, tattoes, face painting, nails and makeup. Everything you need to fulfill the fantasy of every little girl, and fun for the boys too...
The kids picking out their tattoos...We tried tatooing a sunflower on Noah. He was very unhappy about the whole thing, and ended up with just a yellow blob on his arm. He was feeling pretty crummy though, with a runny nose and terrible cough, so that was the extent of his spa experience.Kailyn having her makeup done...The kids were able to choose from a wardrobe of dressup clothes. Josh had to be a race car driver of course...Kailyn after her makeover...After the mini makeovers, there were more gifts for the kids. A pony for Kailyn and transformer cards for Joshua and Noah... We loved the spa...very relaxing, beautifully done, and the kids enjoyed all the special attention. A nice way to spend an hour. But the best part of the day was yet to come. As we were enjoying the day, GKTW was being transformed into a Winter Wonderland...
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