Give Kids The World

Here are some more pictues of the inside of our villa. It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was a fantastic set up. I took these shots on our last day,so please ignore the rumpled sheets and suitcases laying about!
This is the kids' tub....they all took a few splashes in it! Mom got one in too...it was sweet!
This was the girls' room. Sophia didn't care for the fold out bed but was very thrilled when we discovered the fold out matress fit very nicely in the window!
This is the kids' bathroom....huge shower and double sinks! Mom took showers there most days too however....families share....right??
This was Mom and Dad's bathroom....full tub/shower on the other side of the door....nice enough


The king sized bed was fabulous! Especially when we had our extra visitor at night.

Day One Part 4

When the girls were swimmed out, we went back to our villa and got dressed for the pirate and princess party. The boys weren't back yet from the doctor...so we couldn't go eat yet....so whats a girl to do? Well, get her nails and make up done of course!!
When the boys returned, we ate dinner at the gingerbread house and the little girls accepted an escort from a pirate to the party! Jacob returned to he villa to rest the ankle. Dad went on to orientation (where he would learn the lay of the land and recieve tickets to Disney, Sea World and Universal Studios). The girls and I had a great time at the P and P party.
The girls were given tiaras, and necklaces, pirate prizes and we danced and made new friends.


Towards the end of the party, all pirates and princess were brought up on the ship stage to be formally announced. It was a great time.

We then made our way to the ice cream palace for more treats. Then one last trip on those wild animals on the carosel before heading back to the villa. Dad was able to join us for ice cream too! It was nearing 11 by the time showers were taken, and people were calm enough for sleep. And another hour for Mom and Dad to decompress at all of everything to. What a day!!

Day One Part 3

This is Elmer. Gabbie LOVED Elmer...the snoring tree! We had to stop and visit him many times!

Surfer queen (I don't know why the picture won't stay rotated)
Surfer queen number 2, it was so fun to finally just be HERE! We had a great time at the pool
The pool area, which included a large pool that was 4 feet deep at its very deepest point, also included a water park area AND a pirate ship. It was a blast and we played there many days after the parks.

Day One Part 2

The directions we were given were super and with in a half an hour we were nearly there. We made a quick stop at Walmart to get a ankle brace for Jacob, some sunscreen. The minute we pulled up to the gate, we were greeted by Give Kids the World people how are super friendly and helpful. Gabbie was given a stuffed Mickey Mouse and the other kids stuffed Shamu's. They gave Gabbie her magic button, and sent us to have lunch while they finished prep on our villa.

This is the welcome center....notice all the furniture is kid sized? GKTW is all about kids! In the back there are some video games for the kids. Just a fun room!
This is the Amberville Station. In here there are remote control boats, video games, toy train, put put....a fun place we would visit a number of times!
After lunch we were taken to our villa, which would be our home for the next week. Gabbie is sporting her new magic button. This button would give her special attention and access at the parks
This is the the living room and kitchen area of our villa. The couch folds out and would be Jacob's place to sleep.

About 20 minutes after we got to our villa, the girls and I headed to the pool. DH took Jacob to a walk in clinic to have his ankle x-ray'd. Diagnosis was a sprain, not a break.

Gabbie's Make a Wish Trip Day One

Gabbie was graciously granted a wish by the Minnesota chapter of Make a Wish. The MAW volunteers came and visited Gabbie last spring and interviewed her and meeting the princess's was top on her list. We got a call in later spring telling us her wish had been granted!! MAW had made arrangements for all of us to escort Gabbie to Florida where we would be guests at Give Kids the World (a truely magical place).

I hope that I can record as many memories as possible here! It was a truely magical experience!

Gabbie, all ready to go at 5:30 AM! This is an amazing feat for this crew of non morning people!
MAW arranged for a limo to pick us up from the hotel and take us to the airport, we all think this is definately the way to arrive at any airport!!

Ready for take off! This was the first time in an airplane for S and G, J and H have been in airplanes, but they were just babies. Much excitment here!
After being greeted at the airport by a volunteer from Give kids the world, who graciously led us through the airport, to the rental car area and got us loaded and on our way with a map to Give Kids the World! Here we are arriving at the welcome building!

Teenager!

We have a teenager in our house for the first time. We will have one now for the next 16 years....YIKES!!

J's birthday was on the 13th of this month just to make it a little extra fun.

And to top that, we also left town to take G's Make a Wish trip to Disneyworld that night!

BUT, first we had to attend the last 7th grade football game for J. He started as quarterback and was doing well...until while rolling out of the pocket he was coming back for a run to the outside and the lineman stepped on his foot pushing his ankle the wrong way causing you to fall out of bounds and essentially end the season for our favorite player. Later, in Florida, we learned that it was not broken, and indeed sprained.

After the game, we loaded up our injured player, complete with icebags, and headed into Bloomington MN where we stayed for the night. We celebrated J's bday with sour cream raisin pie and surprised him with the go pro camera he dreamed about!

(OK, I've had some issues publishing tonight, and ended up with pics in reverse order, just look at them from the bottom up and all will be well)



G did the happy dance for him as he couldn't....isn't she sweet!



Happy guy!



Showered, ice bag in place, ready for a little celebrating!




On the bench with Dad, while I try to phone them because they weren't mentally recieving my message to ELEVATE the leg!