Saturday, the Final Day

As we know, all good things must come to an end, at least that's how it was with Bryce's Make-A-Wish trip. We had to be at the airport by 9:00 Saturday morning. We got up, packed up the car and went down to the Gingerbread House for our final breakfast there. We also took one last ride on the Carousel.

On the way back to our villa, we stopped just briefly at Keaton's Korral. On Saturday mornings, they give the kids pony rides here. We didn't have time to have a ride (and we have horses at home, so it wasn't a huge deal anyway), but the boys did stop to look. They were each given a cowboy hat and we got a few pictures taken while we were there.










Our little cowboy, Bryce. We had an amazing time on his trip. We are glad that he let us come along!


When we went to check out of the village, they again had many surprises for us. Make-A-Wish and Give Kids the World Village was way above and beyond anything that we could have ever imagined!

We got to the airport and onto the plane without any issues. We were a little concerned about our layover/change of flight that we had in Raleigh, NC. At first, we were excited to see that we would have a layover here since a lot of John's family lives here. We thought it would be cool if they could meet us there. However, when we looked closer at our itinerary, we saw that we only had 20 minutes for this layover. Ok, I had no idea how we were ever going to make it to our next flight much less visiting with anyone.

So as we got into NC, the flight attendants announced that all passengers would be getting off here. So we quickly got all kids and stuff together and piled out of the plane. When we got out, Bryce's wheelchair was not there. John told me that they had told him that the wheelchair had been checked all the way through to Phoenix. What?! That didn't make any sense, so now we thought we would be trying to get to our next plane carrying him along with everything else. As we got out into the airport, I looked at the gate number of where we came in and realized it was the same gate we would be leaving from. Whew. Come to find out, we would be getting back onto the same plane that we had just gotten off of. So it now made sense how we would make it to our next flight, but it will never make sense to me why they made us get off of the exact plane we would be getting right back onto, even if they were changing the flight crew and number. Annoying, but I was so glad that, at least, we did not have to run through the airport with 5 kids, Bryce's car seat and feeding equipment, and the carry on items. I was also glad that we were flying Southwest because they still give out snacks (crackers and such) so that the kids had a little something to eat since we hadn't had time to buy lunch between flights.

When we got into the Phoenix airport, Bryce's wish granters, Jeff and Mindy Clark, were there to greet us and help us with our luggage. They helped us out to our waiting limo and a van which then took us and our luggage home. We arrived home about 7 and sent John out to pick up a pizza for dinner. Everyone was very tired, so we ate dinner and then all went to bed, dreaming wonderful dreams of a fantastic, magical week!

Friday--Our last Full Day

Friday morning I heard something that I never would have expected to hear from a kid. The first thing William said when he woke up was, "Please don't make us go to Disney World today!" Jacob and Spencer completely agreed! Now, just so you know, it's not that Disney World is so bad, but rather that the Village is so great! There were many things in the village that we hadn't had time to do yet and many that we had done, but really wanted to do again. So, we decided to just spend the day in the village instead of going to any of the parks...and everyone seemed to be glad we did!

We started out the day heading to the magic castle to see Barney. However, on the way, we stopped at the carousel for our first of many rides of the day.


After meeting Barney, we spent some time in the magic castle. This is Jolly Hollow, a little play area inside the magic castle. The older boys enjoyed this area and the TONS of legos they had to play with. Annalise enjoyed the many different types of potato heads available.


The Star Fairy table. Here is where Bryce received his star. Each wish child gets a star to decorate. Then they make a wish and put it in the star box (the brown box thing to the left of the table). Then during the night, the star fairy comes and places the star somewhere in the magic castle. The following morning, the child receives a passport that tells him where his star is located.


Here are some of the stars. There is a star for every wish child that has ever been to the village. The stars stay up forever, so that whenever a child or his family comes back to visit, they will be able to find his star and remember their time here.


Bryce's star


The pillow tree. The first day we arrived, we received a certificate which the kids could redeem at the pillow tree for a pillow that the magic tree makes.


The tree asks the child questions and after a few minutes a pillow is made just for that child.


Bryce at the pillow tree


waiting for the pillows




The pillows arrive. A different one for each child!


The wishing well was also a big hit. Each child got a coin to throw into the well after making a wish. You would then hear it go down, down, down and eventually hit the bottom.


When it did hit the bottom, the well made a funny sound or said something silly. It was fun.











It's hard to see in the picture, but this is a mirror and when you look into it, you see yourself with a crown on your head.


After breakfast at the Gingerbread house, we went back to the villa for a bit. We decided to do scripture time out on the porch this day.


While we were reading scriptures, some volunteers came around giving out stuffed Mayor Clayton dolls and these hats.






After a brief time at home, we headed over to Marc's DinoPutt, the miniature golf course. The older boys loved it. The two little ones lasted about 1/2 way through the course, then I took them into the train station to watch the trains while John and the boys finished up.






Some of the dinosaurs, like the one below, would spit water on the person as they were getting their ball out of the hole.




Part of the course was inside a cave. Pretty cool!




After dinoputt and some time with the trains and boats, we had lunch outside of Katie's Kitchen and, of course, dessert at the ice-cream palace.


This is a picture with Maisa, one of the wish kids we met at the village. It was fun to be there during the day when a lot of the families were gone at the parks. There were a lot of new families coming in and it was great to meet some of them.


We then went back to the Villa and John and the boys got ready and headed down to the pool. I put the two little ones to sleep, did some laundry and began to pack to go home.


William playing in the sand at the pool.


That night we went to the Shamu Pirate and Princess Party. It was amazing. Lots of fun for the kids. William enjoying the music and dancing!


Spencer learning the YMCA. As the music started, he totally wanted to learn the hand signs so I taught him and then totally enjoyed watching him participate.
"Y"


"M"


"C"


"A" and William doing the bunny ears.


They had face painting






This little girl, in the yellow shirt, was awesome. This was her first day here so we didn't really get to meet her, but she was so cute. Even in the very short time we knew her, we loved her fun personality. These kids are amazing!


The Princeses waiting to get their crowns! If you can't read it, the little girl's shirt says, "I'm kicking cancer's butt!" She was just so cute!


They had this bubble machine that was really cool. It would send out these bubbles that would last for a while and then pop and turn to smoke.


Annalise loved them!




They also had an area for the kids to make treasure maps that they later used on their treasure hunt.


Jacob's map. Not sure why this picture is sideways.


Then of course there were lots and lots of characters from Sea World to meet.








Mayor Clayton dressed up as a pirate




Shamu


Bryce was very intrigued by this large whale






In this picture, you can actually see a couple of things other than the back of Spencer's head. The treasure hunt had just ended and you can see in the red treasure box, the treasure that each child received. It was a wooden plane to put together. Also, the backpack that Spencer is wearing was given away at the party. Each of the older boys got one. It is a Pirates of the Carribian backpack.




At the end of the party, they had a little ceremony where each boy was given a sword and each princess was given a tiara. You can see William with his sword and this girl wearing her tiara.




As we were leaving, this little boy came up to our boys and started sword fighting with them. It was cute to watch him try to take on 3 bigger boys.




Here is Jacob pretenting to have been struck down by the boy's sword. They had a great time.


One final shot of pirate Mayor Clayton!


One night during the week, either Mayor Clayton or Mrs. Merry Clayton come to the villa to tuck the kids in. Friday was our night. After the pirate and princess party we headed back to the villa to await his arrival. Actually, I hadn't told the kids that he was coming so when we got a knock on the door and it was him, they were very excited! It was a great way to end one of the most fun days ever!




He did a little "playing around" before he tucked them all in for the night.






fluffing Spencer's pillow




Finally it was Bryce's turn.




He even said prayers with Bryce!




This seriously ended up being one of our favorite days there. I am so glad that the boys had talked us into staying at the village this day!