We have had a very busy couple of months. It's hard to get to the writing about all the fun when you are busy making more memories, but I'll do what I can. We just returned from a trip to Tennessee for a Clayton family reunion which I will write about soon, but first I must finish sharing all about Annalise's wonderful trip. We do not have any more traveling planned for the year, so maybe I can get caught up a bit. School and all it's craziness does start in just over a week though, so we shall see!
So Thursday, day two of our trip, began with John getting a ride back to the airport to pick up our other rental car. As I mentioned, there had been some mix-ups with a vehicle for our family and by the time we realized that Make-A-Wish had not reserved a wheelchair van for our family it was too late and unfortunately there were none available. So a couple of days before our trip we got it worked out as best we all could. We ended up using a stow and go van that had seats that could fold down so that we could get the wheelchairs in. With the chairs folded down, that only gave us room for 5 people and thus the need for an additional car. So wherever we went as a family, we would take both vehicles and caravan to our destination. At first it was kind of a bummer, but it ended up working out fine. A couple of the nights John and the older boys wanted to stay at the park later and since we had two vehicles, I was able to go back to the village with Bryce and Annalise which worked out well.
So anyway, Thursday morning John grabbed a quick breakfast from the breakfast cart that goes around GKTW Village and headed off to the airport. While he was away, the kids and I checked out the village.
Our first stop was the Gingerbread House for breakfast. While we were there, they were doing some construction on/near this building so we went in the side door instead of the front. The new building that they were working on looks like it will be very nice. This place is great. They have volunteers who carry your tray to your table and get drinks and other items that you may need.
I was a little worried about what they may have for Spencer, but when we got there and I explained that he has Celiac Disease, the volunteer I was speaking with immediately got one of the head staff members there to help us out. She asked Spencer what he wanted and soon returned with pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausage, fruit, etc...all safe for a child with Celiac Disease.
Annalise loved the whipped cream and strawberries. Who needs a waffle when you can just have the toppings. The second morning we were there she discovered the chocolate doughnuts and had one every other morning that we were there. I would sneak bites of egg and fruit in to her between her bites of doughnut.
Since Bryce doesn't eat anything by mouth anymore, he usually entertained himself with the iPad while the rest of us ate. We would feed him either before or after we had our breakfast.
Our next stop was the Enchanted Carousel.
This carousel brought back some fantastic memories. This was Bryce's favorite thing when we were there 5 years ago for his wish. It was so fun to see him on it again.
We rode multiple times, Annalise choosing a different animal each time.
The older boys weren't thrilled about riding the carousel, but they were good sports and rode along with us.
Spencer and Bryce hanging out by the snoring tree. Old Elmer I think is his name.
Next we stopped at the Ice Cream Palace. Ice cream for breakfast is a must at GKTW.
We asked in the Ice Cream Palace about gluten free ice cream. We were told that they did not have any, but they had some popsicles that were safe. Later another lady came in and we found out that they did indeed have Celiac Safe ice cream. It was just kept in the back and the volunteer we had spoken to at first had not known about it. Spencer was very happy with that discovery.
Our days in Florida were so packed that there is just too much information and too many pictures to share in one post so I will continue with the rest of our day in another post. It sure felt great to be back at the village!
