Day 1 Universal

We started our first morning with a walk around the Village. Since we had gotten in so late the night before, we didn't really get to see everything. The girls were so excited! We decided to take our time since it was the first day and we wanted to explore the Village, get unpacked, and meet up with Gigi and Grandude. We were so happy for them to be able to join us for our trip!

After some breakfast at the ice cream shop, we went to see Mickey Mouse who happened to be the character of the morning that was visiting the Village. Savannah was so excited to see him, but Skylar started crying immediately. We waited around for a few minutes to see if she would calm down, but she wasn't having it. So, she and Tyler went outside while Savannah got her picture made with Mickey. Skylar was still sad outside until they ran into Belle! She cheered right up. She was such a sweet Belle. After Gigi and Grandude arrived we spent some time on the playground. Savannah could have probably been perfectly happy to stay there all week. She is such a monkey and loves playgrounds. She can climb anything- even in Crocs.

 

Our whole plan to take it easy/rest and then head to Universal after naps kind of back fired. Skylar ended up throwing up (no reason, she just does sometimes) and having no nap and we chose the hottest time of day on the hottest day of our trip to head to our first amusement park. Yikes! It was so hot! It's October!? We had a couple rough few hours where I think Skylar was just so hot and so tired, but amazingly, we ended up having a blast. We found a really fun tree house type play area (Camp Jurassic) with fountains that the girls ended up loving.



Hot Skylar!



The girls playing in the fountain was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. They were running around and giggling and just genuinely having the best time! I didn't anticpate for them to get soaking wet while we were there, but it happened! They ended up riding home in just diapers. That's a fun day!

Look at this happy sweet face! Priceless..

Having a ball..

A fun end to our first day!

On our way to FL!

We started our trip with a limo ride to the airport! Of course the girls couldn't really appreciate how cool that was, but they thought it was really fun to "play" in the car and get to ride next to us. It was awesome! We didn't leave until late afternoon which made for a looonngg night. I thought we were never going to get there. Even though we had a nonstop, which is so nice...for some reason a 5 hr span felt like we had been traveling for 24 hrs. We were met at the airport by a Give Kids the World Village greeter and we made it to our Villa about 10:00! The girls had a second dinner and a bath and got in the bed about 11:30. And then we were up and at them early the next day ready to start our whirlwind trip!

Just arriving at our Villa! 

Make a Wish Trip

We are home from our MAW trip! It was such an amazing experience. I can't even begin to express our gratitude to all the agencies and volunteers that helped make it such a special trip. Skylar and Savannah had an absolute ball and got treated like princesses all week! We definitely had our challenges that come with traveling with a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old with special needs, but it was so worth all the effort in the end. I am completely fine with not making another Disney trip anytime soon :), but so excited they got to experience all the fun things they got to experience!

The amazing place where we stayed is called Give Kids the World Village. They host Wish children and their families from all over the world and from all kinds of Wish granting agencies. It is by far one of the most special places I have ever been. It is almost completely staffed and run by volunteers. Volunteers that not only give their time, but that are passionate about these special kids and what they go through on a regular basis. Their goal is to help these kids have the best week of their lives- and they really do!

Every morning and evening there were fun events in the Village and visits from Disney/Universal characters. They had horse back riding, a Christmas party, a Halloween party, a Pirates & Princesses party, a salon, and a train and carousel you could ride all day! They also had an ice cream shop where you could have all the ice cream you want all day long. There was a main dining room where we could eat, or we could order food to our Villa delivered by golf cart. So cool! Skylar's favorite part of the trip was probably just walking around the Village and saying Hi to everyone and checking everything out. She did a ton of walking and exploring!
In addition to getting to stay at the Village, we were given tickets to Disney, Universal, and Sea World. And we packed everything in! It was a non stop whirlwind of fun and activities..
Here are some pictures from the Village... Love love this place!!

The main dining room- The Gingerbread House

The train station and Village 'main street' 

Ice cream shop

Our Villa we called home for the week..

Fully accessible Candyland themed playground across the street from our Villa

Carousel 

Beautiful pool and Splash Pad


Disney Bound!

We leave tomorrow on our Make a Wish trip to Disney! 

 Tiaras and tennis shoes are packed and ready... 

 So excited for this fun filled week!

Trying on her Minnie headband...and checking herself out in the mirror :)

Disney on Ice! (Well, not exactly...)

We had a great visit with Mimi last weekend! We had been talking about taking the girls to see Disney on Ice (Rockin Ever After), but when Mimi decided to come for a spur of the moment visit- it sealed the deal and we thought it would be even more fun with a grandma in town! We also thought it would be great practice for our Disney trip in 3 weeks! Savannah was a little grumpy to start the day, but Skylar was SO excited to be going. She was so excited all morning and all the way downtown to the coliseum she could barely contain herself. We got there in plenty of time to pick up our tickets and play outside for a minute. It was a beautiful day! We got to our seats and were still doing good. Then the show started! This is how it went from there: The first dancers came out and Skylar started kindof whining/getting upset. I put her in my lap because I thought she couldn't see. She started crying. I got a snack from Mimi because I thought maybe that would help. I barely got her pretzels open, and an adorable Mickey and Minnie (but apparently horrifying) came out on the ice and Skylar lost it. All of that took Maybe two minutes. So, I took her out into the hall crying so she could calm down for a minute. We stayed out about 10 minutes and she was so sad and crying the whole time. Tyler came to check on us, and we decided to just leave and wait in the car for everyone else to get out. :( As soon as we got back outside she calmed down. I turned the wrong direction when I got out of the coliseum and walked alll the way around it and back to our car while carrying this sweet 35 pounder whose stroller was still inside. Bummer! I was just going to drive around and get coffee or something while Savannah, Mimi, and Ty finished the show- and I got a call about 20 minutes later that Savannah was over it too and we just went back and picked them up. So much for Disney on Ice lol! They did at least get to see Ariel and a little bit of Rapunzel. I have no idea why Skylar got so upset, but I really hope she isn't scared at Disney and that she can enjoy seeing all the characters. Maybe it was just the dark and the loud music?? The good news is that we have stopped having any expectations of how things are going to go, and even though it is disappointing, it is not a shock when something doesn't go exactly like we had hoped. We will try again another year! They did look super cute in their princess shirts though!