As for today, Peyton’s a big fat faker!! No new fevers, nothing happened with her blood culture, no symptoms or signs of ANYTHING! She just wanted to get away from the family for a couple of days, order room service and veg out….who can blame her?
Her counts are looking really good, she was a little dehydrated so she’s all full of fluids again, and she’s rested up. We’ll head home tomorrow since all she has is a great big case of Faker Syndrome.
Anyway….on with the vacation recap
Day 2 – Friday
Every morning they serve a Gi-normous breakfast, fresh made waffles every day (I seriously considered packing a whole suitcase of these to bring home because they were the BEST!) and we found out that Perkins restaurant donates all the food, the chef to cook it and takes care of every meal that is served at GKTW. They serve breakfast and dinner at the Gingerbread House every day, and the place is just bustling with volunteers from all over the place to help you get your food, to make sure you have everything you need, to clean up after you and to just make sure that your family is given every single thing you can think of. One morning the Fruit Loops were all gone and Peyton was just devastated…I’m pretty sure that if they could have cut off an arm and have Fruit Loops pour out, these volunteers would have. They were just awesome at every meal, taking care of all of us.
After we stuffed ourselves silly, as if it were the last meal we would eat for the week, we headed off to the Magic Kingdom. Now, we’ve been to the Magic Kingdom before…but never quite like this. GKTW gives you a special button to wear everywhere that announces that you are staying there, plus a card for the park that basically says “Hey, treat this special family with extra care!” At every ride and attraction we either got Fast-Passed directly onto the ride or we spent the least amount of time waiting humanly possible without inciting a riot. We breezed through the lines and took advantage of every possible privilege that special pass gave us, it was AWESOME!
Peyton loved the rides she got to go on, the characters (Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Belle, Sleeping Beauty….and the one that makes it all worth while, Cinderella) she got to see and the rest of us just breezed along for the ride. It was phenomenal to see her hesitate when meeting the characters and then suddenly light up when she couldn’t hide her glee any longer. The highlight of day 2 was definitely her meet and greet time with the princesses….I think it overwhelmed her a bit to see them up close and in person, bigger than life and talking to her, but she loved it afterwards.
It was a long and hot day in the park, but we also got the privilege of the GKTW lounge. It’s a special room set up for kids who are there on wish trips only, all comfy, air-conditioned, a private bathroom, drinks, a place where they can lay down and rest in comfort when the day gets too much for them. Peyton and I spent an hour there napping while Pete took Nathaniel and Rachael off to do the big kid rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Safari. After a little rest and recoup, Peyton was ready to roll for the rest of our Magic Kingdom time, we shopped and ate and had a ball.
We left the park in time to get back to GKTW for dinner and bathes, we missed the nightly party and we crashed early. It’s hard trying to juggle the GKTW schedule because if you stay in the village and enjoy all they have to offer then you miss out on time at the parks, or if you spend your day at the park, you get back too late and too tired to enjoy all the scheduled fun at the village. We did an even amount of park and village time and just feel like we got so much more out of it. It was worth it to give up park days to spend time with our friends and experience all that GKTW has to offer.
f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
–Anissa
As a jump ahead in the "what happened in Orlando" timeline, we did get sent to the Bucs training camp and made the news!! whooo hoooo
on Aug 4th, 2007 at 10:50 am
We owe it all to the stormtroopers of the 501st!
Peyton used to literally freak out when she would see the characters up close. Thunderbug from the Tampa Bay Lightning would cause her to literally climb up my body to get away from them. Same with the Devil Rays mascot. But when we had our fund raiser, the stormtroopers took her around the side of the building and showed them that they are just people underneath those masks.
It was awesome to see Peyton get over her initial fears and actually enjoy the characters up close and personal. At first she just wasn't sure about them, and would need either Anissa or myself to hold her hand and take her up there, but towards the end, we had a meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie and she threw her arms around both of them without hesitation. Had we not had an opportunity to help Peyton get over that fear, her dream trip would've been a mixed blessing and the pictures would've been from a LOT further away.
on Aug 4th, 2007 at 11:12 am
:TONGUE
them waffles wuz goooooooooooood!
the frozen waffles I served the kids this morning made me sad.