Catch up!

A little catch up post on what we have been up to besides our super awesome wish trip since our last blog post in February!

 - No hospital visits since the stay in March just before our wish trip!

 

- We celebrated Easter in Sechelt

 

- We got another 'stable' MRI results for Stefan on April 28th! 

- Nathan is practicing to be an actor (who does his own stunts).  Here he is pretending to fall down the stairs (no one was hurt in the filming of this video). 

- Charlotte had her LAST lumbar puncture on May 12th!

 - Charlotte turned 5 and we had an actual birthday party!  I might have gone a little overboard, but totally rationalize it with the fact that her last two were at home with family!  She wanted Angry Birds theme and that's what she got.  It helped that she received a super awesome cake from Jennifer Fedje of Harmony Cakes.  We were matched up through Icing Smiles, a great charity!

Jennifer giving Charlotte her 'dream cake'!

- The weekend after her party, Charlotte was a model in Show of Styles, Kids with Smiles.  A fundraiser for Children's hospital that features kids from the hospital.  I really wasn't sure how Charlotte would do, but she thrived, and I think she was pretty proud of herself!

- Charlotte had her intro to Kindergarten, and is getting excited to start school (assuming the strike will be over in September :( )

 - Stefan participated in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, on a tandem bike with fellow survivor Mike.  It was their first time ever on a tandem, and they did 245 km in two days....in the rain.  Crazy kids.  Stefan had the better deal, being in the back with the lovely rain shield Mike.  Way to go boys!

Amazing Team Nothing Butt Class!

Who here loves Daddy?  We do!

- We are looking forward to summer!  Charlotte's last chemo pill will be July 20th - counting down the days!

Wish Trip Day 6/7

Day 6
Our last day!  While we still had one more pass for Disney World, we were feeling pretty tired and content.  We decided to spend the morning at the village, and see how we felt in the afternoon.

We had breakfast at the Gingerbread House, and headed to the Amberville Train Station to play with the remote control boats and games.  Nathan and I rode the train 4 times, and he had one more ride with Daddy.  We explored Mayor Claytons house too!  Stopped into the GKTW gift shop for a few things before we all hit the pool.

The train - Nathan's favourite!

Charlotte loved driving the boats!

inside Mayor Clayton's house

After the pool, we decided we would head to Downtown Disney for lunch and a couple last souvenirs.  We ended up at the Dino Cafe, which is the same concept as Rainforest Cafe except with Dinosaurs.  Kids loved it of course and ate well.  We went to the Magic of Disney (World's largest collection of Disney items).  Kids picked out their last souvenirs and then we stopped at the outlets on the way home since Nathan fell asleep in the car.  Stefan got a couple pairs of running shoes and I grabbed a sweater.  We headed home for a quick bite to eat before heading to the Pirate and Princess Party.  Kids had a blast at the party - a great ending to a fantastic trip!  We went back to our Villa for Ms. Merry to tuck the kids into bed.

Day 7
We were up at 4am Florida time to head to the airport for our 7:30 flight.  Dropping of the rental car (no charge, even on an empty tank!) was a piece of cake.  Flight 1, 2.5 hours to Dallas was a breeze as both kids fell asleep.  We had just enough time in the airport to grab a coffee and snack before boarding flight 2 home.  Just over 4 hours.  Nathan was still very tired, and had MANY moments of screaming/crying.  The seat belt sign was on pretty much the entire trip which meant I was trying to keep him seated.  It was painful, and I was traumatized from being the one on the plane with the screaming child for quite a while after our trip.  Everyone around us was very patient, but I felt bad for the people in front of us, as Nathan kicked the seats a lot.  We were pretty happy to be home, and everyone had a very good sleep!

We are so very thankful to Make-a-Wish for this once in a lifetime trip!  And to the amazing Give Kids the World Village for the unforgettable stay!

Wish Trip Day 5

Today was the day my allergies hit me full on.  I woke terrified I was sick, and realized by late morning that it was allergies.  With how well our trip to Universal studios was the day before, we decided we would try it again.  We awoke around 8:45 and went to the Gingerbread house for breakfast.  Met with Pluto and Belle and then played with the remote control boats for a while.  We got lunch to go from Katie's Kitchen, and ate in the car on our way to Universal Studios.  We only spent about 3 hours in the park, but that was more then enough time to do the following:
- meet Dora and friends
- meet the gang from Dispicable Me
- meet Spongebob and friends
- meet Bart Simpson
- Watch the Shrek 4-D show
- Kids both had a nap, and Stefan rode the Transformers 3D ride

We headed back to our villa for a little rest before going to the Gingerbread House for Dinner, and attending the Village Christmas Party.  They really go over the top with the Christmas party.  They had a little parade, we met Santa, the kids got to pick out a toy, and there was a little dance party complete with snow.  And of course, like every night, we finished off the day with ice cream.

Wish Trip Day 4

This was Stefan and I's favourite day!  We were up around 8:30 and had breakfast at the Gingerbread House.  Then we headed off to Universal Studios to check out Islands of Adventure.

hash browns and bacon

waffles with strawberries

We hit Dr. Seussville first and did a few rides.  Thanks to the 'Gold Pass', we were actually walked to the ride each time - no lines!  Not even an express pass line! 

 

 We then went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter next for me - this was my only 'to do' item.  We had our butter beer - yum!  The place was crazy!  We just did one ride, but I'm sure it was the best, the Harry Potter Hogwarts 3D ride...there was a 90 minute line, but again, we got to go straight to the ride!  They have a child-swap room so that one parent can sit with the kids while the other rides, and then switch - so that's what we did (it wasn't a ride for little kids).  Loved the ride - I was a happy camper!

I didn't take many pictures of Wizarding world....

Nathan fell asleep at this point.  We grabbed some french fries for Charlotte and headed over to the Marvel Comics area.  Again, Stefan and I took turns on the SpiderMan 3D ride.  Nathan woke up in time to meet SpiderMan (who told Charlotte she was 'Amazing' and gave her an autograph!).  We also met Storm and Rogue for pictures.  Nathan LOVED SpiderMan -and picked out a spiderman cup for a souvenir!

 

We loved Universal Studios!  It was EASY to get in and out of the park, making a 3-5 hour day possible!  The 'gold pass' was awesome!  Getting walked to the ride each time.  Also - the characters spent extra time with Charlotte, and she was walked to the front of each line to meet any Character!  We really felt like Royalty!

After Universal, we went to the Medieval Knights Dinner. 

I would survey the family everyday about their 'favorites', and did this on our way to dinner.  Charlotte: "The cat in the hat ride".  Nathan: "apple" (he was eating an apple at the time).  Stefan: "Spider man ride".  Me: "Harry Potter"!

They have a deal with GKTW Village for the wish child to get in free, and us half price.  It was very neat!  The kids loved it, and ate really well.  Charlotte ate almost a half chicken all herself!  After dinner, we went back to the Village and Charlotte discovered the remote control boats in the Amberville Train Station!  It was a pretty perfect day!

Charlotte chowing down on her half chicken!  She also enjoyed the tomato soup (a first, but drinking out of the bowl I guess had an appeal)

Nathan was free, so he went on a lap!  They were both so great for the whole dinner - the horses entertained them well!