After that, it was off to Pixar!
And here, we had one of the most special moments of our trip. It had nothing to do with being a Wish family, and everything to do with you guys, and the idea of Pixie Dust!
I had given each child some little trinkets that they could hand out to kids who looked like they needed a smile. Well, in the Pixar area, there were these two twin boys in a stroller, about 2 or 3, one of them screaming his lungs out. The Dad was trying to be patient, but looked stressed. Jackson pulled out two pirate sets -- an earring and eye patch -- and approached the Dad. He asked if it was okay to give the sets to the boys. Dad said sure, with a little hope in his eyes, I might add! Jackson gave them out, the screaming stopped. We walked away, both boys jabbering excitedly and trying to put on their earrings and Jackson heard the mom say to the dad, "Well, that saved the day!"
What a thrill! Better than a roller coaster!
After that, we went on Toy Story Mania. Too fun!
We wandered, going on other things, like the Great Movie Ride. Renna-Bear fell asleep.
I grabbed some shade and sat down with her, while the others did some Star Wars stuff. Jackson got his picture taken in Darth Sidius garb. (Sorry, don't have a scanner.) It was an expensive picture -
-- but we'd been fairly careful with our money. Good souvenir.
While I was sitting in the shade, a mother and daughter sat down near me. The daughter -- probably about 8 -- took great pains to save a ladybug that had landed on the seat. So of course I had to give her one of the little princess wands we had as fairy dust!
After the others got back, we swung by 50's Prime Time Cafe to see if they had any openings. Sure, about 2ish. Perfect for us! We noodled around for a bit, then went for our late lunch.
Marenna was awake by now, playing with her Daddy's hat. She had fun in the waiting area.
Our table was ready! We started off with onion rings, mostly because I'm mad about horseradish.
Lily and Renn got kids' meals which included chicken noodle soup. When we were in the hospital, one thing that Renna would eat with some consistency was canned chicken noodle soup. Can't believe she still loves it! The rest of us got either the pot pie or the pot roast. I had the roast -- it was delicious.
Then, it was time for Beauty and the Beast!
We had a good day, but were tired. We left in the late afternoon to get back to Give Kids the World. We wanted to go have some more fun there. (And Mom wanted to pack.)
So, Tom took the kids swimming while I began doing laundry, packing, etc. During this, I turned on the tv, which we hadn't really done all week. Turned on the news. Swine Flu!
And all of a sudden, it was just all too much for me. We had been in a place of total fun, a place where we felt truly safe. Safe from cancer, swine flu, safe from reality. I started boo-hooing.
This, I am so embarrassed about. But I include it, in case others have a similar experience. I went on a crying jag. I was calm about it, kept doing what I needed to do, but just couldn't turn off the faucets. My kids were a little concerned, but not unduly so. They've seen me cry quite a bit over the last three years.
Well, I don't recommend you waste your time with a crying jag as I did, but GKTW isn't the worst place for it. We had pizza in our room with a movie, and then they all went to the Ice Cream Palace for dessert, bringing me back a sundae. Mmm, wish I had one now. With full tummies, we went to bed so we could get up early and really enjoy our last day.