From Alaska to the World - MAW trip Jan. 2008

[Winnielover]

WOW ONLY 3 MORE DAYS TO GO!!!!!

We are all so excited for you. We KNOW you are all going to have a blast!!!

The Make A Wish send off party looked like tons of fun. Hopefully the start of what your upcoming days are going to be like, full of fun and surprises!

When we were there in November it often got could in the evenings and we would need sweaters. Long sleeve shirts would be great for the evenings also!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip when you return!

Bon Voyage!!!!

 

[Eeyore's Mom]

Jill I am so excited for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are great with the updates and pictures!

Thanks! I know it is going to be a magical trip and I appreciate all of your help in planning too!!

You might need the long sleeve shirts for at night. We got cold at night last January when we were there.

I kept several long sleeve shirts in and 2-3 sweatshirts for each of us- as long as it's above 45 we will be good- the kids swim in the lake when it's only 65 here in the summer! Not me

WOW ONLY 3 MORE DAYS TO GO!!!!!

We are all so excited for you. We KNOW you are all going to have a blast!!!

The Make A Wish send off party looked like tons of fun. Hopefully the start of what your upcoming days are going to be like, full of fun and surprises!

When we were there in November it often got could in the evenings and we would need sweaters. Long sleeve shirts would be great for the evenings also!

Looking forward to hearing about your trip when you return!

Bon Voyage!!!!

Thank you! The party was fun and really special for Marek. I will make sure I do a FULL report upon our return

 

[Eeyore's Mom]

WOW!!! I know it's almost down to hours before we go and I have the strangest feeling. I have been really calm, almost let down for the past week. I don't like feeling like this but I think there are several factors. 1. It's January in AK and I am very sun deprived and did suffer some seasonal affective depression disorder (SADD) last year and think that could be happening now (IT REALLY STINKS!) I have never had any depression in my life, not even with all of the crud we went through with Eeyore being sick but when you deprive the body of vitamin D from the sun it does crazy things. 2. It could be a girl thing (I'll say no more ) 3. I have been so excited for so long that now that's it really time I wonder if it will live up to my expectations. ????

I just need to finish packing and focus on the fact that we are all going on a FREE vacation and no matter what it is going to be great to get away for a week. Wow, I feel better just confessing that I am feeling down before the trip! Maybe that's all I needed

'So the kids are excited but also pretty laid back, just their nature. I think they understand that there is only 1 more night of sleep before we go but they are not asking a ton of questions.

We got our packet of information from Give Kids the World last night and that was fun. Started to bring back a little of the excitement so I think when we are on our way it will really hit us.

Thanks again for all of the well wishes of a great trip. I know in my heart it will be and maybe this is good to feel this way so that I will be more realistic about what to expect and will enjoy it even more!!

 

[DisneyPhD]

I take a 1000 extra mg of vitamin D during the winter and that helps a lot. With out it I have a constant head ache and am extremely grumpy!

But heck you are getting the real stuff in just a few days so hang in there.

Maybe you are just conserving energy until the big day.

Sending some magical wishes your way!

 

[ty&brenmom]

Love the shirts you have made. It won't be long now and you will be out of all this freezing weather. I to tend to get SADD either late Jan or Feb, I keep thinking this year I will buy some of those SADD lights and put them in my kitchen but haven't done it yet. Maybe if I can just imagine all the fun and excitement a fellow Alaskan is going to have in sunny florida it may help (if not I may have to hide away in a suitcase). Hope you are all doing well and you will have a great trip no matter what happens. Disney is the happiest place on earth, and in the very least it won't be 10 below and everywhere you look there is snow. As a side note we had the weirdest time getting used to the fact that it gets DARK at night, I mean DARK and early. Even though in the winter we are always in the dark, the snow keeps things lighter and then in the summer we never see dark, so to have it pitch black and eight, nine o clock at night was really weird to us anyway.

 

[Bill_Lin]

Nothing can cure S.A.D. like a trip to the sunshine state. You are about to have the time of your life. Just remember to go with the flow. Don't let the unexpected throw you for a loop. For every problem there will be a miracle that you do not expect. Live in the moment each moment. That is the best advice I can give.

Bill

 

[disneygirlinnj]

Can't wait to hear all about your trip when you get back! Hope you had an amazing time!

 

[LeeLee2U]

Thinking of ya'll, knowing this is your magical time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to hear all about your trip!!!

 

[Eeyore's Mom]

Hi!! We're back. It was great, there were ups and downs just like everyone has said but the kids LOVED it and the parents loved that the kids loved it . Here is a quick summary to be followed with much more details as time permits.
Our flights went off without a hitch and the kids did well on the planes, a big concern I had before the trip. It was a VERY long flight but it was fine. The kids LOVED Give Kids the World. I on the other hand was overwhelmed (not in a good way) with the attention from all of the volunteers. While I appreciated the generousity and kindness of most everyone, I just found it really hard to have so many people watching over us while we ate and not being able to do things on my own. While most would appreciate that, for me it was out of my comfort zone. I can not say anything bad about GKTW because they really do think of everything and like I said the kids LOVED it, it was just me.
We went to all 4 disney parks, 1 day at universal, 1 day at Seaworld and 2 days at GKTW (1 we mostly slept). We hit downtown disney and even made it to the outlets. Having my brother and SIL there was a blast and never did it pose a problem- just a lot of fun! They stayed with another couple who were also a lot of fun and became our personal photographers the whole trip! Matt (brothers friend) was a photopass photographer at Epcot and really enjoys photography- I don't know how many pictures he took but I know it was 100's. I loved that because I do not like taking pictures but love having them. I haven't seen them yet but they will be mailing us a disk soon and then will share some here too.
We are exhausted and completly messed up with our sleep pattern- boys were up at 4:30am today . I started to unpack yesterday but need to finish today and then will get back with some details.

 

[Violet Crayon]

Yay! I can't wait to read and see all about the trip.

 

[LeeLee2U]

You're back!!!!!!!!! It's so hard to explain how it can be very overwhelming yet so awesome at the same time.
I was just on another report (MrMustards) and the boys saw the pics and are now reliving their trip. Remember when we rode.... and remember when Cap. Jack..... I love it!!!
Can't wait to show them the pics of another WISH familiy. Those are always so special!!!

Yeah for the pics. I love pics also, but unfortunatly didn't get as many as I would have liked. Those we got we got tons of the same place, pose etc... But I would have liked 1 of everything we did and it was just too hard to keep up. Especially once B learned how to undo his brakes and started rolling everywhere!!

Anyway glad your back safe and sound. Can't wait for your reports!!!!!!!!!

 

[ty&brenmom]

Glad to hear that you had a good trip. I always have a harder time with the time change when we get home.
Wished you could have brought up some warmth with you, hope you are adjusting to the below zero temps.
Can't wait to see pics

 

[disneygirlinnj]

Glad you had a great trip!! Can't wait to hear alllllll about it!

 

[don8life]

OMG Eyores mom!
I just read your first couple of posts haven't had time to read more. My daughter was born with liver and kidney problem, had a liver transplant at 10 months old. And now has a new liver disease totally unrelated to the first. Would your son's new liver disease happen to be AIH, my daughter's is.

Do you have a website for your son.

My daughter's is
www.caringbridge.org/nj/erin

Kids have lots of things tonight. I have to run.

Irene

 

[don8life]

Oh Jill,
it's you! Ha ha. It's Irene from Liverfamilies/Class.
My gosh does Marek have AIH?
I'm still reading about your trip. We are going on a cruise next year. It's what Erin wants. I hate boats. i figure I can medicate myself.

 

[miabellarose]

Hi
I hope you finish your TR. You've left me hanging.

 

[Bill_Lin]

I am waiting, along with everyone else, to read all about your trip.

Hey LeeLee, do you have MrMustard's Trip Report link?

Bill

 

[FSUDisneyGirl]

I just read the beginning of your tr too, and I hope you finish!!

 

[Eeyore's Mom]

OK- so it didn't really take me 6 months to do all of the laundry and get caught up I won't make excuses but just glad to be back here and share our trip. I kept a detailed journal of the trip and will rely in that for the little things I would have forgotten by now .

Day 1 - The flight

We had planned to leave our home with plenty of time to arrive and have a stressfree check-in. Well, my DH was STILL packing when I had all 3 boys and myself packed and in the car waiting! He finally came out with what should have been plenty of time, EXCEPT... we stopped at the neighbors to leave our key. They have a very curvy driveway and my DH backed right off the edge and into a huge bank of snow. I didn't go into immediate panic, I just reminded myself that the Anchorage airport is not that big and hopefully check-in will go very quickly. Again, fate was on our side because our neighbor has a large truck with a winch on it and had us out of the ditch within about 10 minutes. I was so ready to leave the cold temps and snow banks behind!!

Check-in was a breeze and we really did have plenty of time before we boarded.

We had an afternoon flight down to Seattle and the kids were so excited to be on their way to Florida that they were pretty easy to keep content for the 3 1/2 hr flight. We didn't recieve any special attention on the flight and was glad I hadn't told Marek to expect anything so he wasn't dissapointed but everyone was very nice and the flight went well.

We had dinner during our short layover and we found it challenging to find something for Marek because of his many food allergies. I knew this would be difficult but still thought we would make due. He ended up having a banana from the Starbucks counter, chips and a pop to drink. Not really a meal but he didn't mind since he doesn't eat much anyways I knew then that I would have to really plan better and be sure I had some snacks on hand. The rest of us were sort of clueless about what we wanted and I think a bit overwhelmed to find so many choices when we are pretty use to living far enough out that we rarely go to dinner. We finally each found something that would work and although it wasn't memorable it was still just fine.

Our 2nd leg of the trip was almost 6 hours and didn't leave until about 10pm. It was my hope that the kids would sleep on this overnight flight and be a little rested when we arrived in ORD. Well, it didn't actually work that way but they also weren't misbehaved and there was some cat napping going on, so all in all it worked out well.

We arrived in ORD a little early and our Give Kids the World Greeter was no where to be found. We went ahead and gathered our luggage and just as a began to grow concerned we saw this very nice man, Ron, holding a GKTW sign with Marek's name on it. Marek was so thrilled!!!

We were exhausted by this time and very glad to have someone to help us find our rental car and assist us in getting checked in with that. Ron provided excellent directions and we were off to GKTW.

 

[Eeyore's Mom]

Day 1 really blended into day 2 but I will divide it at this point.

As soon as we arrived at GKTW my DH and I agreed that I would take Marek in and do the check-in and the other 2 boys would stay in the car until we knew what the plan was. Well, my youngest, Scotty, decided he was coming with me, only I didn't know it and my DH thought I did. So I went into a busy lobby where many families were doing the check-out process and began the check-in process when my dh and oldest son approached me and asked where Scotty was. What!! He is with you!! I only have Marek. Ugh.... so then the panicked search began. It felt like an eternity but within about 3 minutes he was located by the putt-putt golf course and was confused why we were so worried. He had seen all of this on video at home and felt like he knew the place!! We returned to the check-in process where the kids each recieved their t-shirts and Marek got a special Mickey Mouse. The other 2 boys also recieved a small stuffed animal but I was so busy I didn't even know they were already getting gifts!
It happened that a new orientation was starting in a few minutes and if I could keep my eyes opened long enough then we could recieve all of our information, tickets etc. so agreed to do my best while the rest of the family went and settled into the villa. I think I was pretty much on auto-pilot at this point but it was fine because I already new almost all of the information for the disboards!!
My one regret was that founder of GKTW, Henry W., was coming in for a board meeting and if I would have stayed a few minutes longer I could have met him. I was so tired though I didn't take the time. I now wish I had, especially after reading his autobiography and understanding what a wonderful man he is. Instead I headed over to our Villa and was very impressed with what I saw. We were right near the small park where they offer pony rides a few days a week and it was so quiet and pleasent. The villa was very nice and I was impressed with the generous size. The kids had already raided the welcome basket full of goodies and where in bliss when I arrived. It didn't take much convincing that if everyone would take a short nap we could then get up, have lunch and do some exploring.
I think we were all asleep within 5 minutes!! Did we get up to enjoy the day or did we pass out and sleep it away.... stay tuned!!