Karlyn’s Wish Is Coming True ***1st hair tutorial***

Welcome Back!!! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Our boys also received postcards from "Your Fairy Grandma" and I thought they were from you, too. I'm a little embarrased I hadn't had a chance to come and thank properly here. But if they were not sent by you, to whom do we attribute this sprinkling of pixie dust...??? May of our addresses have been shared with the DISBoutiquers...could it be one of them?

I hope you have time to start your trip report this weekend. I am heavily into the purging and packing up as the demolition stage of our renovation begins on Oct 1. I could use a pick me up!

It's really nice to have you back on the boards!

Alison


The post cards are from Linda. She got your addresses from me. I made her a chart that has all the wish trip kids names, their siblings and their favorite characters. I hope no one is upset with me for sharing the addresses with her. I just figured she wanted to do something nice. We also got three post cards from her and the kids loved them!!!
 
Well, here we go…rocketing off to another fun filled adventure. (For those of you who are old, you may remember that phrase from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle show!) We begin by leaving our houses at around 7:00 am after a long night of no sleep because of excitement and anticipation and head toward the airport. Of course, they are resurfacing the road in front of the airport so that puts a little crimp into the plans. Grandpa parked one car in the short-term parking and Aunt Anne came and picked it up later in the afternoon. Grandpa and Grandma Ziemski dropped Lindsey and Bryan and the kids off and we headed toward check-in with Delta.
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Because Grandpa Kelly is a platinum medallion flyer, they let us all check in together in the medallion line. All the agents were so kind and helped us get through really quickly. They also gave us all coupons for free headphones on the plane. This was a case of it’s the thought that counts because we already had plenty of headphones for everyone from all of Grandpa’s trips but we were thankful for the kindness anyway. It was the first of so many magical moments for us on this trip.

We headed for the gate and got lots of curious looks at the 10 people all wearing matching bright red Wish shirts. Thanks, Piper.

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We got to the gate and the kids played and colored and the big people just waited.

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Soon, it was time for us all to get on the plane. Again, because of Grandpa, they let us board in Zone 2.

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We found our seats and guess what, we waited some more. Grandpa kept asking the girls “Are we there yet?” They would both giggle and say “Not yet.”
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When the plane finally taxied to the runway, again we heard Grandpa say “Are we there yet?” “Not yet!” And then as the plane lifted off, in unison Gabby and Karlyn both looked out the window and in wondrous surprise said “WOW!!!” It was so cute that everyone around us just laughed. A typical flight, so-so movie, so-so snacks and some bumpy weather but with the coloring books, pencil rollups and lots of treats from home, things went great and 4 ½ short hours later---We were there!

After the first of what would become at least a thousand potty stops on this trip, we were on the magical monorail provided by the Orlando Airport.
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This was Karlyn's favorite type of transportation for the whole trip!

We got off and walked a little way passed the security gates and there was Ray, our fabulous GKTW greeter with a Karlyn Sign! Sorry we didn’t get a picture of Ray but he was just terrific!

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Ray helped us find our luggage, our rental cars and helped us load all the luggage into the cars. They had even made arrangements for booster seats for the girls. Yeah! Then he gave us the directions to GKTW, made sure we knew where we were going and had the phone number if we got lost and we were on our way. We also had Grandpa’s GPS to help with the don’t get lost part!

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More of day one later today! Sorry some of the pictures are a little blurry, some of us can't walk and chew gum at the same time let alone take pictures!

Denise
 

Great start! I took a break from "cleaning" (throwing out most of the toys) my boys' room and was so happy to see the start of your TR! I got teary eyed already :confused3 Loved the picture of the kids with Karlyn's special doggy (haha, I got to hold it) :rotfl: How early did Lindsey get up to do the girls' hair? They look gorgeous! I am so impressed. She needs to teach me how to do that with my girls hair! Can't wait to read more!
 
Terrific start to your trip report! Hooray! Just what I like to see when I take a break from cleaning out and packing up the house pre-renovation. I'll check back later and hope to hear more about Day 1.

But hey...I'm not feeling old, but I certainly remember watching Rocky & Bullwinkle when I was a kid! We watched on our teeny little black & white TV! And don't forget, it was on about the same time as Dudley Do-Right of the RCMP, because the Royal Canadian Mounted Police always get their man!

Oh dear. I have seriously dated myself. I'm having a moment. I remember one day when the boys were in the NICU and there was a new baby in our room (the NICU was set up as several rooms of 6 beds each rather than 1 massive room, very nice). Having given birth to my first children (twins, remember?) at age 37 (yup, do the math, they're turning 10 so I just turned 47!), I had seen many, many mothers younger than I was. I smiled to see that finally, there was a mother who seemed about my age...almost, as I overheard her say something like "I never thought I'd be going through this at 35." But then she was joined by another, much younger person. Yes, you've figured it out. I had been seeing Grandma (age 35), and her daughter had just given birth at age 17. How I felt for them. I knew how we were struggling with our emotions at age 37, with 9 years of marriage learning how to cope together and the financial security of working 15 years post-university. You could see they were shell-shocked, and I never did see a father in the picture. I just wanted to hug them both.

Right then. Another digression. Again!

I'll be reading!!!

Alison
 
LOVE IT!! Oh the girls' hair is amazing! Who did that? I have a girl and she would NEVER sit still long enough for that.

Keep it coming, can't wait to read more!!!
 
I love the start of your trip report. This is so much fun. I love reading a report where I know the people so well. I look forward to more. :)
 
Great start! I took a break from "cleaning" (throwing out most of the toys) my boys' room and was so happy to see the start of your TR! I got teary eyed already :confused3 Loved the picture of the kids with Karlyn's special doggy (haha, I got to hold it) :rotfl: How early did Lindsey get up to do the girls' hair? They look gorgeous! I am so impressed. She needs to teach me how to do that with my girls hair! Can't wait to read more!

We were up at about 530 but not to do hair. We got up early to make sure we had all of the last things packed. The thing that I love about the hair-do's on the girls is that you can do it the night before and it stays very nicely for days if you want. Gabbys bun does have to be smoothed out in the mornings but it makes life really easy. Bryan loves it because he gets the girls up and off to school in the morning and if I have done the girls hair the night before he does not have to do what we have now started to call the ''Hippy Pony" (a very low pony tail) that is the extent of his hair talent.
 
LOVE IT!! Oh the girls' hair is amazing! Who did that? I have a girl and she would NEVER sit still long enough for that.

Keep it coming, can't wait to read more!!!

I was lucky and trained my girls when they were very young and they will sit still to let me do just about anything. We have been known to make up hair styles as we go. The more elastics the better!
 
WOW! You all are off to a great start! The kids are soooo cute...love the hair! I have three daughters(the youngest one's name is Carlyn!), and they do not have tender heads, either! The two oldest ones(now in College...God, I'm old) were members of a dance team that competed often from the time they were toddlers, so they don't remember ever having hair in their faces! At 20 and 18, they can not stand to have their hair in their face...and the oldest one still comes home for me to do her hair for sorority/social events.

Can't wait for the rest!
 
Parts 2 and 3 of day one in just a few minutes. Grab your caffeine diet pepsi, your popcorn and get ready. It is coming!

Denise
 
Parts 2 and 3 of day one in just a few minutes. Grab your caffeine diet pepsi, your popcorn and get ready. It is coming!

Denise

Ok...Popcorn...Diet Dr. Pepper...TV on (till the report comes out...)...

Did I forget anything? Can't wait! :)
 
Foiled by those pesky time zones ones again! Well, hopefully your next instalment will be here when I get back tomorrow morning!

Looking forward to it,
Alison
 
We found GKTW with no problems, parked the cars, walked into the House of Hearts and the sky opened up and began to pour rain. We, of course, were perfectly prepared with ponchos and multiple umbrellas, all neatly packed in the cars! Lot of good that was going to do!

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Inside, we were greeted by the wonderful staff who immediately gave Karlyn a Mickey Mouse and Gabby and Brody each got a Shamu!

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The paper signing, basic information and we headed off to the Villa.

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By this time, the rain was still coming down and we had to sort the luggage out when we got to the villa because part was going to stay at GKTW and part need to go with the rest of us. We were allowed 31 total pieces of luggage including checked and carry on. No we didn’t use it all but we did come close!

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When we got inside the villa, it was really nice. There was plenty of space for the 5 of them and of course the girls really loved the bathtub in their bedroom. You do have to plan ahead to use that bathtub though because it takes quite a while to fill it up.

On the table was the beginning of a daily routine of surprises. We won’t tell everything but we will share the basics from that first day. There was a big bag on the table in the kitchen filled with toys, treats, playdoh, trading cards, a handmade welcome card, hand painted drawstring backpacks for each of the kids, tons of really fun treats.

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The fridge also had some treats in it as well.

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Karlyn just loved her bed! And the rocking chairs on the front porch were a really big hit with kids and adults.

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Soon it was time for Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Mandy and Uncle Jason to head off to find our home away from home.

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No, I am not angry, just tired.

Oops, forgot this picture of the kids heading to bed!
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