Miss B's Magical Wish Trip Adventure to Atlantica

[cogero]

We love Akerhaus. It is one of the meals we do every trip. My DD loves this meal even at 9.

 

[mnmrmustard]

Congrats on getting the Askerhaus rese, I hope Ariel is there for her!

As far as getting the hotel or getting up earlier and taking transportation, either way you will all find it impossible to sleep. At least this way you'll all be not sleeping in your own comfy beds instead of a strange one

Fantastic countdown calendar - I know she'll love it

 

[mom2pixies]

Congrats on getting the Askerhaus rese, I hope Ariel is there for her!

As far as getting the hotel or getting up earlier and taking transportation, either way you will all find it impossible to sleep. At least this way you'll all be not sleeping in your own comfy beds instead of a strange one

Fantastic countdown calendar - I know she'll love it

LOL!!! True that! I will probably be too excited to sleep all week.....

 

[mom2pixies]

We love Akerhaus. It is one of the meals we do every trip. My DD loves this meal even at 9.

My husband is really looking forward to it, too--not so much the princesses, but the Nordic fare. He really likes trying new cuisines, so he'll get a kick out of trying some Norwegian dish.

 

[mom2pixies]

Planning mode is definitely underway. We have two dining reservations booked (one lunch and one dinner), as well as a trip to BBB first-thing in the AM. I've already found a fairy godmailer for the girls (and found myself two little girls to fairy godmail in return! I hope to get a few more closer to our trip! As you can see in an earlier post, I already have a countdown calendar (courtesy of brookerene!) ready to go!

And, I've had some beautiful DISign invitations and welcome letters prepared for Brooke and Avery. The girls will both receive the invitations from the princesses for the dining reservations, while Brooke will receive a welcome letter from Ariel, as well as an invitation for her BBB transformation. I've even got a cute little invitation made for Avery to get her Harmony First Haircut! (I wonder, do I need to make a reservation for that? I was thinking we'd just walk in whenever we had time and see if they are available. If not, no biggee!)

I've started squirreling away things for the trip as I come across them--a new Sharpie for autographs, my waterproof beach bag, a sheet of temporary princess tattoos, the Magical Beginnings printable guidbook....

My head is swimming with lists--things to pack, things to purchase, things to do before going away, must-dos for the parks, tips to remember, neat things to discover while in Disney World, questions to ask on the Disboards....

I really am grateful to have found these boards. It has been a huge help in planning our trip. I'm a planning fanatic and the last time we went to Disney (it was pre-kids), Hubby and I were clueless. We were just overwhelmed when we got there. What attraction to see first? Which direction to go in? Where do we start? When are the parades and firework shows? Should we browse the shops now or later?

I wish I had known just a quarter of the things I do now and we would have been able to do so much more in our short time-frame.

So---another question. We have two princess meals planned. Any other restaurant recommendations for a lunch? I'm thinking of something that is fun and thematic, but not necessarily a character meal? I've read about Cosmic Ray's, Pizza Palace, Sci-Fi Drive-in and the 1950's dining room restaurants--and they all sound wonderful, but I'm just looking for some concrete recommendations. Something reasonably priced and younger-kid friendly, but a place that we adults would still have a great time and some great food.

 

[cogero]

We love eating in Italy, Mexico and Hollywood and Vine.

We have also eaten in France and The yachtsman all with our kids. We have been taking Ds since he was 8 months old. We try to eat dinners a t the first seating.

Ds is on the autism spectrum and disney is great at accommodating him

 

[tzeitel]

The Polynesian has a great theme and good restaurants. Ohana is family-style and has a little show, kids get to get up and dance

Yak & Yeti at the AK is a good place to go for lunch - get out of the sun, take a break and enjoy the A/C. AK can get pretty hot around lunch time.

I love Sci-Fi but it might be kinda dark for your girls. We did the Mama Melrose Fantasmic package and really enjoyed it - the food and the not having to reserve a seat hours in advance. We went in Oct and while it was not super crowded the show was still pretty full.

Disney has awesome bakeries! The bakery in France is a great place to grab a quick lunch, snack or dessert , same with the one on Main St at MK and Starring Rolls at DHS. My favorite one is the bakery at the Boardwalk - yummy cupcakes!

Oh, another thing the girls might like is Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club. Cute place with good counter food and awesome ice cream!

You might want to have a day (or half a day) set aside for shopping (or window-shopping) at Downtown Disney. They also have good restaurants and some even have take-out, yummy food but cheaper (looking at you Wolfgang Puck!). Earl of Sandwich is my favorite place for sandwiches

I would say not to worry about booking too much since Sept is low season but you might be going while free dining is being offered - I am not sure what those dates are off the top of my head

Even if you can't book more than what you already have don't worry - there are so many places to eat at in the parks and hotels you will not go hungry

 

[mom2pixies]

Thanks for the restaurant suggestions--I've heard good things about the bakeries, too! Will definitely have to stop in one and check out the goodies. Mmmmmm....Mickey-shaped goodies....

 

[mommy2mrb]

Robin, for the BBB appt are you getting there before the park opens???

when we went in 08, we had the early appt for it....I took Megan's invitation up to the CM at the gates and asked him to present it to Princess Megan, so if you are there early, you might want to try that to add to the surprise!!

 

[mom2pixies]

Robin, for the BBB appt are you getting there before the park opens???

when we went in 08, we had the early appt for it....I took Megan's invitation up to the CM at the gates and asked him to present it to Princess Megan, so if you are there early, you might want to try that to add to the surprise!!

What a great idea!! Yes, her BBB makeover is for 9:00 a.m., so we will have to be there for pre 'rope drop' to be there on time, which is great since we'll get a few minutes to relish in the Kingdom without the crowds.

That's a really wonderful idea about getting the CM to give it to her. Love it!

 

[mom2pixies]

Been awhile since I posted up some new pics of the girls. Just thought I would share some now that I finally had a chance to sit down and download the camera.

Avie has started walking on her own (really walking, not holding onto anything and going for long distances, not just a few steps!) in the last week. So, as you can imagine, toys and hats and cheerio trails are strewn all over the house! We love it.

She's also become obsessed with hats. It's her new favourite word and she will sometimes put on two at a time. She'll also go over to the basket by the front door where I keep all of the sun hats and rifle through it, pulling out a handful and then trying them on and wandering around the house with them on. She's kooky--and we adore her.

Brooke has really been showing herself to have a very creative streak lately. She's always loved artwork, but it amazes me how well the child draws and colours. She's very artistic, but lately, she just spends hours with her markers and colouring books.

At three, she can already print her name (and amazingly, almost all of the correct spellings of Avery, Robin, Dylan, Grace and Hunter--those final three are the names of her cousins), and she draws people with actual facial features--not just blobs with legs, but eyelashes, long hair and dresses and pacificers in the mouth (when drawing babies). She draws mermaid tails, fairies with wings and rainbows with raindrops beneath them. She draws blue fluffy clouds and tulips with little round leaves attached to the stems and birds with intricate little beaks and feet. It's all so colourful and beautiful! We've been hanging up her artwork all over the house--and she's made a few drawings and cards for twin cousins' (Dylan and Grace) fifth birthday party this weekend.

Speaking of the twins--their actual birthday is June 16th--the same day that Brooke was diagnosed with Wilms' Tumour, so it is hard for me to separate the twins' birthday from the anniversary. If you remember Brooke's story, you'll remember that we were on our way to buy party hats for the birthday bbq at our house that weekend when we received the call from the hospital about a last-minute ultrasound opening.

June 16th will be an emotional day for us, especially this year since it will be the first anniversary of her diagnosis, but it will be a good day! We'll be celebrating life--and how Brooke's was saved that day when we found that tumour.

It's been one helluva a year--but that year is behind us. She's a 'cancer graduate' now. (I've stolen that term from a magazine article I read. Cancer patients aren't actually 'cancer survivors' until they reach five years. So, the author called herself a 'cancer graduate' instead. I like it, so I've adopted it.) She is healthy, happy---and going to Disney!!

 

[mommy2mrb]

love the new photos of the girls! they both have such beautiful, expressive eyes!

Happy Cancer Graduation to Brooke, will be saying a special prayer for her on the 16th! we will be out of town then for Megan's 5th grade camp for a couple days next week.

 

[mom2pixies]

Tomorrow is going to be busy! In addition to the twins' fifth birthday tomorrow evening, we also have our newly established Make-a-Wish (MAW) branch's inaugural event in the afternoon: The Teddy Bear Picnic.

I have been helping the event co-ordinator, Jacquie, for a few weeks now. I've been helping her with advertising--I put some posters up at a few local businesses and contacted several websites to post up announcements to the event.

Now, tomorrow, I will be volunteering at the 'Wellness Clinic.' The event has two parts to it: the first part is picnic games and refreshments for the kids and their teddies, while their parents and community learn more about MAW. The second part is a clinic tent for the teddy bears. Kids register their bears, then go to various activity stations to have their teddies 'checked' out. After each medical test, the kids receive a sticker and then, when they are done, they are handed an 'annual check-up' certificate, signed by the Chief of Bear-iatrics (me!). Cute, huh? Should be a lot of fun.

I'll be going over a little earlier to help set up the event, but Pas and the girls will join me a little later so they can have fun at the 'teddy bear festibal' as Brooke calls it. She's already picked out two hand-knitted teddies to bring. These adorable little critters were knitted by a volunteer and given to the surgery prep ward at CHEO. Brooke received the first one just before she went in to get her kidney and tumour removed and she received the second one when she went in to have her port removed. She calls them 'Brother' and 'Sister' and says they are twins. Although she doesn't really cuddle the little bears, they do have a special spot on her bed, watching over her as she sleeps.

I really thought she would bring her little comfort bunny blankets (she has two of these faded little things that she sleeps with religiously--has been attached to these bunnies since the age of six months) instead, but she explained to me that it was a 'teddy bear festibal, Mommy--it's not for bunnies!' I laughed. She has a point, I guess! Besides, seems fitting and rather poignant that she is bringing her CHEO bears.

Anyways, Jacquie mentioned that there will be several media outlets there and she asked if we would mind if we shared Brooke's story with them should they want to feature a kid. We said sure, no problem. At first, I was thinking--cool, Brooke will be in the local paper! But, then I realized that it would probably mean that Pas or I have to be interviewed for the paper! Ugh!

As it is, Brooke's photo and story will appear in the brochure Jacquie has created to thank the donor companies. She has also used Brooke in some of the posters she will be hanging up on site tomorrow. Since the MAW branch is so new, there really isn't that many wish kids from the region yet, which is why I suspect they are using Brooke as their little 'spokesperson' for now. Even though she is having her wish granted by the Ottawa office, she still qualifies as a local kid, I guess. I imagine she would have had her wish granted by this chapter had it existed at the time of referral.

Wish us luck! Brooke is a little ham, so I'm not worried about her--and Avie is sweetness on chubby sticks so she'll be great, but I'm worried Pas and I will be tongue-tied and useless should we be interviewed tomorrow!

More tomorrow.....

 

[mom2pixies]

The Teddy Bear Picnic was a success! We had around 45 to 50 children come out for the first-ever Make-a-Wish event. It's a small town and this event wasn't much advertised as the organization is still pretty new in town (it doesn't even have it's own office space yet, much less a webpage or a Facebook account!). And, the kids had fun!

I finally got to meet the organizer, Jacquie (we had been communicating via e-mail for weeks now), and she gave me a huge hug. She was so happy we had come to participate in the event! I also met the Executive Director of our chapter, which was great. He sat down and chatted me up for a few minutes. He told me that Brooke was quite famous at the office and that she had captured everyone's heart--they couldn't wait to meet her.

He also told me that 'they' (Anne and Laura, our wish grantors) had a few surprises in store for us, but that he didn't want to ruin them for us, so he would only tell me that our family would be invited to the Three Wishes Gala in the fall. Exciting!

Anyways, glad we went because Jacquie had kind of made Brooke the 'unofficial' guest of honour. She had posters set up inside the venue with information brochures. There were photos of Brooke on the posters, as well as a photo of Brooke and her back story in one of the brochures.

Some media came out for the day, and we did an interview with our cable TV station. Yikes! That was scary--I knew it was coming, but I was totally unprepared for TV. I just kept rambling without saying anything really. And, I had to be prompted as to why Brooke was a wish kid. Forgot to mention she had had cancer! Idiot!!

Then, I go and say 'and we're going to Disney!'--right with Brooke beside me. I completely ruined the reveal surprise! What a slap-head moment! Luckily, B was so distracted by a balloon animal fluttering in the wind beside her that she didn't pay much attention to the interview. Afterwards, after grilling her about her wish, I determined that she didn't quite get it and hadn't yet figured out we were going. Hope so!!

After the event, Jacquie asked us to help cut the cake. So, the cameras taped that too. It was a beautiful cake--and delicious to boot!

It really was a special day for her. But, on top of that--it was fun. The kids took their teddies around to different stations to get their hearts, reflexes and eyes checked out. The 'nurses' looked for 'bear' spots, gave out shots, took temperatures, listened with stethoscopes and then handed out prescriptions for 'hugs' or 'kisses.' The kids were dispensed with 'pills' (jelly beans) and bears that needed more urgent care were stitched up by some teenage girls with some great needlework skills.

Elsewhere, the volunteers had set up some lawn games, a colouring table, a reading nook, while a stiltwalker and a balloon artist wandered around. Kids received free balloons, ribbons for games, stickers, cookies and juice and everyone just enjoyed the sunshine for as long as it lasted.

A great first event, I think!

Anyways, the TV interview will air on Thursday and should be made available online. If I can find it, I'll post up a link and you can all watch me ramble incoherently.

I was volunteering and then busy with the interview, so I don't have many photos of the event--just what Pas took while I was busy. He isn't known for his skills behind a lens, but these should give you an idea of the day's event. Enjoy!

 

[blessedmom4]

The Teddy Bear Picnic was a success! We had around 45 to 50 children come out for the first-ever Make-a-Wish event. It's a small town and this event wasn't much advertised as the organization is still pretty new in town (it doesn't even have it's own office space yet, much less a webpage or a Facebook account!). And, the kids had fun!

I finally got to meet the organizer, Jacquie (we had been communicating via e-mail for weeks now), and she gave me a huge hug. She was so happy we had come to participate in the event! I also met the Executive Director of our chapter, which was great. He sat down and chatted me up for a few minutes. He told me that Brooke was quite famous at the office and that she had captured everyone's heart--they couldn't wait to meet her.

He also told me that 'they' (Anne and Laura, our wish grantors) had a few surprises in store for us, but that he didn't want to ruin them for us, so he would only tell me that our family would be invited to the Three Wishes Gala in the fall. Exciting!

Anyways, glad we went because Jacquie had kind of made Brooke the 'unofficial' guest of honour. She had posters set up inside the venue with information brochures. There were photos of Brooke on the posters, as well as a photo of Brooke and her back story in one of the brochures.

Some media came out for the day, and we did an interview with our cable TV station. Yikes! That was scary--I knew it was coming, but I was totally unprepared for TV. I just kept rambling without saying anything really. And, I had to be prompted as to why Brooke was a wish kid. Forgot to mention she had had cancer! Idiot!!

Then, I go and say 'and we're going to Disney!'--right with Brooke beside me. I completely ruined the reveal surprise! What a slap-head moment! Luckily, B was so distracted by a balloon animal fluttering in the wind beside her that she didn't pay much attention to the interview. Afterwards, after grilling her about her wish, I determined that she didn't quite get it and hadn't yet figured out we were going. Hope so!!

After the event, Jacquie asked us to help cut the cake. So, the cameras taped that too. It was a beautiful cake--and delicious to boot!

It really was a special day for her. But, on top of that--it was fun. The kids took their teddies around to different stations to get their hearts, reflexes and eyes checked out. The 'nurses' looked for 'bear' spots, gave out shots, took temperatures, listened with stethoscopes and then handed out prescriptions for 'hugs' or 'kisses.' The kids were dispensed with 'pills' (jelly beans) and bears that needed more urgent care were stitched up by some teenage girls with some great needlework skills.

Elsewhere, the volunteers had set up some lawn games, a colouring table, a reading nook, while a stiltwalker and a balloon artist wandered around. Kids received free balloons, ribbons for games, stickers, cookies and juice and everyone just enjoyed the sunshine for as long as it lasted.

A great first event, I think!

Anyways, the TV interview will air on Thursday and should be made available online. If I can find it, I'll post up a link and you can all watch me ramble incoherently.

I was volunteering and then busy with the interview, so I don't have many photos of the event--just what Pas took while I was busy. He isn't known for his skills behind a lens, but these should give you an idea of the day's event. Enjoy!

SIMPLY AMAZING!!! It looks like so much fun and I love that they have more surprises in store for you! I can't think of a cuter guest of honor and I LOVED the Teddy Bear Cake and your little darlings are so precious. THANK YOU for sharing and tell Brooke that Lisa will be happy to hear she is famous!!! And it is HARD to have a television camera in your face and remember what you want to say! Great job!!!

 

[angeque143]

Looks like you had a FABULOUS day!!! The little cupcakes are too stinking cute!! The girls are just precious!!

 

[mommy2mrb]

what a cute idea! looks like a fun, happy day for you all to join in on!

 

[mom2pixies]

SIMPLY AMAZING!!! It looks like so much fun and I love that they have more surprises in store for you! I can't think of a cuter guest of honor and I LOVED the Teddy Bear Cake and your little darlings are so precious. THANK YOU for sharing and tell Brooke that Lisa will be happy to hear she is famous!!! And it is HARD to have a television camera in your face and remember what you want to say! Great job!!!

It really was--and yes, I actually LIKE surprises! I'm a religious researcher, which unfortunately kind of ruins the surprise of certain things--which makes checking out trip reports so tough for me--I want so desperately to see the trip, but I don't want to spoil any surprises! Can't wait.

Looks like you had a FABULOUS day!!! The little cupcakes are too stinking cute!! The girls are just precious!!

Thank you. I think so, too! Not only were the cakes delicious looking, but they tasted fabulous too!

what a cute idea! looks like a fun, happy day for you all to join in on!

It really was a simple event, but extremely well-organized and executed. A great way of introducing our community to MAW!

 

[miprender]

Looks like you had a wonderful day.

That Teddybear cake is too cute

 

[mom2pixies]

Looks like you had a wonderful day.

That Teddybear cake is too cute

Thanks! It really was cute--and tasty, too!