Sebastian's Make A Wish Trip to Disney

[kimmylaj]

thank you for sharing all those pics, they are amazing. i hope you have a happy and healthy new year

 

[PrincessLeighsDaddy]

Amber, those pictures were just awesome! So nice to see that everyone had a blast. What a great place to have Sebastian's party!

Still praying that 2009 will be a year filled with health and happiness!

 

[mom2lilnick]

What an awesome send off party!!! Ours is in 9 days and we are so excited! I love all the pics you take!

 

[sahm1000]

Amber, We (my family and I)are praying that your ongoing medical issues are solved quickly. We want a happy healthy 2009 for your family!

Sebastian's send off party looked fantastic! The play area at the mall is unbelievable! How wonderful of them to allow you the time and space for it. I'm excited to see your trip report - I love seeing all your pictures!

Happy New Year's!

 

[oklamomof4boys]

Ah, what a fun party. Sebastian looks to be having the time of his life. I can't wait to hear about the trip.

 

[tinytreasures]

wow what a great party

 

[twob4him]

Amber...I hope everyone is feeling better today!

Wow!!! wow!!! wow!!! is all I can say about that send-off celebration!!!! Look how happy Sebastian was! You all look like you had a wonderful time and it was so kind and generous of everyone who contributed! I wish we had something nice like that indoors here where I live. I am wondering what to do for my daughter's birthday and wishing I had something nearby like your mall.

Also, the outfits look so cute too! And teh crayon rollups are so neat...I really should make some!

I am really looking forward to seeing more of your trip! Happy New Year

 

[iluvmyfamily]

Wow! What an awesome Send-off Party for Sebastian! Sure glad that you were able to let it loose and have fun!!! Sure hope your kids are doing fine...and you too! Happy New Year to you all! Wish you and your family a very happy healthy 2009!!!!! Please take it easy!

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

After over six months of being on these boards I FINALLY figured out how to "multi-quote." Can you believe it took me so long?!?

What adorable pictures! I love the billboard! The outfits look so cute and how fitting that Sebastian's outfit matches his helmet!

It was a PERFECT match huh! You should know Jessica that Sebastian has worn his special overalls several times including for his preschool Christmas show. Watch he'll still be earing them at Easter.

aw!!! yeah!

You started!!!

The billboard...WOW...awesome!

I can't believe they did all of that stuff for you guys. Isn't MAW awesome...and the party place totally rocks!


I love that Lightning McQueen showed up. They look like they had a blast!

MAW IS totally awesome!! And our Wish Granters were totally awesome!

What a wonderful party!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so jealous ( the boys were looking at the pictures with me- Sam added the extra !!!!). I love the billboard- how special. My boys say " Sebastian is cool!"

I love the friend wearing a helmet like Sebastian. Several years ago, Nathan's best friend claimed to take heart medicine for his heart disease- just like Nathan ( his friend is perfectly healthy).

We can't wait to hear about the trip!

Carol

That's such a sweet story Carol! It warms my heart when kids show such empathy....I'm glad your boys think Sebastian is cool

Amber thank you so much for sharing all the pictures with us. The party was amazing. Everyone looks like you are having so much fun.

The children are so beautiful, but the pictures I enjoyed the most were of you being able to just have fun and let go for a little bit. I am glad you got to do the boxing game, I bet it helped you a little .

Thanks! The pictures really make me smile because I can see that I WAS having fun!

wow...more pictures!

Looks like a TOTAL blast!!!!

Now, I have to admit...I CAN'T WAIT!!! For day 1 of Disney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's coming....it will be worth the wait

Wow Amber! That was an amazing party! It was so nice to see you let down and have a little fun right in the midst of your troubles! Seeing everyone having such a great time brought tears to my eyes. Your kids are soooooo cute I love seeing pictures of them! And I have to say again, that was just the coolest party ever!

Thanks Jeanne!!!

Amber, those pictures were just awesome! So nice to see that everyone had a blast. What a great place to have Sebastian's party!

Still praying that 2009 will be a year filled with health and happiness!

Tom, wait until you see the kids in your outfits! We got so many comments on them. I even have one of Sebastian, Siennah and Lydia in the outfits you made

What an awesome send off party!!! Ours is in 9 days and we are so excited! I love all the pics you take!

YAY!!! You are going to have so much fun!

Amber, We (my family and I)are praying that your ongoing medical issues are solved quickly. We want a happy healthy 2009 for your family!

Sebastian's send off party looked fantastic! The play area at the mall is unbelievable! How wonderful of them to allow you the time and space for it. I'm excited to see your trip report - I love seeing all your pictures!

Happy New Year's!

Thanks for your prayers!...I truely believe that God is listening! and Happy New Year to you too!

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

Brian has Strep.

He attempted to go to work today but left by 9:00. He went into the Urgent Care where the doc did a swab and sure enough right away it was postive. He's up on the third floor sleeping...QUARANTINED! Here's hoping the strep stops with him and doesn't invade the rest of the family. Savannah started with a low grade fever yesterday and still has it today. Siennah is dripping green snot like a Walrus but that's all so far.

I've been a mad woman all day running things through the dish washer on "sanitize" and using clorox wipes on everything.

Now that all the kids are in bed I'm feeling much saner but being sole care giver is leaving little time for trip reporting

 

[jillalvarez2003]

WOW, what a send off party! Love all the pics. Can't wait to hear all about your trip.

Ahhh.... I hope Brian keeps the strep to himself and feels better soon!

 

[oklamomof4boys]

I am so proud of you learning to multi-quote! I have had many people try to teach me and I still can't seem to do it-lol!

I think if I had one regret about our trip it was not having any connection with our wish granter. We only saw her one time- on the first meeting. Then any correspondence was with somebody at the OKC office. The OKC office kept asking if we had heard from our wish granter, but we never did. I guess it really isn't that big of a deal- but you hear about others getting close to their wish granters. I think that is so wonderful. Hmm, maybe I should check into what it takes to volunteer to be a wish granter!

I'm sorry Brian is sick- hopefully the rest of you will stay healthy! Take care of yourself and get some rest. We'll try to wait patiently for an update!

 

[maroo]

Oh no! Strep!!

Run away!!! Run away!!!

and rest...and drink your OJ...and take some Vitamin C...and...uh...oh, heck! I don't know!

I hope you guys feel better soon!!!!

 

[LuvGoing2Disney7]

Now that all the kids are in bed I'm feeling much saner

Oh Amber

I hope the quarentine works!!

 

[iluvmyfamily]

Hi Amber:

Oh dear...strep throat!!! That can be nasty. It can be a yearly occurrence in our household with either DS, DD or myself!!! Hope no one else in your family will get it! Hope Siennah and Savannah get better real soon! Take it easy, please! Patty

 

[pigget74]

Hmm, maybe I should check into what it takes to volunteer to be a wish granter!

I was thinking the same thing.


I understand not wanting the yuck to spread through the house. I have four kids and the youngest are 3 and 1 and each has respiratory issues. It seems since we got back from Disney at TG the ounger two have just been passing things back and forth--well this week I finally got it---no time to rest for the leader.

Hope this passes and no one is seriously sick with strep--just colds!!

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

Heeeeere weeeee gooooo......Are you excited?!? I am!!!

Brian and I spent the night before our big trip in a packing frenzy. It had been an insane week of doctor visits and surgeries on Thursday. My friend Amy and her husband were so kind and thoughtful to provide a delicious meal from Boston Market for us. My friend Lucia dropped off the last of the stuff that she sewed. I brought all the bags downstairs and weighed them on our little scale.

I totally felt like that Disney Commercial where the little girl says, "We're too excited to sleep!" But I did

We were up at 5:45 a.m. We scuttled about getting all the last minute stuff together. Remembering to turn off the water and lock all the doors that sort of thing. A black stretch Limo arrived a little before 7:00 a.m. What a fabulous start to our magical adventure!

Brian and our Chauffeur (probably the only time in my life where I will use the expression “our Chauffer) somehow managed to get our entire luggage into the limo. We had four suitcases to check, two strollers and a couple of small carry-on bags.

Brian also figured out how to secure Savannah’s car seat into the limo’s seat. I bet that is not something that is done often! Sebastian and Siennah were giddy that for once they got to sit sans car seats.

They were so enthralled by the glass tumblers in the limo and the color changing LED lights.

When we got to the airport we were met right away by two volunteers from Make A Wish. They helped us get the kids into the strollers and the luggage onto the curb. One of the volunteers went into the terminal with me while Brian took care of checking all the luggage. They made things so much easier for us!

I was stressing out a little bit about the total cost that the sky cap gave Brian but then I realized that the gratuity was built into the price. You'll see throughtout our adventure that I was consicous of our budget.

Once inside I could not hold the kids off any longer for something to eat. They were ravenous. I opened the Fiber One (sounds a little “healthier”) toaster pastries that I brought with. They loved those!

The gals from Make A Wish offered to take some photos for us. We were so psyched at this point. We made it to the airport! Our long awaited vacation was finally here.

The Make A Wish volunteers helped us all the way to security. We had arranged for them to take Savannah’s car seat back with them and give them to our Wish Granter Shonda who would be meeting us when we came home.

I don’t really have anything great to say about airport security. It was stressful. Suddenly it seemed like we had a ton of bags and random stuff along with our five sets of shoes. But we did it. No stopping us now.

We found our gate and I settled in to give Savannah her breakfast a la Mommy. Brian found some orange juice for us and then passed the time with the kids looking at the airplanes. I got tickets for us to gate check our strollers.

Since we had “small children under the age of four” we were one of the first folks to pre-board the plane. We also happened to be in the very last row of the plane. Here we are headed down the jet-way.

Growing up both of my parents were flight attendants so I had a lot of opportunities to fly. I loved it! It was always an adventure! Brian is an aerospace engineer who has worked on many parts for airplanes and got to climb around inside them. Sebastian seems to have inherited my enthusiasm for travel and Brian’s inkling for all things mechanical.
We’ve taken him to the airport look out to watch the planes take off and land on many occasions. Each time he would talk about getting to ride on a plane someday. Thanks to Make A Wish he was getting the chance. And thanks to Dr. Clyne who performed ear tube surgery on Sebastian and Siennah two days before we took off so that this part of
Sebastian’s wish could become a reality! Just look at his smile…

He was taking it all in…

 

[mom2lilnick]

ohhhhhh.. I am just giddy about reading your TR! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pics!

 

[AmberGreenawalt]

We got all settled in for our flight. Siennah was next to me on one side and Sebastian next to Brian on the other. Brian and Sebastian also had a woman sitting next to them in the aisle seat. She was offered another aisle seat a few rows up. I wonder why she didn’t jump on it. I felt bad for the number of times we had to pass Savannah back and forth across her.

Siennah was pretty excited herself

At one point Savannah had a poopy diaper. It was all over her clothes. Good thing I had packed a change of clothes for her.

I also packed a bunch of munchies for the kids. Thank goodness. It HAS been awhile since I have flown because it was news to me that a can of soda now costs $2.00!

The rest of the flight went off with out a hitch. It was just the perfect length of time. Long enough to be exciting for the kids but short enough that they weren’t quite stir crazy. I only had to whip out the coloring books towards the end.

As for the kids ear’s they did GREAT! Even Siennah, who was on the Biaxcin antibiotics had no complaints. We were off to a great start.

Naturally we were the last people to get off. Our strollers were right on the jet way waiting for us when we got off. We made the kids climb in and started toward baggage claim.

Waiting for us as we passed by security was the Greeter from Give Kids The World. What a delight to see this sign!

She introduced herself as Jane and gave us a warm welcome to sunny Florida. Sebastian, who has just learned to recognize his name this year at preschool really liked that the sign had his name. HIS name!

Jane led the way down the elevators to baggage claim. She was awesome!

Jane sat with me, the kids and the strollers while Brian got a luggage cart and waited for our bags to come round the carousel. I came up with an ingenious (if I don’t say to myself) use for Savannah’s Minnie Mouse bag. The bow on it made the perfect prop for her bottle.

I was super proud of the bargain I got on these plush back packs. They were $4.50 each at the Disney Store Outle. I thought they would be perfect for the kids to use as little bags and pillows in the stroller.

After getting the luggage Jane sat us down on a bench and went over the directions to Give Kids the World Village where we would be staying. There were written directions as well as a map on the back of the Welcome sign, it was even highlighted---they make everything so easy!

Then we walked out of the terminal across the street to the parking garage to the Avis Car Rental counter. We saw another Wish Family that had just arrived as well. It took awhile for us to get our van and the kids were getting restless from being made to stay in the stroller but I wasn’t about to let them out in a parking garage.

Brian brought the van, a navy Chevy Uplander, over to where we had been waiting and we worked on getting the three rented car seats into it and all our bags. Amazingly it all fit! We thanked the lovely Jane and then we were off…well sort of. We’ve never encountered a more asinine parking garage exit in our lives.

On the way to Give Kids the World Siennah “took some photos” of us with the disposable camera that Make A Wish gave the kids.

Thirty minutes later we arrived at Give Kids the World! We were here!!! Finally here!!! As we pulled in the gate attendant said, “Welcome Home!” …indeed.

 

[LuvGoing2Disney7]

Thirty minutes later we arrived at Give Kids the World! We were here!!! Finally here!!! As we pulled in the gate attendant said, “Welcome Home!” …indeed.

Oh Amber now you've brought tears to my eyes again

Isn't that the best feeling ever when you finally drive through those gates?

What a great start