Make-A-Wish Trip Part 1

Hello Everyone...

feel free to click on photos to see larger view.... 

I hope you all had a nice holiday season this year. 

Mom finally finished going through all the photos, organizing them and she put a book together. She is also still working on a slideshow of my trip too. I think it will be a while before it is completed. So, here is part one of my trip. I will do day by day, otherwise, it will be way too long! :)

I didn't want to miss any school for any reason, so my first choice of dates was last spring, but the village was booked. So then my next choice was 1. Thanksgiving week, 2. Christmas break. Thanksgiving week it was. :)

Two days before my presentation party, mom and my friend; Lynn did my hair. I let them both know it was all about me, and only me. It took Lynn two hours to do my hair. I was making it a fun time. They enjoyed my being in a really good mood.

Then the night before my party, I made chocolate chip mickey mouse cookies for everyone at my party. I wasn't into making them, but I enjoyed putting a mickey mouse on the baggies. 

 This is the Mickey bag I put my cookies in to take to the party.

Mom showing me one of my gifts I got (below), and putting my new necklace on me (right)

Mom receiving our trip packet. Full of information. 

My friends

 My wish granters... 

My great grandma, great aunt, grandpa Henry, mom and I

Below photos, I am going over all the information about our trip! Looked like we were going to have so much fun! :):) I couldn't wait. 

I had to wait 5 days before we left. I will tell you, that was the longest week of my life, and luckily, I was still in school. Then I thought we were leaving the day after the last day of school, but nop, I had to wait one more day. I was a little confused, but mom helped make Saturday go by super fast. She took me to Point Mugu to watch my friends; the dolphins swim by. They swam by me right after I got there, turned around, came back by me, and turned around again. Then they hung out around me for a little over an hour.  It was so fun! 

There were 12 Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins.

Sunday finally arrived. I was up bright and early ready to head out the door by 6:30a.m.. That was the time our limo driver was picking us up. I was perked up, going with the flow, enjoying it all. I sat nice and tall in the limo looking out the window all the way to LAX.

Checking in and security was a breeze. LAX is not the friendliest airport in helping those in need. Delta is not the airline to fly when your situation is like mine.

Anyway.... I did well on the plane. I watched some programs, read some books on my ipad for a good hour or so. Then I started to get tired and insecure, so I had mom hold me in her lap while I tried to take a nap. After I took a nap, I sat back in my chair for the rest of the flight. I was so excited to get there. We were only 14 minutes from landing.

After a lot of wrong turns, dead ends, wrong floors, mom finally got us to the baggage claim where we met our volunteer lady from Give Kids the World. She almost left because she thought we didn't make our flight. Mom was so preoccupied she forgot to get a photo the volunteer lady (Gail) and my sign she was holding, but mom got a photo later of my sign.

Gail helped us with our bags and took us to the guy that had our rental van. We were finally on our way. It is weird being in the dark when it's only 2pm my time. :)

I know, this was taken during daylight hours, but thought it was appropriate to post now. :) Same with the sign on left. 

We learned on our way to Give Kids the World village that our GPS is not 100% accurate or reliable. We had no idea really what to expect, just what we saw in the photos online. It was in a residential area off a highway of commercial businesses. I guess you could say we were expecting it to be in a more commercial area like hotels are.

We went through the gate; a very friendly gal letting us through. We parked and noticed that there were golf carts decorated in Christmas decorations. Lights were on the "House of Hearts", and you could see some inside. That is where we checked in. The lobby was very Christmassy - soooo COOL! I checked out all the lights. We met our volunteer check-in person who went over everything and showed us to our villa. Driving down the road in the village to our villa, passing by the main area where the Ice Cream Parlor is, Gingerbread House, etc looked very cool. All the villas were decorated in lights.

We got to our villa, and there was rabbit (Mayor Clayton) sign outside with our villa number on and a slot for our last name. We were in an orange villa across from the enclosed lake/pond and just down from the life size Candyland Playground.

I got a Mickey at check-in. He will become Cubby and my new friend. :) 

On the left you see in the photo a gift bag which was full of goodies and a bear. Mom is holding the sign that our volunteer at the airport was holding. 

I was so excited. Our volunteer showed us our villa, went over a few things and had mom order dinner from Katie's kitchen (they deliver) since we had orientation to get to. 

We had a Christmas tree in our villa too. The tub is in my bathroom. I had ice cream flavored soaps, shampoo, conditioner. My bathroom was large with a jacuzzi tub, but mom's bathroom was just an ordinary main bathroom size. We had a laundry room with lots of soap to use.

After we were done getting all of our goodies, tickets, passes, I begged mom to take me out for a walk to check things out. It was chilly out, more than I expected, and breezy, but mom let her guard down and took me out. The vest company didn't deliver my vest, so I didn't have one when we arrived, which made mom worried for taking me out. Going from 4 treatments a day to zero is risky. Mom hopes she can get one tomorrow.  

We walked up the street to Avenue of Angels which started with Elmer the sleeping tree. He was snoring. Mom got a recording - listen. :) 

Further up was the Gingerbread House, which is a buffet style restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner including Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving. 

Left: Avenue of the Angels

Right: backside of House of Hearts

There were lights everything, a large tree decorated in lights. They celebrate Christmas daily. 

Left: Castle of Miracles.. This is where I will come to make my Magic Pillow and fill out my star to give to the Star Fairy. 

There is also the chapel, carousel, theater and train station which I will post photos of later. 

I had a great time out and about checking things out. I can't wait for tomorrow. Here I am getting ready for bed in my big bathroom. I was having a good time with Cubby and Mickey. 

Off to bed... Can't wait for tomorrow to come... 

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And off the computer I go. Part 2 coming soon...