Sunday, January 24, 2010

Taylor's Make-A-Wish Trip



















Here is our only family photo from the trip.  This was our beautiful villa at Give Kids The World Village in Florida.  Can you tell that the girls were ready to explore?  They didn't have time for such things as photo ops!


This was the first of many rides on the wonderful carousel in the Village.  They could ride as often as they wanted for free!  I don't think it gets much better than that!


This was our very first family vacation together, and we got off to a fantastic start!


Erin loves the carousel.  I think she feels like she's flying.

















Riding on the train through the village.  Another thing we did over and over again!


























Our first park was the Magic Kingdom.  It truly was a magical day!

















While we were waiting for the parade to start, there were things for the kids to do.  Jade showed us that she is a hula hoop champ!  She definitely did NOT get that from me! :D
















This is Mayor Clayton, the Mayor of Give Kids The World Village.  Our first night in the village was his birthday party (which they do every Saturday night).  The girls absolutely loved him!  We had to take a picture with him every day.  I'll just post one!

















Mickey and Minnie came to the Village one morning before we left for Animal Kingdom.  The girls were THRILLED to meet them!

















Riding to the park.  This was our "limo" each day.  For the girls, riding on a bus NEVER gets old.

















Erin had the option of riding the bus in her chair, but she preferred to sit in front (most days).


















I think this photo needs a clever caption.  Kevin was giving the girls a comparison for the hippo skull, and I think it's hilarious!  I love that my husband can be goofy with the girls.
























Surfer girl Jadie at the pool.


















So Cute!

















Each Wish child writes his/her name on a star, makes a wish, and the star is placed on the ceiling of the Castle of Miracles.  We were given the location of the star, and it will stay up forever.  If we ever return to the Village, we can go in to see Taylor's star.

















Taylor's star (with a little fingerprint smudge).

















There is a spa in the Castle of Miracles.  The girls all had a manicure, they got their faces painted, and they each got an airbrushed tattoo.


























The girls were so excited to meet the Grinch.  To this day they ask me if he was the real Grinch.

















Riding the carousel at Seuss Landing.  Jade picked an elephant, of course!
























Daddy even got to ride with Erin on this one!


















The smile says it all!

















Spinning...  Do you see Erin's head peaking through?


























This was the highlight of our entire trip for Taylor.  She wants to be a dolphin trainer someday, so she was in heaven when she was able to feed the dolphins.  Everyone loved Sea World!


















The dolphin actually came up onto the ledge to see Erin.  She was the only one they did that for.

















Jade was a little nervous, but after the first fish she couldn't get enough.


































































K.J. even got in on the fun!









































We all loved the Shamu show, called "Believe".  The girls were amazed!

















This was on our last day as we were preparing to leave Give Kids The World Village.  We wanted to take some pics to remember our amazing stay.

















Here is the ice cream parlor that is open every day from 7:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m.  Remember, everything there is free, so we definitely made our fair share of visits to get ice cream!

















This is the carousel and to the right of that is the Castle of Miracles.

















Here is the Gingerbread House.  This is the restaurant where we ate breakfast and dinner every day.


























The girls playing inside Old Elmer (a sleeping tree) at the Castle of Miracles.

















This is Amberville, where they have an AWESOME, gigantic train set, an arcade, RC boats, and the train the girls loved to ride.  There is also a very cool mini-golf course here.

















One last ice cream cone for the road!  Daddy had to finish Jade's cone.

















Jade was trying to show off her Shamu necklace.

















Erin decided she wanted to ride in her chair in the back of the bus for our last ride in Florida.  This was THE BEST TRIP EVER!!!