The Wish that Keeps On Giving (Photo Alert..)

Last month Make A Wish asked if they could give Bangerter Homes permission to use Jack's wish as inspiration for one of the bedrooms in their "UP" house they built for the Parade of Homes. We will do ANYTHING MAW asks because we are so grateful to them and want to help them in any way we can. So we met with Adam Bangerter and he and Jack had a nice chat. Jack showed him his video montage from his wish trip and Adam told Jack that they'd like to do a "Toy Story" theme and make the room like "Andy's Room." Jack spent most of his trip on the Toy Story Mania Ride, so he was down.

We got to preview the room at the "room reveal" last week. (Video, here.) The House is incredible to look at, from the outside it's as realistic as it gets. Then they added such great details like the chairs, the walker with the tennis balls, the Paradise Falls mural and jar of money. The kitchen was DARLING with tiffany-blue appliances and there were great pictures of Ellie and Carl lining the walls.

Jack's room was super cute, the signature clouds on the sky blue wall, the chest full of all this his favorite friends from Toy Story. The race track running off the desk, and the army guys parachuting from the ceiling. Jack saw his name up on the wall and the pictures of our family on his trip around the room- he knew it was special. BUT- it has taken (and is still taking) some convincing that it isn't HIS room.

Part of the proceeds from the Parade of Homes tickets will go to Make A Wish, and I encourage everyone to go, not only because it helps Make A Wish, but because there are a LOT of fun homes to see. Not to mention the UP house. We are so glad to be a part of something and to have Jack give back... Make A Wish is a very important part of our lives and though Jack is doing well, unlike many, MANY MAW kids, it always reminds us of how lucky we are he is still here, and what a miracle he is.

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Today was a simple day, we went to the beach.

We headed over to New Smyrna, and after a couple of tries ended up on a nice stretch of beach, camped out right in front of the water. I learned something new about Florida. They allow driving on the beach. So although it's nice and peaceful lying there, listening to the waves, I was constantly helping Jack "cross the street" that was in between our set up, and the water. It was so bazaar to me, these cars driving all over the sand and parking right next to their little camps.

Anyway. Jack spent most of his time by the water with Josh, digging a hole and building mounds of sand to knock over.

Then to my surprise, Jack let me bury him. For a child that has a HUGE problem with restraint, I was impressed that he allowed me to do this, and held still so I could.

So Jack started as a little cocoon, then progressed into...

A beautiful butterfly.

After the beach, Jack slept all the way back to Orlando. Then due to the everlasting sanitation of our Village, (they brought in a high school dance team, handed them each a bottle of Clorox wipes, and sent them out to scrub the whole Village..) we ate dinner OUT again, and had Five Guys. Yum.

We got home to find a complimentary bottle of Clorox wipes on our table.

Friday, March 19th, 2010

This morning I sadly woke up with a sore throat. But determined to have another fun day, we got up and headed for Disney Hollywood Studio's. We were really excited about this place because most of Jack's favorite movies stemmed from Pixar, and there was a Toy Story Ride and a Pizza Planet here.

We first met one of the toy soldiers, who was so awesome-looking. I loved him.

Then Jack acted like a monkey in front of the barrel of monkey's.

And we got to meet Buzz and Woody and have our pictures taken with them on "Andy's Bed." Woody made a pass at me, but Josh didn't want to beat up Woody in front of Jack, so we let it go.

We ate at Pizza Planet, which turned out to not be anything like the Pizza Planet in the movie, so I was somewhat disappointed.

Then Jack got to meet is Favorite's, Lightning McQueen, and Mater. He thought it was pretty cool to see them life size.

We went to the Stunt Car Show, it was lots of fun, very noisy and super educational. Jack enjoyed watching the cars screech around and drive backwards.

Then we went to a Playhouse Disney show, where they had puppets of all the characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Tigger and Pooh and Little Einstein's. Jack is very familiar with all of those, so it was really fun for him to see.

As for rides, we really only did the Toy Story ride, but we did it a few times. It's really cool, you have 3D glasses and get to shoot at stuff. Very interactive.

We returned to the Village to find a letter on our table informing us that an intestinal illness has broken out in the village, and they've contacted the Health Department to find our what precautions to take... and that the restaurants would be closed, as well as the ice cream shop.

So we headed to the pool, to find them kicking everyone out of it. So we LEFT the Village, and had dinner with Larry and Mayetta at a place called "Fish Bones" and it was DELICIOUS. I got crab legs and Josh got the biggest pork chop I've ever seen. In fact I think there were two of them. Nice meal. We went home to the safest place for us in the Village, our Villa, and went to bed.

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

This morning we woke up and had breakfast at the Gingerbread House. Some friends from Disney were at the Village to meet the kids, so we got a few pictures. Jack got to bring his new Mickey Mouse doll to meet Mickey and Minnie, and they signed the feet of the doll. He was thrilled to meet them, but confused as to why they were so big and non-verbal.

We headed off to the Magical Kingdom where we met up with Josh's parent's, Larry and Mayetta. I regret to inform that I have no pictures of them on this trip- so I'll have to steal some from Mayetta's camera. They were such sports trekking around the park with us. We FIRST headed to Tomorrowland, to find the Buzz Lightyear ride. Jack loves this ride and went on it over and over in DisneyLAND, so we knew we had to to it more than once. Our "button" that Jack wore and the "Guest Pass" we received from GKTW, allowed us to go straight to the FastPass lane, without having to get a FastPass, so essentially, we got to go to the shortest lines possible. Jack did meet Buzz after this ride, but those pictures will come later.

After that, we drove some cars, that were pretty tricky to steer, but very fun. Then we left Jack with Larry and Josh, Mayetta and I went to Space Mountain. We returned to a very sad and teary-eyed Jack, who only wanted a Buzz Lightyear that talks. Being that we were given some spending money and this was his wish trip, we thought he should of course have it. He perked right up and was happy from that point on.

We had some lunch at a little Mexican place in the middle of Adentureland and Tomorrowland, and headed off to some more. Mayetta took Jack on the Magic Carpet ride and to the Swiss Family Robinson Tree. Larry, Josh and I hit Splash Mountain for some good, wet fun. We also did Pirate's, which was cool cause we got to go through the "cast member's entrance" but then lame, cause it wasn't nearly as cool as the one in California.

Jack was wiped out pretty quickly, so we went over to Thunder Mountain, and let Mayetta have a run on Splash Mountain. By that time, we knew if Jack woke up, he'd be over it and we should head off.

I found this by Tom Sawyers- and figured it was a tribute to my parents.

Just before heading out, we saw Woody and Jesse. They were headed off for a break, but Woody saw Jack's button and came back over to see him. They were super sweet.

That night it was Christmas at the Village. They had completely decorated it in tinsel and christmas trees. There was Christmas music blasting and "Elf" playing on the movie screen. Santa was there, so after dinner Jack went to see him but ended up skipping over the visit and going straight to the presents. There was a whole wall of gifts for kids to choose from. Jack wanted the Rubix Cube, but we convinced him to get Connect Four instead..

It was supposed to snow in the Village, but it was raining in Florida, so we went back to the Villa and went to bed.

Videos:

(Jack showing us his loot at the Villa)

(Jack meeting Buzz)

(Jack filming me and grandma)