WE ARE HOME!!!!!!!!!

WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW......

it goes on and on...because no WORDS in the human LANGUAGE can express how AMAZING this last week has been....there is NOTHING i can say that will give you a clear PICTURE of what a BLESSING it has been and what it was like....i can only give you a GLIMMER of what an amazing thing it was....so when i tell what happen, in your own words, put in words like: AMAZING, BLESSING, DAZZLING, ROYALTY, AWESOME, OUT OF THIS WORLD, etc....because i am doing this trip an IN JUSTICE by what i am about to write....that is absolutely how AMAZING it was.....we have been BLESSED and dreams DO COME TRUE!!!!!

SOOOO, for all those that don't like to read about someone elses trip, the VERY short of it was that it was AMAZING and we had such a BLAST ON OUR TRIP!!!

IF you want to read all about it...be warned i am going to go into DETAIL because this is also for my family to have a link to what an amazing time we had so we can NEVER forget it....even though i know we wouldn't!!! sooo, be ready for some heavy reading and some MAJOR picture works...i will probably make a montage of our time there (we took OVER 700 pictures!!)


sooooo, get ready read and look at some pictures!! it will take me a bit to write it all down but i WILL DO IT!!! i am actually going to DATE THEM in order of the days we left here starting with APRIL 18 and ending with APRIL 24TH...oh, what a RIDE!!

for those looking for info on GIVE KIDS THE WORLD or GKTW, i am going to be going into detail so if you don't want to know about the SURPRISES or the exact details, be warned that i will reveal them here in this BLOG!!! sooo....

TAKE CARE AND GOD BLESS!!!

DAY 7....GOING HOME...SO SAD....

well, today is the day....we leave PARADISE for our own personal paradise....HOME!! alex keeps verbalizing what we are all thinking....I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE!! yeah, we are all sad to be leaving KNOWING that are 'ONCE IN A LIFETIME' is over!!! but oooohhhhh the joy, fun and BLESSINGS we had and recieved during our stay is what is amazing.....i can't believe that was us and how much fun we had. we lived EVERY SINGLE DAY to it's FULLEST and the kids just had a BLAST!!! they enjoyed it all!! and this AMAZING BLESSING that we recieved was all made possible thru the MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION!!! that post is coming up about them SOON!

sooo, we started our day by making packing all our bags into the van, making sure that we had everything out of the villa before we left....then we packed up the kids and headed out to check out...awwwww....very bittersweet because i sat in the seat that we sat at when we FIRST arrived....after donating the extra stuff we had, we recieved our package and HEADED OUT!!! we were rushing (as usual) because we had forgotten to gas up the night before so we passed where we were suppose to gas up and ended up going to the MCDONALDS and getting breakfast, then going back to gas up and then we were OFF....and we were RUNNING!! yes, we were suppose to be at the airport BY 1000....well, we didn't get there till 1030!!! :( sooo, we were rushing to get EVERYTHING out of the rental van and onto one of those dolly's and then WAIT for the person to come get the keys etc from the rental place.....AVIS by the way....and then we were off!!! did we know where!? of COURSE not! we felt like a couple of chickens without HEADS!!! sooooo, we head off to check in and we are hurrying, not YET running but pretty close....so we finally find the AIR TRANS office and OF COURSE we didn't pre-check in at GKTW....yeah, we are NOT season flyers!!!! soooo, we stand in line with the other 10+ families ahead of us and i am starting to PANIC just a bit...as the time moves CLOSER to 1100....our plane leaves at 1153!!!!! soooo, we FINALLY get all that, check in our bags and off we go towards GATE 18.....so our nurse told us was our gate...so we travel to gates 1-50 and as i am standing in front of security READY to start the process, THANK GOD, james decides to look at the ticket the nurse was looking at and found out that we were in SEAT 18 and acutally.....ready for this.............GATE 97!!!!!!!!!! CAN YOU SAY OOOOOHHHHHHHHHH SSSHHHHHH*******@@@@@@@@@@@!!!! AND it was not just a bit a ways, it was CLEAR ACROSS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AIRPORT!!!!! so, NOW we were RUNNING!!!!! just imagine, 3 adults, 3 kiddos one in a wheelchair another in a stroller, 4 carryons, one camera bag, one feeding bag, a blankie, a stuffed animal alex one AND A CAR SEAT....RUNNING ACROSS THE TERMINALS TO GATES 51-100!!! if that tells you HOW big this place was, nothing else will!! soooo, we FINALLY get to the security check point and we are sweating, freaking out knowing that we have a little over 30 mins before the plane leaves.....we look like a comedy group trying to get shoes off, fold up strollers, get our carry ons off our backs and onto the belt try to get everything done in MINUTES when we KNOW that it takes A LOT of minutes....OMG, it was 1130 and they stopped james carry on because of matthews formula....so FINALLY we are OFF and RUNNING LIKE CRAZY for the gate and OF COURSE the gate is not the FIRST ONE...ooooohhhhh no, it is WAY OVER THERE....so we FINALLY get there at about.....you ready for this......1140!!!! they were waiting for us and you have to remember we have ALL this stuff with us we have to stow AND we have 3 kids, 2 strollers that we had to BREAK DOWN and then put everyone in the plane....ok, did i MENTION we were the LAST ONES ON THE PLANE?!?!?! yeah, we ALMOST missed it!!! as we came down the VERY narrow aisles, we are that family that all you see is the people DUCKING because backpacks, kids feet, etc are going THRU!!! as we all finally get sorted out, everything SHOVED where ever we could and everyone is sitting where they are suppose to be....there we sit, AIR DUCTS BLASTING, faces SWEATING, out of breath.... we are FINALLY on our way HOME!!!!!! and boy, AT THAT MOMENT IN TIME....we were READY to go home!!!!! after all that crazyness, THANK YOU GOD, we made our layover, ended up getting home on time....and the boys were excited to be home....ME TOO for that matthew....we had an AMAZING time and had SOOOO MUCH fun and we just felt sooooo BLESSED to have been BLESSED with such an AMAZING ONCE IN A LIFETIME VACATION!!!! :) THANK YOU GOD FOR GETTING US HOME SAFETLY and THANK YOU GOD for MATTHEW'S MAKE A WISH TRIP!!! :)

JOSHUA looking out the window to the CLOUDS!!


THANK YOU GOD, we made it HOME!! :)


this is ALLLLLL OUR LUGGAGE!!! YIKES!

DAY 6.....

wow....we were starting to get sad that TOMORROW we were leaving back home!!! so sad....well, we started our day off by getting up, getting dressed and heading out to go eat some yummy breakfast at the GINGERBREAD HOUSE....we decided to ride the little train to get there and enjoyed a little more that day....we decided that we would take it LIGHT today because we knew that we had to pack and TODAY was CHRISTMAS AT GKTW!!!!! soooo, we could miss that!! so, after eating some breakfast and then playing at the merry-go-round and then go play in the CASTLE of WISHES...the boys enjoyed being there and just looking at everything in there....

we walked back to our villa and on the way we visited MATTHEW'S BOUNDLESS PLAYGROUND for some fun there....all the boys had so much fun going down the slides and climbing all the way up!! we had fun just swinging and watching the boys!!

sooo, today we went to ISLAND OF ADVENTURES to check out a couple of thrill rides and just to say we WENT there....we did discover a COOL place called SEUSS LANDING! and we got to ride a couple of their rides there, everything was so awesome there because it was all DR SEUSS themed park and it was so AWESOME!!! just like who-ville and some other famous books....very AWESOME!! the nurse and i decided we just HAD to get on ONE thrill ride and we chose.......THE DUELING DRAGON ROLLERCOASTER!! here is a VIDEO i found on YOUTUBE!! IT WAS AMAZING!!! i wish i could have done it MORE than once!! and we just walked RIGHT IN with no wait!!! :) soooooo awesome!!

well, we rushed thru the park because we wanted to be out of there BY 4:30 because the walk back to the car was CRAZY and did i mention that it was VERY HOT????? it reached to 94 degrees and we FELT IT AND THE HUMIDITY THRU OUR PORES!! yep, hot! so, we hustled out of there back in the car and OFF we were back to GKTW to eat some dinner, have a WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS DAY and the make the boys pillows and put matthews star...

sooo, we got there and went in to the GINGERBREAD HOUSE and ate our CHRISTMAS DINNER!! YUMMY turkey with ALL the trimmings...we THOROUGHLY ENJOYED every bite! and the boys did too! after we had some dinner, we went ahead and went out to walk around GKTW and listen to the Christmas music and look at all the BEAUTIFUL Christmas decorations that had been put around the place....just the attention to details that are always there....so AMAZING! i of course got all emotional...they had cookie making station, some snow cones and then, we got to go into the theater (which we had not explored yet) and who was waiting on the other side?!?!?! SANTA CLAUS!!! oooohhhh...the boys were soooo excited! josh didn't seem to thrilled but we all were....well, as soon as we put the boys on santa's lap, JOSH didn't want anything to do with HIM and THEN because baby brother went off, so did MATTHEW!! yep, those were OUR kids pitching a fit!! and we couldn't get them off fast enough!!! anyway, it was too funny! they were soooo awesome EACH boy was able to pick a toy from the MOUNTAIN of toys there...sooooo generous...our boys were just LOVEING it! well, after all of that excitment...we went outside and we found out that there was going to be a PARADE out there!! awwww...it was so awesome!!! the floats and the characters...so amazing...they all came over and talked to the kids and we had seen earlier in the evening a busload of high schoolers that had come in and i realized YET AGAIN, that this wonderful parade was made up of all these HIGH SCHOOLERS that had given up an evening to be with us and make some wonderful kids HAPPY with their presence....of course, again, there i go with the waterworks! just AMAZING!! and then it SNOWED there and we had sooo much getting it EVERYWHERE....

AFTER our amazing evening there, we went over to the CASTLE OF MIRACLES and the boys redeemed their coupon for their PILLOWS that they each got to keep, and then matthew's STAR was placed on the CEILING of this beautiful place FOREVER!! we even got a PASSPORT with a barcode and we could ALWAYS go back so that we could see EXACTLY where matthews star was with his name on it!! just amazing to see all the OTHER stars that were up there from all the OTHER MIRACLE kids that have passed through those doors....sooooooooo BLESSED...'

well, after a WONDERFUL EVENING, the nurse and i ended up going BACK to the villa so that we could pack all our clothing and get that done...the boys ended up staying and playing some PUTT PUTT and the video games and such....it made it easier so we could get it done BEFORE the boys got there....it was REALLY NICE!

here are some pictures from our day out there!

SEUSS LANDING there at ISLAND OF ADVENTURES! soooo much fun!


HORTON HEARS A WHO!! so DETAILED!


CAT IN THE HAT!! cute!


so excited to see THE CAT IN THE HAT!!!


The Grinch and let me tell you he was in CHARACTER!! very moody!


my cute big BOY!!!


here he is in the car!!!


Back at GKTW...wait to take a picture with SANTA!


2 of the 3 boys NOT excited about this!!! :( both josh & matthew SCREAMED and CRIED!


"MOM, CAN I TAKE THIS HOME?" he LOVES popcorn like we all do!


aaaawwwwwwww.....


The decorations for CHRISTMAS DAY at GKTW!!!


POSING with MAYOR CLAYTON...the MAYOR of GKTW!


IT'S SNOWING AT GKTW!! sooooo exciting!


Dad giving kisses all the way around! one for JOSHUA!


ONE FOR MATTHEW!!!


ONE FOR ALEX!!!


ONE FOR ME!!! :)


MATTHEW posing with some characters!

DAY 5.....

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY in FLORIDA!!!! yes, we were sooooo tired and we could feel it all catching up to us but we were having so much fun that we tried not to let it get us down!! we all got ready and dressed and then had a CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST there at our villa which they came and dropped off....NICE!! then we were OFF!!!

sooo, we started our day off by parking our car at MK and taking the monorail over to EPCOT to check things out!! wow, what a GREAT PLACE!!! i think james and i would really enjoy it MORE if we were by ourself out there because of all the different countries and exploring them all! the boys were interested but not by much! we did go and to the CRUSH show which the boys LOVED and we got to meet a couple of characters there too! we also got to take a BREAK at the BASE21 area that is available to the WISH FAMILIES...it is an AMAZING PLACE that is actually part of SIEMENS lounge....very nice!! the very nice lady there was so kind and we were able to cool off and have some beverages and just watch matthew become FASINATED by the floor!! the receptionest could change the color of the floor and matthew could not get ENOUGH!!!

AFTER we left there, we took the MONORAIL over to MK to spend the rest of the day there...we just enjoyed doing the rides again that we REALLY liked and just had a fun and walked around....we stayed around for the PARADE OF LIGHTS again and the FIREWORKS SHOW...again, we didn't leave there till 1045 pm...we were SOOOOO TIRED but SOOOO HAPPY!! what an ADVENTURE we were having!!!!

EPCOT BALL!!!


visiting with SNOW WHITE!! he was acting all SHY!!


OUR BEAUTIFUL BABY BOYS!!! :)


AWWW.....DONALD DUCK!


JUST BEING GOOFY!!!


CHIP AND DALE! joshua was having NONE OF IT!


HEY?! DID YOU SEE THAT?!?! Matthew was AMAZED at BASE21 because their floor changes COLORS!! HE LOVED IT and couldn't stop LAUGHIN!!


wow, it changes colors again!!! can we get one of these?!?


THE BALL again!


the beautiful CASTLE at DISNEY!


THE PRINCESS AND HER COURT!


it's just soooo PRETTY!! so detailed!


WOW....this is what it looks like at the end of the day!

DAY 4.....

well, today is the DAY!!! we decided that today we would hit up the AWESOME world of MAGIK KINGDOM or better known as DISNEY WORLD!!!! we were so excited and we were raring to go!! so we woke up and got everyone ready go and put on our T-SHIRTS that i made that for the 5 of us said "MATTHEW ISAIAHS MAKE A WISH TRIP....PICTURE OF HIM....DISNEYWORLD FLORIDA APRIL 18-24, 2009!!" matthews said the same thing except for at the top it said, "THANK YOU MAKE A WISH FOR MY WISH!" ...we got ready and went to eat at THE GINERBREAD HOUSE...YUMMY!!! the atmospher there is so welcoming and loving....i just LOVED being there!! we were all soooooo excited about going to the MK today....

well, we got there and all the kids (and adults) were SOOOO EXCITED to be going FINALLY to the big park!!! i knew that the first thing we were going to get on was the DISNY EXPRESS TRAIN!!! it was soooo awesome to go around the park looking at all the sights and just ITCHING to get on some of those rides.....

we caught the daytime PARADE and it was soooo awesome!! some of those TALL PEOPLE came down to matthews level and gave him a high five!! we started our day at SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON TREE and poor james carried matthew all the way UP and down...but he loves his son SOOOOO MUCH that he did it all just so he could experience the attraction...i remember doing this tree as a child when we went to DISNEYLAND in california....looks just like this one! anyway, we did a few rides there and then went over to MINNIES house and to check out some more stuff...we got to take pictures with the star of the place MICKEY MOUSE AND MINNIE MOUSE!! we did TOMORROW LAND and ended up eating lunch there at the burget joint and it was GOOD!! we road some other rides such as IT'S A SMALL WORLD, BUZZLIGHT YEAR, MONSTERS, INC, PETER PAN, THE MAD HATTERS TEA CUPS, etc....and what i ABSOLUTELY LOVED ABOUT IT was that about 99% of the rides both JOSHUA (1 YEARS OLD) and MATTHEW could get on with us!! ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!! we had soooo much fun as a family. just amazing....and EVERY SINGLE TIME, even though we rode the ride SERERAL TIMES in a row, joshua would KICK AND SCREAM cause he did NOT want to GET OFF THE RIDE!!! and i mean, REALLY kick and scream with crocadile tears etc....awwwwww....it would break the hearts of everyone around us!! that is another beautiful thing about THE WISH TRIP....we ALWAYS went to the front of the line....we could ride the ride SEVERAL times if we wanted to without getting off the ride and we NEVER had to stand in ANY line!! :) we were actually able to see the whole park because of that!! if not, the lines were 1+ hours long at each one!!!

anyway,we stayed thru so that we could see the LIGHT PARADE and then the FIREWORKS WISHES SHOW....we didn't ended up getting out of there till 1045 pm but oooohhhhh what fun we HAD!! the boys (and all of us) where CRAZY TIRED....but we had sooo much fun!!! we were OFF to GKTW and like always, as we cruised up at 1130 pm, they always welcomed us by saying 'WELCOME HOME!" JUST amazing!!!

HERE WE ARE the first place we went to was to RIDE THE TRAIN!!! :) SOOO AWESOME!


WE then visited with DAISY DUCK....


here we are in front of the WORLD FAMOUS PRINCESS CASTLE!!


HERE ARE THE BOYS with their CANNON'S in front of the SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON:


AHHHHH....the SWEETHEARTS together! :)over 14 years together!! :) this was at MINNIES GARDEN....


this was the entrance to where MICKEY & MINNIE WERE AT! :)


FINALLY, meeting MICKEY & MINNIE!


matthew was SOOO EXCITED!!


here are the boys with them....josh was CRASHED OUT!! :(


NEW FRIENDS!!!


RIDING IN STYLE!!


having FUN on the ROAD!!!


IN THE TEA CUPS!!


BEAUTIFUL!!!

DAY 3.....

well, today was another BEAUTIFUL day in FLORIDA!!! today, was the ONLY day that there was RAIN forcasted so we decided to go to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS and make it a SHORT day so that we could enjoy the VILLAGE...we didn't want to waste a "rain" day MAGIC KINGDOM....sooo, we WOKE UP and decided to just eat all our LEFT OVERS that we had in the fridge and they tasted SOOOOOOO GOOOD!! we showed the boys the 'GIFT' that the bunny had left on our table when we got back last night from the parks...so far, EVERY SINGLE DAY, there has been a GOODIE BAG for the kids...again, this is what is so AMAZING about GKTW!!! there was a CANDYLAND board game and at FIRST, i thought, "man, we already have that...' but OOOOHHHH NO!!! this is the GKTW special edition CANDYLAND!!! it is going to TREASURED!!! it has all of the village building on it!!! awwwww....

well the ONLY thing that was BAD that happened to us was that MATTHEWS KIMBA (his wheelchair/stroller) BROKE!!! yes, matthew broke it FINALLY with all his EXCITED JUMPING that he loves to do in his stroller!! at first, we didn't know what to do but i finally thought it thru and we put matthew in joshua's new stroller (THANK YOU GOD he still fit in it!) and we would rent a double stroller at the parks for joshua & alex (they gave us FREE RENTALS thru GKTW too!!) i was just sad for matthew because he DEFINETLY had a lower view of the world and i know it was not the most comfortable seat around!!

well, we were OFF to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS and after a short detour (taking the SENIC ROUTE!) we finally made it to the park!! :) again, we had FREE PARKING at all these parks and because of the folks at the DISNEY FORUMS, we knew to take MATTHEW HANDICAP PARKING PASS with us and boy were we HAPPY we remembered to do it!!! we parked RIGHT in front!! anyway, we got there and jsut enjoyed walking around....this was the ONLY DAY in our WHOLE 7 DAYS that it DID rain!! all the other days were overcast but NOT HUMID (which i was SOOOO WORRIED ABOUT) and the temps were about 83 degrees!! NICE! anyway, we had our ponchos and were ready for it and it was NOT going to slow us down!!! we had soooo much fun and were able to get on a couple of rides....the adults LOVED the MUMMYS ride!! i road it a couple of times with james and S! we had so much FUN!!! there was more thingst to LOOK at than anything...we did do a bunch of CHARACTER MEETS and i think the BEST thing we did was go see the BARNEY SHOW and then after that we got to MEET BARNEY after the show...he came down and took pictures with us and MATTHEW was sooooo excited and happy!! we had so much fun during the show!! and afterwards, the boys had fun in barneys FUN area...they LOVED IT!!! there were many props going on and we loved posing at them....they were actually filming while we were there....FINAL DESTINATION 4....we got to see some of the action...pretty cool! we didn't get to do too many things because we wanted to get back to the village....

AFTER UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, we came home around 6pm and had some dinner at the GINGERBREAD HOUSE which was YUMMY!!! we were then able to explore the village and do some fun things like PUTT PUTT, RIDE THE TRAIN, LOOK AT THE LITTLE TRAINS, talk to some other families, eat ICE CREAM, and just chill OUT there at the GKTW!!! it was really fun RELAXING time!!! just a PERFECT ending to a WONDERFUL DAY!!!

THE kids and WOODY WOOD PECKER and his girl...(what's her name?)


another of matthews favorites...MADAGASCAR CAST...


OOOHHHH....SCOBBY DO & SHAGGY!! we love these guys!!


MATTHEW and CURIOUS GEORGE...he LOVED this monkey!!!


My little gang with CURIOUS GEORGE & TED!!!


one of our FAVORITE shows...BARNEY and us!!! we had sooo much fun!


Matthew in a boat outside the BARNEY show....it was so hard to get them to leave here!


the sign at UNIVERSAL STUDIOS...WE HAD A GREAT DAY!


JOSH on the back of the train that goes around GKTW...


MATTHEW & ALEX playing with the romote control boats...


joshua checking out the AWESOME train set they had!!


MATTHEW and S on NOAH's ARK...


PLAYING PUTT PUTT at GKTW...


JUST ANOTHER PUTT PUTT shot!!


MATTHEW giving daddy a FACIAL with his ice cream cone! he was laughing SOOOOO HARD!


giving matthew a smoochie sticky KISS!!