Make a Wish!

I just spoke to Joe's sister, Leah. Her youngest was diagnosed with leukemia (ALL) last summer, shortly after we'd visited the family in Utah. This little girl is only four years old. She and Buddy sure hit it off. She still calls on a regular basis, and he always remembers her in his prayers, praying that she will get well. Anyway, Leah's family will be going to Walt Disney World in October with the Make a Wish Foundation. I'm so excited for them! They never would be able to afford this on their own. Disney is extremely expensive for a family of six. We were just there, and it was brutal even with the military discounts and a few free tickets!


I don't think I blogged about our vacation. Shame on me! It was fun. I was able to visit my aunt, Patti, that lives in Orlando. She met us at Epcot, where we lost Bug. That was two days in a row for losing kids! The day before we went to Epcot, we went to Blizzard Beach. Joe took the kids, except Seuss who was asleep, on the Lazy River. Buddy fell off his tube, so Joe stopped to help him. When he turned around, the older three were gone. He looked all over for them and we reported them missing at the "Lost Kids" station. Apparently, Bug had finally noticed that her dad and Buddy weren't around, so she got Bear and Dude out of the Lazy River. Bear tried to go off on his own, but the "mini-mom" rounded him up and they waited for about 15 minutes. By this time, Joe and I were panicking. I now had Seuss and Buddy and took them to report the others missing. Joe and I ended up meeting each other at the "Lost Kids" station. A bit later, Bug showed up with the other boys, coming back to where we'd left our stuff in the toddler area. She'd waited and when Joe didn't show up, she took the boys to the restroom and came back. I left her with the boys and told the people at Blizzard Beach that the kids had shown up. When I got back, Joe was there and said the kids were lucky they hadn't just gone down another slide while he was looking for them. They would have ended up back at the condo where we were staying, and forget about Epcot the next day.


A I stated earlier, we went to Epcot the next day. The kids had a blast on the ride "Test Track" and Seuss slept through the ride "Spaceship Earth." Buddy even overcame his fear of costumed characters enough to be photographed with Mickey.



I met Patti later in the afternoon, and we sat and talked while the kids played in "Inoventions." Well, we were there when that section of the park was closing, and Bug was told she needed to leave. They didn't let her go back to where we'd been sitting. Joe some how missed her when looking for her. Anyway, she did what we'd instructed all the kids to do if lost, "Go back to the beginning." That's where we found her. At the beginning, a bit flustered since she couldn't find us and afraid she was going to be in trouble. Not so. We were just glad that she knew where she was and wasn't lost after all.

Quite the vacation, let me tell you. We'd spent a day at Clearwater Beach (a zoo on Memorial Day weekend), then Memorial Day at Universal Studios (not as crowded as I'd thought it would be), then a day each at Magic Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, and Epcot. Then we drove to Cocoa Beach and spent a day at Kennedy Space Center which was okay, but Bug was ill the whole day with a fever, dizzy, and later the chills. The start of the day she felt light headed and dizzy, we thought she was dehydrated and kept pushing fluids down her. Later she started a fever and chills. We did go to the beach the next day since the Space Shuttle was to be launched. She was feeling a bit better, so we sat her under an umbrella and told her to tell us if she couldn't handle anymore. If that was the case, we wouldn't wait around, but start the drive home, missing the launch that Joe desperately wanted to see. But by the time the launch was happening, she was feeling a bit better. Her temperature had gone down and everything. She even enjoyed the shuttle launch.

I hope Joe's niece and her family enjoy their trip this fall. I'm not sure if I can, but I think that I'm going to try and take Buddy and Seuss down to see her. Hopefully, with military discounts and the like, I can. More important, though, is that I'm so glad that she will get this opportunity to travel to Florida and have what could be a once in a lifetime experience. Actually, it will be. There's only a FIRST time for anything! Thank goodness for Make a Wish and Disney's willingness to work with them!