Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Make A Wish trip......the Magic Begins!

 The Long awaited trip was FINALLY here!  December 6, 2014 could NOT come soon enough.  We loaded the truck and headed to El Paso, TX.  We had an early flight on the morning of Dec. 7, so they put us in a nice room at the Hyatt in El Paso.  The kids had a blast running around, bouncing on the couch and the beds :)

 We ran until we dropped.  4am came early and we were up and ready to roll.  We rolled our suitcases and tired selves to the elevator and sure enough, there were no lights and no response from the elevator on the 6th floor.  So there we sat, a bit panicked in a rush to get to our flight.  We didn't really want to carry 3 sleepy kids and all of our luggage down the flights of stairs.  While Ben called the front desk (and got NO response) I ran down the stairs to the floor beneath and luckily when I pushed the elevator button it started right up.  So I jumped in and went up and we loaded in.  Pfew, first crisis averted! 
 We made the flights and it was smooth sailing!  The kids were so very excited to fly, especially Cody....that kid could not get enough of the planes or the complimentary peanuts ;)


 The Orlando Airport had so many fun things....the train/tram was a highlight.  They could stand up as we moved....they were SOO excited!

 As soon as we got far enough towards the baggage claim we saw the Volunteers from MAW waiting for Kimber!  Everyone else is grabbing our luggage in this photo.  MAW was so very helpful!  They took us right to our minivan (YES Ben drove a minivan) that was ready and waiting with car seats and all!  We got directions and we continued on our way!

We arrived and were welcomed with open arms at Give Kids the World Village.  Here we are after our day of traveling in front of our 'home' for the week!  We unloaded the van and took a quick run around the village!  It was a VERY magical place!!
 Here we are in front of the Ice Cream shop that is open from early morning to late at night.  Ice Cream for breakfast is not only an option, but encouraged :)  As much ice cream as often as we wanted it!  It became a frequent stop!

 This little train was so fun.  It was part of Amberville (I will do some of the history/stories of the Village in a later post).  Cody especially loved it!  The actual driver was in the second car so the kids could ride in the engine and ring the bell and act like they were the Engineer.  It was so fun!

 Fun things to do in Amberville.  Everything was free, just get on and push the buttons to start.


 Here we are at the theater.  So many fun things to see and do!

 Quick Ice Cream stop before heading to the life sized CANDYLAND game!
 Ben went to a quick orientation while the rest of us played with the Village Characters in Candyland! 
 Miss Merry and Mayor Clayton were often spotted around the village.
They rode rides, played games, danced and just had FUN!
Nothing in the village was ever very crowded, so we often, pretty much had the place and characters to ourselves.


The first night came to a close as we met the CANDY LAND Princess!
The game was played on their playground that is set up just like the game Candy Land.
The kids each got a prize for making it through the game and answering fun riddles about different candy!  They made Candy airplanes and got covered in Cotton Candy.  First night was definitely a magical success!

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