Emily's trip Day 3

Emily’s Wish Day 3
Well, the laundry is still being completed more often than we’d like, but you have to keep your perspective. Our kids get sick every year, this year they are being sick at the happiest place on Earth.
Emily woke us at 3:30 with another round of dirtying sheets and blankets. Not cool, but she was able to settle down and sleep the rest of the morning. I gradually felt better throughout the day, and the weather warmed up a bit, although still a bit too cold for Emily.
Drew came in to get us this morning already wearing his Epcot shirt. –Here might be a good place to tell our readers about the “DisBoutiquers”. This is a large group of INCREDIBLY TALENTED and EXTREMELY GENEROUS ladies who met Aimee on a Disney board when we first learned about Emily’s trip. Starting in the middle of November, we received gifts in the mail (Referred to as THE BIG GIVE) nearly every other day or so up until we left. In all we received between 20-25 packages in the mail. Each package was a true gift from the heart, either handmade or purchased with our trip in mind. Hats, bows, dresses, shirts, pajamas, personalized ornaments, things to keep the kids busy, and even gift cards to use at the park is just the beginning of the list. The kind notes sent along with the gifts often touched our hearts as it really is just absolute kindness in the greatest form. The Gives really excited the kids and pumped them up for what a great experience we’re having. So outside of my fear of being “that guy” we’ve been wearing thematic matching outfits to each park and did actually have a costume change today. We look really great in our well-planned combinations, despite my original nightmares of my family showing up in matching newsboy hats and argyle Disney sweaters at the next family gathering(they've been know to mock our Christmas outfits) to mock us. It will have been worth the mockery, as the oohs and ahs from the passersby who asked Aimee if she made the outfi€ts and we told them about these sweet ladies who still believe in the spirit of giving. All the advice and support they’ve given Aimee in planning this trip has really been a blessing. I hope they know just how much it meant to us. – Anyway… Drew came in to get us this morning already wearing his Epcot shirt. He was so excited, and we did get off to a faster start. We were on the road by 9am. We had originally planned to go to EPCOT this morning and then go to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon, but we instead went to Hollywood Studios, so we could see the things we planned to see yesterday.
We went to EPCOT today because of the surprise Aimee had planned – a reservation in Norway at Akershus, for brunch and a photo with Belle. Because we were early, we stopped in Mexico and went on a real gem that we didn’t really remember, but that Emily and the rest of the kids enjoyed. The Three Caballeros was a boat ride similar to It’s a Small World.






When we arrived in Norway, Emily was really upset by the cold and we were worried she would be sick again. You see, she was wearing her beautiful handmade Cinderella Dress and we couldn’t possibly allow her to be sad and sick when meeting the princesses! Brenna was wearing her handmade Belle dress and Carter was wearing his Prince shirt my Aunt Sue made for him. Our gang was getting a lot of second looks as we strolled through the park in such super cute outfits. Anyway, I brought Emily inside while Aimee waited outside with the rest of the kids and Em calmed down after a few minutes. She did, however, start crying immediately when we were invited to get her picture taken with Belle and briefly spit up on her matching bib but the photo turned out nice, despite the drama. Belle was very convincing and sweet with all the kids.










The brunch was good and included visits from Snow White, Jasmine, Mulan, and Mary Poppins. Mulan spent plenty of time at our table, clearly pausing for photos and making a memorable experience for us and Mary Poppins paraded around the room not once, but twice with Carter and Brenna in each hand. This personalized experience was very special and will be remembered fondly.




After the brunch we visited Journey Into Imagination, starring Figment(Who Aimee defends furiously to the non-believers) where Em didn’t love the ride, but didn’t get sick either. Otherwise, the kids loved the cheap jokes and gags, especially the skunk spray.
Next, we entered The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush which was enjoyed by everyone. We briefly visited the Siemens VIP lounge (by special invitation) where we had some time to clean Emily and decide on our gameplan. Since everyone seemed up to it, we ventured to Hollywood Studios.
Our first stop was an early dinner at Backlot Express which overlooked the Jedi Training show. Drew wanted to do it, but the time invested wasn’t fair for everyone, especially since we already saw the show, so he settled for a souvenir from the Tatooine gift shop. We found Mater and McQueen from Cars, which was Carter’s big plan for the whole trip.




Right before we saw Muppets 3-D, because I love the Muppets, Drew told Aimee that his ear hurt. By the time the show was over he was wincing about it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t leave until Emily could see the Osbornes Light Spectacular. Drew tried to be patient but was starting to cry because he really was hurting. Emily did enjoy the light show and was still awake the whole ride home, although Drew was asleep inside of 90 seconds, and Carter was out in five minutes. It would have been nice to stay and see the show a second time, but it was wonderful to see her truly enjoying the lights at all.







We decided that we’ll likely alter our plans again for tomorrow, and we’ll likely stay at the village and participate in some of the events offered on site and determine if Drew needs to see a Doctor or not.
For now, I’ll have to check with our costume coordinator to see what we’ll be wearing tomorrow…

Emily's Trip - Days 1-2

Emily’s Wish Day 1
The unexpected snowfall was both unwelcome and inconvenient; however, it didn’t create any problems other than worries and several trips out to the driveway to shovel the accumulating snow.
Both NJ and PA had declared a state of emergency, so our scheduled driver couldn’t leave until 7am, causing us to be delayed about an hour. To be fair, the Make-A-Wish coordinator had him coming a little early because of the car seats to be sure we’d have enough time.

Jay was an excellent driver and had us at the airport in plenty of time and was a big help loading and unloading in the cold and wet weather. Once we were inside, it really wasn’t too bad until we got to the security checkpoint, only because we had so many carry-ons, so many kids, so many pairs of shoes, and so many jackets that we were still loading things into the machine with nobody to unload on the other end causing a bit of a pileup. Aimee dotted all her i’s and crossed all her t’s in regards to Emily’s medical bag, so that delay was even relatively short.




The flight was right on time and we had priority boarding. The attendants were very helpful throughout and even though takeoff was EXTREMELY turbulent, our kids were shouting and screaming because they thought it was so fun! Even Emily was all smiles… Carter did get sick about an hour in, but was very happy that we had an identical shirt for him to change into (sometimes, OVER planning is just enough).
Once we landed, the GKTW greeter, Hope, met us and helped us to quickly find and move our baggage to the car rental garage. Once there, they told me to go pick a van. I found a Dodge Caravan and we loaded everyone in. When I started to put Em’s KidKart in, we realized we’d just hit our first major snag. It didn’t fit. It didn’t fit in any direction unfolded or folded. Once we admitted to ourselves that we’d have to start moving car seats into another van; Hope and I sought out a van that could hold Em’s chair. We ended up in a Sienna. If it had been white, I think the kids would have thought we’d had our own minivan shipped to Florida.
The kids were cranky, tired, and hungry. If you wonder why I didn’t include a lunch break in this detail filled post, it is because we never had any. Oops…
We arrived at GKTW and met another greeter, Don, who gave us the rundown of the village and escorted us to our villa. This place is beyond description. The playground across the street would be enough reason to fly down here. The carousel that is at ground level and wheelchair accessible is at the top of our list for the rest of the week, but for now, we needed to eat something. We called and ordered (Boston Market sponsored) chicken and meatloaf from Kate’s kitchen as well as took a ride to the ice cream parlor(Friendly’s) for dessert. Aimee went to the orientation to get our park passes and other info while I tended to the medicine, formula mixing and crankiness. Once Aimee returned, she led the bedtime routine and unpacked all the clothes and I went to Walmart for some essentials.
The kids enjoyed some made-up Disney songs as we tucked them in. Aimee’s lyrics rhyme better than mine, but we all have our weaknesses…




Emily’s Wish Day 2


A highly respected friend has a saying, “Some people wouldn’t be happy in Disneyworld.” Sadly, some people just can’t be pleased and can’t help but complain. Thankfully, there is nothing to complain about here. Our day was FANTASTIC. The kids got to see a parade, go on a few rides, enjoy some souvenirs, see some shows and see kindness from everyone.
The master plan was to dress in our Mickey Gear, go to Magic Kingdom in the morning, then do a costume change and check out Hollywood Studios. We set the alarm for 6:30, hoping to be out the door at quarter after eight…
At 6:30, Emily’s feeding ended and then she choked and became sick all over her beautiful personalized pillowcase. After four episodes, she calmed down, stopped crying, and fell sound asleep in her own mess while Aimee ran the bath water. During the early morning bath , Emily giggled throughout, while I put the laundry on*.) *Yes, GKTW not only provides a full size washer and dryer in the villa, but also enough detergent to do 2 loads each day!
Unfortunately, I too, started feeling nauseous and we were starting to question how to alter the schedule, but everyone was so excited about seeing the castle, and Emily seemed to be ok…
Drew, Brenna, and Carter got to try Matthew’s Boundless Playground which is a Candyland themed playground that is as accessible as possible for children with disabilities. They (of course) loved it and took turns running to colored spaces and can’t wait to go back.



We finally left the village at 10am and the kids loved the monorail once we got to Magic Kingdom. Emily slept through the parade, but everyone else was wide-eyed throughout and we got our first Photo Pass picture taken (which ended up being the only time we saw a photographer the whole day, but we aren’t going to be unhappy in Disney World).
Aimee and I decided long ago that It’s a Small World would be our only “Must see” attraction, since we thought it was gentle enough for Emily, and there would be plenty of music, movement, and lights. It was our first ride, and I can honestly say we could come home tomorrow and I’d have no regrets. We were able to have her stay in her chair on a special boat and she(right on cue) opened her eyes and smiled throughout the entire ride.




After lunch, we enjoyed the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. They even used a joke that Drew submitted. “What happens when a ghost falls down?” wait for it… “He gets a Boo Boo”. The kids all laughed and Emily stayed awake for the whole show. I guess she has a lot of Aimee in her, she also sleeps during boring things like car rides and conversations with me…but wakes up for the end of movies and game winning homeruns. Afterwards, Emily and I hung around while everyone else defeated the evil Zurg on the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. Carter and Drew each found Buzz Lightyear light up guns and we proceeded to another shop to get Minnie headbands for Emily and Brenna.




While Aimee and Brenna were in line, the rest of us hung out by the door out of the wind. Emily choked once and then got sick BIG TIME. Her cart, her coat, her texture bag, and her brother (Carter, who was standing in front of her) all were in need of a good cleaning. No less than half a dozen strangers offered to help and (cast member) Ralph, who we had struck up a conversation with earlier ran to get Aimee, brought me additional tissues and a bag for the initial clean up.
We were planning on meeting Mickey and Minnie, but instead detoured to a secret chamber of awesomeness hidden in Magic Kingdom (I’ll never tell)
The Wish Lounge is a quiet room decorated with beautiful furniture, a life sized replica of “The Genie’s Lamp” and wonderful Aladdin and other Disney artwork. This lounge is exclusive for guests of the charitable organizations that send kids to Disney. Aimee cleaned up Emily and her chair in a private area while Carter, Brenna, and Drew relaxed on oversized pillows, a vintage chaise lounge and drank cold bottled water in the only quiet room in Magic Kingdom (I know, awesome). The best part was the discussion between Drew and I on the dangers of rubbing the Genie’s Lamp in a small room with lots of fragile, fancy, furniture. He decided we should take it out of the room to rub it, because we’d have to use our first wish to clean up everything. This kid is going to grow up to be something pretty amazing. He’s far more logical than the standard middle school kid.
After we cleaned up, we headed back to the Village. Emily was able to ride the carousel, but we didn’t have a camera with us. We’ll be returning tomorrow, I’m sure. Everyone loved it and Emily could park inside a turtle and smiled until the carousel (on her second turn) slowly soothed her back to sleep.
We are back at the Villa now, enjoying some pizza for dinner and hoping tomorrow will be as special as today was, but with less laundry…

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Hi everyone!
Well, the Christmas holiday is quickly approaching and for me that means I’ve got to get a move on making my 2010 photo cards to send out to all of my friends and family. Shutterfly has given me a chance to earn 50 free Christmas photo cards by writing about their 2010 card collection on my blog! How nice, right? I thought so too.

I went to http://www.shutterfly.com/ to browse this year’s selection and I was very pleased with the choices of cards they have available for Christmas. It’s a nice mix a traditional, modern, and fun designs to suit whatever you might be looking for. It didn’t take me long to find the Christmas card that I thought was perfect for our family photo this year. In the past I have needed cards with 4 photo spots, so I can put a single picture of each kid looking their best. But this year, I’m so happy that I was able to figure out the self timer on my camera and got a pretty great shot of the whole family! Hooray!!

I know I can trust Shutterfly with my holiday cards this year because I have purchased Birthday Thank You Photo Cards and Photobooks from them in the past and have been satisfied with their quality.

My favorite card is the Holiday Window Christmas Card (sample shown here)




(you'll have to wait to see MY kids!!!!)


If you’re looking for the perfect card or photo gift check out these links:

Christmas photo cards - http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

Holiday photo cards -  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

Christmas ornaments - http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts/pewter-ornament

Wall calendars - http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

And Photobooks - http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

Happy Holidays!!!

The Cliff's Notes - June 2010

I haven't really updated the blog at all since the big trip to LA, which we actually took in April!!!  So, I'm officially making an attempt to blog again!

Since I'm so far behind and so much has happened, it'll be the very quick version!

Here goes . . .

In June:

We got a shed for the backyard.  The garage has been overflowing for a while now so we really needed this. :)

Baby bunnies made home in our backyard as they have for the past few years.  One bunny, whom we have named, Norbert, is still hanging around.

Emily continues to make progress with her therapies, and is interacting more with us.  We believe her vision is improving too!  Check out the eye contact here!

Nicole, Joe, and Sierra rented a "shore house" so we got to visit them several days the week they were here.  We are all hoping to make it an annual tradition!  (I have more pics to add here from a beach photo shoot)

Drew had his Kindergarten class show, Italian restaurant themed with songs, poems and costumes.  Totally cute!  Drew LOVED his teacher and did a great job all year.  He is reading at around a 3rd grade level! (Here he is with his teacher.)

I started doing more at home photo shoots with my camera, these were some I took for Father's day.

This is the picture I ended up giving Gee-off.

We also took a few trips to the Garden State Discovery Museum and I got to go to an all day scrapbooking crop.

Photography

I've been really enjoying taking pictures lately, it's become my latest hobby, or obsession.  I've been taking pictures of the kids mostly, but I did one family photo shoot for a friend and some "modeling" shots of Drew for a Gap contest and it's been really fun!  I have a nice camera, though I'm sure it's not what the professionals use, and I don't really know how to do all that fancy editing stuff, but I'm learning and hope to keep learning more!

Here's a link to a really awesome contest on Facebook for photographers. You can win props, editing "actions", really sweet stuff!  Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.juliemayree.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D822&h=e3498

I'm hoping to win this stuff so wish me luck! :)

More time

I'm going to have a little more time this week coming up with school FINALLY starting, and one of my goals is to get blogging again.  So if you've still been checking in here, I thank you for caring about us, and I'll be catching you up very soon on all the latest news from the summer and the months before that!

A new post!!

It's been over a month since I lasted posted!!  What can I say, our summer has been very busy!  I have tons of pics and stories to share, but no time or energy to do it.  Tonight, I messed around with the new Blogger Template Design feature. I like the sky background, very cute. :)

Next Direct Model Competition: Part 2

I know it's been over a month since I posted Part 1 of our trip, so if you've forgotten or have just found this blog for the first time, please scroll down past Emily's video and you'll find the post about the first two days of our trip LA!!


Here are few more pics from Part 1:

After our very busy day on Saturday, we knew we were going to get to spend some time exploring Universal Studios and then "walking the red carpet" at the final party where the winner would be crowned!

On Sunday morning, all of the kids met outside the hotel to wait for the tram to Universal for the Studio Tour.  While we were waiting, our team leaders passed out portfolios containing 2 of each kid's best shots from the photo shoots, so exciting!! 

The Studio Tour was fun and I was able to get some cool shots of movie props and sets.  However, I'm not sure it was the best idea to take a group of 4-7 year olds on the tour as it was a bit scary at parts.  Norman Bates made a guest appearance with a knife as we rode through the Psycho set (creepy!), Jaws, of course, the dark Mummy cave, and the earthquake in the underground subway were all a bit much, especially for the littlest ones and even for Drew at 6 1/2.  He did mostly enjoy it though.

After the tour, we all split up into our teams and "The Penguins" went to the Shrek 4D movie ride.  We sat in a theater and got little surprises while we watched the movie, like being sprayed with water when Donkey sneezed, and "spiders" crawling up our legs when they appeared on the screen!!  After that, we headed over to the Simpsons ride, which is a simulated roller coaster with the characters from the show on a huge screen.  I really liked it, but Drew wasn't feeling so well and didn't really like that ride too much.  Too much jiggling, shaking and lurching up and down for him I think!

Then it was time to head over to the Globe Theater to get dressed and primped for the final party!  Each group was taken in and given their outfits that they had tried on the day before.  After getting dressed, they led us through the back of theater to the hair/makeup girls who were outside just before the red carpet.  Of course, it was right before the red carpet walk that my camera batteries died and I had to run back to the coat/bag check room to get my extra batteries so I wouldn't miss any picture opportunities!!!

They lined each team up and they walked the red carpet and strutted their stuff! The photogs took their pics at the end of carpet like they were real superstars!  Then they had them all go back to the beginning and walk the carpet together which was so stinkin' cute!!  Once all of the teams were finished on the carpet, they got all of the kids gathered together on the steps of the Globe Theater for some group shots of the Top 50!

We then went in to the Globe for the final party where they would be announcing the winner!  They had two female hosts (one a former model and blogger, and Eva LaRue from CSI Miami) who introduced the judges and showed some photos and videos from the competition.  They invited each team to come up on stage while DJ Tony O (from Ellen) spun some tunes.  Drew just couldn't stop dancing on stage and I have the video to prove it too!!! :) 

Drew's Team Leader

Unfortunately, Drew did not win the big prize; a $100,000 educational scholarship and a year modeling contract with Wilhelmina.  The big winner was Savannah L. from the orange group, and they also picked 3 runners-up; Miles and Paige from our group (Yay!!!), and Jake V. from the red group!  All of the kids did walk away with prizes though, because they let us keep the clothes that they wore to the party, gave each finalist a $150 shopping spree on their website, and they eventually emailed all of the photo shoot pictures to us as well!!!!  I was really happy about the pictures! :) 

They also said that if they were interested in our children as models they would contact us within the next few weeks, but we haven't heard anything. :(  I do still keep in touch with many of the Moms from the Top 50 on Facebook and it doesn't seem that anyone else heard from Wilhelmina either.  The runner-ups and the winner did recently go to New York City to do a photo shoot for Next, so that is exciting and I'm waiting to see the pics!

We also got a chance to see my "computer friend", Shannen, and her beautiful daughters, M and A.  Thanks for coming over to see us girls!!!!

Finally, Drew was able to get in the hotel pool for a while before we went to the airport and headed home!  He had been waiting to swim since we had arrived on Friday night!!

Again, to everyone who helped with the grueling voting process to get Drew in the Top 50, we thank you all very much and appreciate your devotion to us!  Drew and I got to experience a once in a lifetime trip together and I know I will never forget it!

Emily stood today! Do you believe in miracles??