A Wish has been granted!

We were counting down the days until Aly's WISH trip and before long the day was finally here.  We headed to Toronto on Friday June 21st where we would be staying the night at the Sheraton right at the airport.  We arrived at the park and fly, dropped off the truck and too the shuttle over the hotel.  I think Aly thought this was the extent of our trip.  When we entered the hotel there was a large escalator that took us up to the check in area - she that it was AWESOME!  We then got settled in our room and headed out to have some dinner.  Aly overheard some other children talking about he pool, so we wrapped up the night with her swimming and playing in the pool.

The next morning we didn't have to get up too early as our flight was not until 10am.  We were greeted at West Jet by an amazing crew and had our own personal escort that took us through security and waited with us until we boarded the plane.  I wasn't sure how Aly would react to flying. Although it wasn't her first flight, the last time she was on a plane she was only 15 months old when we went to Cuba and she doesn't seem to remember that trip at all.  To our surprise she sat in her window seat put on her headphones, wrapped a travel pillow around her neck and sat there as though she travelled often.  It was quite funny.  We were the fist people on board and Aly was allowed to go into the cockpit, meet the crew and ask some questions.  She asked how high the plane will fly, how it stays in the air, how old the plane was.  The crew chuckled at her questions and seemed surprised that a 4 year would ask such questions.

And we were off ...... the fligh was just under 3 hours and when we left the plane were were hit by the Florida humidity. Those around us chuckled because Aly said " mommy why do they the heaters on so high ....:"  Apparently, like her father, Aly does not like the heat!

We were greeted by a lovely English woman from Give Kids the World ( the place we would be staying at) ... and she lead us directly to the car rental place.  We picked out our car and we were off!  It was a short drive to our destination and when we pulled into the secured property, we had no idea what was on the other side of those gates.  It was a little village appropriately named "Give Kids the World".

It was June, so we knew it was going to be hot ....but it was HOT!!!  Well over 100 degrees on most days and really only one cooler night.  Thankfully there was a pool at the resort.  We would wake up early - hit the parks after breakfast, spend a few hours - return to the villa and spend the afternoon swimming in the pool, then return to the park a few nights to see fireworks etc.  Give Kids The World is hard to describe.  Everyone told us how great it was, but you don't truly appreciate everything about it - until you go there.  Volunteers come from all over the country ( ...and probably the world) and spend the week serving ice cream, carrying dinner trays to your table, operating the carousel, helping in the kids spa, and helping out with all the evening festivities.  In a week they celebrate, a birthday, Halloween, parades and they even celebrate Christmas and it includes a visit from Santa and each child received a present.  We would sit in the dining hall and look around at all the families that were there with us.  It's hard to put into words the struggles that so many families have, the strength they have to deal with the challenges they have been dealt and yet how happy, hopeful and inspiring they all were.  I am not even going to go into details about our visits to Disney World, Universal Studio and Animal Kingdon.  What can I say about it - it's magical!  We had passes that allowed us on rides almost immediately.  I don't think we waited any longer than 10 minutes for a ride and all the employees where AMAZING.  Our trip was not so much about Disney - it was about getting away from the crazy life we have lived for the past 2 years.  It was a stress free visit.  I never worried, I lived in the moment and as crazy as it sounds, I was grateful for the experience we have had through Aly's treatment.  So many kids have bigger battles to win, battles that won't end in remission and battles that some of them won't win.  This trip was good for us as a family. We needed to spend the time together outside of our "normal".  We needed to laugh, we needed to see Aly's face the first time she saw Darth Vader - - and later the smile on her face when she went up against him and became a JEDI.

We will be forever grateful to the Make a Wish Foundation for this trip and for continuing to offer this opportunity to families with sick children.