Three-year-old Faye was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia on April 11, 2011. After 135 days in the hospital, Faye was able to spend 3 years at home. On September 5th 2014 she was told that she had relapsed. She was able to achieve a second remission and had a bone marrow transplant on Oct 17th 2014.

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Make a Wish Day 1 and 2 Disney

 Wow to say this trip was magical would be an understatement!  We had such a wonderful time.  We got back on Tuesday evening and I still feel like we are recovering!  You don't know how needed a trip is until you are actually on it.  Getting ready for it, and packing is always stressful, but once we were on our way I knew it was going to be awesome! 
First Stop the College Station Airport
When they were figuring out our trip for us they asked us if we would rather leave from College Station or out of Houston.....as much as we enjoy and have the drive to Houston memorized, we were excited to take a 5 min drive to the airport to leave. 
The kids were confused when we had to walk out to get on the plane!  College Station is a small airport...therefore a small plane!
 It sure does make for great travel pictures though!
Notice Faye and her purse?  A Rubber Chicken purse none the less!  We got many smiles and comments about this little purse! 

 Once we landed we were greeted by Jill who works with the "Give Kids the World Village"  She was there to help us get our bags and our car and send us on our way!  It was a wonderful welcome to Florida, she was wonderful!  She took Faye and let her pick which car she wanted!
 (This picture was taken at the end of the trip, but this is the sign Jill was holding waiting for us!)
Faye picked a silver van...one week was not enough time to have this van, because they were still fighting as to who was going to push the buttons to open and close the van doors!

Here is the Entrance to the village!  The whole village was like a life sized Candy land!  They had a Castle, Gingerbread House, Ice Cream Shop!  It was amazing how much it was catered to the kids that get to visit there!
 First Stop the Lobby to get the rundown of how everything works, and get our Villa keys!

 A Giant Chocolate covered Strawberry...yes please!
They Gave Faye her very own Star! 
 Faye was to write her name on her star and then the Star Fairy takes it and places it on the ceiling in the Castle!  All these stars are of kids that have visited the Village, each one holds a special place forever for these kids that have or are battling something!
 They recently had to add the addition of the turret to include more Stars, because there are so many!  In here is where Faye's Star will stay forever!
 To get the picture I had to take drastic measures.......
So Nick had to keep the memory forever!

Nothing like riding in style for a tour around the village!
Also in the Castle this little cave with a slide!  Of course it was Fayes first stop!
 Then right after she headed over to the Salon to get her nails done!  Cant start a trip without a fresh manicure!

And then ended the night with a trip to the Ice Cream Shop!  Probably a family favorite of the trip!  This Shop opened at 7:30 every morning and closed at 9:30 every night!  You were welcome to go in there and get whatever you wanted all day long! 
Our mornings usually went something like this:  Eat some breakfast, then head to the Ice Cream shop to grab a treat before heading off to the parks!  Nick would get a Carmel Shake every morning Faye would get Strawberry Ice cream, take about 2 bites and then take over Nicks Shake!  Same routine every morning, we tried to tell her she would want a Carmel shake, but with no fail would always get Strawberry Ice Cream...and then take Dads!  I personally was a fan of the Banana Splits...Don't worry though, I was informed that calories don't exist in the village!
Here's Our Villa!
What other place can you go stay and they have it decorated for Christmas for you? 
 A local elementary made these decorations for the villas!
When we first got to the Village they gave Faye her very own Mickey! 
And the next morning Mickey and Minnie came to the Village to visit, and took pictures and signed the feet of Faye's Mickey!
 Belle also stopped by!
 And so did Goofy and Pluto...we found them playing some basketball!
Headed to Disney World!  We could not believe how big this place was it was spread out everywhere!  We were amazed!
 Our first stop into Disney World!  To see Rapunzel! We brought the kids Halloween costumes, because Faye wanted everyone dressed up to see her!  We got the pictures of the kids with her, and then quickly changed their clothes into their normal clothes! 


 Nick and I were both tearing up seeing Faye with Rapunzel!  She played a huge part in our hospital visit!  I remember numerous nights being awake at 2:00 in the morning because Faye couldn't sleep whether it be because we were getting used to people always coming into the room, because of all the fluids being pumped into her she wet the bed, or throwing up, or when she had that bout with that nasty fever!  We would sit up in the middle of the night and Rapunzel usually was our go to movie!  And when Faye lost her hair she would tell us "When my hair grows back it is going to be magic like Ruptunzels" 

Rapunzel even gave Faye a kiss! 
I don't know why this picture will only post sideways!  But this little pass was AMAZING!  They gave Faye a button with her name on it to wear, and they gave Nick and I this pass!  The line for Tangled was like a 45 minute wait, but someone saw Faye's button and our pass then they would got us right to the front, we didn't even have to wait at all! 
The first ride the kids went on was Aladdin's Flying Carpets!  They had to go on it twice...they loved it so much! 
 Meeting Ariel!


Meeting Tinkerbell was a whole different story!  Faye wanted nothing to do with her!  Allthough Faye loves Tinkerbell...seeing a little Fairy lifesized was just too much for Faye I guess!  Faye told us that she only liked seeing Tinkerbell small, and on TV!

 Getting Ready to Ride Pirates...here is the boys best pirate pose!
 After the ride Mitchell says "That ride was awesome"  Faye replies with "That was not Awesome for me"

Faye and I took a ride on Splash Mountain...its one of my favorites...sure not such a fan of getting wet, but I love the inside of the ride so much it is all worth it!  It was Faye's first try at a big ride, we were a little nervous about how she would do, but she did awesome!  She loved it!
 All Smiles after the big Hill!
Of course we had to ride the carousel! 
 Some of my Favorite moments from the first day at Disney:
While I went to feed Nixon Nick took Faye to see the other princesses...Aurora, Belle, and Cinderella!  The Disney people took pictures, but we don't have any on our camera, because we were not prepared and the battery was dying, luckily while I was feeding Nixon they had a plug for us to get it charged again, so we could get pictures of the rest of the day!  But when Nick came back he told me, he couldn't go see her with Princesses anymore...too emotional! They were the only characters she would actually go up to, and take pictures with without being shy....it was wonderful to see her so happy meeting the people she went there to meet, and seeing her eyes light up with how wonderful they were to her!  Nick said they probably took 20 mins with her, and made her feel so special! 







When we rode Peter Pan....It was Nixon, Faye and I in one of the boats together, and soon as we sat down Faye put her arm around Nixon, held him tight, and was telling him all about the ride and what we were seeing!  She also kept giving him little kisses on the head as the ride kept going! 
 Seeing the excitement of these three as they would go from ride to ride!  Faye loves her Dad, she wanted to ride most of the rides with him!
I would say one successful day at Disney! 
Tomorrow Universal......