Disney Day 7

This is it. Today we go home. Even though we have to pack it all up and try to stuff it all in our bags again doesn't mean that the playing has to stop.

We ventured out of our blue roofed villa and said good-bye to the Candyland Playgroud that was right across the street from us, and headed to the village bright and early and tried to soak up everything that we could in the short amount of time we had left.

Walked past the awesome pool that never was cold, even if it was night time! It was hard to not want to go and jump in.

We enjoyed a nice walk around all the gardens instead.

Rode the carousel again for the last time. I think my girls will really miss this a lot.

We met some of the neatest people when we rode this carousel.

Went to the castle of Miracles one last time to say good-bye to the talking night and see Taylie's star up on the ceiling.

Had to do a little playing too.

Then of course we couldn't leave without eating more Ice cream! I don't think we had enough...

Then Dad got to pick next and it was a little fishing from the docks.

Took a few moment to always be silly. Then it was in the car and on the road to the airport. Waiting to board and head back home. It's time..

Separated seats once again.

Arrived really late about 11:00 P.M. Girls were all exhausted, Mom and Dad were too.

The air was a little bit too cold for our new liking. Talk about a fabulous week of 90 degree weather.

Grandma Jeanne picked us up and we were off. We pulled into Richmond around 2:00 in the morning and hit the sack really hard!

Morning came and...let the unpacking begin!

Words cannot express this once-in-a-lifetime experience. We have nothing but Gratitude in our hearts for the countless people that made this family getaway unforgettable. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation especially. They created the most incredible experience for Taylie and our family. Our hearts are truly full. Now it's time to be on the other end.

We are counting the days till we can go and see Mickey and Minnie again...

giving up

Did I scare you by my title. I'm not really giving up! I have just decided that this summer has kept us so busy that I cannot physically keep up with all the things I want to be keeping up with. So instead of posting, as it is so obvious, all the many things I need to to catch up to where we are right now. I have decided to give up and start at the here and now and just play catch up in a non-chronological order. So it might get confusing to read, but who knows who reads it anyways besides me and at least I will get it all done eventually for our record. It will just be a little mixed up that's all!

It has been more fun for me to spend my time where I have been. And so to post the latest news......da da da!!

Happy Birthday to my Mayzi Moo!!!!!!!

She turned 3 years old on the 11th of August and we indeed had a fabulous day! Let me take you through :)

It all started out with our regular 3 mile walk/sometimes jog/on good days run early in the morning. We all look forward to starting our day off this way. I makes mom a lot happier and the kids have a chance to get outside even before we have to comb hair or actually put on anything that matches for the day. Because I have three girls and only have a double jogger we have a problem you might think, but not us. My Taylie is one tough bug as you all know. She very careful each morning puts on her Princess Helmet and mounts her big girl bike (no training wheels I might add) and Mom puts Sunnie and Mayzi in the stroller with Instant Breakfast in hand and we are off. Taylie stays in front of me on the side of the road and keeps a nice rhythm for my run. Occasionally Sunnie protests the adventure and Mayzi would rather get out and walk along, but for the most part it works and it feels great for everyone. The best thing about it is that it is the best way to start our day.

We come home. Mayzi has to help Mom push the numbers to open the garage. We are welcomed by three very energetic dogs that were so bummed out that I didn't take them along. I am not super woman. Three kids and three dogs out with traffic roads....not happening! They will have their walk all in good time. We play outside for a bit while Mom stretches and then we go inside and spare the neighbors of our scary appearances to start the day officially.

Eat some breakfast. Get dressed. Play beauty shop in the salon and comb the crazy hairdo's. Get Sunnie back to sleep for her morning nap, and Taylie and Mayzi are busy to work playing. I get a few things ready to go and we are off to town. Because Mom was out of town till the night before she is not really prepared. I have to at least get a b-day cake made or there will be one sad little girl tonight!

Mayzi fell asleep on the 20 min ride in. She slept in the cart the whole time in the store. She sleeps the entire ride home....and I get her into her bed and she stays asleep for another 20 or so min. I think someone was tired. The great thing was that I didn't have to hide her gifts because she couldn't see them and it only felt like I had two kids with me at the store and.....well you know what I'm talking about. Plus of all the many things to do on your b-day, going to the store not by choice is not one of them. It just worked out this way.

Upon getting home we jump quick to get the very pink and rain bowed cake made and put into the oven. We are having a super happy birthday party in our backyard tonight with a whole bunch of very special people. People who are ever bit as much family to her as her own family. We just had some fabulous news that her cousins will be in town and are coming to the party! Taylie is ecstatic and is counting down the endless hours to her so they seem, and mom is hurrying as fast as I possibly can to get it all ready in time.

Throughout the day Mayzi would approach me and ask if her Happy Birthday was ready. She is so funny for all that know her. When we were finally gathered together to celebrate we asked her what was happening, and her response of course is Mayzi's Happy Birthday!!! So let the festivities begin.

When we decided to have a big party I asked her what she wanted for her B-day. HOT DOGS!!! - was the reply. Today also was the first time that we were officially going to walk/run/jump/play/and be on the new grass. Yippee!!! The rest I will show you in pictures. Enjoy!

The very pink and rain bowed cake. Just as Mayzi wanted :) SO yummy too!

Upon finding a ring pop Mayzi decided she was good with that and let the rest of the kids go crazy over all the gifts.

...and it was a very, very, very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR MAYZI MOO!!!!!

Disney Day 6

Brace yourself. This is a long one. Hope you enjoy reading about us having a ton of fun!

This week has absolutely just flown by. There has been so much to see and even more to do. What a remarkable organization this Make-A-Wish Foundation is. We have been so deeply touched by all we have experienced. I want to say that Taylie sure did deserve it though. She went through something really horrible. We are so blessed to have this opportunity to spend this quality time together as a family. I love my little family so much more than I could ever express in words.

So this is pretty much the last day to really go anywhere to play. We have to fly out @ 2:00 tomorrow. I'm not really looking forward to the long travel back, especially the plane ride. We'll think about that later because we have some more playing to do!

Today was a toss up. We still have ticket to Epcot, Hollywood, or Universal Studios. We decided that it was going to be Hollywood studios. This is one that I have been to before. I remember really enjoying it and so here we go......Again!!!

Welcome to our day @ Hollywood Studios!

Gotta have at least one photo of the family...right! Bret always feels funny asking someone to take our picture.

Talked Taylie into riding the Tower of Terror, with her Daddy of course.

This is what she thought of it after wards. Man, am I a mean Mom or what! She was very surprised with all the up and down. She told me that it hurt her bum a little bit. I felt terrible! Bret loved it and he assured me it wasn't that bad for her. Most of it she thought was fun!

Mayzi was so excited to see the same Barrel of Monkey's that we have at our house. Only that they were like so much bigger! Notice Taylie not happy with her Mom still. :(

Decided to ride something everyone could go on. Talk about fun! You just ride around in this car thing and shoot targets and aliens from Toy Story and such. It Tally's up your score at the end and we'll let's just say that with Sunnie riding on my lap I did terrible. Nowhere near Bret's score. So we switched Sunnie and he held her for round two, and yep, I still didn't to that great. He gave me a pretty hard time about this the rest of the day! Hunters...geez!


We needed a chance to sit down and rest, and get Sunnie fed and change her bum. So the girls voted and it was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Show! Hot Dog, hot dog.........!

I think Taylie still likes me after all. She just wasn't so sure about any more rides. They chose our little family to be the honorary family. Which meant that we got to sit on the front row. The girls thought this was so cool, especially my Mayzi!

This is us trying to capture the entire family ourselves...almost, but not quite :)
We walked around and saw the Parade. A whole bunch of The Incredibles' characters, which was fun. We decided that we had done all that we were going too. It was only like 3:00 so we rushed back to the Village and played around there. Taylie still had some fun stuff she needed to do before we leave. Can't believe we leave tomorrow. Feels like it zoomed by sometimes, but I think my girls are tired. They have been going pretty hard core everyday! As soon as we would start driving all three of them would just zonk right out!

We of course need to get our swimming suits on. Tonight there is a huge pool party for everybody! We are excited for that later, but right now we have some being silly to do :)

It's a decoration...Fun huh! Hard as they could push it just wouldn't budge!

Still snoring. Old Elmer was always snoring. Mayzi always was the one to bring it to our attention.

First things first. Taylie needs to raise her star in the Castle of Miracles. Then all the rest can follow.

This was really fun. She received a star and then had a chance to write her name on it. Then we placed it is this fairy box and closed the lid. We watched it all come to life and start shaking. Then on three digital screens on the wall we watched the fairy take her star up to the sky. There are over 80,000 stars hanging in the Castle of Miracles. It was really neat.

Then it's time to make a pillow with this crazy machine. It was like they brought it out of a book or something. All they had to do was push and keep twisting and pushing buttons and levers etc until the pressure was right to pop out a pillow and then it did. Very fun for the girls.


Then we had to visit the La Ti Da Spa. Get the nails painted and a hand massage and a little painting on the arm. A Rocket! Of all things a girl could ask for. Not ponies or princesses or flowers, but a rocket. The girl painting it was cute. She painted it pink. That's my Taylie :)

Mayzi is so particular with her nails. She was cracking everyone up. Making sure things were done right, just the way she wanted it. She is so Hilarious!!!

We sat in the Castle of Miracles for a while and colored pictures and played with Lego's etc.

Thought it was cute watching Bret be really patient with all the feminine things going on. He waited like a real man in the My Little Pony Room. Not much choice when you have three girls :)
Then it was time for Miniature Golf! Was a lot of fun, especially the part where Mom won the game!




Mayzi really loved this big scary dinosaur! (well not actually)

You know the lovely cars that sit outside of stores and such. The kids always want to ride them and you never let it happen. Well, here at the village all you had to do was hop on in and push a button to get things started. You can probably guess how much time the girls spent driving and riding in them. When all you have time to do is play...so play we did :)

This nice man had this cut little critter. They though it was real, and that's what made it so amusing for the rest of us. Everywhere you walked there was always something to see or somebody to visit with. Kindness was everywhere.

Then we were on to the pool party. Mayzi played in the sand while Taylie enjoyed the dancing with other children. Then we watched a magic show and then it was time to swim yet again. My girls love the water. How cool was it that we spent every evening winding down with a nice warm swim and then......

Ice Cream of course! This is the life, need I say more!

You might not believe me, but you reached the end of this day! It was a big day and we squoze in as much as we possibly could. Only one more day left and still a few things we haven't done yet. Keep reading as I bring our fabulous Make-A-Wish vacation to a close! I think I just shed a tear :( It's been a great week for the Abbott Family!