Another crazy day! We had a great breakfast again at the Gingerbread House followed by a stop at the ice cream shoppe, then hoppped on the bus to Disney's Hollywood Adventure! It was a lot like Universal Studios with Toy Story being the highlight of the day. There were not a lot of rides, but we were able to see an "Ariel" and "Beauty and the Beast" show. Since it rained the majority of the day, the turn out was a lot less than usual, so very small crowds, that was a nice surprise! The girls took a class in how to animate, they all drew Jiminy Cricket, Autumn's was adorable! She was so proud of herself that she went up to the teacher to show her just how well she had done. :) The teacher then encouraged her by giving her some special illustrator pencils and one of her own drawings, Autumn was so thrilled!

The Disney theme parks are particularly wonderful in assisting youngsters who are part of the Make a Wish Foundation. We were able to "cut the line" as Autumn referred to it in almost every ride, photo opportunity and show, it was fabulous!

When we came back, Sage had a terrible headache, perhaps from lack of water. She fell asleep early, good for her! Autumn, Lindsey and I swam for a bit then headed home to eat and sleep ourselves!

Tomorrow we are off to see the animals!

We have a FULL schedule, one they plan in advance. We can change anything we wish, but it all looks great!

Thursday - Disney World - Main Theme Park
Friday - Disney World - Hollywood Studios
Saturday - Disney World - Animal Kingdom/Epcot
Sunday - Universal Studios
Monday - Universal Studios
Tuesday - Sea World

Plus there is a ton to do here in the village...life will be anything but dull for the next week!!

This morning we slept until 9am! Of course that sounds late, but we went to bed at midnight and it's all relative since back in California midnight is only 9pm...

This morning, we made it to breakfast, but barely! All the volunteers serve each family breakfast and dinner everyday so no one really has to cook even though each house has a full kitchen. This place is full of families who have had to deal with some sort of life-threatening illness to one of their children and because of that one can feel a sense of welcome from one another. As you move around the grounds, it's almost as if you can feel each family trying to sort out eachother's stories or situations. Some are a lot more obvious than others. There are a few families like ours who have children who have suffered the woes of cancer. There are others with children in wheelchairs and then others who may have undetectable illnesses. I wonder if that makes it any harder to endure your own situation, if others cannot really "see" what it is that you are going through. It is a type of ubiquitious feeling of communal curiosity that pervades the village.

We caught the 10am shuttle to Disney World and had a blast! We JUST returned about an hour ago, the kids are all asleep...SOUND asleep...as anyone would imagine after a crazy day with princesses, rides and fun!!

We had a fun pass that allowed us to move to the front of the line for everything! Oh how the girls marvelled in their ability to just walk right up to the front of the line, special treatment indeed! Autumn preferred the smaller rides of Fantasyland while the big girls loved TOmorrowland, so we made an effort to see it all, and that we did!

We awoke at 2:45 yesterday morning to wait for our luxurious limo style shuttle. However difficult that was, we have had the best day with the girls being treated like princesses!

We slept most of the way, but we also watched the Muppets movie and drank apple cider out of wine glasses :)

We arrived at the airport about 2 hours early and headed towards our gate with Virgin Atlantic with hardly an incident. While there we happened to see a friend of Uncle Adam's, what a small world even in LA!

If anyone has not had the pleasure of taking a Virgin Atlantic flight, I highly recommend it. Each seat has it's own television, the staff is quite friendly and the food you order isn't even half bad. The tickets are often cheaper too, what a deal!

The house staying in is beautiful, it is one of maybe 100 2-bedroom homes in the "Give Kids the World" village, all of which appear very comfortable. It amazes me how much money it must have taken just to build this place, let alone maintain it. It has a relaxed and inviting feeling and with the moist, humid temperature and the warm, friendly community, it reminds me so much of Lakeside Ohio, a place my brother and I spent many of our childhood summers.

Disney World here we come!!!!!