We woke up at 415 and got Ready to go! We got to the airport at 510 and all
checked in by 540. The flight didn't leave til 715 so we had plenty of time. The
kids loved watching the planes. We hadn't flown in 5 years. (shad and brandon
went a couple years ago for hunting) The last time we flew all together was from
Watertown to salt lake for shaylas wedding and Christmas in 2006. Gracie was 5
months old. So this was her first time to remember it. She loved it and so did
Von. The flight went well and we arrived around 1215. After we got off the plane
there was a volunteer from Give kids the worlds with a sign that said Gracie.
She showed us the way to baggage claim and Avis car rental where they had
arranged a minivan for us and carseats. They gave us a map and told us how to
get to gktw. It was a 30 min drive from the airport and disneyworld is only 10
min from there:) when we got to gktw we were given a packet of info and told
where everything was. Gktw is a large area in and of itself with fun things for
kids. Games pony rides pools water fun movies etc. Plus free dining and ice
cream all day. U can even have it delivered to your villa. Our villa is really
nice. It is a 2 bedroom 2 bath with pull out sofa bed and rollaway bed. Kitchen
Lr and laundry room stocked with everything. We had some lunch and ice cream.
We unpacked and there was a note from mrs schaefer that she told me to put in
Gracie's suitcase since she had been telling Gracie to take her in her
suitcase. :) she said that way she really did come in her suitcase. Gracie
thought that was so funny. Mrs schaefer was pretty sneaky! Lol then we had the
kids take a little nap while Brandon went to the orientation. They were out like
a light within minutes despite their protesting beforehand of how "not tired"
they were! At orientation he got all the info and our attraction tickets. 3
days to Disney, 2 to universal studios, and 1 to sea world! She has a button to
wear showing that she is a wish kid and it gets her special things. We also got
a fast pass for the family to go to the front of the lines. Tuesday night we
spent at the pool and splash pad area. They were having a big splash bash BBQ
with games and cotton candy and snow cones. Shad got second place in the musical
hula hoops game. When u got out u got a bucket of cold water poured on your
head. Chloe got out toward the beginning. They all had a lot of fun. We went to
bed around 930 and woke up on wed at 730. We went over to the horse rides right
at 8 and the boys didn't want to but Chloe and Gracie did and loved it. They all
got a cowboy hat, although they only fit Gracie an Von. Lol . Then we had
breakfast and then rode the carousel at gktw. Then we headed to Disney at 9 for
a 10 o'clock appointment to meet the princesses. We thought we had enough time
since it is only 15 miles away but it was quite a process to get inside magic
Kingdom. We got there right at 10. Gracie loved seeing the princesses and giving
them a hug. They gave us a photo card that they scan and they have prof
photographers and they scan your card and u can get a cd of all the pictures of
your trip. Really neat. She met aurora, belle, and Cinderella at the first
place, and tinkerbell and vidia at another spot, and finally rapanzel at another
place. We were given a special pass that gets the whole gaily to the front of
the lines. That saved us an amazing amount of time. The place was crowded for
sure. We rode 5 rides in one hour. We rode a lot of rides, had lunch and dinner,
and then I took the girls tothe bibbidy bobbidy boutique for a makeover while
Brandon took the boys on another ride and then saved our seat for the parade.
They waited there for almost 2 hours, what good sports :) the girls LoVED the
makeover. They both chose to be belle and got a beautiful dress and their hair
and makeup and nails done. They will always remember it I am certain. It was
great. after that we watched the amazing parade and fireworks. That got over
around 930 and we didn't make it to the car til 11 because of how crowded it was
but we were glad we had stayed to watch. It was really cool. The kids did really
great for such a long day. we all finally got to bed at midnight and decided to
sleep in a little on Thursday. We woke up at 8 and I gave the kids baths and
then we went to breakfast and the carousel again at gktw. They also had some
Disney characters visiting to get pics taken with. The little ones especially
loved it. Von was so cute giving them all hugs! Except belle of course lol he
had no interest in seeing her. We headed out to universal studios at 1030. It
was much easier to get inside and much less crowded! Except the Harry potter
area! We rode some rides in the dr seuss area that were cute and fun. Then
headed to Harry potter area which was way crowded but really neat. The kids all
chose a wand at the wand store. We ate lunch there and all drank butterbeer in a
collectable mug. It was yummy. Then we rode some rides there and headed to the
Jurassic park area. After that we stopped by blahjhjkk for some treats. Then
rode the carosel and headed out. We decided to stop at the bathroom and Gracie
was running to catch up with Chloe and I and she tripped over some guys foot
and face planted it. I called to Brandon cause her nose was bleeding everywhere.
She got a big bruise on her knee and a knot on her forehead. She was mostly
concerned with gettin the blood off of everything, after she was cleaned up she
was back to happy. Brandon had mentioned the other day about her being pigeon
toed and she really is. I think we will have to do some physical therapy thanks
to All those months in a hospital bed : /we ate dinner at gktw and then went
swimming and shopping at the outlet mall. Friday we went to breakfast and
carosel at gktw again. Then we headed to epcot. The Nemo rides etc were pretty
fun. Then we went to Hollywood studios and had a lot of fun there. That night
They had a show called fantasmic and it was neat with lights and fire and water
and a lot of Disney characters and fireworks. We got back to gktw at 9 and
ordered pizza since we had an early dinner. Saturday we had breakfast and then
ice cream! The kids thought it was so cool that they let u get ice cream for
breakfast. After that we headed to the castle of miracles for Gracie to sign her
name on her very own star. Then the star fairy hung it up. Then we headed to
universal studios and had a lot of fun. They had a fun play area and also a
Barney show that the little ones loved. Try had a special meet and greet w
Barney for us and another little boy w make a wish after the show. We also saw
Dora and Diego. We went back to the Harry potter part and also dr suess area
that we liked the first time. Also jaws and Jurassic park and shrek 4D . That
night we went to a dinner show in Orlando called medieval times. We all really
enjoyed it. Sunday we woke up and ate breakfast and rode the carosel. Then we
headed to disneys animal kingdom. We rode a few rides and saw a couple live
shows. Te lion king and finding memo musical. The lion king was pretty cool but
none of us really cared for finding memo as a musical. It was kinda lame lol but
the costumes were good :) then we played at the Dino dig. We ate lunch in Asia
and it was really yummy. It was nice to have a different kind of food than the
norm.After lunch we were opening our fortune cookies and Gracie opened hers and
it said " you are brave and strong" when Brandon read it out loud I couldn't
believe it. It was too true :) the rest of us had lame fortunes but hers was
totally true! I was just looking at her and thinking that you'd never know what
she has been through just by looking at her. She looks so good and is doing so
good. we went on an African safari in Africa and it was pretty cool. We really
liked how we got to be so close to the giraffes. We came back to gktw for dinner
and one last swim and one last trip to the ice cream shop :) we had to buy two
new large suitcases to fit all the souvenirs and things we got. Good thing we
only came with 4 bags in the first place. Then we did laundry and packed
everything up so we could enjoy our last half day at sea world.
Gracie was a ladybug for halloween! she looked so cute! she had a great time trick or treating.
we went to the church trunl or treat a couple days before halloween and it was a little cold that day, so she wanted to wear her warm butterfly costume from last year. 
Gracie at daisy scouts.
On the swing, when we went camping in October with friends. The weather was perfect and we had a great time!
