To finish up Saturday, we hung around Give Kids The World (GKTW) village..they have a model railroad that had Reg drooling, but what really tickled him was how much Ravis loved it too. He watched it for at least an hour and had a fit when it was time to go on to something else!
On the train as we go around Amberville!
The next day, Sunday we ventured over to Disney World and started at the Animal Kingdom. Tillie was all decked out in her princess dress! Emily did have her change a little later as it was hot! But she looks beautiful!
We went on the Safari and saw lots of animals! Tillie is standing in front of the reptile area in her princess dress in the picture above!
Tillie got to meet lots of Disney characters..the first one is Rafiki, from The Lion King!
From the Animal Planet, we then headed over to The Hollywood Studios. With the exception of a few rides, this seems to be more geared to adults! They do have the Toy Story ride which was great fun!
Here is the entrance to Pixar and the Toy Story ride! Still one my favorites..Tillie rode with Grandma and we were shooting away at our targets. She got over 13,000 points! Way to go Tillie!
And yes...Tillie went on the Hollywood Tower Hotel ride...perhaps not one of our better moves! She wanted to go on it, but we should have taken the bail out! She wasn't afraid of the drops, but the darkness and the scary storyline! But she did it!
Back to GKTW and to the pool! The weather throughout the whole trip averaged around 85 degrees!
Go Tillie!!
Ravis liked the pool too!!! Here he is with his Daddy!
On Monday the Maier's went to Seaworld..Reg and I didn't go with them. We rented a car and went to the Kennedy Space Center..here are a few pictures...
I think this is the pearl Tillie got for me..
Reg and I at the Kennedy Space Center. Pretty darn cool!
On Tuesday we spent the whole day at the Magic Kingdom! It was our hardest day, but lots of fun. We were there for 12 hours and the kids were great! There are tons of pictures...I'll try not to post them all!
This Tillie with Repunzel, from the movie Tangled.
When we first got there they were clearing the streets for a parade. What was really cool was that the Disney Cast seems to recognize the button that the Make A Wish kids wear. Several of the characters focused in on Tillie and waved specifically at her! It was wonderful!
Here we all are at the Magic Kingdom. Tillie was SO excited to see the castle!
Chip and Dale and Ravis! He LOVES the characters!
Giving a kiss!
Tillie's turn!
Trying to remove The Sword In The Stone!
Tillie the poser! This is her newest princess dress and crown! A funny side note..Make A Wish recommends you pack an extra duffle bag for the souveniers and gifts...they weren't kidding..Emily and Anthony ended up buying an extra suitcase and they filled it! And bless Alaska Airlines..They waived the baggage fee!
Tillie and Tinkerbell!
We stayed for the Mainstreet Electrical Parade! It made for a loooonnnng day, but so worth it!!
The castle at dusk
Pete's Dragon
Ravis and Tillie...they really love each other and it's so sweet to see!
Whew...are you as tired as we were?? When we got back to our villa at GKTW, Ravis climbed onto the couch that was his bed and wanted to go right to sleep..Poor kid needed a diaper change and PJ's, but then he went out fast! We all did!
On Wednesday we headed back to Disney to visit Epcot Center...
This is inside the VIP area...Through Make A Wish we got to go in here..it had all sorts of fun stuff. This is a video screen where you can move things with your hands...kind of NCIS, Los Angeles!!! :)
We found several characters here at Epcot and with Tillie's pass, we moved right to the front of the line! That was awesome!
I noticed I cut off the heads on some of the characters..oh well...it was them or the grandkids! Hehehe..
Outside the "Finding Nemo" ride
After our time at Epcot we headed back to the Magic Kingdom. Tillie wanted to ride Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean was open! (It was closed the day before) Plus we had some picture business to attend to!
Tillie and Emily on Splash Mountain!
The Magical Castle!
As we were heading to the park exit, we needed to stop and take care of pictures..Emily was lamenting that we didn't see any of the princesses and get pictures! Well.......the princesses were right by the photo place and with the trusty button and pass, Tillie was taken to the front of the line!
Here she is with Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty
Cinderella
And Belle, from Beauty and the Beast! One of Tillie's favorites, after Ariel. Talk about a perfect ending to a perfect day!
Our last day, Thursday May 3rd was spent at the GKTW Village. Our flight didn't leave until 6:15 so we had time to kill. We had to be out of the villa by 11AM, but were more than welcome to hang out at the village. We spent a good amount of time at Amberville where the railroad is. It was the hottest day of our trip, so we were grateful for air conditioned buildings. One of the things we needed to do was Tillie's star! The kids each get a star and we put Tillie's name on it. At the castle, the Star Fairy takes that star and it ends up on the ceiling of the castle...
Tillie putting her star in the "magic" box, waiting for the Star Fairy.
The Star Fairy..there are lights wrapped in the vines and they go off so that Tillie can "see" her star going off to sky...(ceiling in the castle)
This is Tillie and Callie. Callie's family traveled from Seattle the same days we did. We ran into them a lot and it was fun for Tillie.
The owl in the magic pillow tree..
They are "shaking" the tree, trying to make the pillow fall out!
The pillow came out and here's Tillie getting ready to slide..on the outside is a snoring tree. This is the inside. Tillie was trying to wake it up!
Our flight left at 6:15PM on Thursday and we arrived at the gate just as it was boarding...oops..once again, Tillie and Ravis did great on the airplane. They were pretty tired, so they were content to sit and watch movies and play games. Ravis even conked out for a bit.
We can't say enough about Make A Wish and Give Kids The World! They truly provided a much needed break from cancer and chemo and ports and sleepy medicine, etc! Reg and I had a blast tagging along!
Today is Monday, May 7th and Tillie had her monthly appointment. Her Absolute Neutraphil Count (ANC) has been elevated for a bit and the doctor is working at getting it down. What that means is her immune system is working just a bit too well.. :) There is a range for the ANC and that's the goal. Tillie goes back in 2 weeks for another blood draw to check her numbers and if the ANC is still elevated, then Dr. Irwin will adjust her oral chemo.
Thank you for reading this long post! We thank all of you for your continued prayer and support for Tillie!
