Yes everyone, we are still on DAY ONE- this day was spent around the village doing some very special things with our time. Making memories that will certainly last a life time. We started the morning once in our villa with a nap. Three children- Jude, Angelina and Isaac DID NOT sleep one wink. They were ready to get out the door. We took them over to play at the playground across the street that was totally accessible. In the picture above and the one below you will see some very grouchy children when we told them that we were leaving the park so that we could explore the rest of the village. I think that they thought that they were going to miss out by not getting to stay longer at the playground!
Below you will see all the older kids smiling and being silly because they knew that it was ridiculous that anyone would even waste one minute sulking! They had heard me talking all about the village before the trip and knew that there were endless activities and tons of fun to be had by all.
Did I mention that Give Kids the World has special parties and events each evening? Yes, they do! They even have a spa and horse riding area where all the children are able to ride the ponies and they have helpers to get them on and off etc.
I knew that I needed to get a special moment with Angelina for her to make a wish and give her star to the star fairy that would take it to the ceiling and place it up there with all the other stars of all the children who had stayed at Give Kids the World. I think some 140,000 families have been blessed to stay here! Angelina wrote her name on the star as careful as she could.
She placed it inside the magic box. And she watched as the star fairy took her star up, up and up and away. (All the while there was a little video of the star fairy and then the twinkling lights all over the room were the fairy taking the star up in the sky!)
If you look closely or click this picture you can see how many stars are on the ceiling. There are other rooms of this building that are covered with stars as well. We knew that the next morning we would have a special card delivered to our villa that would tell us where Angelina's star was going to stay forever.
Here is her AJ star.
And here is her AJ star up on the ceiling.
All of the children also got to make special pillows. There was a little video of an owl in the tree that would have the children do a few tasks and then they could go over and look in the tree stump and inside there they would find a special travel sized pillow.
OK now. I told myself that I was going to cherish each moment this week and be sure to say YES far more than NO. This is where I first messed up. I asked the volunteer that was helping the children if she wanted to do a few children at a time. Each of the children took a bit of time to be able to complete the activity and had to go one at a time. She said... no, that is why its so special because we want them each to have the experience of the magic.
Duh me.
I learned to step back, enjoy the moment and live in the thrill of the magic that each one of the kids was experiencing!
Jude loved to sit in the King and Queen chairs.
Angelina and Alyssa visited the spa and were able to get airbrush tattoos. Angelina picked a panda bear OF COURSE!
Our dear friend Maria and Ava came to visit us at the Village and had dinner with us. The Village welcomed our guests with open arms and even fed them! David and Cole decided to give their pillows to Maria and Ava since they are far too cool to participate in the activity! We were so thankful to have our friends spend time with us during the week. We not only had Maria and Ava (my God daughter), my best friend Amy and her Mike. But also my Mom (Nana), Aunt Barb, Aunt Ann and my friend Cindy and her four children too! Lots of visitors and lots of fun had by all. I can't wait to tell you more.
Day one ended with a surprise birthday party celebration for Mayor Clayton. He is the Bunny Mayor of Give Kids the World. There was cake and popcorn, a movie and candy too. Dancing and music and all kids of fun and memories. It was a GREAT TIME.
At the end of day one we all crashed HARD. (After a long bath in the jacuzzi tub!)
2 comments:
I cannot stress enough just how patient they were during the owl thing. Sweet baby Jesus, that was long! Each child's activity took about four minutes or so. Nine kids did the activity. Add a minute or so in between each child, and you have the need for very patient volunteers. There was plenty to explore in there for the other kids (and grown ups), but the rushy-rushy mentality that I am so used to kept making me feel like "We have to get these kids done quickly! We have to get these kids done quickly!". Meanwhile, the volunteers just smiled (just as big and welcoming with the ninth child as they were with the first). The girls LOVE their pillows too! Thank you David and Cole!
By the way, it's hard to describe the feeling of standing under those 140,000 stars. It's both awesome and heartbreaking at the same time. Quite profound.
Looks like so much fun. Glad you guys got to enjoy it all, and maybe even got a little relaxation in.
Love the Yo Gabba Gabba shirt. Stella saw it and is now saying she wants a Foofa shirt. Brian just googled it and found some shirts. I have looked everywhere and didn't find any, obviously didn't think to google it. lol
Post a Comment