Before we begin with the trip I wanted to ask for a few prayers for today's appointment. Ethan meets with Dr. Royce from pulmonology today. This will be our first appointment with the lung docs, and according to Dr. Royce's reaction to his last scans it's surprising that we haven't been followed by them for years! Oh well, please pray that everything goes smoothly today and that his lung function has improved since his last hospitalization. He seems to be doing better but he does still get VERY exhausted. Yesterday he went back to school for the first time in a couple weeks (he's only been to school about 4 days in the past 6 weeks) and it wore him out. He only goes 2.5 hours in the morning, but at 4pm he fell asleep on the couch. He didn't wake up until after 7pm, then went to bed for the night before 9pm and slept all the way till time to get up for school. He still would have kept sleeping if I didn't wake him up this morning! I'll keep you all posted on how the appointment goes. Also we have a follow-up cardiology appointment next Wednesday that we'll need really good results on. We're having another echo to see how his heart function is since the cath. We have to check if his arteries are already starting to clot or not. Thanks for the prayers and I'll keep you posted!
DAY 2 - SEA WORLD
Day 2 started out a little dreary. It was drizzling and upper-60s. Even though the weather wasn’t awesome in the morning we still got out
and had a lot of fun! The rain wasn’t hard enough to even warrant an umbrella,
so we started the day going to the Gingerbread House for breakfast. It’s this
cute cafeteria style restaurant at the village. We ate pancakes, eggs, sausage,
freshly made waffles, and tons of fresh fruit. It was delicious!
John in front of the Gingerbread House
By the time breakfast was over the rain had stopped, so we
headed over to where the village hosted horseback riding at Keaton’s Korral. A
nearby farm brings their horses in twice a week for the kids to ride. It was
absolutely adorable! The kids were able to ride around the corral a few times,
pose for pictures, and afterwards receive a certificate and cowboy hats. I was
a little nervous about how Ethan would take it, but both kids absolutely loved
it!
Ethan on the horse he rode
Here are the kids with their riding certificates and cowboy hats
After horseback riding we hit the Amberville Train Station
because apparently Ethan will not let us pass by the station without going in!
After a quick stop in to see the trains we loaded up the car
and headed out to Sea World! We wanted to do something easy for our first day,
so we felt that would be the best bet. We had a great time there! We all
enjoyed petting the stingrays (even though Ethan conveniently pulled his hand
away before he actually “touched” the stingrays)!
John and the kids by the stingray tank
After the stingrays we walked around the park to check out
some animals. After a little wandering around and eating Dippin Dots we headed
to the dolphin area to feed dolphins. That was a fun experience even though we
did have to fend off the birds who kept trying to eat all the fish! I tried to upload a little video of Ethan feeding the dolphins but it didn't work. :( Well, he was able to throw a couple trays of disgusting looking fish into the dolphins' mouths. He was a little iffy on touching the dolphins, but he enjoyed tossing the fish to them. After he finished feeding the dolphins the dolphin trainer had the dolphin lay up on the little ledge in the tank. We were able to pet them and that was really cool! Ethan didn't want to touch its body, but he did pet the dolphin's fins. He liked it and now has a stuffed dolphin to snuggle with. :)
After the dolphin feeding we made our way to the Shamu show.
We walked in and the workers saw our buttons. They directed us right down to
the front row middle. Totally awesome seats! Let me tell you...we got VERY
nervous when they said “Who’s ready to get wet?” and EVERYONE around us pulled
out and covered up with ponchos! The four of us were sitting in the front row
just looking around completely unprotected! Lol thankfully somehow Shamu must
have felt bad for us so we barely even got splashed! Everyone around us was
drenched but it was like there was a magic little dry bubble around us. Phew! Even
though we didn’t get very wet, Ethan absolutely loved every bit of that show!
He cracked up each time they jumped out of the water and especially when the
whales started splashing. He’s such a crazy boy!
We were so close!
Ethan and mom watching Shamu
The family next to the Shamu tank
Callie and Ethan by the Shamu signs
After the Shamu show we went over to see the polar bear
exhibit. We were able to go in the back entrance and avoid the line thanks
again to our Make-a-Wish buttons! Nothing was really going on in that exhibit,
but we still enjoyed walking through it and seeing the sleeping bears and other
animals.
We decided to leave Sea World after that. When we got back
to the village it was dinnertime so we headed back to the Gingerbread House to
eat. There we had a delicious pot roast dinner with all the veggies, mashed
potatoes, and sides. So yummy!
Next we walked over to the Castle of Miracles to decorate
and place Ethan’s miracle star. It is a special little golden star that they
place on the ceiling of their castle to stay at the village forever! It’s
pretty amazing knowing that something Ethan did will forever be a part of this
village. They had a whole cute little presentation of the Star Fairy coming to
take his star from the magic box to take it up to the ceiling. There are over
80,000 stars on the ceiling currently!
Once the star was done we decided to get his magic pillows.
This “magical tree” in the Castle of Miracles had a whole presentation about an
owl helping Ethan fill his special pillow with love. After he pushes the
buttons and pulls the right ropes it creates his very own pillow to keep. Ethan
actually had 2 pillows pop up (a boy one for him and a girly one for Callie).
:) They were very happy!
Then we headed to the other side of the Castle to the “La Ti
Da Spa” where Callie had her nails painted, makeup done, and both kids got
airbrush tattoos. Callie loved the pampering! :)
Once the kids finally had their fill of fun in the Castle we
headed over to Mayor Clayton’s birthday party. Mayor Clayton is a giant rabbit
who is the mayor of the village. The kids had fun at the birthday party doing
crafts, listening to music, dancing, and eating all kinds of treats.
Of course we had to hit the Amberville Train Station on the
way back to the villa. This time we rode the train around the putt-putt course
which was pretty fun.
When we arrived back at the villa we found that the “Gift
Patrol” had left a Give Kids the World edition of Candyland. It is awesome and
has all the things about the village as part of the game! Definitely love this
gift!
By that time it was late and we were all exhausted, so the
kids took a nice bath and went to bed.
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