Day 7-Magic Kingdom!

After getting home late because of the huge rainstorm, we sure would have liked sleeping in on Monday. Unfortunately we couldn't because I had made reservations for a character breakfast that morning. We actually slept a little too long and then it was hectic getting ready and getting to the park on time for our reservation. It was fun but crazy at the same time. Our kids had a few meltdowns and that was the one time I can remember Brooklyn being fussy. Once the boys started meeting the characters they were excited.









After breakfast we had most of the day to do whatever we wanted at Magic Kingdom. We decided to start off with Pirates of Caribbean since we could all go on it together. After that Caleb was feeling brave enough to ride the big rides so Jared took him to Splash Mountain. They had so much fun they did it twice:)
The first time Caleb's head was blocked...

The second time they switched places. Caleb looks scared half to death:) I asked him if he was scared and he responded..."No way! It was fun!" The look on his face tells me otherwise:)


After Jared took Caleb on Splash Mountain, I took him on Thunder Mountain Railroad. I tried convincing Kyson to go with us but he was too scared. Caleb and I had a great time together and did it twice in a row as well!

Next we headed to the Toy Story ride. Personally I think this ride is better at Disneyland, but we had fun. It was nice because we could all go on it together AND it was in an air conditioned building! It was just so miserable outside!




Once we rode that ride we decided to head to the Wish Lounge. It is a special room that only Make A Wish families can go in. It was so nice to go there and just relax for a little while and cool off.


We stayed there until it was time to go meet up with the big group. That afternoon we were having a prayer meeting and dinner together. As we waited to go into the Conference room where we would be meeting, the boys ran around with all the friends they had made. They especially loved wrestling with Kade Warner.

Sierra REALLY wanted to hold Brooklyn while we waited as well.


Before having dinner we had a prayer meeting together. Brenda shared her story with everyone. She talked a lot about her son, Zack, and the reason they do this trip for families every year is because of him. We also sang some songs and Kurt prayed for everyone. It was neat to be a part of that.

After the prayer meeting we all had a very yummy Mexican food dinner together.
For dessert after dinner they had gigantic cookies. The boys thought they were so lucky to get one:)


After eating the Warners invited us up one family at a time to give us some pictures and to get any memorabilia signed. Here's a picture of the pictures they gave us. (sorry for the poor quality!)





When they gave us our pictures it was also our time to say thank you and "goodbye." Although we would spend the evening at Magic Kingdom together, that would be our last more intimate setting with the Warners and the rest of our group.
Saying goodbye to Brooklyn...

Saying goodbye to Caleb...


I'm totally bummed that this picture is totally blurry but I still like it. Kyson always had this stance he would do when he was excited:)


After the prayer meeting and dinner we all rode the monorail over to Magic Kingdom together. First we got a group photo taken with Mickey Mouse.
Here's a picture of all the wish kids with Kurt and Brenda.

After the picture we had a little time with Mickey Mouse.



Once pictures were over it was time to go ride the rides. Caleb decided he was big enough to go on all the "thrill seeker" rides with the adults so he came with Jared and I. Kyson and Brooklyn stayed behind with Rory and the other volunteers again. The thrill seekers rode Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain. It was so fun! After riding Space Mountain it was time for the parade. They escorted us to a really cool spot to watch it. It was a huge grass area that was gated off and the parade came right by us. While waiting for the parade to start they passed out ice cream treats and soda.


We enjoyed relaxing and watching the parade.


Once the parade was over we had to quickly be escorted to another grassy area where we would watch the fireworks show. It was a very cool show. They used the castle as part of the show and it was really neat how they lit it up in different colors and projected pictures that were part of the show on it.





Once the fireworks were over it was officially time to say goodbye. A few of us would be on the same flight home the next day but we had to say goodbye to Kurt and several of the families.









While it was difficult to say goodbye to all of the friends we had made we were all just completely exhausted! We had had such an incredible day packed with more fun then you could even imagine. It was super late and we had been going and going and GOING for a week straight! We were all sleep deprived! Once we made it back to our villa it was good to crawl into bed again that night.

Day 6-part2-Orlando temple/Epcot

After leaving Hollywood Studios we headed to the Orlando Florida temple. It had been such a busy day, it was nice to get out of the heat and do something where we could really feel the Spirit on the Sabbath Day. As we were driving down the road we could see the temple in the distance and it instantly brought a feeling of peace.

The Orlando temple is absolutely beautiful! We sat in the parking lot for about an hour. Everyone except me took a nap. I decided to write my brother, Jason, who is serving a mission right now.


The boys fell asleep in the car so I had Jared take a picture of just Brooklyn and me at the temple.


It was so nice just sitting there feeling the Spirit at the temple for a while. Soon we were all getting hungry because it was dinner time so we decided it was time to go. We stopped and ate some dinner and then I had a crazy idea! (Of course it didn't seem crazy at the time...but looking back...) I wanted to go to Epcot on the way home and ride one of my absolute favorite rides, Soarin' over California. I knew it would be the only time we would be able to ride it, and I really thought the boys would love it just as much as me. It took a little convincing because Jared wasn't sure he wanted to, but he conceded.

As we were walking into the park we stopped for another family picture...


Then we headed to Soarin'. I was 100% correct. We all had a ton of fun on the ride. I rode it first with Caleb and Kyson and then Jared took them on it. We would have loved to do it several more times but it was really getting late and we needed to get back. As we walked out of the building where Soarin' is located we were shocked to find it was absolutely pouring. When we walked in, we didn't see any sign of rain so we couldn't believe it! Any other time and we would have had our ponchos with us but since we were just running in to ride the one ride we left them in the car! We stood there and waited for about 10 minutes and decided it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. It was a good mile back to the car but we didn't know what else to do other than run for it. Jared picked up Kyson and carried him on his shoulders, I pushed Brooklyn in her stroller while Caleb ran along with us. We ran from one building to the next until we got to the front locker area. We were all drenched and Caleb was crying he was so scared and wet. We decided to take a break there and it's a good thing we did because all the sudden the wind picked up and it seriously looked like a hurricane out there! There were benches floating down the sidewalk and tons of debri flying through the air. We knew we needed to just wait it out for a while. After about half an hour the wind died down a little and it wasn't raining quite as hard so we decided to run to the trams that would take us to our car. We started running and Caleb was so scared he asked Jared if we could say a prayer (we were so proud of him for thinking of that when he was scared!). Jared pulled off to a little area that was covered and we had Caleb pray for all of us. Then we ran the rest of the way to the tram and got on.
After getting on the tram I knew I had to take a picture to remember our crazy adventure. I couldn't back up far enough to get a great picture, but here we are so grateful to have made it safely to the tram. The only dry thing on any of us was Jared's shoulders where he was carrying Kyson. Gratefully Brooklyn was kept dry in her stroller with the blanket that is covering it.


We finally made it to the car and we drove back to GKTW. When we made it back we all said a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for helping us get back safely. We were wet and tired, but we were all together and we were all safe.
Looking back I am grateful we had this experience because I was able to see how my sweet Caleb would react when he was scared. The fact that he was the one to suggest saying a prayer made me so happy. I hope my children will all learn to always pray to Heavenly Father and Jesus to help them when they are scared or need comforted. What a great example Caleb was to all of us in that moment!
After getting out of our wet clothes and getting our pajamas on we were soon in bed. We needed to be up early (again!) for our last day at Disney World!

Day 6-part 1-Hollywood Studios

Sunday morning we had another early start to our day. We had to be at Hollywood Studios quite early. It was the last day of a special Star Wars event they were having so they opened the park early for the general public.

Usually the group with the Warners get in a little before the general public so if we wanted to do that we had to be there even earlier than usual. We especially didn't want to miss out on this because the first ride of the day was Toy Story Mania...one of the most popular rides in all of Disney World. Kurt had promised Kyson that he would ride with him on this ride and Kyson was really excited about that. When we were walking to the ride, Kurt picked up Kyson and carried him to the ride.



We got to go on it once and then we ran around to the beginning and got to do it again. SO FUN!!! This ride is like an arcade game where you try and get as many points as you can. I rode with Jesse Warner and she completely annihilated me both times! Ha!

After riding Toy Story we headed to a show where they asked for volunteers. Jared thought it would be fun so off he went. They had the volunteers be "actors" for a movie. They filmed them pretending to get bombed while on a boat and then made it into a quick movie. It was quite funny to watch their expert acting:)


Next we rode on a tram that took us around to look at how movies are made. We saw a few different old movie sets and they showed us a few tricks they use in filming movies. Pretty interesting!


After that we split up again for the rides. Of course our amazing volunteer, Rory, took our kids and we headed off to ride the bigger rides...Rockin' Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror.
This first picture is from Rockin' Rollercoaster. That was an AWESOME ride. Probably my most favorite of all the rides I got to ride.


Here is some of our group on Tower of Terror. I remembered not liking this ride at California Adventures so I was a little nervous. I had fun but it's still not my favorite...


Once we did that we headed to the "car show." I don't remember what it is really called but it was definitely one of our boys most favorite parts of the entire trip. This is one of the things they talk about every time someone asks them about Disney World. They especially loved the cars and motorcycles jumping through fire! Then, Lightning McQueen showed up!

Seriously...our boys were in heaven! Cars...motorcyles...fire...SO COOL!!! :)

After the show we all got to go down to the set and meet all of the drivers and see all the cars. Our boys kept asking to see Lightning McQueen but he was already gone.



I probably shouldn't add this next picture in but I have to laugh. Kyson DID NOT want to take a picture...obviously!


Then, I told him he was only going to be able to play my iPod if he smiled and was happy for the picture.

You would never have known he was throwing a fit two seconds earlier! We definitely had a love/hate relationship with the iPods!

After the car show, we were all very hot and very hungry. We walked to a place where they had a special lunch prepared for us (in an air conditioned room!!!). It was great to sit down and relax in a cool area for a while.

When we finished eating it was time to go our separate ways. We knew we had to take Kyson to see Buzz Lightyear right away so we wouldn't miss him before he had to go to the parade. Rory helped us get our kids headed in the right direction. He was so great:).



Meeting Buzz Lightyear was so awesome for the boys. We walked over there and didn't have to wait in the long line waiting to meet him. They just took us around to the back and let our boys have as long as they wanted. Kyson's facial expressions say it all! (sorry for the overload of pictures but I love them all!)







Family picture!

Even Brooklyn got a turn saying hi!

After saying hi to Buzz and Woody we went to find Lightning McQueen and Mater. I know they were excited to see them, but I think watching McQueen in the car show was more exciting than taking a picture just standing next to him!


After meeting the characters we decided to head out of the park. As we were walking out we heard that the parade was about to start. We decided to stop long enough to watch the parade.
(this is just a video of the parade. I only put it here because my boys love to watch it. Don't feel like you need to watch the whole thing:)

After the parade we really wanted to try and do something more Sunday appropriate so we headed to the Orlando Florida temple...