Piece of Heaven
A few months ago we were going through the final paper
work for the Make A Wish trip we were going to be
going on. In order to get that process going we had
to meet with two ladies who we refer to them as the
"fairygodmothers". They came out and met us for the
first time. As they sit down with us they described
this place we would be staying at. As they talked
about the village (Give kids the world village) we
could only picture through their words what this place
looked liked. We even went online and looked up
photo's, which still did not give us to much of an
insight as to what we were in for.
Jan. 28th 2006
My husband and I had never had a real family vacation
(real meaning just the four of us) usually we would go
to the nana's and poppy's place, which to us was our
own piece of Heaven. But this was our first trip just
the four of us (four and a half...lol)
We got to the airport and unloaded the children, got
the bags checked in and as soon as we sat down we were
getting ready to be loaded on to the plane. As we
were on the plane we discovered rather quickly that
both of the children were sound asleep (another piece
of Heaven for us). The flight went rather quickly.
We arrived at the Orlando airport about 10:10 am.
Stepping into the airport we had to rush around to
find our bags, among the way we ran acrossed a sweet
little lady holding up a sign that read: Give Kids
the World welcomes Rainy Cook. Wow that's us.
Already the trip was exciting, we had our own little
helper. She lead us to our bags, and helped us on a
shuttle.
After about 20 minutes, we pulled up to a big gate,
there was a huge sign with a bunny on it and it read:
Give Kids the World Village. Wow we are here. We
stepped out of the shuttle and walked in a house
called House of Hearts. We meet so many greeters just
waiting for our family. The kids had so many toys to
play on as we talked with our greeter. She opened up
a letter that was from Dora the explorer to our Rainy.
The letter explained there was a party the next day
and Dora wanted Rainy to be there. Needless to say I
was excited....I mean come on I watch Dora just as
much as Rainy, I had some questions for Dora as well.
The lady loaded us up on a golf cart and drove us
around the village. My eyes couldn't keep up. There
was so much to see. When you first walk out the back
door of the House of Hearts, you see to your right
this huge boat (this boathouse is called Amberville).
This boat is really a buliding and it has video
games,pool table,computer access,tv,train set that
goes all over the place,etc. On the outside there is
a mini train (you can ride around the boathouse),
there is a putt putt course and mini boats in the
water that are controlled by remote controls.
Now if you come out of the heart house you see right
in front of you a place called "julie's safari
theatre" and inside they have popcorn and soda's and
they play cartoon's all day long, at night they play a
movie.
If you walk towards the left of the theatre there is a
buliding with huge ice cream cones and banana splits
with cherries on top of the roof. THis buliding is
the Ice Cream palace. Where all day long from 7:30
until 9pm you can eat all the ice cream, ice cream
floats, sandwiches and hot dogs (the best hot dogs I
have ever had).
To the left of the ice cream palace is a castle called
"Castle of Miracles" you walk over a draw bridge and
inside this huge door is a huge playroom with lots of
toys and games. The middle part of the castle is a
big stage where they have parties every night. Past
the middle part of the stage is an activity room where
you can color,have your face painted,make beaded
neckless,etc. There is a room that is really dark and
it has little tiny stars that light up the dark
tunnel. There is also a slide for kids to go down.
All over the ceiling in the castle of miracles are
stars. On the stars your child gets to write their
names on it, it is stuck to the ceiling for people to
see forever.
On the outside of the castle is a carousel. This
carousel has every animal possible. The carousel also
has animals for kids in wheelchairs to ride.
To the left of the Castle of Miracles is the
gingerbread house. That is where you eat breakfast
and dinner. Inside this house is over a thousand
dolls. Each table has little tiny peppermint candies
inside the table. The whole gingerbread house has
over 70,000 peppermint candies.
So we are on the golf cart and the lady takes us to
our house. We have a bunny that is our mailbox.
(side note the village is run by Mayor Clayton who
happens to be a 6 ft bunny....no this isn't a made up
bunny named Havery, this is a real bunny. His wife is
Miss Merry who runs the pizza parlor inside the wacky
water park.)
The house we stayed in was just so cool. Two bedrooms
two bathrooms full kitchen and a washer and dryer,
jetted tub. Pretty fun.
This whole trip was a piece of Heaven. I can write
about all the little things at the village, but the
words cannot do it justice. This place was so
perfect. You could spend all night out on your front
porch rocking in the rocking chair and just listening
to all the laughter around you.
For one week you could just leave all the reality of
life's everyday fears with having a sick child, and
really enjoy watching her have no worries no fears.
Every single person staying in the village knew to a
degree the kind of heartache you have to deal with on
a daily basis.
But the cool part was that no one was any different.
It wasn't like going into a normal kids enviorment
knowing in the back of your head you might have to
stop the activity and take your kid back to your home
so they can get sick in private. And having people
look at your kid with either concern,fear,or sometimes
even looks or actions of getting their kid as far away
as possible.
Not at the village. If your child got sick, the
people around you either offered support or gave a big
old hug which was their way of saying "we know what's
going on, and your doing great."
I think it was safe to say that neither Rainy nor the
rest of us wanted to leave. Oh I am sure after 20
years or so it could get a little cramped for space.
But still in a small way this place was our own little
piece of Heaven.
Our Make A Wish trip was from Jan 28th 2006-Feb 2nd 2006
work for the Make A Wish trip we were going to be
going on. In order to get that process going we had
to meet with two ladies who we refer to them as the
"fairygodmothers". They came out and met us for the
first time. As they sit down with us they described
this place we would be staying at. As they talked
about the village (Give kids the world village) we
could only picture through their words what this place
looked liked. We even went online and looked up
photo's, which still did not give us to much of an
insight as to what we were in for.
Jan. 28th 2006
My husband and I had never had a real family vacation
(real meaning just the four of us) usually we would go
to the nana's and poppy's place, which to us was our
own piece of Heaven. But this was our first trip just
the four of us (four and a half...lol)
We got to the airport and unloaded the children, got
the bags checked in and as soon as we sat down we were
getting ready to be loaded on to the plane. As we
were on the plane we discovered rather quickly that
both of the children were sound asleep (another piece
of Heaven for us). The flight went rather quickly.
We arrived at the Orlando airport about 10:10 am.
Stepping into the airport we had to rush around to
find our bags, among the way we ran acrossed a sweet
little lady holding up a sign that read: Give Kids
the World welcomes Rainy Cook. Wow that's us.
Already the trip was exciting, we had our own little
helper. She lead us to our bags, and helped us on a
shuttle.
After about 20 minutes, we pulled up to a big gate,
there was a huge sign with a bunny on it and it read:
Give Kids the World Village. Wow we are here. We
stepped out of the shuttle and walked in a house
called House of Hearts. We meet so many greeters just
waiting for our family. The kids had so many toys to
play on as we talked with our greeter. She opened up
a letter that was from Dora the explorer to our Rainy.
The letter explained there was a party the next day
and Dora wanted Rainy to be there. Needless to say I
was excited....I mean come on I watch Dora just as
much as Rainy, I had some questions for Dora as well.
The lady loaded us up on a golf cart and drove us
around the village. My eyes couldn't keep up. There
was so much to see. When you first walk out the back
door of the House of Hearts, you see to your right
this huge boat (this boathouse is called Amberville).
This boat is really a buliding and it has video
games,pool table,computer access,tv,train set that
goes all over the place,etc. On the outside there is
a mini train (you can ride around the boathouse),
there is a putt putt course and mini boats in the
water that are controlled by remote controls.
Now if you come out of the heart house you see right
in front of you a place called "julie's safari
theatre" and inside they have popcorn and soda's and
they play cartoon's all day long, at night they play a
movie.
If you walk towards the left of the theatre there is a
buliding with huge ice cream cones and banana splits
with cherries on top of the roof. THis buliding is
the Ice Cream palace. Where all day long from 7:30
until 9pm you can eat all the ice cream, ice cream
floats, sandwiches and hot dogs (the best hot dogs I
have ever had).
To the left of the ice cream palace is a castle called
"Castle of Miracles" you walk over a draw bridge and
inside this huge door is a huge playroom with lots of
toys and games. The middle part of the castle is a
big stage where they have parties every night. Past
the middle part of the stage is an activity room where
you can color,have your face painted,make beaded
neckless,etc. There is a room that is really dark and
it has little tiny stars that light up the dark
tunnel. There is also a slide for kids to go down.
All over the ceiling in the castle of miracles are
stars. On the stars your child gets to write their
names on it, it is stuck to the ceiling for people to
see forever.
On the outside of the castle is a carousel. This
carousel has every animal possible. The carousel also
has animals for kids in wheelchairs to ride.
To the left of the Castle of Miracles is the
gingerbread house. That is where you eat breakfast
and dinner. Inside this house is over a thousand
dolls. Each table has little tiny peppermint candies
inside the table. The whole gingerbread house has
over 70,000 peppermint candies.
So we are on the golf cart and the lady takes us to
our house. We have a bunny that is our mailbox.
(side note the village is run by Mayor Clayton who
happens to be a 6 ft bunny....no this isn't a made up
bunny named Havery, this is a real bunny. His wife is
Miss Merry who runs the pizza parlor inside the wacky
water park.)
The house we stayed in was just so cool. Two bedrooms
two bathrooms full kitchen and a washer and dryer,
jetted tub. Pretty fun.
This whole trip was a piece of Heaven. I can write
about all the little things at the village, but the
words cannot do it justice. This place was so
perfect. You could spend all night out on your front
porch rocking in the rocking chair and just listening
to all the laughter around you.
For one week you could just leave all the reality of
life's everyday fears with having a sick child, and
really enjoy watching her have no worries no fears.
Every single person staying in the village knew to a
degree the kind of heartache you have to deal with on
a daily basis.
But the cool part was that no one was any different.
It wasn't like going into a normal kids enviorment
knowing in the back of your head you might have to
stop the activity and take your kid back to your home
so they can get sick in private. And having people
look at your kid with either concern,fear,or sometimes
even looks or actions of getting their kid as far away
as possible.
Not at the village. If your child got sick, the
people around you either offered support or gave a big
old hug which was their way of saying "we know what's
going on, and your doing great."
I think it was safe to say that neither Rainy nor the
rest of us wanted to leave. Oh I am sure after 20
years or so it could get a little cramped for space.
But still in a small way this place was our own little
piece of Heaven.
Our Make A Wish trip was from Jan 28th 2006-Feb 2nd 2006
Create a free website at Webs.com