WISH Trip, Day 5

 December 10 was day 5. It was also Annie's fifth birthday!

Pretty much since planning her first birthday, I have planned to take her to Disney World for her 5th. A little while after that I found out that Annie would be eligible for a WISH, and decided that would be a great WISH. So, this trip had been planned since pretty much day one. :)

Leading up to her turning 5, I became very weepy and would cry every time I talked about it! It is just such a big milestone. Time has flown and it will only fly faster. I can't believe she is 5.  I didn't know it when she was one and I came up with this idea, but I quickly found out that planning this trip for her 5th birthday was the best idea ever. It gave me something to look forward to, and helped with the tears. When we started the trip, I barely was weepy because we were having such a blast. Of course, when we met Snow White, Annie told her that she was about to turn 5 and Snow White said, "oh you're a big girl now." Yeah, I I had to fight tears for sure!

This trip helped me with her turning 5 and it helped all of us because it was such a lovely celebration of our lives with Annie. The whole time I couldn't help but reflect on all of our times in the hospitals and how Annie "earned" this trip. WISH trips are just incredible!

I had a long list of wishes for this trip, and none of them could be granted. Bummer, but it was such an incredible trip I certainly can't complain! ;) One thing I was hoping for was a custom princess gown for her to wear on her birthday. She'd be characters the whole trip, but she would be Princess Annie on her birthday. I got online to find a princess gown myself. I chose a blue dress, and I accented it with pink and green. These are Annie's "birthstones." Blue: December, her birthday. Pink: October, her Gotcha Day. Green: August, her Adoption Day. I was also hoping for a custom crown, but I was very excited to find the 5 crown online. It was plain silver and I just added the colored glitter and stones. :) I had to get her super fancy shoes to go with it! Everyone would compliment her shoes and she would say, "they're not shoes, they're slippers!" ;) Once we got to the parks, I was worried how it would go over, but everyone got my vision and she was a hit! :)

I usually have no issues getting her to smile, but this morning she decided to give me trouble. You know, after months of planning/fixing up this dress she gave me trouble. grrr 

We were up bright and early because they had a special event at GKTW that we wanted to participate in before we headed to Disney. When we opened the door to leave we found this balloon from GKTW and attached was a birthday card which gifted her a few special things that day. Oh, and notice the stole Daddy bought her? Could it match any better?! Too perfect!

I had to go to the front desk to ask about Annie birthday surprises so Annie played on the computer painting Mayor Clayton. :)

We had noticed all the elephants on campus and since Annie had to bring Dumbo along, I decided to get pics of them before breakfast. 

Pachyderm Princess, at your service 

While we were waiting for breakfast to open, we decided to get a few pics of GKTW...

Annie loves carousels so it was such a treat to have one on campus! :)

The Gingerbread House, Restaurant

Old Elmer snores :)

On our way to get her birthday gift from GKTW, we found another elephant. :)

GKTW has a birthday box that you get to choose a gift from on your birthday. Annie chose Tinkerbell shoes slippers. :)

When I got the schedule of events at GKTW prior to our trip, imagine my excitement when I learned that there would be horse back riding on Annie's birthday! She loves horses because she loves carousels. 

Horse back riding took place in Keaton's Korral. We couldn't help but think of our favorite (male) twin, Keaton. :)

Flanked by volunteers and topped with a helmet, I was able to watch her ride in peace. :) As much as I want her to ride more often, it is very hard to allow a child with Spina Bifida who has had 7 brain surgeries to ride without all the precautions. :)

Notice her petting Jinger? She was having a blast!

Photo stop

"There's my mommy!"

A few circles around the Korral was not enough for Annie and she cried when she had to get off. She never gets upset or throws tantrums, etc. This was just such a big deal to her and the volunteers had no idea how much she loved horses. I wish they would have let her take a few more turns around the Korral, (there was no one in line behind us), but I'm sure they have to follow protocol. 

See her face on the left? I was trying to get her to smile through tears. (when I say she cried, I just mean a frown and a few tears. No wailing or anything). By the time we made it to the outside of the Korral to take a pic with the sign her tears were gone. That is Annie for ya! Rarely gets upset and when she does it doesn't last but maybe a minute- literally! 

Then we made it to the Gingerbread House to eat and there was a surprise waiting...

I sat her by the birthday cupcake on the wall for photo ops. :) Then I noticed that Ronald McDonald walked in, so I moved her to a table where she would be at the end of the table. :) He was there to meet everyone, it just happened to be Annie's birthday. :)

Funny side note: I was recently at my mom's house and I found my 5th birthday book, and guess where I had my 5th birthday...McDonalds. :)

On kids' birthdays, they get a special waffle "cake" from GKTW (you can kinda see it on the left). Ronald just happened to be there when they sang Happy Birthday and joined in. :) Do you see at the bottom of the pic where Ronald signed for her? He signed for all kids, but since it was her birthday he also wrote Happy Birthday on hers. :)

After breakfast, we headed to the carousel for a few rounds for the birthday girl. :)

A mermaid horse for our princess mermaid :)

I always ride with Annie, but at GKTW I let her ride solo. Here is first solo ride. :)

At GKTW, every WISH kid gets to decorate a star and it is placed in the Castle of Miracles

I wrote her name, (good thing too because that sharpie head was smooshed and it was even hard for me to write it!). I did let her add some As to it though. :)

After it is decorated, they place it in this box and the star fairy takes it to be placed on the wall :)

The star is placed

(I took these pics the next day, but I am putting them here now)

We could have stopped right there and she would have had an amazing birthday- we had done all this before 9:30 am! But the day was far from over! Epcot, here we come!

Mickey, Goofy and Minnie

Princess Annie lost her slipper so Prince Mickey put it back on for her. :)

Kisses for Mickey :)

hugs for Goofy

Annie going in for a kiss :)

So exicted to see Minnie!

Chip and Dale

Have you ever seen anything sweeter?! ;)

Chip kissed her so I asked if they could kiss her at the same time. I wasn't disappointed...

priceless

Meeting Duffy, dressed as Santa :)

Annie loved kissing them, clearly :)

I die 

for those of you who don't know Duffy :)

Princess Annie

Daddy noticed these giants donuts so we had to try one :)

Donald in Mexico

After he noticed it was her birthday

What a charmer :)

kisses for Donald

Donald making 5 with his 2 hands :)

We came by Akershus and I had heard it was a place to be! I once again went up to a CM while wearing the Genie Pass and asked if I needed a reservation. He saw the pass and said, "Yes, you do, but let me see what I can do for you." :) It won't get you everywhere, but sometimes the Genie Pass can get you into a restaurant without reservations. :) That sweet CM got to work and I started to feel bad. We can come back another time or just not at all! Please don't go out of your way! He came back with good news and bad news. Good news, we could get in. Bad news, we had to wait 30 minutes. Um, yeah, we were willing to make that small "sacrifice." Best "bad news" I've ever heard. :) We are so touched and thankful for that CM going out of his way for us. :)

When you enter Akershus, you immediately get to take a picture with Belle :)

While we awaited food, we got this...

Princess Time!

This next set of pics are of Annie and Ariel discussing how she is 5...

Too sweet :)

I'm so sad this is out of focus :(

Birthday cupcake time! :)

For her birthday she got a birthday card...

Then they had a princess procession, Annie had to follow Ariel. 

It was hard for us to let her go! 

Annie never did make it to our table. She is not the least bit aggressive, and got pushed back by other more aggressive children.  What is funny though is instead of coming to us after it was over, she kept following Ariel, (each area of the restaurant was assigned a princess to follow). That was my instruction to her before hand, and even when it was over, she kept obeying Mommy! lol I had to chase her down. ;)

Right up the street we got to meet Snow White again. :)

Belle is almost impossible to meet but thanks to our Genie pass, we were able to meet her. :)

Belle telling Annie to just say no to Gaston! We didn't have the heart to tell her that she already accepted his proposal. ;)

Comparing shoes :)

Do you think Annie was happy? ;)

being silly...

laughing at her silliness :)

The CM told us to look cold and look who showed up in our pic :)

We went to Disneyland in 2013 and Annie dressed at Mulan, but sadly we didn't get to meet her. She was our #1 must meet at Epcot! :)

I loved that Mulan took her by the hand :)

Aurora again :)

Sadly Annie's eyes were closed in all of these Eiffel Tower pics 

Alice again :)

Annie: "I'm Five!" Alice: "Five?!" :)

hammin' it up for Alice :)

Just bury me 6 feet under already! PRICELESS!

Mary Poppins :)

Père Noël in France :)

In 2013 I had Annie's caricature/portrait done and decided that I would do that every time we were in the parks. I waited until her birthday to get this year's done.

2014 and 2013 side by side :)

Our last shot in Epcot :)

We made it over to Magic Kingdom to finish out the night :)

One last ride on the Teacups :)

Tomorrowland Speedway :)

Waving at everyone :)

I wanted Annie to drive so I took a turn with her. We had a blast! Cracking up the entire time! 

We rode Dumbo one last time, but pics didn't turn out.

We got to dinner 15 minutes before closing time...

It took forever to find a seat and we had to take this table that was still messy, (they never did come clean it). Do you see the other pic? That is Small World in the background- how cool is that?! Do you see the people sitting in front of it? They weren't eating, just sitting there. Y'all, there was no where to sit and we would have loved to sit in front of Small World. I just couldn't get over how selfish some people are. When we eat we get in and out so other people and have a seat. :/ Please be conscientious of others!

As much as I would have loved to sit in front of Small World, I was still happy to sit in front of this mural. :)

It's a Small World!

We love the classic Disney rides and we love Small World, even if it annoys others. ;)

9:15 pm on her birthday :)

While waiting for a boat we saw the most peculiar boat. Instead of rows of seats, they had two seats on each side, with a big open space in between. Turns out it was a wheelchair boat! They asked if we would like to ride it...YES PLEASE! We got to ride Small World TWICE all by ourselves! This had nothing to do with her WISH, (we will be able to take the wheelchair boat anytime we are there), but it was still one of the highlights of the trip!

Before pics, let me say this. If you are in a chair, but can walk, please take a normal boat. Save the wheelchair boat for people like my daughter who can't walk at all. I can see people taking advantage of this, so please save it for those who really need it. 

Pure joy :)

Elsa froze the castle :)

On the bus from MK back to Epcot parking lot. Can you think of a more incredible birthday?!