Day 1... Our Magical Trip

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We officially started our trip on October 15, 2008 at 4:45am. One of our great friends arrived a little after 4 in the morning to help get the girls ready and pull any loose ends together. We started getting the kids up at 4:25 so that we could get them dressed and out the door. They started out a little groggy, but it only took 10-15 minutes and the house was alive with excitement. A limo arrived at 4:45 and we were on the road to the Muskegon airport by 5am! The kids thought that the limo was really cool and quite frankly, I decided that it was quite a nice spacious way to travel....forget the next mini-van, on to a limo! We had checked in the night before so we just had to dig through all of the paperwork and check our luggage. With the new fees for luggage, we had manged to pack all of our stuff in to three large suitcases, but of course, one of them was overweight!!! After shifting around a few things, final hugs to Poppy, and we were off to security. Every one's shoes had to come off, backpacks and jackets onto the belt, our 2 bags full of prescription drugs.....I was DREADING this part, but the agents did a great job getting us through with a lot of patience. We had everything right except that I had a lip gloss that is considered a gel and it was not in a baggie!!! "Throw the stupid thing out, just let us get through this line!!!!" Finally, we were on the plane. Everyone is settling in, it is still dark outside so we can't see anything, the kids are doing great. The flight attendant then informs us that momentarily she will serve complimentary juices, water, and coffee. McKenzy screams at the top of her lungs, "Coffee!!! I can't wait to get coffee, I really need some coffee!" Everyone on the plane sure got a chuckle out of that!

All of the flights were on time, we made our connections and we arrived in Orlando at 11:30am. We were staying at "Give Kids the World" and they had a volunteer meet us at the airport to navigate getting our luggage and getting our van. I saw him holding the sign with Keyan's name and I could not help but start crying! He led us to our van, helped watch the kids while we put all the car seats in, and gave us directions to the resort. He was great and not bothered by my tears at all. He just smiled, as if he knew they were because I felt as if the weight of the world was being slowly lifted off of my shoulders.

I want to explain a little about the resort. GKTW is a resort only for families who are visiting Orlando with a wish organization. It is run by 130 full and part time staff and 3000 volunteers!!! The whole place is designed for the kids and everything is handicapped accessible. The most amazing part of the whole thing is that every other family there has a special needs child. We had an instant bond with all of the other families...they all had medical equipment, knew the strains of medical needs, all the moms had dark circles under their eyes from lack of sleep. It was life changing to experience normalcy. Keyan was never different, just special! The only thing that made us stand out was the fact that we had quadruplets, and that is a fun reason to stand out! I could go on and on about the village...it is really a piece of heaven on earth.

The first thing we did after arriving at the resort was get lunch and ice cream at the ice cream shop. One of the first things that the volunteer running the ice cream shop told us was that this was a place for kids and they could do whatever they wanted! They really live by that motto...ice cream for breakfast, whip cream on everything, endless rides on the carousel, and so much more. After lunch I headed to orientation and the rest of the crew headed to the pool. It was handicapped accessible, so Keyan was able to walk around by herself and she loved the Independence. It was a great way to spend the afternoon of a very long day. We went back to the villa to get settled and than went to dinner. The meals are served in a gingerbread house with a huge cupcake connected. There are several options for dinner and plenty of desserts! There are volunteers to do everything...they carry your tray, refill your drinks, set your table, or whatever else you may need. It is incredible. Near the end of dinner, Mayor Clayton and Miss Merry came around to greet us. They are the bunnies that run the village. The kids LOVED them. We got lots of pictures hugging Miss Merry! After dinner, we made a quick trip to Wal-mart to get a few necessary things and returned to the villa to collapse into bed......dreaming of Disney, and the fun we will have tomorrow.