One Year Later. . .(and still laughing!)

One year ago today, Rachel hijacked the blog and posted her now famous (infamous?) post about the "Children Who Didn't Get Invited on the Wish Trip!"  (If you missed it, here is the link https://brendans-story.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2016-05-30T20:33:00-07:00&max-results=7)

One year later, Rachel is now inducted into the "Favorite Children" group.  No, she didn't get an all expense paid Wish Trip to "Give Kids the World."  She saved her money, took her vacation time, and volunteered for a week at this amazing place.  

Rachel here: I know, I know, I'm an angel child.  What can I say? Last year I was staying home to feed the dog, so this year I went to Florida without my family.  Maybe it's the goodness of my heart, maybe it's revenge.... I'll let you decide. 

 For a week, she and her friend, Bridgett, ran around the same places we had just a year ago--just enjoying time on the serving side of things.  It brought back a lot of fun memories!
Ice Cream!!!! (No, she didn't get to eat it, and she didn't get to serve it.  Maybe next time.)

When we were signing up to volunteer, we didn't know enough about the shifts to specifically request any of them, so we just told them to schedule us whenever.  Unfortunately for us, that meant that we didn't get to do some of the more popular things, like help at the Ice Cream Palace or the Cookie Cart.  We still did a ton of fun things, like decorating for the Halloween Party and helping with the Big Splash Bash (a pool party) but we'll know what to request for next time....

 The trains at Amberville!

Everything here was so much fun! It was so interesting to see how every single little thing was specifically designed to delight and amaze children. 

 Rachel and Bridgett ran the train that runs around Amberville and took kids on rides. . .

We had about 45 minute's worth of training to run JJ's Train and Lori's Magical Flight, but we had the shift right in the middle of the day where it was hot and most of the families were at the parks, so we didn't run them very often.  When we did, though, the kids wanted to go again and again and again!

 They ran the other rides and helped in the cafeteria . . .

 They delivered gifts to Wish Kids. . .

 This was fun.  We got to go into all of the houses and give little stuffed rabbits (Mayor Clayton) to each of the kids, and tell them about the birthday party that was happening that evening (they have one every week).  One little girl, with an adorable English accent, opened the door and said, "You're the wish fairy! Look, Dad, she's the wish fairy!" Yep, that's me!

 They ran the Carousel. . .

The kids wanted to go around and around and around and around and around and around until the parents got dizzy and dragged them away. 

 And they visited the Castle of Miracles. . .

 and the Star Tower. . .

. . .where they found Brendan's star!

(9th from the bottom-2nd row in.  You can just read the Bre. . .)

 This one was very special to me.  I wasn't sure that I'd be able to find his star, but Mom sent me a picture of where it was when they were there, and I was able to find it from there.  They had added some rows, and a couple of galaxies around it, but there it was! I recognized Charlie's handwriting and the beginning of "Brendan".  It amazed me to think that he had been there, just a year before, writing his name on that star and standing right where I was standing.  I felt very close to him in that moment. 

 I was so happy when Rachel sent me the picture of his star.  I didn't think I would ever be able to pick it out of the galaxy.  But I spotted it right away.

Rachel also sent pictures of our villa. . .

And visited our favorite spots at Universal Studios.

 Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a die-hard Spider-Man fan.  So I may have been freaking out just a little bit. 

She and Bridgett also spent time at the Orlando Temple. . .

They were so excited to see us! One of the temple workers wanted to take us home with her.  She had the cutest southern accent, and we didn't want to leave Florida anyway, so it sounded like a good solution to us. 

 Canoeing at Shingle Creek. . .

 . . .with the alligators -- EEEKKK!!

I feel like the people who rented out the canoes could have told us about the alligators that like to hang around the creek before we went out, but I guess that's probably where they get their laughs.  Everybody wanted a picture of the alligator, but when we actually saw it, I was too freaked out to even take out my phone.  Just keep rowing, just keep rowing..... nothing to see here. 

 And even got to spend an afternoon at the beach.

That Florida sun, though.  It's okay to be jealous. 

I was pretty amazed that these two would take their hard earned money and vacation time and spend it doing something as wonderful as volunteering at a place that meant so much to us.  We are so glad she could give back just a little of the joy that we experienced.  The timing of the trip (one year later) was perfect timing and reminded us of all the good times we had!  Way to go, Rachel!!!