Sharing our heartbreaking story played a small role in Wishes Can Happen raising $213,946.00 over the 2 day Wish-A-Thon. That's enough to grant for than 40 wishes over the next year.
This morning, Emmett and I went to Wishes Can Happen's annual Wish-A-Thon. I was planning to go alone for a couple of reasons. First of all, this is a very hard thing to do and I didn't want to upset the kids or talk about Gavin's story in front of him. There's a silver lining to Gavin being so cognitively impaired. He's not really aware of how fragile his health is or how many times he's come close to losing his life. I have a very hard time talking about that in general but especially in front of him. Secondly, Gavin's not been feeling well and someone needed to stay home with him. Sharing our story and showing our support for Wishes Can Happen is very important to us. It's…
We had a pretty amazing day. The parade was a ton of fun and we shared the float with another, amazing wish family. While it was a great experience, it wasn't without its Autism related challenges. Emmett struggled quite a bit because the Wishes Can Happen shirt he was given to wear, didn't fit the way he like his shirts to fit. The sensory issues were in full force and because the shirt was longer than he will wear them, it was a nightmare as we waited for the parade to begin. We were there about an hour and a half early, and it was a very long hour and a half. Once it was time to load onto the float, he ended up doing okay. It was really tough…
Something interesting, exciting and a bit nerve-wracking happened today. While we were at the Akron Zoo, the executive director of Wishes Can Happen say down to speak with us. We were meeting her for the first time and it was a very pleasant visit. ☺ During the visit, she asked if we would be interested in representing Wishes Can Happen in the Hall of Fame community parade and ride on the Wishes Can Happen float. Right off the bat, the boys were super excited and very much wanted to us to say yes, which we did. We will be riding on the Wishes Can Happen float. We're going to be the number seven float in the long line of floats, so we'll be among the first to go and the…
I wanted to take a minute and thank Wishes Can Happen and the Akron Zoo for a fantastic day. Wishes Can Happen sponsored today's trip for us and many other previous wish families. We got to visit the local zoo, meet other families who have been touched by Wishes Can Happen and have an amazing lunch. We all had a great time and truly appreciated the experience. For those who may not recall, Wishes Can Happen is a local wish-granting organization. They function on a local level and grant wishes for kids like Gavin, with life-threatening health conditions. Last year, they granted Gavin's lifetime wish of going to Lego Land in Florida. It was an amazing ten-day vacation and also happened to be the first family vacation we'd ever taken. I personally hadn't been…
We're off to the Akron Zoo this morning for a special event sponsored by Wishes Can Happen. For those who don't know, Wishes Can Happen granted Gavin's wish last Fall. It was an amazing experience and you can read about it here. Since then, there have been quite a few additional surprises, the latest being a free trip to the zoo. We were concerned about bad weather this weekend but it looks like it might just hold out. Everyone's excited to go and it will be nice to see the people from Wishes Can Happen, as well as meet some of the other wish families. Last night, we all went for a walk to make sure that Gavin was going to be up to going to the zoo, after having…
I wanted to put all the pictures from our Wishes Can Happen trip to Give Kids the World in one place. People have suggested putting everything in one place because it's easier to view them all and refer back to if need be.
They say time flies when you're having fun and it's true. We've been at Give Kids the World for six days now and we're leaving to make our way home in the morning. On our final day here, we decided to go to Sea World. While I have some fundamental issues with Sea World, the kids may never have a chance to experience something like this again. The Sea World close to us is no longer open and honestly, having seen the documentary Blackfish, I'm not too upset about that. This was actually the first sunny day we've had since arriving here in the sunshine state. lol Not only was it sunny, it was hot and humid as well. The boys were not liking the weather at all. We did…