Wish Trip Day 3 - Universal Studios

     Today we were planning on spending the whole day at Universal Studios.  Since we had/got to drive there, we decided to eat breakfast at GKTW village first.  But, we kind of had a rough start to the day.  The instructions they gave us to get back to the Village from Disney World were wrong and we got a little lost!  We spent about 15 extra minutes trying to figure out how to get off the Interstate, it was a little stressful but we did it.  When we finally got there we had a little confusion, so it took us a while to get through the gate to go in.  We finally got to the breakfast castle, and it was 10:10-Breakfast was closed!  Oh well, you can always get free ice cream at the village!  We hopped back in the car and drove to Universal.
    We thought we were treated like superstars at Disney World, but they were even nicer at Universal.  They made sure we had a close parking place, then on every ride they took us directly to the front of the line.  They would send a ride attendant to us and have them walk us through the back secret ways, to the front of every line, every time.  We felt pretty honored.  We love Universal Studios right from the start.  There were some bigger rides for the kids, and everything there was new to us!  We were so excited to get on a ride, so we chose the first one we saw Despicable Me.  The ride started and about 3 mintues into it.....it stopped.  For some reason it wasn't working!!  They made us get off.  But, not a big deal for us, we just went to a different ride, then went back and they took us right back to the front of the line again, they ride was hilarious! 
    There was one thing that shocked me while we were there.  The last time we went to a theme park, Abby was a chicken.  She didn't want to ride on any of the big rides, she would just refuse.  This time, she was completely different.  She must've gotten a daredevil heart!  When I saw the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit Roller Coaster (pictures down below)  I thought for sure Abby would say no thank you.  But no, she wanted to go!  I have to tell you that it was by far the scariest ride I've ever been on.  I rode next to Britt and had my eyes closed for the majority of the ride.  In the beginning of the ride I thought it was cool because they let you choose the song you wanted to listen to while you were riding.  But when the ride was over, I realized I hadn't heard one word of the song, I was too freaked out!  Even Britt was a little nervous and she loves big rides.  I walked off the ride saying that once on the one was enough for me.  Abby and Brock loved every second of it and couldn't believe we were scared!
     We eventually made our way to Harry Potter Land, Abby had been looking forward to this since she made her wish, she's always been a Harry Potter fan.  It was pretty fascinating, but I expected a little more.  I think we got there at a bad time, because it had started raining a little and everyone was trying to fit inside the buildings, it was impossible to even move!  Britt hated it there because there were so many people.  There were only 3 rides and one of them was closed for technical difficulties, so we rode the other 2, they were really fun.  I especially liked the one that took us on a fast ride through Hogwarts!  Abby was able to buy her wand, a chocolate frog, and some every flavor jelly beans and Britt bought and sent some postcards from Hogwarts.  We spent lots of time there, but it was just too packed to truly enjoy it.
     We went back out to the park and decided to do the Jurassic Park ride.  We didn't really know anything about this ride, but we had heard it was fun.  It turned out to be a little like Splash Mountain, but we got completely soaked at the end.  It was so funny, I was screaming on the big downhill and we got sprayed so hard that my whole mouth was full of water at the bottom of the hill! We loved it and had to do it again! 
     This is when I decided that I was getting old.  I had never, ever gotten sick on rides before (not counting Mission:Space) and I was feeling a little queasy!  It was time for me to be done for the day, but not the kids, they just kept on going!!  We stayed until the park was almost closed then headed for home.  I was tired, the kids were tired, Abby was exhausted!  We got to the hotel, did not set an alarm for the next day, and went straight to sleep!

The kids are somewhere in the middle of that splash!

The Hulk!  They loved it, I chose to sit that one out.

Popeye was there too! JK, just same man on steroids that looked a lot like Popeye!

That's the end of Jurassic, notice how wet we were!

Abby, attempting to make a heart!

Brock feeding Abby her chocolate frog

Harry Potter Land

Not quite the dessert we excpected!

She really like that chocolate frog!

Dr. Seuss land-we didn't spend much time in there, there were too many other things to do!

Poor minnion :(

That's the red roller coaster in the background-corkscrew on the loop was awesome!

Yep, I closed my eyes going up that hill!

Abby is pretty pleased with herself, Brock too, Britt not too sure!

There's a minnion in there!

Maybe I shouldn't have let her get that wand!

Funniest picture ever!  First time on Jurassic park, I think our faces tell it all!

Wish Trip Day 2- Magic Kingdom and Epcot

     We were up early and ready to go!  Our plan today- Magic Kingdom and Epcot.  We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel, hopped on the monorail, and next thing we knew we were walking into the Magic Kingdom.  We had decided to get Abby a wheelchair, just in case, and because we knew how much walking around we were going to be doing during the week, we wanted to preserve her energy!  It turned out to be a good idea because after just a few hours at the park, her feet, ankles, and legs were swollen huge again.  I haven't gotten this pulmonary hypertension figured out yet.  First, they get swollen when we go up in the mountains to a higher elevation, then they get swollen when we're at sea level in Florida?? What the?? That just doesn't make sense to me!  It was 90 degrees with 80% humidity, maybe that has something to do with it, I don't know.  Anyway, when we left the park for a quick break, I called the transplant team and we decided to double her PH medication for the week.  When her feet get so swollen like that, it makes it painful for her to walk, which stinks when you're in Disney World!  The medication change helped and the rest of the week was a little better.

     One of the greatest things about our trip was the "guest assistance pass" we were given.  It allowed us to take the fast track lane on every ride in Disney World.  I think the longest line we stood in was for the Haunted Mansion, and that was probably only for about 15 minutes.  We could pretty much just walk right onto every ride.  As soon as the ride attendants would see our pass, they would do everything they could to get us to the front of the line, it was awesome!!  We rode Space Mountain and Splash Mountain multiple times, they were our favorites.  We also spent time on thunder mountain and trying to beat each other on the Buzz Lightyear ride- of course I got a broken one so I didn't win :)  We spent the majority of the day there, then went back to the hotel for a little rest, then jumped back on the monorail and headed to the Epcot Center.
     Our first ride there was a big mistake, we had even been warned and we did it anyway!  It was called Mission: Space.  There's a less-intense ride and more-intense ride.  We did the easy one, and of course thought we were ready for the "more-intense" ride!!  I should've known to get out of there when I saw the barf bags next to the seats!  In this ride you experience forces up to 2.4 G.  Let me tell you, it felt like my chest was being smashed into the seat.  When I thought of Abby next to me, who had a heart transplant only one year ago, I freaked out a little bit!  I love rides, but this was horrible!!  I got off and looked at the kids, Britt and Abby agreed with me, that it was a little much, but Brock on the other hand only said, "Wow, that was awesome, can we go again??"  Nope, we didn't go again!
     We continued on around the Epcot and decided we were hungry, we ate dinner in Italy, and it was delicious!  After dinner, we realized it was 8:45 and we had been told that the park closed at 9:00.  We really wanted to ride Soaring, one of my favorite California Adventure rides, but it was on the other side of the park.  We decided to start running to try to make it.  It was great.....Brock was trucking with Abby in the wheelchair, Britt and I were running in our sandals, every 5 minutes we would get a warning over the loud speakers because they were announcing when the the laser light show was starting, and we were dripping with sweat because it was so dang hot.  We got to the ride, ran up to the attendant, looked at the clock and it said it was 9:03, and panting and out of breath I said, "Did we make it in time??"  She just looked at me funny and said, "ummm....we don't close until 10:00 tonight!"  We all just burst out laughing, she probably thought we were freaks!  The ride was awesome, in fact, since we had so much time, we did it twice!
     We did another ride, then walked out to get on the monorail, but it had closed 10 minutes earlier, so we went to wait for the bus.  2 great things happened at this point in our day.  The first was that we were passing out Pay it Forward for Abby cards and bracelets while we were waiting in line, and we met a family from Boston that was so excited to hear Abby's story.  They loved it, in fact, they asked if they could have extra bracelets to pass out because they were going home the next day and they wanted to spread the word there too!  It was fun to see their excitement and hear them talk about how the things they were going to do.  The second thing was that as soon as we got on the bus, the driver turned the radio on, and the song that was playing was Queen's "We are the Champions!"  How fitting is that?

This pass was like GOLD!!! 

Splash Mountain was definitely one of our favorites!!

Sometimes Britt and Abby just take random pictures of themselves, weird, I know!

Brock being hot and sweaty, it was extremely hot the whole time we were there and with 80% humidity, you just sweat like crazy!

Notice the Powerade??  I think we spent about 60$/day in drinks trying to stay hydrated after all of our sweating!

Even Abby had curly hair in Florida and Abby does not have curly hair at all!

I think this is in Space Mountain

Britt's attempt to tame my frizz bomb hair, Florida does not help with it's frizziness!

Epcot!

Dinner in Italy, yummy!

I think I have more pictures of my kids pulling faces than anything else!

This is us panting and being tired after our run to Soarin'

   

Abby's 1-year heart anniversary

This morning, while I was waiting for my kids to wake up, I wrote this whole beautiful, eloquent post about Abby's 1-year heart day. Then I went to write the title of the post, and it all disappeared! It didn't even save like it usually does or anything. I almost started to cry, but I didn't, I just attributed it to being Friday the 13th. Now we've spent the day at Animal Kingdom, and my kids are beat......okay, I'll admit it, I'm beat too. We've been going non-stop for the past 5 days. Abby requested a break for a nap before we hit Magic Kingdom tonight for the last time, so while they're resting, I'm going to attempt to rewrite a little about our awesome day yesterday. Abby's heart day was the best, not because we were hanging out in Sea World, although that was pretty amazing, but because of all of the good that was happening to honor Abby's donor family and her life. It was a fun day, but it was also a very tender day. When we sat down and read about some the things that were being done, it brought a smile to my face, and okay, it even made me cry a little too. It was awesome! When I get home, I'm going to try to blog about all of the many things that were done, and how it truly made a difference to some people. I think we might have to make it a tradition-July 12th will now always be a day to Pay it Forward for Abby!! We also spent some time yesterday remembering July 12th last year. From 3:30 AM when we got "The Call," to when I was finally able to walk into Abby's room in the CICU and try to find her underneath all of the things she was connected too! I remember walking her down to surgery and having to leave her, and then just bawling. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my ife! I remember pacing the hall on the 2nd floor of PCMC, being too afraid to go anywhere else just in case something happened and they needed me. I remember when Dr. Kaza finally came walking down that long hall and sat down with us and told us how perfect Abby's new heart was for her and how well she was doing. I remember what a complete relief it was to hear that. I think it was the first time I had really been able to breath since May 18th. We spent time yesterday thinking about and being grateful for Abby's donor family and their selfless decision. We still know nothing about them, but my kids and I all sat down and wrote them letters of gratitude last week before we left for our trip. I know that if/when we are supposed to meet me them in person, we will be ready. I think that if they had the chance to meet Abby, they would know that they made the perfect decision and they would be pleased. Yesterday, a little recipient guilt try to creep in, but then I remembered what someone told me.....Abby's donor didn't die in order for Abby to receive her heart.....they died, and their loved one made the decision to donate their organs so Abby could live. I wish more people would make this decision. We have 3 of our little heart friends still waiting at PCMC for their hearts. We think about them and pray for them every single day, they need someone to make that decision, the decision to allow their loved one to be a donor. They need their new hearts, please continue to pray for them and their families. Waiting is so hard. We also spent some time yesterday thinking about how blessed we have been this past year. It hasn't been easy, in fact, it's been pretty hard, but the blessings far outweigh the struggles. Because of what we've gone through, we've been lucky enough to meet so many new people and form many lasting relationships with them, that is the greatest blessing ever! We are so grateful for those of you that have stuck with us this past year, I know it's not easy. I know that I'm not as reliable as I used to be, and I know that sometimes I can't commit to things like I did before, I'm just not too confident with Abby's health yet, but it will get better as time goes on. I know that I've been a friend that has had to take more than I can give, but I think that will continue to change as well. We, as a family are just grateful for all of you that have been there to love and support us through the ups and downs this past year, you've made it easier for us. One of the greatest things for me this trip has been to just sit back and watch my kids interact with each other. They have something special and it has just been strengthened this year. They were already pretty close, but I think their relationships are even stronger now. I can't even imagine where we'd be today if things would have ended differently last May, It's hard to even think where we'd be and what we'd being doing at this time. There would be such a void, I can't even imagine. I could sit here and type all day about how grateful I am for little Abby and the strength she's brought me and so many other people. I think she's already began to fulfill her mission of "saving others." Her life will always be a miracle and I'm so thankful for her sweet spirit. I'm also so grateful for Britt and Brock and the tremendous way they've dealt with all of the changes we as a family have had to go through this past year. I know I might be a little biased, but there's just something about my kids that is awesome, I'm the luckiest mom alive! We are one blessed family, and we are grateful. **There will be a whole blog post with pictures about Abby's wish trip coming soon!