Inspired by GoGo

Today I am going to rewind my head back to this day and remember this very excited little face... And try to forget this... We plan to leave at 4pm today to head for Twlight Check In and then our hotel at Gatwick Airport - for once I hope the sound of planes keeps me awake! I am also looking forward to stopping having to check these sites every two minutes! radarvirtuel.com Great if you like watching planes though:D nats.co.uk I am their number one groupy now! virgin-atlantic.com Richard Branson must think he has a stalker:lol: But most of all I am not going to miss trying to analyse these pictures every 4 hours! Pilot forums are now being swapped back for scrapping forums - I think Simon began to think I was a little over keen on pilots for a while there! and piles of clothes are now being swapped for packed cases.... but fingers and toes are still crossed until we are on Orlando soil:D I have learnt a lot about myself these past few days and have deduced that a) I don...

that is how I have been since Sunday TBH! We had to finally break the news of the ash cloud to Harry yesterday as he went back to school and we didn't want to risk everyone talking about it and him not be aware. It was hard to break that magic bubble he has been in for weeks but I know it was the right thing to do so he was better armed for missing out on the flight on Friday. However today we received an email from Make A Wish... Hi Lorraine At this moment it all seems ok, please just go ahead with your itinerary starting tomorrow with your flight on Friday. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries and I will of course contact you should anything change. Kind regards Val So fingers crossed with the airports being open (for now anyhow!) that we do indeed get to fly out on Friday. Thank you to everyone for your posts, emails and messages - they have really kept us going and Harry also says thank you to all of you for sending him lovely messages too:D Lx

to keep a sense of normal routine going on whilst we wait for news over on the NATS website. We are hoping for a weather change on Thursday that they predict!!! So in the attempt to create some 'balance' to life yesterday we decided to take Harry to Aldeburgh and have a fish and chip supper followed by a somewhat chilly play on the beach. It done us all a world of good to get out and grab some perspective back rather than the all consuming and emotionally draining constent checking on the Met Office and NATS sites! So today we plan to do the same, jobs and a bit of packing as planned followed by getting out in the fresh air :D Lx

For the past 48 hours I have kept changing my mind whether to make this blog entry or not, I fully know that there are much, much worse and sad problems in the world but to us on a personal level this has been (and probably will contunue to be until Friday) the most stressful and worrying few days... why - the flippen' ash cloud!!! In the end I have decided to write down my fears, thoughts and even some totally irrational things I am sure, in the hope it will ease the churning feeling I have inside about what happens if we can't fly on Friday and how we will deliver that news to Harry if the worst comes to the worst:( For us this is now part of the run up to Harry's Make A Wish trip whether we like it or not so I guess deserves a place in the 'story' to read back on one day. I am normally a great sleeper, infact I can even sleep in a hospital chair with all the noise, lights and mayhem going on and not batter an eyelid:lol: so for me to only have 2 hours broken slee...

Harry has been waiting on the doorstep this morning as he knew his Make A Wish pack would be here! The postman let him sign for the special delivery which was exciting enough in its self:lol: The pack contained lots of written information and e tickets etc but also some little envelopes for Harry to get a special photo of his swim with the dolphins and also a sealed letter for the flight crew... I wonder if that is to warn them that there is one very excited and hyper boy on their flight or that his Dad doesn't like flying:lol: Also in the pack is some gold star badges, these are really special and we will treasure them forever I am sure! We have had a quick read through altogether and will read in more detail later but I think for now we must get dressed as it is nearly lunch time and we don't have a crumb to eat until I have been shopping! I will leave you with what I think is THE most precious photo we captured this morning, check out this excited face! Lx

We received a further email from GKTW today which has really made Harry hyper today already! He loves the fact that it is addressed to him let alone what the contents say :lol: He loves it when he gets letters though the post too, we used to send him things like Cbeebies magazines through the post just to see his face light up so I can't wait for the next stage of his Wish pack to come through and see the reaction, I must remember to keep the camera really handy this week! Dear Harry, Just over one week before we welcome all of you to Give Kids The World Village - we are really excited and hope you are too! Your wish granting organization has partnered with Give Kids The World Vacation Planning Services team to make sure this is a most magical, memorable, and stress-free vacation of a lifetime. To ensure we are ready for your stay, we would like to confirm the following information: Travel Information Wish Child: Harry Confirmation #: ****** Number in party: 5 Lodging: Give Kids T...

Sitting down and planning has been fun but have we got it right do you think? THURSDAY 6:pm Leave for Gatwick hotel FRIDAY 6:30am Leave hotel for airport check in 11:15am Virgin Atlantic VS27 Gatwick 15:25 Arrive Orlando Meet & Greet Avis 6:30pm Dinner Lorraine to orientation meeting 7:45pm 7:30pm GKTW - Pirates and Princesses Party with Shamu and friends on the Avenue of Angels SATURDAY 8am - Breakfast 8:30 am GKTW - Horseback Riding Keaton’s Korral *UNIVERSAL STUDIO* 6pm Dinner 7:45pm GKTW - Mayor Clayton’s Birthday Party on the Avenue of Angels SUNDAY 8am - Breakfast *ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE PARK* 6pm Dinner 7:30pm GKTW - The World’s Largest Candy Land game at Matthew’s Boundless Playground. MONDAY 7:30 am - Breakfast 8:30AM *DISCOVERY COVE* 5:45pm GKTW - Kids’ Night Out/Grown-ups’ Night Off at Amberville Train Station 9pm Dinner at Villa TUESDAY 8am - Breakfast 8:30am Nickelodeon Character Photos in the Castle of Miracles 8:30am - *DISNEYLAND - MAGIC KINGDOM + FIREWORKS* 10pm - D...

Yesterday we found out the day of Harry's swimming with dolphins experience, Monday 26th April is the day! Harry's actual wish was to 'swim with sharks' which luckily Make A Wish interpretated as swimming with dolphins... phew! I have never really looked into the whole swimming with dolphins and Discovery Cove as TBH it never really seemed something that would in reality happen or be reachable with a family of 5, especially with one daughter in uni and one in college for the next 4 years! As a family we have been really lucky to be able to go to Disneyland in California and Disneyland Paris but never did we think we would get to go to Florida! I have been for a flying visit to Orlando for CHA last Summer and I must admit it was really hard to go there without the family but I preserved that feeling by staying well away from anything tourist, Disney or other things that would happen if you were in Orlando as a family on holiday - no mean feat in Orlando I can tell you :l...

OMG 16 days now!!!!! The excitement has been further induced by over endulgement of chocolate this weekend:lol: We have been trying to talk to Harry about the meaning behind Give The Kids The World (GTKTW) complex and why it is there, I feel we not only need to make him aware of why it is there and the work all the volunteers do but also in some ways to prepare him for what I really think will be an emotional place. I am expecting it to be more of a roller coaster than Disney has to offer for raw emotions, there will be endless happy and positive memories made to last forever but also a humbling experience too. There will be children staying on site that may be in the middle of chemo or other treatments that make them feel quite unwell and although Harry has experienced many, many situations meeting and playing with children having chemo it will be the first time he has seen this in a 'holiday' setting as 9 times out of 10 he experiences treatments within a hospital setting. Yo...

With all the preparations for the Getaway last weekend I made myself put Harry's Make A Wish trip to the back of my mind so I could fully concentrate on the work in hand but now that we have arrived back, unpacked and sorted everything back into the warehouse and have a routine ready for staffing and packing over the Easter break I can now truly say that I am too so very, very excited! We ordered a guidebook which came this morning, Harry has since been sat on the settee looking at all the pictures - fat chance of him getting dressed before noon I think:lol: I have also started to think about how I will approach documenting Harry's Wish, yes of course I will be creating a scrapbook dedicated to the week but I just know that there is going to be so many, many things I want to put down, keep and record that I think I may need to think a bit more about how to go about it! I want to make a scrapbook that can be picked up and looked at again and again, one that has lots of meaning n...

I still can not get my head around Harry's trip later this month, we were told back in November that Harry had been granted a wish by the Make A Wish Foundation to swim with dolphins and it felt so unreal then and it still does! Harry received a welcome pack from Give The Kids The World yesterday which has made things seem a bit more real - yes we are excited for Harry and excited that we will experience lots of things that will make the best memories for life but also the flip side that I am still trying to sort in my head is that children like Harry only get these wishes granted because they face life long challenges facing life threatening illnesses - TBH a fact that I hide deep away in my head, a kind of self preservation skill that gets me through life at times! The village where we will be staying is amazing, a place I didn't even know existed, a place that they state is 'where happiness inspires hope' - kinda says it all really doesn't it. It looks such a h...