Give Kids the World - Make a Wish trip

Over Fall Break 2015, we headed to Orlando for Joey's Make a Wish trip.  I'm not even sure what all I can say about this trip, other than it was amazing!!  We stayed at Give Kids the World, about 20 minutes from all of the parks.  We had a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo with a kitchen and laundry, and could have made a full vacation just out of what was offered at the Village.  All of our meals onsite were covered - if we didn't want to go to the cafeteria, we could have Papa John's pizza delivered at no cost!  The Village offered a pool, putt-putt, a carnival ride, carousel, and huge park.  A couple of times each week, horseback riding was offered; there were special events at the pool like a mermaid/shark class, dive-in movies, etc.  There was a (nearly) round-the-clock ice cream shop available, and a special party every night - Christmas, birthday celebration, Halloween, etc, etc.  Disney and Universal characters came to the Village each day, and the Village also was responsible for setting us up with all of our Disney and other accommodations.  We had a three-day park hopper which would get us into the four Disney parks; free parking at all, free stroller, and our "genie pass" which allowed us a permanent Fast Pass to all of the rides.  We also had a two-day pass to Universal, and one day at Sea World (parking, strollers, and ride passes also available at these parks).  Also included was the photo pass at all parks, and Make a Wish arranged for a meal at Chef Mickey.  We were taken to and from the IND airport in a limo, had a brand-new minivan to tool around ORL in (we didn't even have to fill it up with gas at the end!)

We went to EVERY park available, and still had our Friday to just laze around the Village.  We had a great time, and I'm not even sure how to do a photo highlight of the many memories we built of the weekend, so I'll just leave it with these two random photos.

Fall!

A couple of random photos I had saved before we left for Disney....I'll leave them here for fun

Cruzin' 4 a Cure

Joey & Jeff on the float at the fall festival parade

Our float was featured in the paper; this is us with the Killingers, one of the sponsor families this year!

The annual group picture during C4C

We had another wildly successful Josiah's Ride: Cruzin' 4 a Cure event in mid-October.  This year we again had two sponsor families; Camden Cooper and Leah Killinger.  Fundraising throughout the year and the day of the ride provide support for Zionsville families (this year, Camden's and Leah's) who are battling pediatric leukemia/lymphoma.  We are also able to provide gift cards to families via the local hospitals.

Friend Time

Just some random pics of the kids having fun with friends

Melanie and Molly at the Zionsville fall festival

Joey & Henry at their first official Union Movie Night (Joey has always had to be accompanied by a parent volunteer as a preschooler; now that he's in K, he gets to attend by himself!!)

Joey and Ethan cuddled up watching TV

Melanie & Alexandra at 2nd grade jog-a-thon

Joey & Evan at kindergarten jog-a-thon

Melanie & Ellie at a Home Depot DIY clinic

Melanie & Molly at a sleepover to welcome Mel's new bunk beds

Joey's class on a field trip to Country Market

Four of SEVEN kindergarten boys who live on our street!  (Joey's glasses are just a fashion statement)

Fall Softball

Melanie chose softball over soccer this fall; the price could not be beat for the experience.  During her first game, she had two base hits (one RBI); she certainly wasn't the strongest player on the field, but she had a great time, and stuck with it through the very quick season.  There were only enough girls for two teams, so the same two teams played each other for all 6-ish games :)