Give Kids the World Village

We arrived yesterday afternoon at Give Kids the World Village. This entire place was created for families to come to that have children that have been suffering with medical conditions. It is meant to give them a vacation away from the stress and worry of everyday life. Well, I am here to tell you that it is successful. This place is INCREDIBLE!!!!! Even that can't really describe what it is like. Not only is our entire family treated like we are royalty, everything we do and everything we get here while on property is free of charge.

Our Villa is beautiful. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a living room and a full kitchen. It has a laundry area with a full size washer and dryer. It is decorated outside with Christmas lights, it has a front porch with rocking chairs, and even has our name out front on the mailbox.

We spent the afternoon playing all around the village. Ethan loved driving the remote control boats in the pond at Amberville along with seeing the HUGE model train village they have set up. The kids also loved the game room at Amberville. All the air hockey and Chuck E Cheese style games they could stand. We also enjoyed some fun in the Castle of Miracles where there were lots of games and magical surprises around every corner. Also at the Castle of Miracles is a much loved Carousel for all the rides you can stand. And we can't forget the Ice Cream Parlor where you can go at any time of the day and get an ice cream sundae. I think we had a few of those yesterday. But one of the best things ever is the amazing playground. It is a life-size CandyLand game playground with the biggest and most amazing playground equipment I have ever seen. And to top it off, it is handicap accessible to all children.

Each evening there is a special celebration they have going on at the Village. Last night was Mayor Clayton's birthday. Mayor Clayton is a 6-foot bunny rabbit, and the Mayor of The Village. That was one heck of a party they put on for him and I was surprised that the kids were able to stay awake for it despite the fact that the kids had been up since before 4 am that morning. They were working on pure adrenaline.

There was lots of dancing in the streets, and as usual Ethan got his groove on. That boy just feels the beat through his body. Emily had a lot of fun dancing, too, but she was a little shy at first.

Of course, dancing with Mayor Clayton and his wife, Merry, was a lot of fun, too. Emily is totally smitten with Ms. Merry and won't leave that bunny alone. She is like a stalker to that bunny. It is adorable. It is great to see how much they really encourage the kids to keep it up, too. I almost had to pull Emily off of her. And Ethan, my little hugger, would hug anyone and everyone that he even thought was connected to a character.

The day today was spent at Sea World. That entry will have to wait until another time.