Ingram the Conqueror: Tuesday January 1st, The Adventure Begins!

Tuesday started bright and early with our crew meeting our Make A Wish volunteer at the airport at 7am to get all our paperwork for the trip. Only a retired pilot could handle the Dismuke kids this early in the morning wandering around the Memphis airport. Have I mentioned they were hyper?? Even though they got to bed later than we planned despite the early dinner, they were rearing to go from the minute they woke up...it's Disney, who couldn't be excited?? On top of the Disney excitement, we were on the same plane in the same rows as the Wingfield family who were heading out on their own vacation at the same time. One row had Ingram and Mommy, another row had both of the Daddy's, and the fun row had the other 5 kids plus a Mommy to keep things under control. Needless to say, Delta Flight 1999 will never be the same again!

Once arriving in Orlando, we met our Give Kids The World representatives and they were in charge of getting us through the airport and off to the Village. They had no idea who was with which family because they were only expecting 5 of us and ended up meeting all 10 of us. At one point, I think the kids were trying to figure out how to switch families under the radar so that they could stay with their friends, but we all ended up with the right kids and away we both went. We also ran into the McClure family (our St. Jude friends) coming home from their Make A Wish trip to Disney World; please keep this sweet family, especially their two year old daughter Ashlynn, in your prayers.

Once we made it to Give Kids The World Village, it was time to start playing! We started out with a late lunch of "Boston Market" food and then got through our orientation which included a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal for Ingram and Shamu stuffed animals for the girls then headed off to our villa on a golf cart tour around the property. It had huge pool, a 7 hole putt putt with a dinosaur, a lake with remote control boats, a carousel, an ice cream shop, two restaurants, a castle, a theatre, a remote control train room, a working train outside, and much more!! Despite the need for a major nap on all of our parts, we left the men (Daddy and Ingy) in the house and headed out to explore on our own and found a playground with that had a life size Candyland board winding around the playground that was super fun!

We woke up the boys and then headed to the pool/sprinkler park and went swimming and played in the water (as much as Ingram could without his floaty thing) and had a blast soaking up the sun for a few minutes until we decided what we were going to do next. We hit the carousel, mini golf (the boys), the ice cream shop, went to the "spa" (the girls), and the Castle of Miracles where Ingram and the girls had all sorts of fun! Tuesday night at the Village was Mayor Clayton's (huge bunny character that is in charge of GKTW much like Mickey Mouse is in charge of Disney World) birthday so of course there was a huge party for everyone to enjoy! The kids played lots of games, had a dance contest, got their faces painted, ate pucker powder, cake, and candy, got toys, and they were so loaded up on sugar that it was hard getting settled down for bed...imagine that! Oh well, it's vacation right?

Ingram Decided To Help Pack His Stuff.
He Said He Was Finished For The Whole Week With
2 Pairs Of Pajama Pants, 2 Coloring Books, Markers, Scooby Snacks, Juice Plus Vitamins, A Bouncy Ball, 1 House Show, A Shirt That Is Too Small, And Penguin Earphones!
Guess It's A Good Thing We Stayed Up Until 2am Packing The Right Stuff!