Hannah's Wish

Last week we went on a Disney Cruise for Hannah's wish from the Make-A-Wish foundation. The kids had the best week of their lives! We had perfect weather and made many family memories. We can't say thank you enough for this incredible charity and its volunteers!

This was Hannah's first time flying in an airplane. She was thrilled!

She was definitely the only one on the cruise ship wearing cowgirl boots. 

This picture was taken on our way to the dolphin encounter. Hannah wanted to pet the dolphins more than anything else on her trip. We were in the water during the whole encounter and I didn't get any pictures. I'm really sad about that (but I refused to pay $70 for the three pictures they took). She loved it!

The girls wore their princess dresses to dinner on the ship. 

Visiting with Minnie Mouse on the island.

Make-A-Wish had a special time for the Make-A-Wish families to meet Mickey. There were eight or nine other Make-A-Wish families on the cruise. It was nice to get to meet and talk with the other families. 

Our room attendant brought these beds down out of the wall and ceiling every night. The kids all took turns sleeping on the top bunk. 

This was my favorite moment of the whole trip. It is a poorly taken picture (blurry and way too much of that woman's rear-end behind them), but I'm so glad that I caught this moment on camera. We had waited for almost two hours to meet the princesses and it was their turn next. You can see the pure joy and excitement in their faces. This made the long line totally worth it! 

Hannah had so many questions for the princesses. Here, she and Lauren asked if that was her real hair or a wig. Rapunzel said that of course it was her real hair! 

Hannah asked what Tiana's dress was made of. Tiana told her it was made of lily pads. 

Before we got to Ariel, Hannah told me that she was planning to run up to her for a hug. Hannah is at that wonderful age where she still thinks the princesses are real. Priceless! 

She stood like this, talking to Cinderella for a long time. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I'd love to know. 

Hannah met a friend who is her age. They had the best time playing together on the island and on the ship. 

Eric and I went to the Bahamas for our honeymoon. We took a picture in this chair and the kids have seen the picture enough that when they saw the chair at Atlantis, Evan said, "Hey, that's the chair from the picture!" A lot has happened in ten years! 

Thank you, Make-A-Wish, for making this trip possible! It was wonderful to have something for the kids to look forward to and for us all to have a break from ordinary life. We will never forget this time we had together. We will always be thankful for these memories!