Christmas Day

Savannah awoke at 6:30 Christmas morning and we made her hold off until 7:00 before she could wake up her brother. The kids were so excited to see what they received. One of Payton’s favorite gifts was his Jack Sparrow Pirate costume. Every present that Payton would open Payton would say “oh, thank you and was so appreciative for everything that he got. Payton called up Grandpa Archibald and told him that he got a Pirate costume and asked Grandpa if he got one too. He knows that Grandpa likes pirates as well. Payton enjoyed dressing up the entire day and playing with his new toys. Savannah liked her new Nintendo DS and her new clothes. She is at the age that she enjoys her some new shirts. It was a nice day spending it together and we appreciate every day that we have to spend with each other. Life has been crazy over the past few years with Chad trying to finish up with Grad school and me working it has felt like we haven’t had much family time. We are so grateful for our family and especially for our little Christmas miracle with Payton. I couldn’t stop thinking about him all day and how blessed we are to have him.

Christmas Eve

We were all exhausted after coming back from our week vacation in Florida. We spent our afternoon on Christmas Eve going to Zio’s Restaurant. It was an extremely cold day and we actually got snow here in Texas. That evening we had a fun little dinner with our family and cooked a ham and cheese potatoes. The kids enjoyed opening up their Christmas Eve pajamas which is a tradition in our family. It was kind of different coming back to no family here in Texas. We are really missing my sister and her family and last year we had my parents here. It was a really quiet day.



The kids putting Christmas cookies out for santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Sea World and the end of our fantastic trip

It was our final day and we were sad to leave. We spent the morning getting ice cream and walking around the village looking at things one more time. We got to see where Payton’s star was placed in the Castle before we left. We were all super sad to leave.

We headed off to Sea World to spend a couple of hours before our flight. We saw a dolphin show and got to feed the dolphins, which was one of my favorite things to do. Savannah wasn’t sure that she wanted to touch the fish to feed them, but it did not take her long to realize how cute the dolphins were. Our time at SeaWorld went by too fast and it was time to head to the airport. It was a crazy busy time traveling at Christmas and we were a bit worried if we would get home without any delay, but we did. Our same sweet guy that drove us to the airport in the limo was there to pick us up again. It was a great drive home reflecting on how much fun we had. It is crazy thinking about coming home and facing reality. We are still having faith and hope that Payton will continue to do well. This is definitely a Christmas that we will always remember with our trip and a Christmas that we will never forget with our little miracle boy. We have so much to be grateful for.

A fun day at Epcot and then back to Magic Kingdom

We began our day going to see Patrick at the Castle and got some great pictures. Afterwards we got breakfast at the Gingerbread House and we saw the most amazing man playing Christmas songs with his harmonica. My kids were fascinated at how well this 90 year old man could play. He came over to our table and played for our family. After we applauded for him, we began to talk with him. We found out he had been in the Navy during World War II and was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed by the Japanese. He also told us about how he felt like he had made a difference today. He said that some days he comes and plays and nobody says anything to him, but today was different he was happy that he had come today to see us. I am totally amazed at the number of people that volunteer at Give Kids the World. It takes over 1,500 volunteers a week to run the place and I am dumbfounded at all the service and effort that goes in to running this facility. There are so many great people that come and are so kind. These people have forever changed me and helped me to realize what amazing people there are in this world.

After Breakfast we headed off to Epcot we went on a super fun Nemo ride, a Soarin ride and a Test Track ride that I thought would scare Payton and yet afterwards, he couldn’t stop talking about how fun it was. We spent some time walking around looking at some fun attractions. By then Payton was exhausted and had fallen asleep. We had decided to head back to the village early and take a break so that we could come back to Magic Kingdom later that evening to see the Light Parade which we had missed the first time we went to Magic Kingdom. We went back and had some ice cream and dinner and let the kids take a bath in our big jetted tub.

Later that evening we headed back to Magic Kingdom. It was totally worth going back to see the Light Parade and the kids absolutely loved it. It was fun getting to see Cinderella’s Castle again in the evening and they had an awesome firework show over the castle as well. We hit the Pirates of the Caribbean ride one more time as well as The Buzz Light Year ride which were two of Payton’s favorite rides. We were getting ready to head out and Savannah started sobbing. She had so much fun that it was breaking her heart to have to think of leaving the following day. It was such an amazing trip, one my kids will never forget. We feel so thankful for the opportunity that we had to go and to be together as a family and to get to do such fun things. What a neat experience it was. We know how much work and effort it took for so many amazing people to make sure that Payton’s wish was granted. I am so grateful to everyone that made this happen for our family. It is a trip that we will never forget and one that helped our family grow even stronger.