And a final trip shot, this one of our experience on the Epcot Test Track. We went around once and the man at the exit looked at Annie and said "did you like that?" to which she simply nodded a stunned and unsure yes. So he declared "then you should go again" and we all said "yeah, we'll do that" thinking that no way, we are getting out of there. But he was NOT kidding and sent us around for another spin, ignoring the waiting and "testy" (get it?) throngs of waiting Epcot visitors. Ha!

We have recently returned from Annie's Make A Wish trip to Florida, and here are a few of my favorite pics from that week. They don't include the ambulance or the Arnold Palmer's Children Hospital. For details on that, watch the soon to return Journal Page. It's being thought out, just not typed yet!
First of all, you have to see a couple pics from Give Kids the World Village. The kids spent many hours playing arcade games, steering electric boats, and working the mammoth electric train town inside Amberville. This is not the best angle to show you how impressive this place is, but if you look to the left, you can see part of the magnificient hand crafted carousel that sits next to the Castle of Miracles, where both Tim and Annie have now placed their stars on the ceiling of angels. The Mayor of Give Kids the World Village is a Bunny, and he is married to Mrs. Mary, who came one night to tuck all the kids into bed. I think Annie had the sweetest smile while being tucked in.

Annie's actual wish was to touch a dolphin, and this is a picture of her with a dolphin named Lilly while at Sea World. Lilly also sang to Annie, and was fed fish by the sweetest little girl in the world. While at Sea World Florida, we also got a couple of pics of all seven of the kids together. Here's one with them all on a bear, and here's one of them all on a seal. The bear also produced this cute close-up of Steve and Danny.

We had to take a drive to see the Atlantic Ocean. Tim had a scary experience when he was sucked into a huge wave and inhaled lots of water, but still wanted to get back out there, in his handsome swimsuit. This is a back view of Steve, Rick, Emily and Annieadmiring the waves. Emily was throwing out lettuce in hopes of attracting one of the manatees that frequent this beach. Steve helped Danny with sand castle building, much to Danny's delight.

Of course a big part of the Wish Trip was visiting various Orlando area attractions. One of our favorites was MGM, where we had lunch at the Hollywood & Vine diner, and were kept company by some of the wonderful Disney characters. One of the characters developed a strong affection for Annie, and Chip insisted on carrying her around. I don't think she minded the attention one bit! For some reason, while at the restaurant, Steve and I got into a contest of seeing who stick the most crayons in their curly hair. (Steve won by a good margin!) But Annie had to try this trick, too. Being the big "Crocodile Hunter" fans we are, we had to get Tim and Annie matching safari outfits, which provoked a lot of "are they twins?" comments from admiring passerby. They might as well be, they are so close. Speaking of Safaris, one of the highlights of the trip was the Animal Safari at Animal Kingdom, where we saw meerkats, giraffe, hippos, elephants, tigers, and lots of other cool animals, all of which Annie photographed. I think you can see she is enjoying herself. She also had a lot of fun at the Magic Kingdom on the Jungle Cruise. While those are fake, they still brought about a great Annie photo.

Of course, Danny's favorite part of the trip was anything and everything involving Buzz Lightyear. We did the Buzz ride at Magic Kingdom twice, where this brave Space Ranger took his war against the Evil Emperor Zurg quite seriously. We of course had to eat lunch at Pizza Planet while at MGM. The older kids split up and did the "serious rides" while Rick and I tagged with the younger group and had fun. Here's Sarah, Annie, Tim, Danny and me (Mom) at the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. We still have a roll of film to be developed, which includes Annie's one on one visit with Lassie at Animal Planet, so check back soon!

Chris and his date, Kat, on Homecoming Night, 2001 pic

Tim spent his third year in a row as an in-patient, so for the 7th bday photo, it's not surprising he looks a bit glum, even with a balloon on his I.V. pole. But he really did have an okay ten days, as hospital stays go.

You can see him happier in this pic with me, when he got the dog he wanted for his bday, in this case only a stuffed one. Little did I know we would get a real one soon after!

Cowboy Dan: No, we didn't let him trick or treat in this get up, but it was too cute to not share.
Pokemon: Annie and Tim are still hooked on this, and wore their costumes with pride.
All of the kids carved pumpkins as usual, though some of the jack-o-lanternsturned out better than the others. Namely, the ones I helped with looked sad! Sarah's costume started out as a fairy, but ended up an angel.

Emily just to include her!

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