Recovery

It’s been 2 and a half weeks since I last blogged our entire Disneyworld trip and recorded as many details as I possibly could while literally falling asleep every night. Long before we left, I had set a goal to document Riley’s Make a Wish trip the very best I could and I’m SO glad I was able to do that! Some nights I would be in and out of sleep while photos would upload but I captured the best week of the Kikuchi girls lives the very best I could. For a very long time I know all three of us are going to be super thankful I did! But after all that blogging I think I needed some recovery time! We definitely needed some vacation recovery time and got it but apparently that included blogging too.

Once we got home from our total dream vacation we were straight back into the fire of our crazy lives! We got home on a Tuesday night from an incredible but definitely not restful or relaxing week and were all at school bright and early Wednesday morning! By Friday our brains and bodies were all completely fried and we needed a weekend full of jammies and naps! Funny thing is we got that and more because not only did we have a holiday on Monday for MLK day but a crazy ice storm hit Houston, TX and two days of school were canceled because Houston just isn’t prepared for icey roads! So five whole days at home together helped us recover great! Unfortunately we also had fighting and whining, tantrums and sassyness too, all things that are a little too common around here lately. And then unfortunately, by that Friday Miss Riley threw up at school so we spent another whole weekend at home in our jammies not sharing our germs. But thankfully we recovered well from that also.

It was crazy cold! Wind chill had it set at 9 degrees!! That plus sleet means Houston completely shuts down! Our back patio was a sheet of ice that was 2 inches thick! The girls wanted to play outside but could only last for 30 minutes at a time with it being that cold. And since we don’t own any snow gear we had a serious amount of layers on! At one point Keagan was wearing 4 pairs of leggings! 

Poor Riley! But she recovered quickly! And was cracking me up after recovering!  Now if we could just recover from Riley’s tantrums and Keagan being sassy then we would be all set! 

Wishful thinking...

Just to keep things exciting and busy, because that’s what we do, we added more to our plate. But they are wonderful things! Keagan started a music theater group called DPAC on Wednesday nights with her best friend Avery! The second week they had to prepare a song for an audition and they were both a little nervous. On the way there I looked in the back of the mini van to see them praying together! Two nine year olds!! I can’t explain the swelling of my heart that gave me! When they got to class it turned out the younger kids didn’t have to audition in front of everyone if they didn’t want to. But both Keagan and Avery volunteered and apparently did a fantastic job! The cast list was released and they have 3 parts together so they are thrilled! They are both townspeople, snoozles, and mice! Keagan has a short solo singing part as a mouse! Very exciting! The musical is an original called “Pickle Chiffon Pie” and will be performed in May. Until then Keagan has absolutely LOVED the rehearsals and has even made lots of new friends, lots of whose mommas I’m friends with! 

Also on Wednesday I have Young Women’s activities again as I received a new calling or assignment at church to teach the Laurels or the girls ages 16-18. I’ve done this before and loved it and I have an incredible group of girls, but I’m a little leary of the time commitment. However I know we will be greatly blessed for it and we will have so much fun together! 

Other random odds and ends...

The girls have put their leftover makeup from the Bippity Boppity Boutique to great use! Mommy and Riley’s stuffed Elsa doll from our trip has had lots of beautiful make overs! 

I took Riley to the dentist on Thursday. While we were in the waiting room I was trying to estimate just how many times the two of us were in a doctors waiting room together, mostly at Texas Children’s. Considering she sees 11 specialists and used to go to TCH once a week, my estimate was close to 300! That number made me have a rush of emotions mixed with sadness for all that my girl has been thru and gratitude that she has gotten the best of care for all these years! Oh and a pit in my stomach for all the money I must have spent on parking! 

Fortunately the appointment was just a dental exam. Unfortunately I had to of course pin Riley down so the dentist could examin and paint her teeth with fluoride and Riley was VERY mad at me! We had planned to go to lunch together wherever Riley picked but she was so mad at me that she kept pointing to her backpack in the car telling me she wanted to go straight to school and eat lunch there. We got there just at the beginning of her lunch and she wouldn’t even say bye to me, she was so mad. I ended up staying to help my friends with lunch duty in the cafeteria and when Riley was leaving she came to me with a sad look and giving me her sign for “sorry.” It was the cutest thing in the world so of course I swept her up and kissed her sweet face! That is when a 1st grade boy said “ewww, put Riley down! I tried to kiss her once and she doesn’t like it!” That gave me a great laugh! 

Friday night we went to one of Coachs basketball games with Gramas, Cherish and sweet LaBelle. We intensely cheered for a intense game that is one of his last’s since he is now an assistant principal. It was fun teaching Keagan all the rules, several of which she responded to “yeah I’ve seen the Wildcats do that” from High School Musical! Hilarious! And Riley was totally following the game and knew exactly when to clap and even yell too! It was a really fun Friday night! 

And finally Keagan has unfortunately been dealing with some problems from a mean girl in her 3rd grade class. Other mommas warned me this all started in 3rd grade and Im sad we are seeing it first hand! But it is giving us great conversations, learning experiences and making us appreciate the wonderful, positive, supportive group of friends that she has! And cherish fun and silly play dates like “the crazy sock girl” aka Keagan, Riley and Lauren had last night! 

Fill in the rest of the last two weeks with lots of giggles, lots of whining, school, quality family time, fun with friends, homework, not enough sleep, way too much sassyness, unfortunate yelling from Mom, lots of teasing, chores, errands, driving and a whole ridiculous amount of love and you have a typical 2 and a half weeks from us. We sure miss Disneyworld and Give Kids the World Village but I would say we’ve recovered quite nicely! 

Wish Trip Day 7

All good things, all magical, amazing, phenomenal, incredible things must come to an end. But that doesn’t mean you can not cry when they do. 

I cried a little today when we left Give Kids the World. It may have had something to do with the absolute exhaustion I’m experiencing but I know it’s much more then that. The tears were a mix of pure gratitude for the most incredible week of our lives and sadness that it is over. 

But before it was over we had another fun morning and packed in as much as possible before heading to the airport. This morning was Mayor Clayton’s party at the Hoppening Place. Mayor Clayton is the 7 foot rabbit mayor of GKTW and he was darling! Both girls absolutely adored him and when Riley hugged him repeatedly, insisted upon holding his hand and very excitedly danced with him, I knew he was going to hold a special place in our hearts! Good thing the gift fairy brought a stuffed animal of him last night so that we could take a reminder of him home with us! The girls also loved the fun games and all the love and attention from the big group of college kid volunteers from North Carolina. We met so many incredible volunteers at GKTW this week and I really hope to be one some day! But these volunteers in particular were so sweet and showered the girls with love and attention. Miss Keagan may have put on a whole hula hoop show for their cheers! Such fun! 

After our last yummy breakfast we finally discovered the mystery of the clown cart, shopped in the gift shop and then visited Riley’s star in the house of miracles which started my tears. Her star was placed with thousands of others representing kids and their families fighting really hard battles that may or may not be similar to ours, but fighting none the less. I think that would make any momma emotional! It hit me so hard that these kids and the families behind them are bright stars in this world showing the rest of us just what courage, strength and a partnership with God really looks like! And one star in particular shined brighter then all the rest for me today! And it always will! 

We went to ride the carousel one more time but since Riley is  in charge that turned into three more times! She’s going to miss that thing! And then we finally made it to Mathews  Boundless Playground which is an accessible playground for Riley AND the worlds largest Candyland game! How fun is that?! Playing and laughing all together was a good way to wrap up all the fun that we’ve had. After check out where they filled us in on all the blessings that are still coming from GKTW like a scrapbook, a birthday cake, an original song written and a passport to tons of other parks for a year, how could I not cry as I left “the library?” 

Riley and I slept our entire flight home while Keags and her dad watched movies. Riley and I were so out that I woke myself up with a snore! Coming home was very bitter sweet as we really missed everyone here but after a trip like the one we had you never want it to end! 

Before we left on this trip I told myself and the girls that we were so unbelievably blessed to just have the opportunity of the trip itself but that it was not going to be perfect and that we shouldn’t expect anything extra or any magic. Well was I sure wrong about that! I am still blown away by all the magic we experienced! It was just one incredible memory maker after another and one fun experience before the next! Saying we were SO blessed this past week and that we are SO grateful is just a gross understatement. I just truly could not be more thankful for the week we had, the place we stayed, the memories we made, the fun we had and for all the magic! 

Now Riley’s Make a Wish Trip is officially over and our suitcases are strewn about, stuff is everywhere, we all have to go to school in the morning and we are beyond exhausted. But we are beyond thankful too and our hearts could burst with the memories of the week! Thank you Make a Wish Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana and thank you Give Kids the World!  Thank you to all the volunteers and to kids who were total troopers and fun park buddies! Thank you to an ex husband who was helpful and willing to put our kids above the fact that it’s super weird to vacation with your ex. Thank you to Mickey and gang, Cinderella and all the princesses and to every cast member who helped us. And thank you to the Lord for making it all possible. I will hold these memories dear for a lifetime and I will miss everything about this last week on our trip! But we were seriously sprinkled with enough pixie dust to help us float for a lifetime! So float we will, minus the tears of course!