Make-A-Wish BNSF Railway Train Ride

Today our family went on a train ride.

It was a first for all of us.

In November of this year, Daniel is going to have his wish granted through Make-A-Wish.  Almost every day for the past 7 months, Daniel has asked us to "go".  He wants to go back to Disney World and kiss Minnie Mouse, give Goofy knuckles and spend some time with his buddy Jake (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates). When we went to see Dr. Ivy in Colorado this past August, he told the team there that he wanted to "go" too.  We have known since Daniel was 2 years old that he was eligible to "make a wish".  However, Brent and I have wanted to wait.  We wanted to wait until Daniel was old enough to make his own wish, even if it meant that we might not have the opportunity.

Many doctors never thought Daniel would turn 5.  2 for that matter!  Now he is almost 6 and clearly asking to "go".  So with the gentle suggestion of Dr. Ivy's Nurse practitioner we decided it was time.

As we have met the people responsible to granting Daniel's wish, we have found out that in North Texas there are other events that "wish" kids get to participate in for the rest of their lives!  One of them being this awesome train ride event that is put on by BNSF Railway.  We had such a fun day.  Daniel had such a fun day!  My big boys were skeptical about how much fun it would be and had so many questions leading up to it, but 2 seconds on that train and everyone was talking about "next time"!  They all loved it.  I loved it.

The staff from Make-A-Wish handed out little "prizes" to the kids.  Most of them were from the Oriental Trading Company.  Really not meant to be more that a couple hours of fun for one afternoon.  However, Lizzy chose a miniature Boggle game.   Daniel loved that tiny little toy (in the photo below...the very corner of the photo sitting on the table...and in his hand with his new friend Jackson) as much as anything else today.  It was a permanent fixture for the 3 plus hours we spent on the train and even again at home tonight.

In fact just the mention of the word "BOGGLE" and Daniel fell apart laughing.  So hard he fell down sometimes! So many of the people on the train enjoyed watching this.  His joy is contagious!!  And it was so fun to watch him have such a wonderful day.

The other kids had equally as good of day.

I surprised my girls with lollipops! I loved how big their eyes got when I pulled these out of the bag!

The boys were surprised with fried pickles (a favorite of both!!) and miniature lollipops as I wasn't sure if they would be too old for the giant ones.  Drew told me, "Mom, we're never too old for giant candy". Lesson learned!

And I think they all ate enough candy that was given away on the train to last a year!  Soda too!!  :-)

Daniel had one of his favorites too, ketchup with a side of fries.  That boy could eat his weight in ketchup and then some!

We had such a wonderful day. The photos will hopefully help me to always remember this time we had together. Oh, and just so you know...the photos where my nose is red...that was not optional, the clown would not take "no" for an answer!  lol!

Days like today are such a gift. Thank you Jesus.