The Otte's

Our Make A Wish Send Off

To start off, I started learning that Make a Wish likes to do send off's, where they do something fun like have the firemen give the send off for a child that wants to go to the Disney fire station, or the Lincoln Zoo just did one for a girl who is going to the Animal Kingdom, so they can be small and sweet or go big and crazy fun.  

So I talked to the staff at Maxey and wondered if we could do something simple like pass out pencils to Quinn's class for her send off.  Well it kind of took off from there!

Let me go back to that morning!  I stopped by Rent a Van to pick up the van that Make a Wish got us to us for the trip.  I meant to get it earlier so we could have it packed and ready to go, but that did not work out as planned so I got it that Monday morning, and thanks to Chrissy and Tracy, we got it all packed up and ready to go so we could leave right after the send off.

 Then around 2:15 I got to Maxey, to find cups of confetti all over in the office.

 I got to watch East High band warming up, as they, along with the cheerleaders were going to lead us in a parade around the school.  (Again this is all a total surprise for the kids!)

A number of our friends and family came to share in the joy.  Quinn's nurse and para were whispering about a few things that were going to happen as they were walking Quinn down the hall and she knew something was going on, and continued to use her dinovox to ask "What?" over and over.  Oh she is so smart!

 So family and friends were all waiting in a room and came out to surprise the kids as they got escorted to this room.

 I dressed them up all fancy for the day, and they were not sure what to think about any of this.  What was going on.

 The staff went all out with sashes, crowns, feathers, so already the kids were thinking, wow, what a send off, lots of stuff and lots of people who care about us are here to send us off.  Just look at that fancy cinderella carriage.

 Some of the staff with the kids.

 Staff, family, and friends in this one.

 Then Elsa walks in, and all the kids were silent.  (Actually that is the case any time they saw any character or princess, they would tell me all the things they wanted to ask them or say to them, and then they would clam up and not say a word 95% of the time.)

So I would think this is enough to keep the kids talking about an amazing send off, but then we walked around the corner to see the band playing, and the cheerleaders, and got to join in the parade.

I have a number of pictures that I want to add to this, but I can't get into one of the downloads that I can get to, so more pictures from this will be coming!  (if you have any, I would love to have some)

Watching the band come around the corner helped the tears start flowing.  They were right there they whole time.

The Maxey kids lined the halls and cheered and yelled!  It was amazing!

Then we went outside, to a red carpet leading up to our van.

the 2nd and 3rd graders were there with the confetti, and we are still finding confetti around our house and in our bags and it makes me smile every time I see it.

 The van was covered with Disney messages, and the kids did not want to wash them off, once we got to Florida, that was taken care of with the rain, but driving down there with our window art was so fun.

Here is part of the parade.

Here is Elsa singing to us.

(You might have to be on a computer to see the video's)

Finally we headed out, 

our hearts full of love and our heads full of memories 

that will never be forgotten, just writing this makes me tear up again!  

What an amazing experience!

Reading all the blog posts about this was also amazing, as parents of kids who threw confetti or clapped for us, thanks to all the kids and staff at Maxey!  We love you!

Thanks to the East High Band, you were amazing!

Thanks to the cheerleaders and Elsa!

thanks to Make a Wish!

Denali said her favorite part was when her classmates threw confetti on her.

Quinn loved Elsa, and Isaiah and Quinn loved  the whole thing.

Isaiah and Quinn are undecided, they both say yes to everything being their favorite. 

Was seeing all your family and friends in the room your favorite?  Yes.

Leaving school early?  YES!

Was seeing Elsa your favorite?  Yes, (Isaiah said to say that was not his favorite part)

Getting crowns and sashes and balloons and a cinderella carriage?  YES!

Was having the band there? YES!

The Cheerleaders?  YES!

The Parade?  YES!

The kids clapping in the hall?  YES

The kids outside with Confetti?  YES

The van decorated?  YES

Elsa singing?  YES

Wow!

Then we were off for a 24 hour car drive over a couple days!

More to come!