The Hawaiin Roach Coach

Hey we are waiting in the airport to go to Thalia's wish trip and thought we would give a quick update. We were picked up early this morning in a big black stretch limo and whisked away to the airport. The flight takes off in about 30 minutes and the kids are very excited. Everything is in order, we made our packing list and checked it twice. We dumped Puggles off at my parents house and we are good to go. Well....we are boarding now - Golden Zebra here we come. ALOHA!!

...and after the plane lands....

The kids endured their 9 hour flight with great aplomb (aside from the questions of "are we there yet" every 10 minutes). We landed in Oahu to catch our Hawaiian airlines flight to the big island. The flight was delayed about an hour, but other than that everything worked out just fine. With Hawaii being 5 hours behind Central time in the mainland, the kids were exhausted by the time we got to our "hotel". We made our way to our first home away from home. We got the kids in bed by 9:00 pm local time …just three and a half hours shy of being up and traveling for 24 hours straight. Make a Wish provided a WONDERFUL townhouse for us. The kids had their own room and bathroom. Mom and dad had a master bedroom with master bath, and the main floor was equipped with a full kitchen, dining area, powder room, and living room. All this plus the convenience of maid service! Demetria had the first adventure of the trip. She opened the cup holder in our rental car (minivan), and found a dead cockroach. Then… (queue the psycho shower music)…she saw a live cockroach on the passenger floor of the minivan! At the same time the kids saw a few more in the back…Daddy to the rescue! I quickly dispatched the creepy crawlies but I was unable to assuage the fear and anxiety that was now gripping the family. They felt like there were bugs doing the "La cucaracha" all over their bodies. Mom has created a new to-do list in Hawaii for me and the first item is to get my butt to Wal-Mart and get some cockroach traps!

World Neighbor Goes to Hawaii for Thalia’s Wish Trip

OK...I am going to post some personal BLOGS that I have already posted to my daughter's "CarePage"...Her name is Thalia, she is 6 years old and she has Leukemia. We recently went on her Make a Wish trip to Hawaii with the family and we had a GREAT time. here ya go....















Thalia has her monthly visit to the hospital next week. This is visit number two on her three month cycle. On the third month she gets a break with no spinal tap procedures at the hospital. Naturally we like those third months the best! She is still on her cycle of home chemo and other medications and mommy is ensuring that she is 100% compliant to the routine with zero variance. She will continue on this "maintenance" cycle until August 2009. We are coming up on one year since Thalia was diagnosed (April 27) and she is doing very well. Her hair is continuing to grow in. She has a cute little 'do and has given up her headscarves entirely (I will be posting new pictures in the photo gallery soon). She has been eating a ton for the past few months but has recently tapered off to a level more consistent with her sister. I think she was trying to catch up for all those months that she was wasting away during her hard-core chemo phases. She looks healthier and is getting more active and strong with her swimming and gymnastics.





Between May 3 and May 11 Thalia gets to live her wish. She has asked the Make a Wish foundation to go be a veterinarian to a golden zebra. This golden striped zebra with blue eyes is due to a condition called "amelanosis" and not to being an albino. This is a rare birth defect and there have only been a few golden zebras documented in captivity. There have undoubtedly been golden zebras born in the wild, but since they stick out like a sore thumb they more than likely become lion food rather quickly. The zebra's name is Zoe and she lives in Hawaii. When Thalia requested this wish and I found out that the zebra was in Hawaii, I thought "wow this kid is truly a genius…what a great idea!" ;-) Thalia's original wish to go to the Power Rangers TV series shoot, didn't pan out so we are going with the golden zebra wish. The Power Rangers show was done shooting by the time Thalia was in maintenance and ready to go. Thalia and Thera have both been talking about being veterinarians for a long while now, so I think she/they will get great joy out of this wish. We will be sure to take lots of pictures and video of this once in a lifetime event.