Kalahari Waterpark and Easter

We continue to try and party as much as possible with Ann Arbor friends before we move and while Izzy is feeling well. We spent Thursday night in a 3-room suite at an indoor waterpark in Ohio with the Maynors and the Ingmires. We had such a fun time! Lorin, as usual, didn't slow down once. She even went with me (even though she probably didn't quite meet the hight requirements) on the toilet-bowl ride with 6-foot drop at the end!

Always posing :)

We celebrated Ryan's 2nd birthday and Willa's first while we were there.

The girls have loved the Easter festivities!

What a cutie!

Friday Night / Saturday Morning the Easter Bunny came and hid our shoes (a long-time Kofoed tradition) and each girl's treasure hunt notes and dropped off some candy.
(The candy has put them into a trance apparently.)

Disney World: Wishes Do Come True

We had an amazing trip to Disney World this last week. Thanks to everybody who helped us get excited about and ready for the trip--UM Stars, Disney bucks, Disney toys, Make-a-wish, Give Kids the World and the amusement parks. Lorin's energy level found just the right match for it.

Warning: Slew of pictures to follow.

Monday
We knew that we were in for a fantastic vacation when the limo showed up to pick us up in the morning and take us to the airport.



We spent the rest of the day at the Give Kids the World Village (GKTW) that was a mini Magic Kingdom where we stayed for the whole week.




(They had free ice cream at GKTW, and the shop was open from 7 AM to 9 PM. You can guess how many trips we made there.)

Tuesday
Tuesday we took the Magic Kingdom down to china town. They gave us a permanent fast pass to use on all of the attractions which was incredible, but it also made for a day of little breaks as we went from ride to ride to ride.




(Lorin watching the "Believe and your dreams will come true" parade.)

(A pretty freaky little roller coaster)

(We had a sweet Florida rain storm hit us as we were heading to our car for the night--Yes, I was excited)

Wednesday
We spent another fun filled day at Disney World, specifically Animal Kingdom in the morning and then Magic Kingdom in the afternoon when the girls had their dinner with the Princesses.




Thursday
Thursday morning we spent some quality time with Mickie and Minnie and then headed to Sea World to hang with the dolphins and friends. Lorin was not at all afraid to feed the sting rays and the dolphins. That night GKTW had a Christmas parade during which Santa and Mrs. Claus showed up.


(Dang I look good in this one. The girls were wearing me out.)

(Lorin got to be an angel that handed out candy in the parade.)

Friday
We decided to take a day trip to the East Coast and let the girls get their first taste of the ocean and a little sunburn. That night the girls had a Princess party at GKTW.




Saturday
Our plane didn't leave until 7 PM so naturally we decided to spend some more quality time at Disney World after one last ride on the GKTW carousel. We rode on this carousel literally 5 times a day, every day of the week. I got close to puking a few times. At the Animal Kingdom, Lorin and Izzy got to be in a Lion King Festival show.




An Amazing Trip
After 24 carousel rides, 10 rounds of Buzz Lightyear's Coaster, 2 rides on It's a Small World, 1 ride on every spin in a circle and go up and down attraction, an African safari, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shamu, sting-rays, dolphins, a trip to the beach, 3 days at Disney World and one day at Sea-World our little Izzy's wish was fulfilled and our family has more strength to keep fighting.

Thanks again to everyone who made the trip a reality.

Big Sister No Tooth

Lorin has been an amazing big sister to Izzy through her hard cancer days. Sometimes if Izzy is not feeling well she asks for "To-to" (her own nickname for Lorin--a spinoff of "LoLo"). Ryan also gets so pumped when Lorin comes bouncing off the bus and wants Lorin to chase her and make her laugh. For me, she has been a huge help not only with the younger sisters, but I can tell she has found cleaning up and helping when I ask kind of fulfilling--she knows she is the only other one (when Dad is gone) that can get the job done quickly and completely. For me, at this time in my life, Lorin's help means the difference between an ok day and a great day!

I just got done helping Lorin yank a tooth while simultaneously taking video of it.

We went to the Detroit Auto Show. Lorin and Dad were very IN to this car.

Jolly Holidays

Izzy sang a duet with Lorin in our ward Christmas program. I tried to upload the video...didn't want to work. They did the cutest job, standing up there smiling and singing out. Granted there was a little microphone trouble, but they handled it really well. The first verse you could hear Lorin best and the second verse Izzy announced "I want to sing too" and took the microphone in which you could hear her best. Lorin just smiled and kept singing, so it was really cute.

Lorin, LoLo, Squishy and Being Six Years Old

I'm a little teary eyed thinking of my biggest girl, my oldest daughter, the "funniest person in the family," the "best big sister ever," the "wild one" (and Izzy is the "vegetable eater" and Ryan is "destructo-girl"), the "tom-boy," and the "cool one with Dad and Ryan...and Mom and Izzy are the pretty ones," and I could go on and on.
I wanted to start a blog for Lorin as I have noticed how precious it has been for Izzy to have one (which was started for keeping people abreast of her Leukemia). I can tell a great story about Lorin everyday--so let's get started!

Yesterday we had the biggest snow ever since moving to Michigan. As soon as it hit and Lorin's eyes popped open, she wanted to be out there in it. So for two days straight I have spent a good amount of time pulling on snow pants, zipping coats, and making sure ears are covered. Today Lorin was heck-bent on finding a big snow-hill and Dad knew just the place. After many runs on the biggest hill for Lorin and Dad or Lorin and Mom, the rest of us were ready to go home--cold and tired. Lorin of course was not. So Dad and I agreed she could go on one more on her own. After a fair amount of debating on how she should gitter dun, I convinced her to just pull her feet up on the sled and let it take her....so she did. After about 5 inches, the sled turned backward and she was headed down blind to what lay ahead. Of course she was heading straight for the man-made hugest jump. Cory tried to yell for her to hang on tight--to no avail. This jump launched her and she went sailing backward into the air while the crowd above all let out their cheers or moans or "oh craps" she ended with a hard knock to the head and Cory headed down as fast as he could on the other sled. By the time they got back up the hill Lorin was raving about her adventure..."that was aweeeeesome!" (A common Lorin phrase) and "when I hit, snot flew out of my nose and landed on someone's hat."

And that about sums her up. She is a tough, adventuresome, go-gettin', intense six-year-old. Rather than stating in so many words what kind of kid she is, I will post some good stories every now and again. Hopefully this is a good start! (this is more a scrapbook than a blog--people won't be commenting)

OK wait. I wouldn't do Lorin justice to not mention her extremely loving and tender side. Just a few nights ago in our family prayers, she prayed, "please help Ryan and Izzy to be good girls and please help me to grow up and be just like my Mom." I tell you what, it melted my heart, because I am really tough on her...always have been. She does her best to roll with my constant lecturing (won't mention the spanks) and using her as my motherhood learning tool. She's one amazing girl!