Steadman Family

We've finalized the vacation plans for San Diego. Here's the agenda:

Saturday, Feb. 11th - Fly to San Diego, get rental cars, get checked in, stroll along the beach and/or cruise across Mission Bay.

Sunday - Whale watching tour in the morning to be followed by generous amounts of relaxation in the afternoon. We're planning a dinner party for all 26 of us - this will most likely be the only all hands meal that we'll have.

Monday - Legoland! Do I need to say more?

Tuesday - We'll be celebrating Madie's birthday at Sea World. We meet at the party entrance in front of Sea World at 10:15, take a few "behind the scenes tours" with a guide, enjoy some cake and then head into the park for the rest of the day.

Wednesday - Ben fulfills his wish to feed the elephants at the Wild Animal Park.  We're not sure how this one works,  but it should  amazing.

Thursday - Fly home, crash into bed and leave unpacking for another day.

A few thanks to handout before we get going:

To our families for being able to drop everything, survive our unsure planning and join us on this trip. Your patience will be rewarded with a wonderful vacation.

To everyone who helped our family in joining us. Whether it was money for airfare or vacation time from work. Thanks for your consideration to our entire family and making this an event for all of Ben’s cousins.

And to all of the folks at Make-A-Wish. I cannot express my gratitude enough and am honored by their generosity. Ben and Madie have been focusing on this trip for the last few months. The mere mention of San Diego grabs their attention and has helped us through some shaky times. I never appreciated the significance of giving a kid a wish before - I always thought it was about receiving something tangible from the wish. The real strength is from the anticipation, the escape and the memories. We're living with the horror of cancer around us everyday. We’re exposed to a nightmare that no one should face. And then in comes a stranger offering a dream. A dream that offers hope and a chance to rest. A dream that Ben gets to share with us.

I've spent the last four months of my life moving from one short goal to another. Get home for the hospital. Get through his treatment and off of the steroids. Get to the holidays so that we can be together with our family. We're approaching my next goal of getting to San Diego. I'm not sure what comes after that, but I know that I'm not alone. We're all on this journey and these aren't just my goals.

Thank you for being part of my son’s life.

Ben's Make-A-Wish trip to sunny San Diego is just three weeks away and we're busy trying to finalize our plans. We'll have twenty-two family members and friends joining us and it's promising to be a great trip. Here are the highlights of what we're planning:

• Ben's wish is to feed elephants at the Wild Animal Park. I'm not sure where he got that idea, but it's super cool.
• Legoland! I'm pretty sure that I'll explode with excitement, get whip-lash from the Knight's Tournement ride and exceed my carry-on limit for our flight home with all the Lego’s I buy. And I bet is Ben ten times more excited than I am.
• We're taking a whale-watching cruise (not to self, get dramamine) to experience the majestic grey whale on their annual migration. 
• Madie loves Sea World and we'll most likely spend her birthday with Shamu and the dolphins. No, we will not be sitting in "The Splash Zone."
• And I'm sure we'll cram in some quality time walking along the beaches, watching the seals and eating fresh seafood.

To everyone who's coming: We're still waiting for a few more details from the Make-A-Wish folks. Please be patient on the official agenda for a little while longer. Thanks

We had a wonderful time in Las Vegas. I was surprised by the number of things for kids to do and quickly blew through my gambling allowance while they slept. Despite my horrible luck, Melinda and the kids won a suitcase full of stuffed animals at Circus Circus. Ben and Madie yelled with excitement as they saw the lights on each hotel, cheered for our Spanish knight at the Excalibur and discovered that Elvis is not only the coolest rock star ever, but also makes a great timeshare salesman. The King can truly do anything.

They also befriended a lost parakeet on The Strip. Everyone walking by stopped to comment on how cute they were as they talked to it. Apparently the odds of finding a lost bird are better than the odds at Black Jack.

And, yes, Melinda and I did renew our wedding vows in formal Hawaiian attire with Elvis performing the ceremony. I can no longer say that we aren't technically married.

Oh yeah. I managed to get a "diddley" into this wedding too.

What's the best way to recover from the holidays and start the year off with a bang?

A quick trip out to Vegas, of course.

We're taking a mini-vacation to clear our heads from the holidays and prep ourselves for our trip to San Diego next month. The kids are excited, Melinda's looking forward to blowing my entire paycheck on a single spin at roulette and I'm just happy to not go to work.

And who knows, we may even renew our wedding vows in the presence of this guy

Do you think I can do a Ned Flanders and an Elvis impersonation at the same time?

Sure diddley, baby!