posted by Suzanne
I am officially STOKED over our upcoming trip. In my mind we have jumped over all the hurdles that we had to deal with. First were all the August birthdays. Second, get the kids ready for the new school year. Third, pay the mortgage. Fourth, wait for the mortgage payment to clear. Finally, enjoy Erin’s “Wish Party.”
When we started Erin’s Make A Wish (MAW) journey, Cherelle and Eun-Ju (the MAW volunteers) asked us to think of a place or restaurant to have Erin’s going away “Wish Party.” We were running out of time and I was out of ideas. Luckily Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant in Bellevue (Washington) offered to host the party. Wow…what a party it turned out to be!
First, Erin threw a tantrum in the parking garage because we wouldn’t allow her to carry in a huge purse that she stuffed with toys. MAW is always giving Erin some type of toy when we get together. I had a hunch that she wouldn’t walk away from her party empty handed. Still reeling from her tantrum, we enter the restaurant with a cranky little girl. Maggiano’s is a very nice, dimly lit, Italian restaurant. It definitely wasn’t on my top list of kid friendly restaurants but they proved me wrong.
Arriving at our table, MAW had a balloon bouquet and Maggiano’s gave Erin lots of princess jewels and make-up.
Erin checking out her new jewels and make up
As Erin was still warming up to her party, Lindsey from Esterline (the company who is sponsoring Erin’s wish) arrives with three bags of goodies. Erin dived into her bag and pulled out a Disney Princess backpack, Disney Princess art supplies, stickers, Minnie Mouse t-shirts…oh the list goes on. Esterline also gave each child a $50 gift card to use at Disney. Needless to say, Erin was a much happier little girl. Every new item she pulled from her gift bag, her smile became bigger and bigger.
Looking for the value of her gift card
We all chowed down on salads, lasagna, chicken parmesan, and grilled salmon. Dessert was spumoni ice cream and Erin’s was brought out with lit candles. She was a bit upset because she thought this was her birthday party and wanted us to sing “Happy Birthday” before she blew out the candles. After some reassurance Erin blew out her candles and ate her ice cream.
Make a wish Erin!
At the very end, our wonderful waitress sat down next to Erin and asked if she had a good time. She then told Erin that Maggiano’s had one more surprise for her. The waitress left but promptly returned with a Sleeping Beauty princess Barbie doll. Erin was so excited! Erin was looking at the doll and said, “Mommy, she’s beautiful just like me!”
"Mommy, she's beautiful like me!"
Erin’s friends Austin and Ty Ty (with mom Kerri) gave Erin two really special Disney pins and told us all about the pin trading craze. Erin has the Up! trading pins and now has two pins that only employees at Disneyland carry. Now all she needs is a lanyard when we get there! Our other guests were Uncle Sean, Alan’s friend Bryce, Lindsey from Esterline, and Erin’s MAW volunteers Cherelle and Eun-Ju. Thank you to everyone who came to share this moment with Erin. It was truly heartwarming and it was a great kick off to our final countdown to Disney!
Erin spent the first hour opening up gifts
Our guests
Cherelle and Erin figuring out how to open her make-up
Lindsey from Esterline and Erin - Thank you Esterline!!
That sounds like it was a great time! I look forward to meeting you all at the ice cream social on the 13th!