Cruisin With Mickey!!!

Heading to the airport - the boys do love their Limo rides!!

The just in case drill - we tried to keep Shaun
in it the whole time!!

Our first of many frosty beverages!

Ben hanging on the balcony outside our cabin!

At port in Nassau

Welcome to the Bahamas

Swimming in the Mickey Pool!

Captain Jack and Pirate Ben

The boys with Pirate Minnie!


Chip & Dale at the Beach!

Our Beach Bums

You can't go on a cruise and not play a little
Shuffle board!

Mom and her handsome sailors!

Shaun enjoyed all the eating!!

WOW!! What a great trip! We all loved the Disney Cruise. And Make a Wish made it so special for Ben. His trip started with a Limo ride to the airport which he has been quite accustomed too! The boys were both so excited when they saw the ship for the first time (okay Daddy and Mommy were pretty excited too!). We got on and had a great lunch! The emergency drill was pretty funny, the boys liked the big orange life vests! There was a really fun party as we set sail and Mommy and Daddy had frosty beverages, Ben got to do some dancing, which he always loves, and we met some really nice people. The first night we had dinner at Triton's, the Little Mermaid restaurant. The boys really enjoyed running into all the different characters all over the ship. We went exploring after dinner and then Shaun and Mommy turned in early Shaun was exhausted (no nap) and Mommy was a little sea sick - just a little! The Bens went exploring again and found the ping pong, and Foosball tables and went to one of the shows.

The first morning we were in Nassau in the Bahamas. We had planned a glass bottom boat excursion but it was cancelled due to high seas. So we went shopping for a little while and got t-shirts mailed a few post cards and got some really cool whistles for Ben's class. They are nice and load Ms Jessica should LOVE them. Then we went back on the ship to play! We went swimming in the Mickey Pool, and Ben went to Green Plastic Soldier Boot Camp (part of the programming at Oceaniers Club for kids his age.) We ate lunch by the pool and Daddy and Mommy had a few more frosty beverages! Shaun was the splash king of the Mickey Pool! The second night on board was Pirate night - so you know we had fun!! The boys dressed in pirate costumes for dinner. Then Ben went to Pirate camp where Captain Hook made an appearance, and Shaun and Ben and I went to see the show "Toy Story the Musical" it was wonderful, Shaun didn't even move for the hour and a half show!! Then Shaun and Daddy turned in for the night and Pirate Ben and Mommy headed up for the Pirate Party on deck (at 10pm!!!) Ben and I danced and partied for a while and then turned in, Mommy stayed up and watched the fireworks from our balcony.

Saturday we got up super early and spent the day at Disney's Private Island Castaway Cay! We took Shaun to Nemo camp for 2 hours so we could try and take Ben snorkeling, but he wasn't interested once we got there, the seas were a little rough still so it was probably a good decision. We played on the beach for a while and then went and picked up Shaun - these boys are definitely beach bums! We were out there all day playing in the water and building (and smashing) sandcastles! We got to see the Flying Dutchman from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie - which was very cool and piratey! That afternoon we got the boys to take a nap (finally) so they would be in good moods for Ben's special surprise. Ben and the rest of us got to have a private juice and cookies party with Captain Mickey and the Captain of the Disney Wonder. They had a Disney photographer there so we got lots of great pictures - just none on our camera - Ha! Shaun got a little rough with Mickey's nose but other than that it was a really special treat. After dinner on the third night we went back to our room and we played with some fun pirate toys the boys talked us into buying - like they needed more pirate toys!

It was such a great trip - and over way to soon. Dana our Make A Wish hostess on the boat made it really special for Ben. Every time we left the room she would come in and drop off a special surprise. She left him a pirate Mickey doll, cookies, petifores and chocolate covered strawberries (a big favorite of Mommys!!) She also gave him tickets for fun activities on Castaway Cay! She also arranged the special meeting with Captain Mickey!

The boys are already talking about their next Disney Cruise or as Shaunie calls it "Mickey Cruise"! So it looks like we will be going again!

On another topic - we heard the Hogs for the Cause fund raiser on Saturday was a lot of fun! We were really bummed that we missed it. Thank you to all our friends, family and community for coming out and supporting Ben and Pediatric Brain Cancer. And of course enjoying all the delicious PIG!!

What a great couple of days!!

Love you all

The Sarrat Family!!

AQUARIUM WINS TOP HONORS FROM BRIGHTER HORIZONS

Pirate Ben divers!!


I think the stingrays were a little nervous about the swords !

What an awesome field trip! Ben's class was given the royal treatment today at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas.

Here's our day as Ben tells it!
Two way cool personal tour guides took us through the Aquarium- Mr Tom and Ms Susan - they know everything about the Aquarium. We went through the fish tunnel and the diver guys (mommy note: sorry girls he calls everyone guys!!) were pirates. They had swords and everything, they even did a sword fight. And they found treasure in the water and gave it to us later when they came out of the water - we got pencils and stickers and toy swords!

We got to pet a penguin, his name was Cole, he was very nice and very soft. Then we got to go pet stingrays and sharks. We also got to pet this thing that looked like a bomb from Nemo!! (moms note - it was a pencil urchin - not a bomb but it does look like WWII underwater mines!)

Ms Susan fed some Lion Fish for us they are really fast at eating. Then she took us to feed the really big shark tank. My mom was nervous one of us would fall in but we didn't, we tried but we didn't!! We got to throw food to the sharks and King Midas the really big sea turtle from the top of the Gulf tank.

It was a supper fun day and I'm so glad my mom knows such really fun people at her works!

Moms note: for many years now Ben has considered all Audubon facilities mine - yes its my moms Aquarium, my moms Insectarium, my moms Zoo! I've been a busy lady runny all those facilities!!! Well today it became Mr Tom's Aquarium and Ms Susan's sharks. I guess it one less facility for me to worry about!

Just one more example of what amazing friends, family and community we have.

Ben had a great week. This last Saturday was his last soccer game and he got a really big trophy! We went to the park with the boys friends Jackson and Lucas. Then we had a camp out with Grandpa in the back yard, we made a camp fire complete with smores! And the Boys and Grandpa spent the night in the backyard in a tent!! Sunday we went to the North Shore with Ben's friend Patrick to visit his PawPaw and ride horses. The boys got to pretend they were steer and we turned them out of the shoot and PawPaw roped them! I tried to get him to keep Shaunie tied up, but no luck!

Grandma and Grandpa left on Tuesday and then our awesome field trip today. And it just keeps going...tomorrow we leave on Ben's Make A Wish trip - Disney Cruise!! We are very excited. It should be a lot of fun.

Unfortunately we are going to miss the "Hogs for the Cause" fundraiser this weekend. But we got some really cute Thank You signs printed up, big thank you to Artie's Printing for the awesome posters and banner!! Anyone interested in a good old fashion southern pig roast head out to the Fly behind the zoo it should be great food and a lot of fun!! Check out the web page for more info www.hogsforthecause.org

We'll post Sunday night when we get back!

Love you all

The Sarrat Family

Dinosaurs Invaded Audubon Zoo!!!

The boys "underwater" with the Sea Lions


Ben being attacked by T-Rex!

Awesome trip to the Audubon Zoo. I even got to see Dinosaurs - someone told me they were extinct but I think they were wrong because the zoo had lots of cool dinos! I didn't get to ride the bus with my class because I had to go to clinic today for a bunch of stuff. I got to Children's early and got my blood work done. We tried to get my antibiotic treatment before the field trip but couldn't get it done in time so we told the docs - Later dudes I'm going to the Zoo.
We met my friends at the front gate, we were all so excited to be there. We went and saw all the animals in Asian Domain, next we went to Primates - the Orangutans were really funny this morning. Then we headed over to the dinosaurs, it was sooo cool. There were all kinds of different dinosaurs and they are huge. I was almost attacked by T-Rex. A bunch of my buddys and I all got dino masks and I even brought one back for Shaun - we are supper scary! Then we went to the reptile house and played on the playground for a while. My mom let me go on the picnic with my class before they got back on the bus and I went back to clinic to finish up everything and get my blood counts. So it was a busy busy day!

Thanks to everyone for coming to the Zoo with me I had a great time!

Love ya

Lil Ben

Another Fun Audubon Field Trip

What a Wednesday!!
Well Ben and his class had another fun field trip this week. They got to see the Bugs movie at IMAX. They loved the school bus ride, as always. And the movie was fun - kind of gross with all those bug eating bug close-ups!!! And then Ms Jessica took them all to Wendy's for lunch. Ben went to clinic instead of back to school, and his blood counts were great, they were actually amazing considering he just finished another round of chemo!

After Filed Trip and clinic we went home for a short rest - okay Ben played and Mommy napped! And then Ben had friends over for Game Night! Not your tipical playdate with other little kids. Ben decided to call mommy (and his) friend Kelly the other day to see if she wanted to come play shoots and ladders ---well one thing leads to another and Lil'Ben and Kelly had planned quite a game night. Six adults and Lil'Ben had a game marathon of chutes and ladders, candyland, baseball and field hockey! I took Shaun (the game destroyer) to pick up Aunt Mego at the Airport so Ben could have his little party undisturbed for awhile. The boys had a great time and were very excited to see Aunt Mego! My / their friends are very special people - I'm not sure who had more fun the kids or the adults!

They stayed home from school today to hang out with her, and Ben has a soccer game tonight at 6:15 so he is supper excited to show Aunt Mego his supper soccer moves!

More pictures and fun planned for this weekend.

Just keeping up with the crazy kids!
Erin

Forgot the Pictures!

My Class!!!


Us "in" the cockroach kitchen!!! YUK!!!


How many of us can fit in the "Love Bug"?
Did anyone call Guinness???


Guess Who??? Yup ME!!!


Mommy is so excited she finally learned how to use this picture feature!!! Look captions and all!

INSECTARIUM!!!!

Hello My Pirate Crew!

My class had an AWESOME field trip to the Insectarium yesterday! What a great place to start our All Audubon All Month Field Trip Fun! First we got to ride there on a school bus, I LOVE riding the school bus and Mr Art is the coolest bus driver, he lets us scream all the way through the tunnel. My dad came with us on the bus and my mom met us down there. We were the first ones in the Insectarium that morning, we love being first! If you haven't been to the Insectarium yet you should totally go, you have to walk through a metal detector before you enter (my mom says thats because its in a federal building and that its part of homeland security, but I think the real reason is because it is FUN, and they want you to take all the money out of your pockets so they know how much you have to spend!).

We got a personal escort through the Insectarium by my moms friends Mr Jayme, and Mr Zack. They are in charge of the Insectarium so it is sooooo cool they spent so much time with us, my mom says they are super busy bug dudes. They told us about all the bugs, and they did some raps for us. That was sooooo cool, they even did a rap with our school in it. I hope someone got a video of that! I also got to see a few more of my mom's friends that work there, Ms Dierdre, Ms Remy, and Ms Ann. I got to pet giant cockroaches, and patent leather beetles.

We also got to eat bugs...Yes my mom and dad and I all ate cinnamon sugar meal worms - I didn't like it too much but my friend Adam loved it - don't tell his mom he doesn't think she would like him eating bugs! Most of the girls wouldn't eat the bugs...but I think maybe one or two of them did. Ms Melonie took a picture of me and mom eating our bugs, I'll post it if I get a copy.

The movie at the Insectarium was really neat. The seat tickles you, it splashes you with water and poofs air at you....it was a little scary at first but I really liked it so I watched it twice! My favorite part of the Insectarium was making the insect on the touch screens, my insect doesn't really exist but the computer said it would probably live!! So I guess I'm a pretty good insect builder. I also loved the butterfly garden, I'm so glad Tanner didn't fall in the butterfly pond!!

After the Insectarium we had a picnic at my favorite park on the WestBank and then went back to school, what a super fun day!!!!! I can't wait for the IMAX next Wednesday.

I have a soccer game this Saturday at 9am, its going to be really busy there because the big kids are having a tournament. I love soccer, and I'm really good. My Aunt Mego comes next week, so I'm super excited about that, and I had my assessment test at St Andrews today - I think it went good but I still want to stay at Brighter Horizons with Ms Jessica next year. My mom says its time to move up for Kindergarten. I plan on talking her into staying at Brighter Horizons, after all Ms Jessica said she could order books for me all the way through high school so I will try and stay with her till then!!!! Mom says Prom with a bunch of 5 year olds probably won't be fun but I don't know what prom is anyway so I'm staying!

Thank you all for praying for me, I am doing really good right now. I finished my chemo last night with NO problems - I actually like taking those pills. No meds for 26 days then we will do some more chemo.

Love you all

Your Pirate Captain Ben

PS Thank you to my Pirate Girl Mommy for typing my message tonight! I told her what to write but I was much to busy building towers to do the actual typing!

Ben's week

Ben had a great week.

It was a fun Mardi Gras, and another great soccer game on Friday night. Go Orange Tigers!! Ben is looking forward to a fun week at school. Its the beginning of "MARCH MADNESS" no not basketball - Brighter Horizons and Audubon has teamed up and gone field trip crazy!!! Every Wednesday this month Ben's class will be going to one of the Audubon facilities for a super fun field trip. This week is the Insectarium!! Ben is soooo excited he loves the Insectarium. But hey what five year old boy wouldn't love a place thats all about bugs!! Mommy is pretty excited because she gets to go on all the field trips too!

Great news the United States government has finally decided that mommy is not a threat to national security and has FINALLY renewed her passport - now we can book Ben's Make a Wish Disney Cruise! No dates yet but it should be soon. Ben is very excited about "going sailing with Mickey"!!

Ben Sr and I want to say Thank You again to our wonderful friends, family and community. I feel like we can't say thank you enough. Ben was so excited to see you all out at his soccer game - when the coaches finally got all the teams situated on the field the other night we were all heading over to the field where Ben was playing and as our "herd" crossed the field Ben proudly announced "hey look its my cheering section!" with the big cheesy grin he has - he was soooo proud to have so many people there to watch him play!! We also want to say thank you to all the Sacred Heart and Stuart Hall families for all the wonderful meals over the past three months, one less thing to worry about and more time with the boys, so important right now! We have also recently learned that Ben's Cancer Research Benefit Fund will be the recipient of this years "Hogs for the Cause" fundraiser at the end of this month. For more information about the fundraiser go to http://www.hogsforthecause.org/index.jsp Our community has been so supportive. I can't image how other families going through a similar fight does it without YOU!

Now for our decision - I know you all have been wanting to know what our next step is, thank you for not pressing us for the answer it has taken us a while to come to our decision. After Ben's MRI his oncologist told us she thought it was time for us to move to another hospital that could provide us with a more aggressive therapy as the tumor had not shrunk as much as she had hoped. Well after tons of research and hours of talking to doctors all over the country, the consensus is that at this time there is no other treatment recommended. Until Ben starts to show disease progression (the tumor getting bigger) none of the doctors recommend any of the other current treatments. We have started Ben on a maintenance dose of the oral chemotherapy. So we will stay here and continue working with Dr Velez, who Ben loves, and monitor him very closely and pray there is a break through VERY SOON!

So its back to having fun for us!! All fun all the time - thats our mantra! Aunt Mego is coming for a visit very soon, very exciting. We are planning a trip to Phoenix as soon as we get our Make A Wish trip dates. And Big Ben & Lil' Ben are planning an offshore fishing trip out of Panama City, Fl - they are still deciding if Mommy and Shaun are invited, it may just be a big boys trip! Ben wants to spend some time at the beach this summer in San Diego (I think he wants another GIANT Pizza), we also may be spending this Easter at the mountain house in North Carolina with the cousins.

Thats all for now! We have to go for a Jeep ride around the neighborhood!

Love always
The Sarrat Family