The last day had us on Liberty and Ellis Islands to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Immigration Island. Wow. From start to finish I think was between 4-5 hours. We ended up at The Lion King tonight and back stage with a show producer (?) and some cast members. I highly recommend taking a trip like this with the treatment we’ve gotten from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, minus the near death experience of kidney failure though.

This trip has been fantastic. Gage had some bouts of Full On Gageness, because there’s nothing better than to take a routine-craving boy out of his routine, right? Then throw off his eating and sleep schedule. He’s been hard to settle down at night, but he is at home too, but at least there are walls and rooms and a floor between us. Not so the case at the W at Union Square.

And as a side note, the W has been incredible. I mean, not the hotel, as in it is nice, but man, the people have taken care of us. There have been Gage-specific treats in the room each day/night, everyone knows him by name and story, and they laugh in delight as he does a long run and sliding on his knees thing across their fresh marble floors in the main and only lobby. They searched high and low for a box to ship some things home, they arranged the back stage tour tonight, they have hoisted Gage up in many a trips using the house car. All with the enthusiasm they could muster. And seriously, Gage can kind of get shy and withdrawn (comes across as aloof and rude) if you don’t catch him in the right mood when the stars align, but none of them care. They hang with him until they can get a smile, a high-five or a knuckle greeting.

My friend Susan was able to hang at Liberty Island with us because a nice New Yorker gave us an extra ticket when she heard we were a Make-A-Wish family. I even said, “there are 4 of us, but I have a friend here, can I buy her a ticket.” She said, “Oh, no, you do not have to pay…here you go…enjoy yourselves!” Susan’s mouth about dropped then and when the shuffled us to the front of the line. We’d explained that we’ve been pushed in front the entire week by all of the places we’ve visited, but she didn’t believe us. She said she wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.

It was nice to have her there because she took Quinn to her apartment so we could visit Ellis Island with Gage, who did have a splendid time taking photos.

For today’s viewing pleasure, taken by Gage…