CHARGE Conference

Before getting started, there are a ton of pictures so I did my best to just grab a few of each thing that we did on our vacation. If you want to see more feel free to ask Joey or Jillian, they love to talk about and look at all the things they did on their vacation!

Joey and Jillian took their first plane ride to Orlando last Thursday to attend the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation Conference! It was a 3 part vacation, but started out only because of the conference. The 3 parts were: the conference, Disney, and Nonna and Grandpa's condo.

We had a blast at the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation's conference. This was our second one we attended. If you remember the first one we attended was in Bloomingdale, nice and close to home! We couldn't pass up the opportunity to see those that we had met that year, and meet some that I talk to regularly but had never met in person until now! A definite highlight of our trip was meeting Ellen who traveled all the way from Australia! We were able to see many others that we had spoken with but hadn't seen outside of pictures and videos on blogs in 2 years, it truly is like a family reunion--only better! Friday and Saturday Joey and Jillian went to camp while Daddy and Mommy got to volunteer in the daycare/camp area for the kiddos with CHARGE. It was a great way for us to give something back to a great foundation as well as connect with kids that have many behaviors and mannerisms as Josh. We both fell in love with many of the kids we were taking care of and found ourselves as usual wondering where Josh would be in his accomplishments at this time. We were able to take part in the evening activities that not only included catching up with some of our favorite people, but also CHARGE-a-palooza where Joey was made into a pirate, both Joey and Jillian cut a rug on the dance floor and played games, got some swag from the silent auction, and also hung out at the pool with some families as well. (Joey felt like one of the big kids hanging out in the water with Alex and Bailey!) The true reason for this vacation was the conference, and definitely worth the trip! It was hard being away just before the 5K with a lot of work to do, but seeing how much our Foundation does to help those affected with CHARGE is really unbelievable. There are not many conferences that you go to where everyone welcomes each other whether they are on the Board of Directors, a family member, or a presenter from another country, they all sit as a family and share themselves. Amazing!

Just before the conference ended on Sunday, Grandma had arrived to pick up Joey! Joey and Grandma went up to the room (Jillian actually fell asleep at camp this morning after her long night on the dance floor) so we got her after the conference ended to continue our trip...