Wednesday 8/11/2010

A sea of bright green t-shirts in Newark airport signaled the arrival of the Kids of Courage West Coast Summer Adventure 2010!! Let the party begin!!

Almost 250 people were gathered at the Continental terminal to fly out on our charter flight to LA. The amazing staff at Continental Airlines were ready with their biggest smiles to help out their old friends at KOC.

After we sailed through check in and security (lines??? What are they?!) there was a surprise in store for everyone. We were joined at our gate by the world famous magician and illusionist, David Blaine!!!

He dazzled us with his mind blowing tricks and kept everyone entertained while the final wheelchairs where loaded onto our airplane! The even bigger surprise was that David would be accompanying us on our flight to LA!! He kept all the children (and most of the adults too) entertained and occupied during the flight...it seemed like 5 minutes not 5 hours!!

After a smooth landing in LAX we were greeted by a "hose salute" from the LAX Fire Department, who were ready and waiting for us on the tarmac. After unloading all the luggage, wheelchairs and our most precious cargo...our campers, we loaded up onto buses and were escorted by police to our beautiful Westin Hotel.

After a delicious dinner, we were mesmerized by a hypnosis show. Our brave counselors went up and were "put under the spell" of hypnosis...and then the fun began! It was hilarious to watch them acting insane without any clue of what they were doing. They had angry phone conversations with telemarketers on their "shoe phones" and gave us their acceptance speech at
the Oscars!!

What a great start to our LA trip! After a tiring and flying day, we're off to bed for a good night's sleep...there's another full day of fun stuff tomorrow!!

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Thursday of Adventure

Thursday 8/12/2010

Thursday morning started bright and early with shachris, followed by a yummy hot breakfast. After loading six coach buses and three vans with wheelchairs, power chairs and plenty of water, Kids of Courage was ready to go! Our first day in Los Angeles...bring it on!!

Universal Studios did not disappoint...it was AMAZING!! There we so many shows to choose from we didn't know where to start! Shrek 4D was awesome! Everyone had a great time and the 3D glasses matched our T-shirts!! Perfect! The Mummy was terrifying. It had all the boys shrieking like little girls...no exaggeration! The weather was gorgeous and hot but thanks to our efficient logistical staff, there was bottles of water ready for us at any given spot in the park. We consumed over 500 bottles of water today!! After eating lunch at our "chill spot" designated for KOC, we all met up for a water show. It was a spectacular display with fireworks, jet skis, zip lining and even a flying plane that came out of nowhere!! Unbelievable stuff!

After a fun packed day at the park, we headed towards Hancock Park to the Spira's house, where they welcomed us with the most fantastic Mexican style dinner party, set up in their back garden. Members of the community came to meet us and to show their love and support Kids of Courage. One of our older campers addressed the gathering in a beautifully moving speech about her life struggles and how KOC makes a difference.

During dinner a selection of campers were taken by surprise when they heard their name being called to receive an Oscar from Mr. and Mrs. Spira. After each camper came up to receive their award they each delivered their acceptance speeches that had us both laughing and crying.

After dinner, we kicked off the last activity of the night...a concert by Shloimie Daskal!!! Everybody got on the dance floor and didn't stop moving until the last note had been played! In true traditional Kids of Courage style, there were plenty of party goodies waiting for us on the dance floor...flashing glasses, necklaces and glow sticks! So much fun! Everybody was pumped! Some of the boys showed us their singing talents and went head to head with Daskal himself! What an amazing concert!

After a truly packed fun day the tired and happy campers came back to the hotel for a much needed good night's sleep! We can't wait to see what fun things are in store for us tomorrow!

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Fabulous Friday

Friday 8/13/2010

Kids of courage had a great start to the day. Breakfast included singing and dancing... yes that's right we were getting the party started at 9:30 AM!! That's how we roll!

Buses were loaded and we were off headed to the Santa Monica shore to Pacific beach. The staff at Pacific Park was awesome. We had the use of all the rides and even the arcade game FOR FREE!! There was no limit to how many games we could play. Soon the wheelchairs were packed with the enormous stuffed animals that they won.. and they won more than once!!!

After lunch and some more dancing... yes that's right, we had our own DJ, we headed back to the hotel, where the girlz were treated to "spa day". Manicures, pedicures, facials, massages...they went into our day of rest really relaxed! In the meantime. Howie, the Grill Master set to work at the barbeque! The food was awesome. Thanks Howie!

Then it was showers & fancy clothes....

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Day of Rest & Music

Shabbos 9/14/2010

This day was a chance for everyone to chilll out and enjoy the beautiful hotel, amazing weather, and great friendships. As the day ebbed away we sang together and heard inspiring words by the father of our fearless leader, Rabbi Adlerstein

After yet another meal we rocked it out with the world famous Moshav band led by Yehuda Solomon. With everyone dancing a frenzy hand in hand, we lit up the night with our shtik tamborines and glasses. Alas the night needed to end to prepare and be rested for sundays great surprises. What an amazing day!!

Speedy Sunday

Sunday 8/15/2010

Oh my gosh! Who could have imagined how unbelievably amazing today could be?!? Seriously, my mind is blown thinking about all the things we did in one day!

Well here goes...we kicked off the day with a baseball game. The Anaheim Angels were really on their "game" and we all had an awesome time! We even had Fox 5 news come down and interview some of us and hear about Kids of Courage. All of us, campers and counselors, were given authentic Angels caps as a gift from the baseball team! We love MLB!

Next, we headed towards Hollywood Boulevard where each camper was given spending money and was able to go shopping while they waited for their turn at our special surprise activity. When we pulled up to Hollywood Boulevard, there were twelve brand new gorgeous Lamborghinis waiting for us!!! The LA Lamborghini Club kindly donated their time and wheels to Kids of Courage. Each camper had a turn to go for the spin of a lifetime in one of these shiny hot sports cars!! They got to choose from a range of colors; silver, black, yellow and orange and some of them were even convertibles! It was a dream come true! KOC rocked it up on 'the Boulevard' as we blasted out our music and got everyone and I mean literally EVERYONE dancing in the street. We were on fire..Dynamite!!!

After that, there was yet more to come. The day was far from over! Once the excitement was over and every camper had a turn in the cars, we headed to the Morrow household in Beverly Hills. The kids were greeted by a surprise celebrity guest A.C. Green, an all-star from the NBA championship-winning LA Lakers. It was so cool.. even our bus drivers were star stuck!!

We had an awesome BBQ with the Beverly Hills community. One of our beloved and esteemed older division campers addressed the crowd with a moving and heartfelt speech about how Kids of Courage has changed her life and given her hope and yes, courage to continue to be positive and happy. We love you Rivky!

A.C. also helped to distribute some of the 'Oscars' to some more of our super special campers! It was really an amazing sight! We were treated to a fantastic show by the famous Platt Brothers. They kept the audience in stitches with their comical acrobatic dance routine. Soon after the BBQ and an amazingly fun packed day were over, we were all exhausted and ready for bed! We did so much today...each activity was better than the last. We can't wait to see what's coming these next few days!! Bring it on!

8/16/2010

Lazy Monday

Monday was a lazy day for us at Kids of Courage. We had a late start to the day after our packed day yesterday. We had a great improv show led by Mission Improvable. Soon to follow was a hot lunch with Pizza! (Something that the New York people were missing!)

After lunch the boys had a featured video in the movie theater in the hotel that was closed off exclusivley for Kids of Courage. In the meantime the girls started heading to Splash! Waterpark that was closed down for all the kids to use.

Later in the day the boys had their chance in the waterpark while the girls went back to the hotel ate dinner and had their own movie.

It was the best laziest chilled day in the history of Kids of Courage. Now that we are all rested up we can finish off the trip with a bang! (of dynamie of course!)

Too lazy to sign off

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8/17/2010

Funny Tuesday

Tuesday we were up bright and early, ready for the day ahead. We were off to Knott's Berry Farm amusement park for a day full of fun. But little did we know that there was more than just an amusement park in store for us!

As we all met at the super fantastic Snoopy ice skating show, waiting to greet us were some teenage celebrity stars! There was Radio Disney's "My Dream" star, Daphne Blunt, star of Nickelodeon's "Neds Declassified", Devon Werkheiser and the star of "Merry X-Mas Drake and Josh" and the upcoming thriller “Don't Be Afraid of the Dark”, Miss Bailee Madison who was the same age as a lot of our campers.

Firm friendships were made and for some of our kids, this was the dream of a lifetime... being best buddies with a movie star!! They were all so excited to meet K.O.C. they even came around the park and went on rides with some of the campers! We had the best time with them!

After we got back to the hotel and were full from a scrumplicious hot dinner, there was another celeb activity waiting for us! Put together by Joe Greenberg and Adam Hunter (uncle and cousin of our dear camper Perry Goldberger) we had multiple comedians put on rip roaring, belly hurting, crying from laughter (except the FD kids) comedy routine. We headed for an early curfew to be ready for our final day in LA at Disney Land!

Still laughing too hard to sign off …

Click here for Tuesday's pictures

Tuesday 9/16/2010

Wednesday 9/17/2010

Thursday 9/18/2010