The day started early for many of the families attending the 2011 New York City Legacy Retreat.  Some of them even started their travels yesterday to get to Manhattan for their Inheritance of Hope Retreat.

For many it was their first time flying in an airplane.  Kendrick Gross couldn’t believe how high he was as he flew from Georgia to New York. Not only was it the first time flying for many of the kids but Richard Chouinard (who is an adult) was also excited that he flew for the first time today. “It was exciting”!  Carrie Martin hadn’t flown since her honeymoon 14 years ago this week.  (Happy Anniversary Martins!)

The Sisco family was excited to share that they were able to see the Statue of Liberty from the air and “it looked so tiny”.  Tomorrow they are going to see a very different view of the statue from up close. It will be much bigger!

Today the families got to meet each other for the first time in person.  Many of them have been interacting on our website in a special online community that has been established for them.  It was fun to see them hugging and putting faces with names.

The children have already started bonding and Joscelin Flores enjoyed sharing her Squinkie toys with the Pock kids in the hotel lobby.  Tonight they will get to enjoy each other in the kids’ session.  While they are playing and having fun the adults will get to share a little bit about their story.

The Trapp Family got delayed in the South Dakota sitting on a runway with negative 3 degree temperature. They should be joining us for dinner…we hope! We look forward to welcoming them.

More to come soon…(pictures too!)