East Middle School 8th grader Brendan Nienhaus' Farmington neighbors might have wondered about all the commotion in front of his house early Sunday morning. 

Friends and family members gathered in the rain around 6 a.m. with hand-drawn signs, flashing cameras and lots of enthusiasm to send Brendan and his family off on a spectacular adventure to Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. The trip is funded by Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Brendan has spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic neuromuscular disease. 

Asked what he planned to do at Atlantis, Brendan said "everything. I'm gonna swim with the dolphins, go see the aquariums and go swimming." 

As he, his mother Denny, father John and sister Halle prepared to leave the house, some in the group standing outside got up close to the windows to take flash photos and call Brendan's name. It was all part of a surprise cooked up by Denny Nienhaus, based on something Brendan said when he talked about his wish with volunteers who worked with the family over the past year. 

"After a visit of nearly an hour or so, they asked Brendan if he had any questions about his make a wish," she wrote in an email to friends and family. "... he wanted to know if the paparazzi were going to be there?"

One of the volunteers, Farmington resident Faith Brower, helped recruit self-described "crazy people" to get up before dawn and make sure Brendan had the send-off he wanted. 

"I was blessed enough as my very first Make-A-Wish kid to get Brendan and his family," Brower said. "It's been very fun, they're awesome people."

Around 6:30 a.m., the Nienhaus family boarded a shuttle for the airport, to a chorus of cheers, laughter and applause.