As I sit in the living room at 11:44PM, roasting by, what will probably be, the last wood fire of the season, I have been reflecting on what a gift life really is. Blessings don’t feel like blessings unless they’re suddenly missing from our lives. It’s a shame really, that we don’t reflect enough on what we have, me being one of the largest offenders. I haven’t done a good job really loving what God has given me, and it makes me sad, the saddest actually. I so love all that God has given me, and this life I live is truly beautiful, worthy of so much gratitude. Thinking about all I’ve seen and done, I’m so happy to be sitting in this chair, roasting my rear end off, sharing with you what I love: my family.
We were blessed to have been able to go to Florida this last spring break, our first major trip as a family since Christopher came home. Little does he know, but we had planned this trip once before but the big COVID broke up those party plans. Beth was just ecstatic and was in planning overdrive. We had a whirlwind of a trip planned, which was a three parter: Stay with my Godmother and uncle for the first 1/3, enjoy Universal parks for 1/3, and finally wrap up the trip with time near the beach with Beth’s family.
This trip was a little bit of a dress rehearsal for a future trip back to the Philippines. Beth had lots of strategies lined up, the first was making sure we were dressed for about 40 degree weather when we stepped off the plane in 80+ degree Florida. That way we wouldn’t have to fit in the hoodies we weren’t going to wear anyways ha!
First stop! Aunt Kathy and Uncle Paul’s! We were super excited to finally be able to make it down to visit. We were treated to some really awesome home cooked chicken and fixings one night and ribs and fixings the following night. We ate like kings! Christopher, being the 12 year old growing boy that he is, our ate everyone. I’m pretty sure he ate two dinners each night, and thankfully they were prepared! It pretty much was known from the outset that Christopher would be in the pool nonstop, and we weren’t wrong. That boy can really swim. It’s really amazing to think back to the little boy that we brought home who loved the water but couldn’t swim. Now he’s really a fish, given the opportunity!
Massive breakfast! 
Staying cool 
If you’re not playing in the pool, try going for some snook. 
Pool boy and the endless swimming can commence!
Since their home is right on the canals we were treated to some dolphins and manatees just cruising by. Uncle Paul installed a fish light and it was awesome to see the massive fish just swimming around it at night. One lesson I learned was that noseeums bite hard! I was told that the bite is all that you have to worry about because they’re not like mosquitos, they don’t leave a welt and they don’t itch. Wouldn’t it be my luck that they did both… It really is impressive how such a tiny little creature can bite so stinking hard!
On from there, we headed north for dinner and a visit with Beth’s best friend from high school. We didn’t want to stay too late because we had a big day at Universal planned for the following day. You know what they say about the best laid plans… the company was too good and we stayed much later than anticipated. We’ll have to come back to visit for a more extended stay and chat for the next time!
Thankfully our hotel wasn’t far off and we rolled in late, but not insanely late. We rushed through the shower and tried to get as much sleep as we could. Since we were staying on a Universal property, we had early access rights to the park and we had planned on taking full advantage of it! Beth had the day all mapped out in her head. We even did worksheets so she knew what our priorities would be once we got in the park! That’s planning!
Early access for the win! So few people! 
First up was Gringots! 
Hogwarts was awesome to walk through, even though the ride broke down! 
Awesome fireworks 
Awesome light show! 
Enjoying the light show 
Blue, the raptor, trying to eat Beth
Universal was awesome! We totally enjoyed ourselves. We opted to go for it and got the pass so we could enjoy both parks. That meant we had to prioritize what we were doing (thanks worksheets!). We started in Universal Studios and headed into Diagon Alley, which was honestly my favorite part of the day. It probably helped that, with the early access, the crowds were extremely lite. It was just so cool to be walking around the world that we watched all of the movies for, leading up to the trip. It’s really amazing the detail and work that is put into everything.
Early midday we jumped over to the other park and started on our priorities again. Beth was watching queue times and we skipped around. We really wanted to head to Hogsmeade, and did, only to discover that it was an absolute zoo. Beth was most looking forward to that, but we just couldn’t enjoy it like we could with Diagon Alley. We headed up to Hogwarts to ride the Harry Potter ride, and after a relatively shortish queue time we were onboard and going! We were about 45 seconds in to the ride when it came to a grinding halt and an announcement came over the intercomms that we were to remain put and don’t move because the ride is starting “imminently”… for about 20 minutes… It wasn’t horrible because we were at least sitting upright in the ride, as others, I’m sure, were not so lucky. It helped that the air conditioning was lovely as well. This is such an issue that my Uncle George had recounted to us, as we visited after our return, that they had the same experience, and the ride was constantly down years ago as well. Eventually the ride just aborted entirely and we got to see the behind the scenes, movie magic, of the ride as we were driven on our giant ride robot back to port.
Once back we received a fast pass for the inconvenience, which we planned to use on the same ride when it came back on line. Spoiler alerts, it never did. We attempted to get in line twice more, but the ride constantly failed and was offline most of the day during our visit. It was a huge bummer, but at least we had a unique experience! Or maybe it wasn’t so unique… All in all, the day was absolutely fantastic and we can’t wait to return to Universal. We decided two parks in one day isn’t for us and we’ll just pick one next time, and really enjoy all that it has to offer, rather than bouncing around.
The final leg of the journey was to head to the gulf coast and enjoy some R&R. We were meeting up with Beth’s family, who were all well established and enjoying themselves in a AirBnB. We rented a small little condo, what was perfect for us, and hung with the gang.
We got to enjoy some more pool and beach time! Topher got to experience his first sunburn, and as it turns out, you can take the Philippines out of a Filipino. He is not the biggest fan of heat so Florida wasn’t exactly his destination of choice. He’d rather be shredding the frosty slopes. No matter what he says, we know he really enjoyed himself. It was really great to hang with the fam for a couple days, and it was also nice to enjoy the food! You just can’t beat the seafood when you’re that close to the water. Upstate NY seafood just can’t hold a candle up to what you can enjoy in Florida!
All this to say how truly blessed I am, to have the family I have and to be able to share these experiences with them. I love Beth and Christopher with all of my heart. Like all humans, I’m flawed and lately I’ve really let my crack show. When I look back at these experiences I can’t help but get a little teary eyed and thank God for all that he’s given me. I often pray:
Lord of all,
Thank You for all that You’ve given me and for all that you will give me.
Thank You for all You’ve kept from me and all that you will keep from me.
Thank you for all that you have taken from me all that you will take from me.
Your will is perfect and all that You’ve done for me has brought me to this moment, and I’m so very grateful for it.
Never let me forget that future hardships and future joys lead me to my final pasture, with the aim of seeing You in all of Your glory.
Lord, keep me strong enough to provide for those you’ve entrusted to me, for as long as you entrust them to me.
Lord have mercy on me a sinner. I trust in You and Your will. Never allow me to forget all that You’ve done.
Amen.
I pray those words with the knowledge that my gratitude is shallow and often superficial. I want to truly mean each and every word. God has done so much for me. This trip was something special and just more proof of the goodness He has provided.
One final note, if you read this, say a prayer for me and my family. Pray that we stay close to God and each other, through the good and the bad. Pray for good health for us. God has a plan and I trust Him with my family entirely, even when things can seem scary.
God bless you.
