Kicking off the New Year

It's been far too long since my past post! If I do have any regular readers... (do I have any regular readers?) I do apologize!

We, the original Morales clan + Maia, kicked off the New Year by hopping on a plane to Orlando, Florida. God blessed us with ANOTHER family vacation. He is so good! Travelling was a bit more difficult than it was last July, but dad did great nonetheless!

The trip began with a surprise visit from dad's good friend Brian Harrell and his family from Tennessee. He made dad laugh a lot and was a great encouragement to us all! Our cousin Chinet also visited from Florida for an afternoon. We took in Disney's Hollywood Studios (and the amazing High School Musical 3 parade) and an Orlando Magic NBA game.

We waited in line for about an hour at Disney to go on the Toy Story ride. When we got to the front we watched in horror as the individual carts whipped around in circles into the docking station. (FYI- when your neck muscles- and all muscles for that matter- weaken, whipping motions are BAD!) Dad looked terrified and said, "I don't want to go on it!" But the ride attendant assured as that it didn't get worse than this. I was thinking to myself, "Well... if it's only this bad for this brief moment in time..." But no... It was like that... the WHOLE time!

The ride whips around every minute or so between 3-D screens where the riders have to try and shoot the Toy Story targets. It's like being sling-shotted around a movie theatre with a dozen different screens. It was a fun concept but the whiplash part was no cake walk!

Everytime the animated voice counted down, "3,2,1..." I pinned my hands against dad- one on his forehead and one on his chest to avoid any more severe chornic conditions from developping. It shouldn't be funny... it really wasn't.

Mom and Ang were laughing hysterically in the cart behind (I think mostly out of horror) and probably because it was a sight for sore eyes... A man in a neck brace with 3-D glasses being pinned to the seat by his daughter, also in 3-D glasses, both holding on for dear life. There may have even been screaming...

Dad was a GREAT sport and even tried the shooting game when the ride came to the very temporary moments of peace! Just another example of his bravery, positive attitude and faith in his daughter's upper body strength!

A couple of week's later, we all had the honour of celebrating our friends, Pat and Susan Duggan's 40th Wedding Anniversary. Susan asked Christina, Em and I to prepare a song that would be special to mom and dad. We performed, "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis (their wedding song) with a slight Caribbean twist and Christina's debut on the yukelele. It was a memorable moment, but not as memorable as when dad got out of his wheelchair to dance with mom when the DJ played their song!