The Jarvii We made it! We surprised! And O spent nearly an entire day swimming in the ocean!
We visited my father’s side of the family this trip; the first time for me in nearly 20 years and the first time for my dad in 25 years. His uncle suffered a stroke a few years ago, and while he cannot move on his own the joy in his face seeing us was priceless. Hooray for happy surprises!
The trip also coincided with their bario’s (one of the outter towns within a larger town) fiesta. It was a small fiesta in the range of fiestas, but still included beauty pageants, a basketball tournament, a marching band competition, and lots of food to include lechon.
This part of the trip is special to me because I was just a few months older than O when I first visited the Philippines. I have very vivid memories of my visit and I suspect he will too. I find it especially funny that he wanted to stay in the ocean the entire time, much like I did when I was his age.
One thing I just don’t recall or even noticed in my early memories was the heat. A standing electric fan was the only source to cool you down in the house. Later as a tween I remember when buying ceiling electric fans were luxurious! Suffice it to say we were still experiencing the luxuries from my adolescences. Thankfully O and S rolled with the punches, although it helped we were on the beach the entire day. Naps needed to be taken on the beach with the cool breeze rolling in.
Aside from the fiesta my parents also had some admin to do. The house we stayed in belonged to my grandmother, but since her passing has been unused. So now we’ve made arrangements to have a cousin live in the home with the stipulation that family will always be welcomed to visit. Our family was also trying to get us to purchase the vacant lot next door to build another house; we declined.
Overall a very fun trip so far. Now we’re off to our next adventure.
