Village Media reporter Nikki Cole recently travelled to Orlando with her family, thanks in part to a generous gift by her late grandmother In one of my all-time favourite Beatles songs, Paul McCartney wrote the lyrics: “Hey Jude, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better.” It’s those words that ring in my head when I think about my family’s recent trip to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, given the trip was a generous result of having lost my Nana in the summer of 2023. We were devastated by losing her, but she would have loved seeing three amazing kids have such a blast together. Now, before anyone jumps to their keyboard to flog me for being un-Canadian, let me share that this trip has been planned and paid for since December 2023. It was a gift from my children’s Nana and Papa to their three grandchildren and a result of them both having lost their mothers. The inheritance allowed them to provide my two children, and my nephew, with a once-in-a-lifetime experience to make memories together. While I fly my flag high and proud, I was not about to cancel it and disappoint three kids who simply are not old enough to comprehend what is going on in the world around them. I may not have followed through with plans to have matching “Elbows Up” t-shirts made, we may have snuck a few dollar store rain ponchos sporting the maple leaf into our carry-ons in case we needed them. Leading up to the trip, there was some definite anxiety about travelling south of the border, not only because of what is going on between our two governments, but also because travelling with nine people who all vary in personality can come with its own set of issues. For me, it’s always the unknown that tends to stress me out more than the reality of any situation — that’s probably why I was given the nickname of Eeyore when I was a kid as I have always been a glass half-empty kind of person. The upside of that however is that when things don’t go as awry as you’d anticipated, you can be pleasantly surprised! The trip, like any family vacation, didn’t come without its challenges and hiccups — like finding out that although we rented two separate vehicles, the car rental company gave us both the same vehicle, or the fact the Airbnb rental came with absolutely zero staples, instructions regarding any sort of daily information such as garbage pick up, directions or local amenities, and required nearly daily visits to the Target down the road for everything that was missing — all of those memories will fade away. The gates as you arrive at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. | Nikki Cole/BarrieToday What will remain forever is seeing the faces of the three kids light up with absolute wonder when we drove up to the gate of Magic Kingdom on that first day. I watched my nearly 50-year-old brother grinning from ear-to-ear as he saw his nine-year-old son take in his surroundings as we made our way through the Star Wars area, and later Jurassic World. Seeing Papa looking almost childlike with glee as we splashed our way down the watery chute on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barge is an image that I don’t think I will ever get out of my memory. For my girls, our best time was definitely had at Universal Hollywood Studios, where my youngest couldn’t wait to get to the front of the line for the ET ride. We had watched the movie together over the Family Day weekend, and she is now obsessed. The fact that I remember making my mum go on this ride with me too many times to count more than three decades ago just made the whole thing that much more memorable for me. I am a huge Harry Potter fan. To the point where my entire home office is decorated with memorabilia from the books and movies, so walking through the gates of Hogsmeade that first time, I may have been in awe. I am not typically the kind of person who can get outside of my own head and just “be” in the moment, but I think I managed to do just that on this trip. I even talked myself into going on several rides — which is definitely outside of my comfort zone. Reporter Nikki Cole's oldest daughter was selected to participate in the experience at Ollivanders during a visit to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. | Nikki Cole/BarrieToday My oldest — who dressed up like Hermoine Granger two Halloweens in a row — was lucky enough to be part of an experience not once, but twice during our visits. First, she got to play Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast, and later, she was selected by the wand master himself while visiting Ollivanders Wand Shop. It is quite possible that this mama went into total nerd mode watching this, and am grateful that my brother was thoughtful enough to film all the magic for us so that I could be in the moment and simply enjoy it. A colleague of mine gave me a great piece of advice before I left: Put down your phone except for photos and just embrace the Disney bubble. That is just what we did — and we will forever be looking back on these memories that we were able to make together as one big, extended family and I know my Nana is smiling down on us knowing she had a small hand in making this all possible.