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March
2007 Journal
HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!
HAPPY SPRING!
March is
always an interesting month for the weather. So far, only
a few days in, we have seen snow, rain, sunshine and wind!
What's left?
Fun days ahead for us, the birth of Grey Thomas, birthday
parties, color days at school, a trip to Florida and Disney, the
arrival of an early Spring and who knows what else!
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Grey Thomas
Hartley
March 2, 2007 |
Today Grey
Thomas Hartley was born! We are so excited for Jen and Darrin,
they have been waiting for him forever! After everything they
have been through to get him we are excited to say that he is here!
Weighing in at "only" 9lbs. 12ozs. and 20 inches long he made his
entrance via c-section at 10:30pm!
Congratulations to the new Mommy and Daddy! How soon until he
can come over and play Star Wars with me?
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Happy
Birthday Meghan
March 11, 2007 |
We can't believe
Meghan is ONE already....where does the time go? We had a
really nice time helping to celebrate with her. Mommy got to
see some old friends/coworkers that she used to work with at
KinderCare, Ms. Heidi and Ms. Catherine. We were excited that
the Hartley's and new baby Grey were able to make it as well.
I helped to pick out Meghan's gift...beach toys, sidewalk chalk and
a book of course!
We all ate some yummy food and cake! We had a nice time and
thanks again for inviting us to share your special day!
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Springing Forth
March 11, 2007 |
We had to turn
our clocks ahead 1 hour today! Daddy said that Daylight's
Saving came early this year and not all computers were prepared for
it. All went well though.
I like it now because it doesn't get so dark right after we get home
from school. It's not as dark in the morning either which is
easier on Daddy...heehee!
I guess that groundhog was right when he predicted an early Spring!
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Florida
Vacation!
March
15th-27th, 2007 |
YES! Our
much awaited and long overdue vacation to Florida finally arrives!
Thursday ~ March 15th: I had to get up really early
this morning. Our flight was to leave from Harrisburg shortly
after 8am. We parked our car and took the shuttle to the
airport. We approached the Delta check-in desk only to be told
that our flight had been overbooked! WHAT?! We have had
our tickets purchased for over a month. We were redirected to
USAir and had a flight scheduled to leave around 9:40am to
Pittsburgh then from there to arrive in Orlando, Florida around 4
o'clock instead of the original route to Atlanta, GA to arrive in FL
by 1 o'clock! Kind of annoying but what can you do. We
grabbed a McDonald's breakfast at the airport before we headed
through security only to be "specially selected" to have our selves
and belongings thoroughly searched....yea! It wasn't all that
bad and I thought it was pretty funny. I had to put my hands
out like an airplane while the guy patted my sides. I got a
special "A OK" kid sticker too! We took a really small plane
and I laughed and laughed after take off because our voices sounded
like robots. It was a pretty quick and easy flight across PA
to Pittsburgh. When we got off the plane it was kind of rainy
but by the time our lay over was done, it had started to snow!
We were leaving PA just in time...actually they had to de-ice the
plane before we took off. That was neat to watch. We all
got to sit together on this flight but I fell asleep shortly after
takeoff so it was quick for me. I watched some of my Star Wars
movie when I got up and then we were landing in sunny Florida!
Uncle Mark met us in the baggage claim area and I was excited to see
him! It took about an hour drive in the car to get to his
house. We unloaded all of our stuff, said Hello to Lisa and
then it was off to his softball game. Uncle Mark plays on a
local team just for fun. We got to see Jeff, Stephanie and
Amber while there. They were getting ready to go on a vacation
anniversary cruise, so it was nice to see them before they left.
Amber is 2 now! I had fun playing with some kids that were
there but I did have one to many meltdowns (we think/hope that it
was due to my long day of traveling) so Mommy grounded me to the
bench for the remainder of the game. I saw Uncle Mark hit the
ball a few times and slide into 1st base only to be tagged out...he
said it was a bad call. After the game we (Teshendorf's, Mark
and Lisa) all went out for dinner at a yummy pizza place. I
had spaghetti that was really good and Mommy said their meatballs
tasted just like her Grandma's! It was time to head back to
Uncle Mark's house. He has gotten some really cool new "toys"
since we visited 2 years ago! He has a reef tank that has some
really neat stuff living in it, coral, mushrooms, shrimp, a lobster,
cool tropical fish like a "Nemo and Dorrie" , starfish, slugs,
hermit crabs and the best.....a STING RAY named Charles.
Watching him eat was the best because he slides right up the side of
the glass and Uncle Mark feeds him fish pieces by hand and you can
see him grab it with his mouth and suck it in! Another "toy"
is his Medieval Madness pinball machine. Daddy and Uncle Mark
used to spend many a quarter and lunch break when they worked
together playing this machine at a local arcade. I loved
playing this the entire vacation and got quite good at it....better
than Mommy. I have learned a few catch phrases that I am sure
I will share with you if you ask. Well, before we headed to
bed (and it was getting quite late, especially for me) we had to
enjoy his last new "toy"..... a HOT TUB! Uncle Mark and Lisa
had completely transformed his screened in porch to a nice little
haven for a soothing relaxing warm soak in the tub. I thought
this thing was just great! Mommy had only gotten in it once
during our stay but Daddy and me enjoyed it quite a few times.
Friday ~ March 16th: We all slept in today and headed
to the local hot spot, The Blueberry Muffin restaurant for
breakfast. Uncle Mark had a geocache hidden there that Daddy
had to grab. This place is always crowded the entire time it
is open and we know why...it's really good. I had a yummy
chocolate chip muffin and a pancake! Uncle Mark and I went for
a walk across the street to see the ocean...I couldn't wait to hit
the beach. We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart to buy some sand
toys, got ready and went to "Uncle Mark's beach". It was a bit
windy and we saw some dark clouds approaching but pressed on.
I got to build a little castle/fort after Mommy and me gathered some
cool stuff to use for it. Daddy and Uncle Mark were
off...geocaching of course. Uncle Mark had another tricky hide
very close to the boardwalk entrance. We stuck our toes in the
ocean waves and the water was a bit chilly but not too bad. It
wasn't long after that the clouds opened up and it rained...we
headed back home before getting too wet. I am happy to say
that it only rained for about half an hour and that was it for our
whole trip...yay! We needed to get home and get ready to go
out for dinner anyway. I had told Uncle Mark about my new
favorite place to eat, Friendly's, and they happened to have one
in the neighborhood! Once it got dark outside we headed to the
beach for a bonfire party with some of Mark's friends. It was
fun being on the beach in the dark. Our pictures didn't come
out so great. I even got to make a s'more! You can't
have a fire without making those! After another dip in the hot
tub, it was time for bed!
Saturday ~ March 17th:
Happy St.
Patrick's Day!
I got up
this morning and found Uncle Mark's living room and kitchen turned
upside down! Those silly little leprechauns had found me all
the way down here in Florida! They made such a mess!
They had my toys out, cushions off the couch, messed up Lisa's
newspaper, turned chairs upside down, moved chairs into the kitchen
so they could reach the counters for a snack and they must have
taken a bath in the sink...there were bubbles and green water in it!
It took me awhile to clean everything up but underneath all of the
messes were some chocolate gold coins! Yummy! I got it
all cleaned up before Uncle Mark & Lisa woke up for the day.
They almost didn't believe me until I showed him the pictures that
Mommy took! Once everyone got up and moving around, we dressed
up in the greenest clothes we had and headed to downtown Melbourne
for the St. Patty's celebrations and parade. It was a bit
crowded for me and I was not too impressed with the parade.
I'm used to getting a big bag of candy at parades...heehee. It
was okay, I had fun sitting on Daddy's and Uncle Mark's shoulders.
We saw some neat bagpipe bands and the float at the end with the big
leprechaun guy on it shot out all of this snow-like confetti on us
and streamers...it was a bit nuts. After the parade we walked
back to the car and actually did a geocache under a train bridge
where we were parked. Once we got home....you guessed it...we
headed for the beach! It was really breezy but I didn't
care...didn't take Mommy & me long at all to create another
sandcastle masterpiece! Lisa took a nap and Daddy searched
AGAIN for that cache of Uncle Mark's that he could not find.
Uncle Mark dug a hole. :) We headed home to clean up for
dinner, we ordered a pizza, played some pinball and relaxed.
Daddy, Lisa, Uncle Mark, Dave and Rosa all went out to see the movie
300. Mommy didn't care to see it, so she stayed home
with me and we went to bed early!
Sunday ~ March 18th: Today, Lisa had gotten us free
tickets to see a Washington Nationals Spring Training game at The
Space Coast Stadium. I kept telling everyone that I didn't
want to go...but I was pretty good. Sports are just not my
thing. We did get free Nationals hats though, they wouldn't
give me one since it has a beer advertisement on it...but I just
wore Mommy's. I will say I like eating the snacks at sporting
events. I had a yummy bowl of ice cream dots...the ice cream
of the future! We watched a pretty good game though, the Nationals
lost to the Florida Marlins 3 to 1. I got a souvenir ball from
one of Lisa's friends, it's for the Florida Manatee's, the team that
actually plays at that stadium. Gee, I wonder if the
Harrisburg Senators will play them this year? Anyway, after
the game and everyone getting sunburned knees, we headed home...but
not without Uncle Mark taking us on an exciting side trip...one that
he would not have known existed without the wonderful hobby of
geocaching! We visited a Wetlands preservation area that you
can walk, bike or drive around. We saw all kinds of neat
birds, ducks and quite a few alligators. Lisa saw the first
one, it was a baby, she wanted to get close to it but it moved
quickly into the water and she jumped, hollered and ran back to the
car! I thought it was pretty funny! Guess what...Daddy
found a geocache here while Mommy and me took some pictures outside.
We got home and Uncle Mark needed to clean his reef tank and I got
to help. We vacuumed out all the yucky stuff on the bottom and
I got to put new water in the tank. I hope it made his fish
and coral happy.
Monday ~ March 19th: We decided that today would be a fun
day for some all day geocaching. We packed up a picnic lunch
in our backpacks and headed to a place Uncle Mark knew would be fun.
It was the Maritime Hammonds Sanctuary. We enjoyed a nice 2
mile hike along the level paths. We were unlucky in seeing
some wildlife but Mommy and me did find a really cool (whole and not
broken) fossilized seashell! It was pretty big. I will
be taking that home as a souvenir. We found 3 caches in this
park. We took a break half way thru to have a picnic.
Mommy & me hung out at the beach while Daddy and Uncle Mark went to
do repairs on one of his caches. We wished we would have had
the camera with us because these 3 really big pelicans were only
feet away from us...just watching the ocean waves and probably
looking for their next meal! They are such a ugly but neat
looking bird! We headed home because we needed to get ready to
go out for dinner at a place called RJ Gators. Daddy and Mommy
ordered "alligator bites". I guess they were good, I wouldn't
try them, but they were gone pretty quick! We all had a fun
time out. We came home and played some more MEDIEVAL MADNESS,
even Lisa played a bit. It's fun to watch how people play
pinball...everyone has their own techniques. Anyway, I
followed Lisa up to her room because I wanted to see it and see if
she wanted to play with me. Actually, I remembered her having
a pet bird the last time we visited (everyone was surprised that I
did) but she had to give it away because he was lonely and she
wasn't home enough. Anyway....she said she had some toys I
could play with and did she ever! She has a bunch of Play
Mobil sets and I really thought they were great! I played with
them almost every day until we left. Thanks for sharing Lisa!
Tuesday ~ March 20th: It was to be a rainy kind of day,
so we decided to spend it shopping as Uncle Mark had some errands to
do and to do a little geocaching of course. We went to the
place where he gets his stuff for his reef tank and picked out an
anemone for his clown fish. Well, this fish place had some
really cool things to look at and touch. We got to pet an
anemone and it felt like jelly. We went to
LongDoggers for lunch and
everyone had 12inch hot dogs! They sure were good! I
became interested in the camera and took pictures of everything I
saw. Mommy only saved some of my "better shots". She
said digital cameras are great for kids...heehee. The man at
the fish place told Uncle Mark that he needed to take me to see the
Manatees. They come into the river canals for the winter
because the water is cooler. We found the spot where they were
and it must have been perfect timing because we must have seen at
least 10 of them under the surface of the water, one right after the
other. Some were huge and some small, maybe a baby swimming
next to it's mother. It was neat. Before dinner we did
some geocaches that Uncle Mark has hidden around town and one was
really tricky. It took Mommy and Daddy a long time before they
had their "ah-huh" moment and started looking in the right places.
Uncle Mark took us to a place called Bonefish Willy's...awesome
seafood restaurant. I just liked it because we got to eat
outside on the deck and stayed there even once it got dark out!
Wednesday ~ March 21st: Today was our lazy day at the
beach day. We all got up and had breakfast and made a stop at
the Sea Turtle Preservation Society in town. It was just a
little shop but had some really interesting things in it.
Uncle Mark talked with the man about being a volunteer once the sea
turtles start coming ashore to have their babies. I got to see
and feel some baby sea turtle eggs too! They were kind of
smooth and rubbery. Mommy and me also read about how people
can help keep the sea turtles safe during this difficult journey
they have. It is really a miracle that any baby sea turtles
survive once the mother lays the eggs! People and animals mess
with the nests or worse they get eaten once they try and make the
trek down the beach and into the water! We learned how
littering really affects them too. As a matter of fact sea
turtles think that balloons are jellyfish and try to eat them!
(Later today 2 huge beaten up balloons washed ashore, right by us,
and they looked just like the display said! We picked it up
and put it with our things to throw away!). Anyway, I picked
out a storybook and a sea turtle shirt. Next stop....the
beach! Daddy and Uncle Mark dropped Mommy and me off and they
went to go get us some lunch. The water felt really good today
and we were in it a lot! When we got there the tide was still
somewhat high, so where Mommy and me started to build my sandcastle
was kind of low and in danger of being washed away by the
waves...but that didn't discourage us. I just said we have to
build it STRONG! So, we put all kinds of canals and walls up
and layered them with shells and seaweed. It was fun and
another great castle! Incase you wondered I LOVE building
castles/forts. Funny, once the tide rolled out a bit...I could
see these big flat rocks in the water and I remembered Uncle Mark
taking me out there! (Mommy & Daddy are still amazed by my
memory, they aren't sure if I actually remember or it's because
every single moment is documented about my life on her in either
words and/or print! heehee). Once I got Uncle Mark to
take me out there...I was a bit nervous at first because the waves
were crashing pretty good up there and I really had to hold on tight
or I would fall. Then I was comfortable and wanted to
stay...it was fun seeing the waves come in and try to knock us down!
Uncle Mark found a really teeny tiny and COMPLETE sand dollar!
He saved it for Lisa she likes small things...guess that is why she
thinks I'm so cute! We had a fun day in the sun, took some
nice family pictures and got cleaned up to go out for dinner.
We all went to bed early for our big exciting day
tomorrow.....DISNEY WORLD!
Thursday ~ March 22nd: This was a big day for me, my
first trip to Disney World! After a huge and yummy breakfast
out we arrived to our parking spot! We got there around 10am.
Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Mark haven't been to Disney since they were
kids and Lisa, like me, had never been here before either!
Once we took the tram to "pseudo" entrance, (everyone had forgotten
about how it takes 1/2 hour to actually get to the park), I picked
that we ride the ferry boat instead of the monorail to DisneyWorld.
I really enjoyed this ride over...kind of slow, but how often do you
get to ride on a big boat? I mean we have monorails at
HersheyPark! Anyway, once we got through the ticketed gates we
jumped right on the train ride that takes all the way around the
park! I was truly excited to be here! We got all the way
around and headed up Main Street to get a closer look at the castle.
It was "beaufidul" but I still had NO desire to see any princesses!
We all took our pictures and off to find our next ride for the day.
We rode a lot of rides. Let me see if I can remember them all.
The Swiss Family tree house ( I really liked this and had to go tour
it twice), Magic Carpet ride, we visited the Enchanted Tiki Room,
The Pirates of the Caribbean ride (almost didn't make it thru here,
kind of dark and scary for me at first, but then it opened up and I
enjoyed trying to spot Jack Sparrow), drove my own remote control
boat, Jungle Cruise ride (I had a front row seat next to the driver
and he was so funny...plus we almost got eaten by hippos!), The
Haunted Mansion( this was the worst ride ever! I was sooo
scared, but held myself together during it, covering my eyes and
only taking little peeks no and then. I was glad when it was
over but as we were leaving Lisa asked me what I thought and I just
couldn't contain my fragile emotions anymore and just cried and
cried. Mommy and Daddy felt very, very bad.) I recovered
quickly and we ventured over to the It's a Small World ride (One of
my favorite rides!). Hmmm....I know that there is more, oh
yea, we rode the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, this was a great
roller coaster! I wasn't even scared on it...plus it was kind
of a long ride. We rode the MadHatter's Tea Cup ride....Mommy
& Lisa didn't want to spin crazy so they went together and I rode
with the big boys.....we went nuts, spinning so fast that I actually
turned green! They noticed and slowed it down a bit but I was
still laughing and having a fun time! We visited the Monsters,
Inc Laugh Floor ride, it is an interactive show with the audience
and was sooo fun and made us laugh! They picked out Uncle Mark
and put his big mug (large Goofy hat included) on the big TV screen
and added a caption saying "Likes to make monster faces"....so HE
DID! It was so funny! Highly recommend not missing this
attraction if you ever go to the park! We did visit the Stitch
ride and it scared me a bit too and we all agree the experience was
not good...no one really liked it. My other favorite ride was
driving the cars on the Tomorrowland Speedway, Daddy and me did that
together so Mommy could get a picture of us. We rode
Peter Pans flight and then it was time for the fireworks to begin!
We didn't get a spot on Main Street to view these which would have
been the best spot, but too crowded so we were told about the second
best spot. We had fireworks all around us, now we didn't get
the special effect of them being around the castle but it was still
fun to watch them. After the show, the SpectroMagic parade was
beginning and we got a front row seat for that. It was a nice
parade as all the floats and people were lit up in lights! It
was getting late, so Mommy and me did some shopping while the rest
went and rode Space Mountain. A roller coaster I am too little
for. Daddy said when he was little he rode it with his eyes
shut the whole time...so he was excited to ride it again. I
got some cool stuff, I picked out a small Mickey and Donald, a
shirt, magnet, and magic towel washcloth. Oh, and you must not
forget my light up Mickey Mouse ears that I wore the whole time in
the park! We closed the park, rode the monorail back to the
tram pick-ups and then to the car. I was fast asleep before we
got out onto the main highway! What a great and wonderfully
exciting day. Mommy and Daddy couldn't not have been happier
with how the day went and with my behavior! Mommy did "suck"
out all my grouchy's this morning! I keep telling them that I
want to go back there again.
Friday ~
March 23rd: Another lazy and ended up being our last day
spent on the beach. We all slept in until really late this
morning...considering that we didn't get home until almost 2:30AM!
The tide was high again and the waves were huge and the under toe
was strong. I was not allowed near the water at all without a
grown-up. It was a fun time and being thrashed around by the
waves didn't discourage me at all. We had a picnic lunch on
the beach and Daddy, Uncle Mark and me built some Star Wars
sculptures in the sand. Mommy buried me and sculpted some
major muscles on my body....it was funny. I was laughing so
hard it was difficult for her to do! We also started seeing a
lot of jellyfish in the water towards the end of our day, so it was
time to pack it up. Daddy, Lisa and Mark went to Cocoa Beach
to listen to a local band. Mommy & me watched Peter Pan and
went to bed early....we were tired!
Saturday ~ March 24th: Our camping trip was today.
I went with Daddy and Uncle Mark to get the canoe and tent we were
borrowing while the girls went and got the food. It took us
all morning to get packed up to go. We had to boat out to a
place called Samsons Island. Mommy and Daddy don't canoe much
but we did alright, a bit of confusion with the steering but it was
all good. I had a blast. Everyone else had their own
kayaks. Let's see who all went...us, Mark, Lisa, Dave & Rosa
and Brad with his dog Josie! We found our entrance to the
campground and it was empty....we had this large space all to
ourselves! We all set up our tents, I helped the best I could
and couldn't wait to help gather wood for the fire. Then all
us boys went and did some fishing. No one caught anything we
could keep and some got little nibbles. We cooked up some hot
dogs and then Smore's of course! I fell asleep on Daddy's lap
just watching the fire. The weather was perfect for camping
and there we no bugs to bother us either. The island is
literally not that far away from civilization but it still felt like
it was...there are hiking paths on it, places to fish from and there
is a potty. It was smelly but what can you do.
Sunday ~ March 25th: I got up early and tried to be as
quiet as I could but you know me! We all had some breakfast
and we made smore's again! Hey, it's just like a pop tart,
right? Then it was back out on the boats to do some fishing.
I stayed back with Mommy for a bit to play and then Lisa took me out
with her on the kayak. Mommy went back out with Dave on the
canoe and Daddy tried out Rosa's kayak. We had a fun time just
paddling around the water. It was time to pack up and head
home....on our way back thru the canal a manatee's tail flipped
right up in front of Rosa's kayak! It was cool! Lucky
for her it wasn't right under her though....she would have flipped
over! Wish we could have gotten a picture of that! After
getting home and cleaned up....we were all a smelly mess! We
were invited to head over the Jeff and Stephanie's house for a BBQ
and some swimming in the pool! They had just gotten back from
their cruise and had some nice pictures to share. I wanted in
the water right away! Mommy had gotten me some floaties and I
wanted to try them out....we should have used them sooner.
There are so many conflicting theories on the use of these but for
someone like me, they were probably the way to go. I was
"swimming" around all by myself and having a good time. I
didn't even stress of get upset for the many times I went under and
popped back up with a snoot full of water! It was a fun time
and it ended with Jeff showing us his neighbors potato launcher and
shooting out some limes from his lime tree into the swamp out back.
Boy, did they fly!
Monday ~ March 26th: Our last day in Florida has
arrived, and so quickly it seems. We spent the day hiking and
geocaching and I was pretty good for that considering it isn't
really one of my favorite things to do. But we did a lot of
fun ones. Daddy had to climb a tree for this one called Birds
View and he thought it would be a good idea to jump down instead of
use the ladder he did on the way up. Well, he crash landed
into the Saw Palmetto's they have down here and cut up his hand and
leg pretty good. Daddy said it wouldn't be a trip to Florida
without him drawing some blood! We did this tricky puzzle
cache that had us walking back and forth in circles but it was a
cool and fun idea! Daddy didn't appreciate the part where we
all got back in the car and he asked for his GPS and we realized we
had forgotten it at ground zero...oops! Soon it was time to
head home and get ready for dinner. We were meeting Lisa at a
restaurant called The Melting Pot. We should have gotten
reservations but they were able to squeeze us in. It was
a fancy (and expensive) fondue themed place. Everything is
made right on your table. We had some cheesy sauce, I tried it
and didn't like it so I ate my apples plain. Then we had to
cook our meat in the oil mixture we choose. I ate all the
chicken (ahem, turkey) and then it was time for the chocolaty
dessert! This was my favorite! Then it was time to go
home and pack up for our trip back to PA. I broke down
in tears in the car on the way home...I didn't want to leave.
Uncle Mark said it broke his heart.
Tuesday ~ March 27th: I can't believe the day has come
that we have to go home. We got up and went for out for
breakfast and did some last minute shopping before heading to the
airport. Boy, did we get to the Orlando airport just in time.
The line was backed up that they pulled us out because we were on
the next scheduled flight to board....only to find out once we got
up there that none of our seats were together and many families were
having the same problem. They said we were okay and we got on
the plane. Two of our seats were to be together and one alone,
which is fine...but once we got on there, they had double booked the
one seat. It was crazy and it took quite awhile for the
stewardess to straighten out the mess. It all worked out and
we were on our way. We arrived in Atlanta early enough that we
got our seats together for the next leg of the trip, all the while
listening to the announcements of how our fight was overbooked and
they needed volunteers to give up their seats. Daddy said that
this happens all the time, but Mommy's said it's the first she's
ever experienced it and it just so happened that every single one of
our flights was like that. Hmmm....I think they need to come
up with a better system, especially with the seating
arrangements...I mean if you really can't pick your seats, then
don't put the option on there. Oh well....we arrived safe and
sound in Harrisburg around 9PM. All was well at home.
****Now, it's time for a HUGE Thank You to Uncle Mark and
Lisa for your generous hospitality. We had such a nice and
relaxing time. Please feel free to come visit us soon!
Cole would love it! We would love it! Thanks again and
hopefully we will see you in Florida again next year!****
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