In this time of giving thanks, I would like to express my gratitude to the people in my life who know me and love me and celebrate my special days with me. 💖
For my birthday this year, Chris and my Pop teamed up to gift me an amazing encounter with an elephant– my very favorite animal! It was up close and personal and it was everything I wanted it to be. We got to feed her, ride her, and give her a good brush down (too cold for a bath that day). She was still wearing her beautiful paint from playing her part in an Indian wedding the day before. Another of the elephants there used a paintbrush in his trunk to paint us a picture which was so fascinating to watch. The place is
Two Tails Ranch, near Gainesville, and I highly recommend it. We really had such a great experience there.
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| Luke is hard at work painting his art. |
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| Chris takes a turn feeding her. The trunk is such a cool appendage with fantastic versatility. |
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| We are riding an elephant! |
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| She was checking me out. I think she approved. |
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| This picture makes me laugh. I was waiting for stuff to come out and spray him in the face. |
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| I loved meeting her SO much! It was such a bucket list thing for me. |
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While we were brushing her, she closed her eyes and seemed to relax.
I hope we brought her even just a fraction of the joy she brought me. |
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| As we were posing for this picture, she swung her trunk up to give me a good sniff. |
Since my birthday falls during the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival every year, I love to spend the day there at the park with my little family. This year I was lucky enough to have Dave & Larcy join us as well. It was another awesome birthday experience to add to my list. I’m such a lucky girl!
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| Ellie is all decked out in her best Minnie outfit for our day at the park. |
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| Happy family spending the day at Disney. |
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I was decidedly less happy when the mariachi band in Mexico saw my birthday pin
and called me up to the front to serenade me. Love mariachi, do not love being the center of attention.
See what a good sport I am clapping when it was finally over? |
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| Sombrero silliness. |
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| Me and my boy with “Lightning McQueen”. |
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| James is “meditating” in the Japanese garden. |
I don’t have any pictures of it (how is this possible?), but I also enjoyed a fun dinner with friends at our place on my birthday. Thank you all for being a part of my life! Here’s to another trip around the sun.
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| Happy birthday to me! |
