Three it’s a magic number…

A lot has happened in the last month… So much so, that I’m not really sure where to begin…

Last Saturday we arrived home from our THIRD annual trip to Florida to visit Mimi and Papa… We decided to make this one longer than usual and stayed a whole 7 days… It still wasn’t long enough, I doubt it ever will be, but we managed to cram in a lot of wonderful experiences, excitement and relaxation… First off, you were an absolute dream on the plane! Who knew such a little girl with immeasurable amounts of energy would be so relaxed and well behaved on a 2.5 hour plane ride? Not me, that’s for sure… I’ve said it before and now ill say it again, you are my little travelling girl and you seem right at home 35,000 feet up in the sky…

When we got off the plane you went directly into Mimi’s arms… It’s amazing to me that although you don’t get to see her often, you always remember her like it was yesterday… I think it’s because of that undeniable and comforting “Mimi vibe” that she seems to ooze from her pores… It’s something that is not easily explained but if you know her, you understand what I mean… There just aren’t many people like her…

It took you a little longer to warm up to Papa but before long the two of you were rocking on, doing double and single fist pumps to some grooving tunes in his truck… We went to Fraser’s Farm to get some fresh corn and at one point we walked too far away from him for your liking… So you ran back to grab him by the finger and pull him to where he was supposed to be… We’re a pack and we stick together, he wasn’t supposed to lag behind… You were going to make sure of that… I will always wish I knew what was going on in that little head that makes you do the things you do…

You were exposed to so many amazing things on your vacation… The list is long but here goes…

Hanging out with Uncle Bobby

Meeting your Cousins Maria and Timothy (you gave Maria a ton of kisses)

Aunt Michele bringing you 3 cookies every single time she came over

Uncle Rick and Aunt Marjorie’s chickens

Hanging with Kylie

Petting a horse

Seeing cows

Rescuing a turtle

Riding in the golf cart (Your favorite thing! Mine too!)

Mimi’s toy drawer

The corn snake that lives in the tree (We visited him every single day)

The pool

The sprinkler

The outdoor shower (Another one of your favorite things)

Mimi teaching you to say “I don’t know” (Pronounced “Idno”, like one word)

The dog at Fraser’s who shucked his own ear of corn

Mimi and Papa even made you a house out of a washing machine box... Complete with door, windows, curtains, flowers and all...

As luck would have it, the week of our trip the Mets happened to be playing against the Tampa Bay Rays… So Dad and I were able to go to one of their games, thanks to Mimi and Papa as usual… It was to be the longest stretch of time that we would be away from you… I’ll admit, this time I wasn’t so nervous about leaving you behind… You were in the best hands and I really wanted you to get some quality alone time with Mimi and Papa… I was also excited to hang with Dad all by ourselves like we used to… Tropicana Stadium is about an hour and a half away so we set out on our Florida road trip adventure… The whole thing was so exciting… The stadium was beautiful and we had the most amazing seats down the THIRD base line, just above the Mets dugout… Dad was in heaven!!!

At about the THIRD inning or so, something happened that made our day… You showed us again that no matter where we are, you’re with us… For such a tiny person you sure do carry a strong presence in this life of ours… It was hard to hear over the roar of the crowd and the sound of vendors selling beer, peanuts and cracker jacks… It took a minute to hone in on the tune and recognize it… But once we did, Dad and my eyes locked instantaneously in a shared state of awe… Then the sound of it became so resoundingly clear “The Three R’s” by Jack Johnson… Is this really happening a second time?? It sure was!! Yet another extremely profound statement from the music Gods… Who apparently are very in tune with our tiny girl and her favorite songs…

The Three R’s

Three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic number
Because two times three is six
And three times six is eighteen
And the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R
We've got three R's we're going to talk about today
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
If you're going to the market to buy some juice
You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste
And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes
You could try them on before you buy some more of those
Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse
And if the first two R's don't work out
And if you've got to make some trash
Don't throw it out
Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Because three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic ------ number
3, 3, 3
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 3, 18, 21, 24, 27, 3, 30, 33, 36
3,33, 30, 27, 24, 3, 21, 18, 15, 12, 3, 9, 6, and
3, it's a magic number

After the game we stopped off to see Uncle Bobby’s new apartment and pick him up to bring him with us back to Mimi and Papa’s for the rest of our visit… His apartment was very cute and it was really great to see him… He’s in school now so he was very busy keeping up with his homework and studying, but we managed to find time to hang out by the fire pit… He’s doing great in school and is getting straight A’s!! We are all very proud of him…

The week flew by at the speed of light and in the blink of an eye we were on the plane going home… Leaving the ones you love is never an easy thing… All we can do is look forward to next time and hope that it won’t be too far off… I wish we didn’t have to wait another whole year to visit them…

One thing is certainly true of this vacation…

We are some truly lucky people...

And...

Three it’s a magic number, yes it is…