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The first order of
business was to introduce Matthew to his Great Grandparents, the
Harveys. While I have about twelve cousins on this side of the
family, Matthew is their first Great Grandchild. We paid them
a visit in Palmetto. |
| Matthew was his usual,
social self. Just happy to be held and to be paid
attention. Grandpa and Grandma were just tickled to meet him,
as well as Melissa and her Parents. (They weren't able to make it to
our wedding, so this was the first time.) |
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Later on, we paid a visit
to Sandy & Allan, relatives from my Dad's side. Allan and
Ron, both being engineers, got along famously. Sandy mentioned
that Matthew was so well behaved (even though he was asleep on the
couch half the time, as indicated here with the arrow). |
| Coming up I-4 from the
South, if you look to your left at the exit, you'll see a very
strange looking utility pole... |
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We decided to splurge on
this trip and stay at the very nice (but expensive) Disney's
Wilderness Lodge Resort. It was a great hotel, and this
3-story tree was the centerpiece of the huge lobby. |
| The new Sorcerer Mickey
Hat welcomed us into Disney Studios. |
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"Lilo and
Stitch" came out on DVD that day, and this huge 20' Santa
Stitch reminded us. |
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| Every morning after the
first park, Matthew was rearin' to go in the morning. Brenda
bought him his first Beanie Mickey Mouse. |
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The next day, at Animal
Kingdom, Matthew met his first Character. At first, he wasn't
sure what to make of this 5' tall mouse, but when Mel turned to walk
away, Matthew almost launched himself over her shoulder to get back
to the character! |
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Matthew was also entranced with one of the Country
Bears that made an appearance. |
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Here we see the
nearly-complete "Mission Space" exhibit at EPCOT.
Being a child who was utterly convinced that he'd be an astronaut
until high school, I CAN'T WAIT! |
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As soon as we got into the Magic Kingdom, we headed
straight for the Main Street Barber Shop to get Matthew his first haircut. |
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He behaved himself
perfectly, and was rewarded with his first set of Mickey Ears,
having "First Haircut" stitched on the back. |
| As a special treat, The
Dapper Dans sang "When You Wish Upon A Star" for an
enthralled Matthew. |
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And the moment of truth:
Matthew meets Mickey Mouse! All went well until he tried to eat
Mickey's nose. |
| By sheer coincidence, the
Programmer that I worked with for the past year at Cingular was
taking his vacation there at the same time. We met for lunch
at Pinocchio's House, and posed for this shot in front of "It's
A Small World." Just as I feared, Matthew loved the ride. |
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A rare sight, we caught
Mary Poppins and Bert on the Carousel in Fantasy Land. |
| On the day we left, we
treated ourselves to a Character Breakfast at Cape May Cafe in the
Beach Club Resort. Matthew was very interested in the large
Chipmunks that came to meet him. |
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Chip took extra time to
sit down with Matthew and give him a paw. Matthew did the only
thing he knows to do, and tried to put the par in his mouth.
The kid is now officially a Redneck, since he knows the taste of
Chipmunk. |
| Goofy also came down to
his level, and mimicked Matthew's happy table-pounding, much to his
delight. |
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And before we left, Minnie
said hello to the little guy. He liked her too! |
| Ron & Brenda in front
of another impeccably decorated Christmas Tree in the Boardwalk
Resort. They liked the trip, all in all... except for the fact
that Brenda got food poisoning which had similar symptoms to the
Norwalk Virus that was plaguing the Cruise Ships. She
recovered quickly, though, and was able to enjoy the last part of
the trip. |
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