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Hey, everyone, welcome back to We are the Hansens. I'm Maya,
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and today I am so excited to take you along
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with us. I'm one of our favorite things as a family,
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a good old fashioned road trip. This one was extra
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specle because it was all about celebrating family birthdays, visits, memories,
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and just a whole lot of love packed into one
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big weekend. So buckle up because today I'm sharing our
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full adventure to Wisconsin with our oldest daughter Kenna, our
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two sweet granddaughters Leanna and Riley, and our three youngest girls, Madison,
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Torren and Anlin. Let me tell you, getting ready for
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a trip with that many girls, including littles and toddlers
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is an Olympic sport. Snacks check, diapers and wipes, triple check, backpacks, toys, blankies,
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changes of clothes, road trip playlist, car chargers. We had
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it all. The car was full of giggles, little voices
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asking are we there yet before we even pulled out
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of the driveway, and me and Kenna trying to navigate
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while managing snacks flying, and someone needing to go potty
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five minutes into the drive. But honestly, it was kind
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of perfect. These are the moments I'll treasure forever, so
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kind of followed us just because we drove a truck.
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So we had the two littles with us, Torn and
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Anna and then me and Jeremy in the truck. And
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then McKenna followed us in her car and she had
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Maddie ride with her, and then she had the two
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babies and Maddie kind of helped her with the two
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little ones. Honestly, the reason we planned this trip was
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to celebrate our granddaughter, Remedy's second birthday. Now, Remedy is
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full on obsessed with blue. I mean it's blue in
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the morning, blue at night. She also likes Dora, but
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she loves blue. So we leaned in. We got her
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a blue backpack, the cutest little blue hide and seek game,
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and even a fishing pole, because what's childhood without a
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little outdoor fun. The party was so adorable. They had
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a bunch of little kiddie pools set up and this
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giant water slide that might as well have been a
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mountain to the toddlers. Remedy was living her her absolute
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best life, splashing, squealing, running around with her little cousins
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and her aunts. The way her face lit up when
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she opened her Bluey gifts. It made the whole trip
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worth it right there. But of course, no hands and
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party is complete without a little mischief. So picture this
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Maddie full of SaaS gets this idea to smash a
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cupcake right in her older brother Logan's nose, just out
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of nowhere, cupcake in the face. Logan, Oh, he wasn't
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going down without a fight. So what does he do.
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He sneaks up behind her and bam cupcake right in
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the eye. It was like a mini dessert war right
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in the middle of the party. No one cried, everyone laughed.
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It was classic sibling chaos and we wouldn't have it
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any other way. So when we left here, Missouri on Thursday,
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we drove from here and we went to Jeremy's sister's house,
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and then we stayed the night in a hotel after
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visiting with his sister Christy, and his sister Amber and
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the nephews, and then we got up and went back
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to Christie's the next day, Friday, and we spent some
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time there and then Christy decided she wanted to take
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us for lunch, So we went to lunch with Christy
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and then we went From there, we went to Jeremy's dad,
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Larry's and visited him and his wife Kim. They had
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to show us their new house, which was absolutely beautiful,
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and then we went from there, we went to Jeremy's mom,
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Susan's house and his stepdad, Gregg's, and we spent time
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with them. We stayed the night with them and we
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had a campfire, and you know, their house is right
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on the Mississippi and it is so beautiful. And then
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we stayed the night there and then we got up
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Saturday morning and we had to run and get gifts.
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We went to Remedy's party. After Remedy's party, we got
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in the car and drove two hours and forty minutes
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south and we had my nephew Ross's birthday. It was
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back to back this time for our great nephew Ross's
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third birthday, and this one was Mario Brothers themed. There
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was Mario and Luigi cookies and they had a big
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swimming pool and they had a bounce house and a
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playground play set. When we got there, they didn't know
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we were coming, so it was a surprise and he
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opened his gifts and we bought him this huge dinosaur
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thing and you push a button and the dinosaur makes
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all this noise. And then Jeremy found him some cars
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that were in the shape of dinosaurs. He loved them.
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We got him a dinosaur blanket that was glowing the dark,
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and then I got him some cool dinosaur sunglasses, which
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he loved. And then we gave him a gatorhead that
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we had gotten in Louisiana. It was pretty cool, and
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he thought that the gator had was a dinosaur, which, hey,
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it kind of looked like a dinosaur, especially for a
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three year old. Yep, a gator head, because what three
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year old boy doesn't want something mildly terrifying and totally cool.
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His eyes lit up and he immediately tried to ride
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on the big dinosaur. It didn't work, obviously, but a
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for effort, and the gator head he carried it around
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like a t It was so fun watching the kids
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just enjoy being kids. And that evening we all gathered
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around a campfire. And I don't know if it's the
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smell of the wood smoke or the way the stars
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came out extra clear in Wisconsin, but there's something magical
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about sitting in a circle telling stories with your people.
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We passed around the marshmallows and the girls told stories
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and you know which is usually involved, like unicorns or whatever,
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and then somehow ended up funny instead of scary, and
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the growing up shared old stories. I even heard some
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story I'd heard before about my childhood and just growing up.
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And we told stories about the kids and their childhood.
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Because my nephew's why Emily, her family had met us
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once before, but they didn't know that we had thirteen kids,
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so it was like our second time meeting them, so
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we talked about our kids. It was peaceful and grounding,
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just one of those nights where you feel completely connected
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to your family. I love it. I honestly had the
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best time visiting. After we went to Ross's party, we
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went to my sister Hopes and we stayed the night there,
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and then the next day we got up and we
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went around the area. We showed the kids some of
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our houses that we used to live in, you know,
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on the lake and when I was growing up, where
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I used to live, and where Jeremy grew up and
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where he lived. It was pretty cool. We went to
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a restaurant that I used to work at when I
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was younger, and we had lunch there, which was pretty
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neat because the owners and their kids came out and
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they talked to us. Still same owners, you know, and
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their kids were really little when I worked there, so
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it was nice to see them. And now they're grown
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up and have kids of their own, and it was
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just really nice visiting. And I got to see my
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sister Hope, and my sister Courtney, and my nephew Colton
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and Tommy. You know, it was just so nice to
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be able to spend that time together. It's a whole vibe.
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It's laughter, it's stories from our childhood. It's teasing each
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other about things that you know from decades ago that
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will never live down. And of course all the cousins
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running around like they've known each other forever, even if
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it's been a while since the last visit. I always
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leave those visits feeling full emotionally, spiritually, and probably physically.
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You know, we had to eat something delicious. It's just
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fun to be around your family that you don't get
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to see very often. So that was on Sunday, and
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we went back after we ate and we just visited
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and then we had some friends come and visit us
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while we were there. And it's just you get around
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the people that you love and you try and cram
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everything into just two days or even one day, because
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you got so many family members that you want to
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see and you don't have all the time in the world,
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so you're trying to cram as much time as you
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can and with the ones that you want to see,
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and it gets really hard, and it's so frustrating because
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you just don't want to spend four hours or twenty
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four hours there. You want to spend a few days there,
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and you just can't because there's just not enough time.
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So the girls were wore out. We were going to
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leave Monday morning, but our one son that was taking
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care of our animals had to leave for work, so
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we had to get back because we have dogs. So,
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needless to say, Sunday night, we loaded the car up
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and got all the kids loaded up, said goodbye to everyone,
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and got in the car and started heading home. And
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mind you, it was late when we left. It was
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like eight o'clock, eight pm, so I mean it was late,
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and we knew we had a long drive ahead of us,
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probably a good solid eight hours. So we got on
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the road and the ride back was quieter, the kind
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of quiet where everyone's full from all the fun, but
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your hearts are full too. Kind of quiet. And I'm
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sure something you know what I'm talking about when I
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say that. Looking back on that trip, you know, we
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didn't get home until almost five in the morning. You know,
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we stopped twice on our way. We got home and
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instantly everyone just ran in and went to sleep because
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we were so exhausted. That ride, you know, it just
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takes a lot out of you. So we got home,
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everyone crashed. If We got up the next day and
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we cleaned out the truck and got all of our
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stuff put away, and got the dirty clothes in the laundry,
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and we relaxed. It was kind of a day of
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just recouping from the long trip. But looking back on
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that trip, I'm reminded of why we do do all this,
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the packing, the planning, the driving. It's for moments like these,
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watching your granddaughter beam over a blue backpack, seeing your
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kids laugh around a campfire, hugging the people who raised you,
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hearing the voices of family that sound like home. The
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trip was one for the books, and we're already looking
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forward to the next one, which will be soon Thanks
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for hanging out with me today and letting me share
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our journey. If you've got family road trip stories, send
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them our way. We love hearing them. You can get
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over to our YouTube channel and subscribe. You can send
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me a message on our We Are the Hanson's Facebook page.
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You can also send me an email on our We
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Are THEE Hanson's Show at gmail dot com. You can
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send me questions, you can tell me the stories you
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want me to talk about. Until next time. I'm Maya
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Hanson and this is We Are the Hansons. Stay ground,
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stay grateful, and never underestimate the magic of family.