East coast trip

1 (Photo of C5 courtesy of US Air Force.) An F14 can fit inside! Passengers ride on a small upper level accessible via narrow, steep ladder.)	2 Fellow space-a-ers Christie and Caleb. Her kids (3 of them) were so awesome, handing us snacks, making Ben laugh (thanks Joel!) and showing Sam all kinds of electronic gadget games (thanks Caleb!). I loved seeing Sam and Caleb sitting side-by-side hunched over his gadget and sharing ear phones so Caleb could show Sam a game.	3 Another angel in disguise - this time as Tim. He helped calm my nerves about the various unknowns of flying on a huge plane. We had to climb up a very narrow ladder to get to the upper deck above the cargo hold. I had Ben on my back and a bag in my hands, when a blanket fell from the person in front of Sam and landed on my head! So nuts!	4 This was while we were circling over Stewart - thinking we were about to land "any minute." Not quite - circled for TWO HOURS with Ben at the end of his rope and me tired of sharing roast beef for breakfast lunch and dinner (nice box lunch, but I was ready for something else after 12 hours!). Sam used his hoodie to hide his eyes from the light so he could sleep. The boys didn't quite get their sleeping in synch so the little they did sleep (about 3 hrs) was broken and at different times. Usually I can get them both to settle down at the same time but Sam kept losing his seat cushion every time he tried to get comfortable, so up I'd go to get that, then got rid of it altogether and used it to shield the lights from their eyes. Anyway...we survived and I'm no longer afraid of a 12 hr flight with two kids alone! (Although I still think having a layover has some advantages.)
5 Nighty night!	6 Sam is entertaining Ben with lots of crazy motions!	7 Funny, huh? Still circling...	8 See my headlamp around my neck, Angel? Ben played with that while I dozed (he was in my lap pulling on it and shining it all over to amuse himself.) At least he was quiet!
9 At the McGuire terminal with our friends...	10 Sam built a helicopter after he took a nap at Grammie and Grandpa's home.	11	12 And Grammie served us some wonderful meatloaf! Man were we spoiled!!!
13 Sam had THREE helpings!	14 Then oatmeal the next morning. Is this bowl big enough for you?	15 Mom, take this picture of me!	16 Was that funny?
17 Grammie and Sam playing dominoes!	18 And a trip to a nearby zoo! They had an amazing variety of animals all very close to where you could see them. Loved their little feeding tubes - pipes you could shoot popcorn down right into waiting monkey hands!	19 Ben listening to some wolves howl.	20 Camels, too!
21 Tired mommy :)	22 Loved the giraffe barn with the narrow, tall giraffe door!	23 Dad was totally nonplussed about the giraffe licking his ear!	24
25	26 Good chance to catch some family pictures :)	27	28
29	30 Sleepy guy after the zoo :)	31 Somebody else not as convinced he needs to sleep. Saying "WATER!" and pointing to it. He has been overall pretty good but not as easygoing about things as he was at 11 months. Rascal wants informed consent with everything - even putting on a little raincoat. I needed to explain "coat" and then he was ok with it. Last night he protested going to sleep then on my second time into the room he pegged me with this bear - he was mad. And I was, too! I just wanted to go to sleep. I was SO beat. So I threw bear back at him and said NO! decisively put him to bed and that was the end of that, thankfully, for the evening. I was empathetic to a point but he was clearly just pushing a bit...	32 Enjoying the roller slide once again!
33 Ben likes slides, too!	34 Putting bark on his head was super funny!	35 A tradition!	36 Dad is serious about his ice cream :)
37 Out on a jog - Ben likes the pine cone.	38 Teaching Bear all about it.	39 Looking for maple leaves - close, but not quite. We did end up finding a big, old maple tree and talked about syrup. yum!	40 Lots of people out mowing lawns.
41 This is a yawn, not a yell :)	42 A house I love on the jogging route.	43 Horses really checking us out. We were blasting Beethoven and they were curious about the orange stroller.	44 Cows, not so much. They were like, "whatevah..."
45 Bubbles with Grammie!	46 And golf at Dad's 4 hole course in his backyard!	47 Seeing lots of big military planes flying overhead is always a hit!	48 Liam with Ben - he had no problem with the guys picking him up but wouldn't have any ladies just manhandle him!
49 Bill and Ben :)	50 Janet brought dinner over for us! Yum! So great to see you guys! Hi Alex!	51 Sam and some amazing tracks he built!	52 Making buckwheat pancakes with Grandpa!
53 Dueling ukes!	54 Trying to get a three-generation shot is a bit difficult!	55 This is what it was really like!	56 Putting slippers on Grammie!
57 Thanks for the help, Sam!	58 Nice drive to Washington DC, eh? Yuck.	59 Sam checking the "map" :)	60 My new Garmin Nuvi helped a lot. Although wasn't the easiest route through DC side streets. Will have to tweak the software a bit. Most direct is not best.
61 Hotel beds are soooo good for boppin around!	62	63 And our portable jungle gym!	64 Sam asked that I take this movie of him "diving."
65	66 Grabbing some dinner near the hotel.	67 Hotel bathtime is so cute!	68 Happy to see Daddy!
69 Breakfast time! See the claw grabbing?	70 Mine!	71	72 Air and Space Museum was a huge hit!
73	74	75	76
77 Asteroid!	78 The Capitol - huge tea party rally in DC today. Some say 2.5 million peeps? Not sure about that, but it was busy.	79	80 Museum of Natural History!
81 The fish to the right is a Mola - Dave says he saw one while on NR-1. Looks like the front half of a large fish with no body behind it. Weird!	82 Dinosaur time!	83	84 Dave and Sam talking it over.
85	86	87 You know it...	88 Huge honu!
89 The hope diamond - 45 carats is not as big as I thought!	90 The bug exhibit was awesome. Sam liked seeing relatives of his Hawaii beetles - relatives of "Fred."	91 Bee hive.	92 Got patches for the kids from each museum. Will add those to the adventure sea bag.
93 All the rallyers.	94 We have the same look, don't we?	95 Look who we got to see!	96 Nana and Pop Pop!!!! They were down for the day!
97 Amazing that we got to see them!	98 Thanks again, Gail, for coming to rescue me even though my plane didn't cooperate!	99	100 Pop pop!
101	102 Eating Nana's grapes.	103 Another generations attempt - oy!	104
105 Ben pointed to this picture and said Pop Pop! Too funny :)	106 Out for dinner in Georgetown - went to DC Cafe for Greek, Syrian and Med food. Awesome!!! Then next door for cupcakes and yogurt.	107	108 Out for our big run - aiming for 10 miles, two laps around the mall.
109 Porta potty stop first!	110 Off we go!	111 Down to the Washington Monument.	112 Just keep thinking to myself "I cannot believe we are here, doing this, on a gorgeous day!"
113 Taken while running - Lincoln Memorial.	114 Nice wide jogging path around the mall. Lots of people out being active. Triathlon in progress nearby. I was the only stroller pusher as far as I saw.	115 I love seeing the boys' little orange hoods in the bottom of these shots :) There's daddy up ahead!	116 Can you believe this? Running at the nation's capitol? It was really a sweet place to jog. Capitol Hill twice was a doosey! I almost recruited a couple guys to help me push :)
117 This was fun for the boys to hear. It's Constitution Day so we got little wrist bands.	118 Finally done! We miscalculated the route and ended up doing about 8 instead of 10, unfortunately, but we felt good the whole time and enjoyed ourselves. Oh well! There's always next weekend :)	119 Couldn't resist this...picture taking while doing some ab work.	120 Love Big Ben making the reflecting pool area his own stomping grounds.
121	122	123	124 His second inauguration address. Pretty compelling - some say better than Gettysburg. Who can compare? I don't know - he was an incredible figure in history.
125 Can you believe this day?	126 WWII memorial. This is a period of time that I particularly enjoy reading about.	127 The Pacific Theater portion of the memorial.	128 Ahhh yes ;)
129 Had to ride the carousel! It was pricey but so worth it! Very long ride, and over 60 horses!	130 Ben rode, too!	131 Thanks for getting the biggest stroller the cabby had ever seen into his trunk, Dave! Nice going!	132 We took a walk down the waterfront to Navy Yard where headquarters is for lots of things Navy, including Naval Reactors. Here is where the big NR guys work.
133 Nice base. Clean, organized, newly restored.	134 Lots of wartime relics to see, too.	135 The Navy Museum.	136
137 Scoping out a squirrel to chase!	138 And he's off! Mom, why are squirrels so faaast?	139 Dinner at an Italian place on 8th - Barracks Row. Such nice people there. Boys are attacking dessert! Dave is saying "You'd better get your weapon in here!"	140 Look at Dave's face! He is serious!
141 The leverage Ben has - and the big fat smile!	142 Walking around the monuments at night is breathtaking. See Ben in foreground?	143	144 Dave tried and tried to get a good shot. Meanwhile I'm standing at the plaza having lost track of him while carefully maneuvering Ben down narrow marble steps. I'm standing there crying because I am not sure Dave has Sam, and I can't see them anywhere (we're all wearing black!) and no one is coming to me as Ben wails. I figured that would be good enough for Dave to locate me. Apparently he never heard Ben? Oy. I was a bit mad. Next time family must have a meet set up in case that happens. I stayed put and ended up spotting them as they crossed the plaza. Whew. Mommies do NOT like to wonder if their young are accounted for, esp. at night.
145 Ghostly figures are so compelling.	146	147 Sorry blurry - not much time to set up and compose.	148 Good job on this one, Dave.
149 The morning routine - hello Day! Sam is drinking "Sammy's coffee" from Starbuck's - hot chocolate. Nice, huh? Sweet travel routines documented by mom.	150 Little one looking for some action at the window, too.	151 Sweet boys - so fun to see them adapt to new adventures. Ben going to sleep well - we're all doing fine in one hotel room (although Dave keeps going - "So when are you going north again?" whenever it gets a bit cramped in here with pull-outs, cribs and king beds all in one little room).	152 Paying respects to our friend Tom who perished in a Coast Guard helicopter crash a year ago this month.
153	154 Rest in peace, Tom. Thank you and God bless you and your family.	155 Such small gravestones to mark giant heroes.	156 Goodbye, Tom.
157	158 We collected some acorns from this tree.	159 This is Uncle Dan's former unit. Hoorah!	160 Waiting for the metro.
161	162 Snacks? For squirrels!	163 Mom and boys :)	164 Visiting the Natural History Museum once again to look at the "BONES!" Sam is holding a dinosaur fossil here and talking to two volunteer paleontologists who were cleaning the fossils. Apparently specimens must be over 10,000 yrs old to be considered a "fossil." Sam informed them that he digs for fossils, too. "I do a LOT of diggin."
165 Trains figured prominently into the day :) Tonight is our last night here then up to Albany we go!	166 The naptime routine - Ben asleep, Sam mulling things over and talking to Turtle. Building tracks, coloring, reading. I am working and chronicling during this time - proofing the manuscript I was working hard on for the past year.	167 My "office" and reams of manuscript which I read after the boys go to sleep :)	168 The Jefferson Memorial at sunset on our last night in D.C.
169	170 Quite a few people out jogging and walking at night.	171 Ben in his puppy harness taking mommy for a stroll.	172 Sam has been doing some wild moves lately for pictures!
173 Mr. Jefferson. Was surprised to see huge cobwebs on the back of his statue. Shouldn't our taxes and the stimulus package be enough to keep him a little cleaner? There were actual spiders taking up residence on his coattails.	174	175 Dave took these shots.	176 While I was...wrangling!
177 More funny moves!	178 Love these - nice job, Dave.	179	180 Glassy water.
181 Makes me want to row on the Potomac!	182 Another try at that pesky Washington Monument. Ben calls it "towa" and Capitol is "Capple!"	183 My friends Dana and Aaron at the Marriott Courtyard took really great care of us!	184 At the Air and Space Museum. We took the jogging stroller through the Metro this morning to see the museum once more then run around the Mall to find the White House.
185 Learning about drag and friction.	186 This model of the USS Enterprise took 1000 hours over 12 years to build. Wow. About like Sam's commitment to his Lego building!	187 Thought this was the White House. It is white. But it's Treasury.	188 Finally found the White House! These guys may come visit us in Kailua if Obama vacations there again.
189 Obama is getting his lawn aerated. Not as big a lawn as I imagined. Just realizing here that I need to boogy to find my way back to the Metro and the hotel so we can shower and leave. Dave got out of training later than expected, so still a long drive to Albany NY ahead of us.	190 Dad met us at McGuire with fleece blankets that Grammie made (THANK YOU! We've used them several times already!) and snacks for the road. Thanks so much, Dad!	191 Nana and PopPop meet us at Days Inn at midnight to help unpack and put kids to bed. Boys were super good about all of the craziness. Here are Nana and PopPop in the morning. They got worse sleep than us unfortunately. It's about 60 degrees out and I am freezing but love the fall air.	192 Where do you think we got breakfast? A DINER!!!
193 Pancakes about to be spread all over his head! Nana got hot seat duty :)	194 Found a great playground and park less than a mile away. Boys got their ya yas out and we got to see brothers as they rolled into town.	195	196 Lots of pretty flowers and plantings at The Crossings Park in Colonie. Even 4 miles of paved jogging trails!
197	198	199 Uncle Steve! Ben loved romping with him!	200 Jumping up and down!
201 Big hug for Uncle Dan, Sam's godfather. That's best man, Luke to the right.	202 High five!	203 The jogging trails...	204
205 And a maze to explore!	206 Ben loved waiting for Sam's voice or footsteps!	207 Where is he?	208 Trying to kiss Ben-Blur!
209 We could find the boys by the sound of their little farts - they were running around giggline and farting in there the whole time!	210 Sam showing us his super-fast route.	211 Out to dinner at the Pump Station/CH Evans. Love the sampler!	212 Just needed a little more sleep this morning, crawled in with mommy and conked back out.
213 In a sweet moment of no fighting, pulling, tugging, screaming...	214	215 Out on a hike with Nana...it's a wedding tradition now!	216 Finding bees and their hive, neat fall flowers...and being assaulted by mosquitoes thanks to the stagnant Mohawk River nearby.
217 But otherwise a fabulous time and great 2 mile walk (Ben rode on the way back).	218	219 Sam singing a song something like "I just wanna be a man..."	220 Trying to take a cute picture with Nana :)
221 Sam gives Ben the heimlich every chance he gets.	222 See the stagnant water? yum! That's Aunt Patty's plane flying in from Chicago!	223 Can you see Sam over Ben's head? He's singing that "I just wanna be a man..." song he made up at the top of his lungs.	224 Peeking into the old train station.
225 Look what happened on the ride back!	226 Aunt Patty is here!	227 And so are Chris and Dave!!!! Can you believe we were able to hook up with them? They pop up every time we're on the mainland - they have a wedding on Sat as well!	228 CC! I got some long underwear to wear under all my cutsie Hawaii t-shirts...
229 Out for "man time" at the bowling alley with all the family men - this was on Thursday evening. Thanks to Steve for the pictures - hope I have them all filed correctly in the right chronological order!	230 The menfolk!	231 Dan and his best man, Luke. What a nice guy! Loved his girlfriend, Emily, too.	232 Bill and his four sons, plus Luke the best man.
233 Such good guys :)	234 Bill (Dad) and Dan. Ben thinks Bill (PopPop) looks like Lincoln - I agree!	235 Aunt Patti and Ben really hit it off!	236 Out for dinner at the Macaroni Grill.
237 Dan and Dave.	238 Catching up with Aunt Diane. She is always so much fun!	239 Crazy Dave :)	240 Tom and Mike - so good to see them!
241 Aunt Diane and her other half - Uncle "Cool" Richie.	242 Tom and Sonia.	243 Love this shot of you, Jen!	244 What are we saying?
245 Steve wrangling Ben at the rehearsal.	246 Ben loves "stomp" :)	247 Trying to get all the kids lined up for a picture was fun!	248 Deb's two cooperated nicely! Sam is waiting for Uncle Steve to wrangle Ben...
249 But Ben likes the "stomp" dance too much!	250 After the rehearsal, they stood around and pondered their roles.	251 The "scene of the crime" - someone was pushed...who was the perp?	252
253 Deb and Dave.	254 Great Grandma with the second and third generation of kiddos!	255 Kingston (3) and Ben (16 months).	256 Dave got a hug from Kingston - a very warm and sweet boy.
257 I wish I could remember what this face was about! Maybe it was recalling the last time we all had dinner together in Saratoga and Dave had to evacuate Sam...	258 Ha!	259 Gail and I sneaked out for hair and makeup - Gail was my hero coming up to Newburgh NY to get me at 6am only to hear my plane circling and circling above waiting for the fog to lift. We ultimately diverted to McGuire and she never even got to see us! Thankfully we had about a week with them around the wedding weekend.	260 Getting dressed for the wedding. We leave Ben for last...I have a picture of Sam nekked with one of my shoes on, and Ben with the other one and my sunglasses. Not appropriate for sharing broadly, but it was funny to watch them on the "catwalk" in this little hallway.
261 Jen and Steve, from Florida.	262 Dan and his mom - Gail you look great!	263 Family photo op!	264 Secret Service Agent Dave.
265 Steve...making kids and adults laugh :)	266 And Amanda doing hers perfectly!	267 Sam doing his job well. Love this shot of the guys.	268 From my vantage point with Mr. Ben.
269 And me doing my job - wrangling and having a glass of wine. I kept him quiet nearly the entire ceremony until he got super excited about throwing out a piece of trash for me. "TASH! TASH! TAAA-AAASH!"	270 Calculated risk. Gravel dust brushes off easily with a wipe whereas dirt does not!	271 I can't wait for the photographer's shots - the assistant (Becky) got great shots of Ben which look like they could be head shots for a modeling portfolio! He really hams it up for the camera in a way Sam never did. He also likes to walk around and take pictures with the camera.	272 See what I mean?
273 Ben the big ham :)	274 Waiting "quietly" during the ceremony :)	275 Ben also enjoyed Aunt Patti!	276 Smooching!
277 I wish my camera grabbed this snapshot more clearly - I had to run in heels to track them down surreptitiously.	278 Looking at what Becky captured.	279	280 Aunt Diane and Ben getting acquainted.
281 Sam and cousin Stacie (she is Dave's cousin so what is that to Sam? Easier to just say cousin!)	282 Two rumps :) That's a black walnut in the foreground. There were a lot of them around and the boys found them pretty interesting.	283 Stacie and Ben.	284 Gail and Aunt Diane - the "outlaws" as they said!
285 Soccer time!	286 Wrangling during the reception - Steve was Ben's favorite go-to guy. He LOVED being man-handled by Steve. In fact, at one point Dave and I sneaked out for a dance and Ben would NOT come back to mommy! Poor Steve kept trying to hand him off and Ben clung to him like an octopus.	287 Sam and Amanda dancing the night away - they kept going and going, doing a really nice job!	288
289	290 I was worried that big Sam might knock her over (since he does to Mommy) but he was gentle with her.	291 Stuck on Uncle Steve!	292 Jackie and John (we went to their wedding two years ago!).
293 Tim and Steve visiting Deb and her kids.	294 We went to a local fair and look what we found?	295 We taught him shaka :)	296 Family shenanigans after the fair.
297 Up in Lake George now, looking for a place to stay for a night or two. Gail, Bill, Steve and Tim came along.	298 Found a good motel with lakefront, kayaks and a rowboat. And even a sandy spot for the kids.	299 Nice to see them unwind a little.	300 Out to lunch. I was very reluctant to leave that little sandy patch at the motel because the kids seemed so happy and relaxed with nowhere we HAD to be. But good company and a beer in the sun made my good cheer return :)
301 No pictures, mom!	302 Afterwards I took the kids to the park nearby while everyone else made their way out. Sam and Ben logrolled a bit.	303 Ben learning Sam's technique :)	304 Aaaaargh! We had some "wars," too.
305 Time to romp with the uncles is always good! Next on the agenda is browsing the knickknack shops (ick! I am so not a browser, esp with Ben on my back!)...but this is a special place for the Krugs - they often came up in the summers for vacation with the rest of the extended family. It was really neat to honor that time together and see Lake George in a different way.	306	307 Found a big bear we all enjoyed, and a Christmas tree ornament to remind us of our visit. Look at Ben's face :)	308 Friend Grant (to the right) came up to visit! We knew him in San Diego when he was in gemology school. He helped Doug and Mary design and set their engagement and wedding rings.
309 Out on Lake George for a rowboat ride with Daddy, Steve, mom and Ben.	310 Peering eyes are cute :) Ben was fascinated by being in a "boat!"	311 We stayed out for sunset...	312 Wearing a life vest per Dave's request - turns out the lake was only about 12" deep most of the places we went :) Lake George is fed by underground springs which supply 20% of the water volume.
313 The rest of the fam waiting for our return.	314 Hide and seek time in the motel. Who is in there?	315 Peekaboo!	316 Ben really enjoyed shutting Sam up in there :)
317	318 We were out to dinner (another relatively long one with tired kids!) and were worried about bothering the people around us. I introduced myself upon leaving to this couple - turns out their daughter lives in Kailua, about 3 blocks from me!!! They had just been to visit because she'd just had a baby!	319 Great place on Rt 9N if you are ever in Lake George!	320 Love this photo of everyone! I had the camera stashed on someone's rear windshield wipers :)
321 Out for a wonderful hike up Mt. Jo with my boys. All three favorite men. It was rainy on the way up but it cleared just for us!	322 Dave took great shots of the wet, colorful leaves. I love LOVE the smell of the balsam fir up there, especially when everything is wet.	323	324
325 Wish this one was clear! Everyone was looking and smiling!	326 Rock scramble up to the summit...	327 Sam did this two years ago when we went with Mo and AMy. He was so much stronger this time. We barreled up and down in 2 hrs.	328 Big hiker!
329 The traditional summit smootch. Look at Ben's face :)	330 Look at the colors! That's Heart Lake down below.	331	332 Thanks for taking the pictures, Dave.
333 Here's what I was doing. Feeding chipmunks.	334	335	336
337 Ben on a summit...well, you can imagine how relaxing that is. He enjoyed trying to stomp puddles, though!	338	339 More leaf fun on the way down!	340
341 Which one do you like best?	342 Ben picking a leaf for me.	343 We met the newlyweds for dinner in Lake Placid (I can still smell all the great sniffs as I write today, 72 hours later!). They found us using their truck to change Ben...bare butt hangin' out and all!	344 Nice morning I gave myself while Dave loaded the truck up. I took the boys and my latte down to our "spot" at the motel. Did some yoga (to Ben's amusement).
345 Mommy plane about to fall over!	346 He's putting sand in my hair and laughing.	347 So I gave him a spin!	348 Co-conspirators!
349 Bye bye Lake George~	350 The tunnel symbol. Sam is all about tunnels right now. Maybe because of riding the Metro in DC? He was into tunnels before...but now they are really something!	351 An example of one of the cagins with its own little deck. This is #209 I believe, in case I ever find this picture again for reference! It's the Sundowner Motel in Lake George.	352 Yes - Flapjack Pete's again!
353 And back in NJ after Dave dropped us off on his way to DC to catch his plane Thurs morning. I was sad to see him go. At this point I had no idea how I was getting home, or when. The brightest possibility was a flight from Pease NH in 8 days. Nothing was flying west. Nada. Then just as I'd gotten unpacked at Dad and Marilou's I called McGuire and you would NOT believe it - they had TWO flights for the next day straight to Hawaii!!!!! What a nice crew we rode with. Wish I could have taken their picture. Such nice people all around to help hump the car seats up the swaying ladders to the plane...	354 Roasting marshmellows with Dad before bed. A night to celebrate a wonderful visit, albeit a bit too short. Wish we'd had more days with Dad and Marilou, but as it turns out we were there at just the right time on our inbound flight - Marilou was feeling well and the next week was chemo week. Upon our return visit the chemo was doing its job, but making her feel pretty worn out. It was good we could visit again but then let her rest up before more family came into town the following weekend. Miss you guys!	355 Good roasting position, you two!	356 Fiah fiah! love it!
357 The biggest mushroom I've ever seen! That pine cone is 4" long! This is on McGuire - we're out for a run, checking on our flights, and getting some playground time in.	358 In the terminal marking ourselves "present" so we can be counted for roll call. This is a wonderful lady who helps me whenever we pass through!	359 The boys were "driving" their car seats. I took this so that those who ask me "what do you DO with two boys when traveling alone?!" have some idea. Kinda whatever it takes. I'd rather have them drive car seats than take down all these poles!	360 We landed at midnight Hawaii time after a 9 hr flight - love those KC10s! Got home by 1:20am, boys in bed by 1:40am, me by 2am. I walked in to our home and was greeted by the sweet scent of white ginger - look what was waiting for me on the counter! Dave had gone out to get fresh milk and yogurt so we'd have something to eat in the morning and left me this note, congratulating me on another space-a adventure. So sweet of him. He'd only gotten in at 7pm and managed to do this. Thank you!!!
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