A New Chapter

( Don't mind the commentating in the background:))

So as I sit here with tears running down my face, I have so many thoughts.  Let me back track a bit.  I have been incredibly fortunate for the past five years to work at an amazing preschool, Boomin Tots.  From the time I had Reece and came back to work, when he was 11 weeks old, I have had nothing but support.  Many days when Reece refused to take his bottle they would call me from a few rooms down to feed him ( yep, says a lot about his personality , refusing a bottle at 11 weeks old!)  He then turned into a preschooler .  I could check on him any time I wanted.  I was able to get an early peak at all his BIG moments.  His teachers would stop me in the hall just to tell me something silly he said. So I worked but with Reece always close by.  I knew that if I had to leave him, my colleagues loved him as much ( and definitely more some days) than I could ! I had the best situation with being a working mom!

So for the past six years, maybe even more, Gregg and I have discussed me going back to school, to get my elementary certification. Tomorrow I officially begin my new journey as a full time college student AGAIN1 I guess it is emotional for me, mostly as a mom, because Reece will now be in school full time where I can only hope his teachers love and adore him as much as they did at Bloomin Tots. Will I be as available as a mom who "works" full time?  How do I manage classroom things for him and I?

So this leaves me with the thoughts of new beginning....yes they are scary, exciting, but also much needed!

I have had the most amazing last week with Reece and wish I had another but that is how things work.  I know more than ever I will treasure every moment!

Just a highlight of some of our great adventures this week..

Riding the jet ski with our Mr. Troy!

Kensington Farm with Nana and the cousins

Our horse drawn hay ride!

Our super fun Science project

What a fun day!!

Its hard to believe that Reece is starting kindergarten in less than two weeks.  He is going to be gong 5 FULL DAYS! Needless to say I am really going to miss my partner, my shadow, my buddy!  So in typical fashion I am trying to get in as many fun things as possible.  I have now realized life in 12 days, our at least our week days will never be the same!

We woke up this morning with plans to go to the water park, however despite what the weathermen said, the clouds and cooler weather were hanging around.  I had always heard about that University of Michigan had a great children's garden and botanical garden.  We checked it out online and Reece was fired up to go!  I packed us a picnic lunch and we headed toward Ann Arbor.  The best part was that Daddy, Gregg, decided to take a half day and join us.

As soon as we got there Reece had some serious ants in his pants.  Despite the amazingly beautiful perennial and herb gardens Reece was sprinting to find the Children's Garden!

What a fantastic area!  Of course Reece ran so fast through the garden he couldn't have repeated a single thing he saw.  However after our "pass through" he slowed down and really enjoyed all the areas.  He pretended to be a spider with a rather large web! 

He found a birds nest!  The only eggs that hatched looked very similar to a handsome fellow who looks similar to um , Reece!

And that was just the tip of the "iceberg"! We made music with natures instruments.  We attempted at making a house, or maybe it was a fort, no a dam, or a tee pee! We then headed over to a garden where we could try all the seasonal fruits and vegetables right of the plant!  Needless to say Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the beans ALOT more than Reece.

After a quick bathroom trip we decided to have our picnic in the beautiful perennial garden.  Beautiful is an understatement!  After we slowed down a bit Reece found a few frogs, a huge cricket ( or what we thought was a cricket) , and a ton of beautiful butterflies.

Before we left we decided to take a little more time to enjoy one of the many trails!  Our trail we followed had fossils by trees in the area.  Holy Cow one of the trees was over here over 90 MILLION years ago!  We also keep our eyes open for samples of the footprints we saw - snapping turtles, great blue herons, or maybe even a deer, just to name a few!

Sadly it was time to go!  This place is a must do again, especially since the admission was FREE!

Eat 'Em Up Tigers!

So we packed up and headed downtown for our fist Tigers game of the season. They played the Cleveland Indians.  The game started off a little slow which allowed us to have some fun around the park with the Ferris wheel and batting practice.  Just as we were finishing up things started to get exciting for the Tigers.  It proved to be an awesome game, followed by a fantastic fireworks display.
The highlight of the night....every time an Indians fan would pass Reece would them to find another seat:)   ( Probably not the nicest thing for 5 year old to be saying but it was in the spirit of the rivalry)

A future Golf Course Superintendent

Finally after 5 years Reece can now compete with some serious equipment!  He takes his job very serious.  He insists on wearing boots, a collared shirt with a hood jacket sometimes, and of course a visor! ( Just like Daddy he says)  Of course both Gregg and I are smiling ear to ear watching the entire process from start to finish !

Boys night....fishing!

So lets be honest, Daddy isn't a fisherman.  However Reece has been watching the Thursday night fishing league on our lake head out since he knew what a boat was.  He has maybe asked um 100 times to go out fishing and yes Gregg always had a reason why he couldn't (" Hey buddy will you help me cut the grass" " You wanna go up to the airport and get a Kaleidoscope's on the way home" "how about a bike ride?" ) Gregg has had every intention of getting himself comfortable enough with a fishing pole so he could show Reece and act like he knew what he was doing. However after several boys conversations with our neighbor Mr. Roger, Gregg was as ready to go as Reece.  Gregg's first attempt, well yes he caught a BIG MOUTH BASS, but he got off the hook!  It has now become a weekly tradition. ( best news was Gregg caught a big mouth bass on his first cast last night!)

Our first post....

It brings tears to my eyes to think that Reece just turned 5 years old.  It is funny because sometimes it feels like yesterday he was born but other moments I can't recall what our family was like before he was a part of it.  It has been a very big year for so many reasons....graduating preschool, being able to write his own name, recognizing all the letters of the alphabet, soccer and t - ball  camp, waterskiing for the first time, first trip away without Mommy and Daddy, another new cousin , DisneyLand, riding a bike without his training wheels, just to name a few ! Time is flying by!!! Only our hearts will truly capture every moment but I hope this blog offers a glimpse into some of our great adventures