Goodbye.

First of all, I don't really know how to begin this particular blog entry. Most often our blogs consist of me frantically uploading photos and posting while Mike gets our kids bathed and jammied, and mostly, I barely have time to post pics, let alone write. Tonight I feel like I need to say so much, but I don't want to ramble, or sound overly dramatic...And as I sit here feeling emotional, and exhausted, but content, there is so much I want to tell you and explain to you all....you 3LB followers...Stay with me, I will do the best I can....

Today was Remy and Oscar's LAST day with us. Their family is moving to Hawaii next week. Surreal even as I type it. Remy has been with us from day one. Opening day at Three Little Birds. He was the first birthday we celebrated here, as he turned 1 in October, just weeks after we opened our doors to families. He is with us 3 days a week, and is part of our family. I love him so much and we are all going to miss him incredibly. I feel like he is almost a twin brother to Kaj, and they get into all kinds of mischief together. Sometimes when they are pushing all our buttons (and the computer buttons, and dishwasher buttons, and vacuum buttons...) Mike and I fondly call the two of them "the Remys". It will not be the same without him here."Big Oscar", Remy's older brother, started with us one day a week this past winter. He is "best friend" to Cooper, "boyfriend" to Luna (but for heavens sakes don't tell her I told you all that!), and has been such a unique and hilarious child to get to know. Big Oscar is intelligent, intense, inquisitive, and full of spirit and imagination. He has added a different dynamic to our Thursdays, and we are truly going to miss him. Especially Luna. When she found out a few weeks ago that Oscar was moving away her face became so serious and her eyes filled with tears. I think that's how all of us felt today....

We planned a special last day for our boys. We packed our backpacks this morning with sandwiches, string cheese, and other goodies, then set off for Minnehaha Falls. We had to take TWO buses to get to the park, but we made each connection flawlessly. The birds were incredible listeners, holding hands and staying safe, and they had so much fun riding the bus.

The day was gorgeous. The weather. The feeling. There was seriously an air of magic to everything. Freedom in the fields and forests. Childhood, the magic of it! Special friendships and love... Once we arrived at Minnehaha Park and it was safe for the birds to run ("as long as you stay where I can see you"), they did. They ran. They ran and played and climbed (and I bet they all sleep hard tonight!). They didn't fight. They were never snarky. They were kind, and happy, and free. We had a picnic lunch, and then played some more.

Then Claire came to hang out with us. We climbed up to the pavillion and Claire ran to DQ for us to buy dilly bars. We sang a "goodbye to you" song, and all cheers-ed our dilly bars. It was perfect. The birds were tired and happy and dripping in ice cream. We talked about Hawaii and how much we will miss Remy and Oscar. Then it was time to go home.

We had to walk and walk, and then walk an additional block away to catch our bus home, and we knew we were cutting connection times close. We encouraged the birds to walk quickly, stay together, be safe, listen listen and look. They were all in good spirits and moving along (I'm telling you, magic!) but we weren't fast enough. We missed the bus we needed to catch (although we saw it drive by from a block away), but we weren't too sad because we knew we could catch the next one. But then. Then we saw that one drive away, too. Luckily, there was a third bus that would still get us to Highland, to our connecting bus, and we got it just in time. Running, dragging, calling, babes on our hips, pushing the stroller, encouraging, calling, pleading...We made it. AND, still in good spirits. Still.

In Highland Park, at 12:40, we realized we had just missed the bus we needed to catch, the one that would bring us back to 3LB. No worries. We would just get the next one. At 1:19. Oh yes. We then waited for 40 minutes for our bus to bring us home. We sang. We told stories. We half-slept sitting up. We giggled and were silly and wild, and partially, we were delirious. But you know what? Still a perfect day. Still no tantrums or fallouts or trippy birds or teachers. We made it home and crashed for nap, smelling like grass and tasting like sugar, and as I look through all our photos I feel like it was such a blissfully beautiful summer-y day. I hope the birds all carry the feeling and the memory with them somewhere in their hearts and heads.

Goodbye, Oscar and Remy (and Laura and Rob!) We will miss you all SO much and hope you come back to visit us soon! We also hope we can visit you guys in Hawaii someday.

You will always be our friends and
we love you both.
Mama Ara, Papa Mike, Claire and all the 3LB kids





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