First Day of School

It was an exciting day around the Pearce household today. We had our three biggest boys all starting school. Colton was off and running by shortly after 7am. Mike and Tucker both had a bit longer to meander around before heading out the door.

Mike wanted to laugh at me when I grabbed a handful of kleenex (just in case), but I didn't really need them. I teared up a bit right as we walked up to the school, and again when I walked away from it, but overall, it was a pretty dry drop-off for mom. Tucker was thrilled, as you can see by the pic I took right before heading out of the room. He talked the whole way home this afternoon, which isn't really a big surprise. He is very anxious to learn how to read, and I think a bit disappointed that it didn't happen today. I had to explain to him that it wouldn't happen all in one day.....Not sure he accepted that, but we'll see.

Mike's class kicked off with a pretty neat flag ceremony where all of the countries represented in the class walked the stage with their respective flag. The ceremony was pretty quiet and solemn until the soldier from the Republic of Georgia came out. There was a thundering round of applause, and it was really very touching.

Colton's day was pretty uneventful, but a good one nonetheless. He came home pretty talkative, so I guess thats good!

Evidently, everyone's day went well enough that they are all planning on going back tomorrow!!

The last night........

I love this precious picture. To most, it may just be Tucker in his PJ's. To me, it is the last night of true innocence. It is his last night to be his mommy's baby. It is his last night of needing me more than anyone else in the world. While I am so excited for kindergarten, and am looking forward to it being full-day, I am also heartbroken that my little buddy, my reason for getting up every day through 3 years of deployments, my sweet little man, is growing up so fast!!

Grandkids

Jordan, Whitley, Caitlyn, Colin

Alyson, Ty, Devin, Sydney, Colton, Tucker

These are all ten of my parents' grandkids. Its not too often that they are all in one place.

Dives in Action........

Tucker

Colton

Caitlyn

Some pics while swimming at my aunt's pool. Tucker has been determined to go down the slide at the post pool, so while on our trip, he worked really hard on the days we went swimming. He now can not only swim across the pool by himself, but he's also a champ at going down the slide and swimming to the ladder. Its ugly, and the lifeguards get themselves prepared, but he does a really good job and is so proud of himself!

While in Indiana, we spent most of our time at the 4-H Fair. There is always a huge display of antique tractors, and this is Ty on one of Grandpa's. There are some great pics of Tucker on the tractors also, but not from my camera. He actually made the front page of the local paper, in a series of three really cool pics. He was thrilled!

1st Haircut

Mike was about to break out the clippers himself if I didn't cut Ty's hair. Truthfully, the mullet was really starting to take shape. I was adamant, however, that the first cut be done by "Aunt Nan". Nan is a very dear friend of mine, and she also gave Tucker his first haircut. We went on an extended trip to Indiana in July, and Ty finally got his haircut. He sat like a champ, and now looks like a big boy!!! The Kubota pic is of Tucker and "Uncle Chad".

Our boys

Here's a few random snapshots of the boys. Colton was so excited that Ty fell asleep on him. This was the first time that happened, and Colton has been talking about it ever since! The other pics are from geocaching with Daddy.

Our House

This is our new house, complete with a great swing in the front yard. Tucker thought the swing made it the perfect house for us. We tended to agree. The yard needs some help, but we feel very blessed to have a great house in a nice area of post. We are the left side of the duplex, complete with a very roomy (and dry!) basement. Lots of storage and a really nice little playroom area. We love our screened in porch and eat there nearly every night. The large building behind our house is the Lewis and Clark Center, better known as "Daddy's School". With gas prices what they are, the short walk is awesome! Tucker's school is at the end of our street, about a 10 minute walk.

What many of you may not yet know is that Colton has moved in with us full-time and will be going to school here. It has been a long time coming. Colton has about a 20 minute walk to the middle school. He's already made alot of friends and is very excited to be here. We are looking forward to a great new adventure while in Kansas!!

Future World Champion

Great form, great confidence, great love of the sport! A PBR buckle may be in his future. I guess the seemingly thousands of hours of watching his favorites has taught him something.........

There was also a mechanical bull--that, of course, was a huge hit!!!

Wild West Days

Shortly after arriving in Kansas, we took the boys to an Old West Festival in Ottawa. There was a petting area, the opportunity to drive a chuckwagon, lots of old-time demonstrations, military vehicles (for photo-ops), rides, and great food. Fun was had by all! Oh, and by the way, the small animal that Tucker is petting is some sort of miniture donkey/horse. It was strange, and looked like Donkey from Shrek.

Last Lesson

Tucker's last riding lesson at Kindred Spirits Ranch was a bit bittersweet. Although we were very ready to leave Louisiana, we were sad to leave this wonderful blessing behind. Tucker learned so much and fell very in love with horseback riding! Thank you Ed and Claudia (and Mercury!) We miss you!

Also contained in the Jungle Gardens is this incredible Buddha. I posted the description of how it came to be here because we thought it was so interesting. (Just click on the picture, it will enlarge and you can read it.) I think Mike took about a hundred pictures of it! It was all pretty cool......If you care to read anymore about any of this, as I'm not the best blogger tour guide, go to www.tabasco.com/tabasco_history .

Right across the road from the Tabasco Company, but also on the McIlhenny property, is the beautiful Jungle Gardens and Bird City. These pics cannot possibly do justice to the unbelievable scenery. This is mostly a drive-through garden, but you can get out along the way and take pics wherever you want. The Cypress trees and water everywhere would make for a gorgeous wedding. One of the McIlhenney sons helped to create a sanctuary of sorts for the snowy egret. These are the birds you see above. It is quite a site to see thousands of these white birds everywhere. In the water where the birds sit, I spied this alligator looking out. This is obviously NOT water you would want to swim in, as the green you see is several inches thick and very smelly!!!

Ta"bass"co

Shortly before we left Louisiana, we visited Avery Island, home of The Tabasco Co. We'd been wanting to get there the entire time we were at Ft. Polk, and finally took the time to do it. We had fun and saw much more than we ever thought we would. The kids had a great time, as we also did some geocaching along the way. We not only found the fish "Tabassco" that Tucker is pictured with, but there were some other really cool earth caches in the area as well. Mike thoroughly enjoyed our Tabasco adventure, but I'm not sure which was his favorite, the Tabasco popcorn, Tabasco coke, or the Tabasco ice cream!

Believe it or not.......here they come!

I know its been a long time since I've posted any pics, but FINALLY, I went through and picked out some good ones of our last few months of adventure. I probably won't get them all on here tonight, but I'll get started. Things are really good here,we're gearing up for school to start next week. I'm looking forward to getting back to routine. Enjoy the pics!