Off to a roaring start...

Summer vacation started officially for us Tuesday afternoon!!  I can't help but hum along to the tune of, "School's out for summer!" on the last day of school each year.  Grades were submitted, classrooms cleaned out, and a huge Ikea bag full of Kleenex, Clorox wipes, and hand sanitizer were brought home for our house (thanks kids - you wanted extra credit, right?!).

We started our summer plans a little early since the weekend before was gorgeous!  They included a trip to the Detroit Zoo, where for the first time in our history of going, every animal we wanted to see was out and about!  We met up with my best friend Trisha, her husband, and her adorable baby girl, Reese.  We were disappointed that this year Sean was not a fan of feeding the giraffes.  Maybe next year...

We also made sure to hit up Splash Park in Plymouth for some fun in the sun with Scott's sister Jackie, her husband, and her girls, Sydney and Adelaide.

But, the most exciting part of our first week of summer vacation was coming home on Tuesday from my last day of work to find Scott putting the finishing touches on the play structure!  It all started a few months back when our friend, Jeff, called us to ask if we wanted a play structure that was on a home his dad bought.  Scott, his dad, and Jeff put in some hours taking the structure apart, throwing all the parts in one giant shopping bag (leave it to Scott to not separate the parts by what they went to), and moving them all to our house.

The next step was staining the wood since it was looking a little shabby.

My mom picked us up a baby swing from the resale shop since the structure had only two big kid swings.

Scott bought a few missing parts and a few new boards to replace.

And roughly three months later and countless hours of work put in by his dad, Jeff, and Scott himself...our new play structure:

I'm so proud of Scott and all his hard work!  Seriously...three months ago I thought this was just a pipe dream.  I can't believe he pulled it together and it looks this great!  Sean loves it!

Speaking of Sean, he has had an interesting week home with us so far.  We have experienced:

• Temper tantrums
• Biting
• Hitting
• Throwing of everything and anything

 Ummm...terrible twos starting already?

But, to end on a positive note, big boy has slept Wednesday and Thursday in his toddler bed for his naps and has done wonderfully!  On Wednesday, I put him down awake and he seemed confused.  I left the room and went downstairs to clean up lunch.  Not 5 minutes later, I heard him playing with his books in his room.  I went upstairs to put him back to bed and the minute he saw me, he ran to his bed and laid down.  It was hilarious!  Like he knew he was caught!  I then laid down on the floor next to his bed for 5 more minutes until he fell asleep.  Thursday, he fell asleep in the car on my way home from Marla's house from a play date and Scott just transferred him from the car to the bed, but he slept over 2 hours and waited until I came upstairs to get down from his bed.  I'm so excited that he's giving the toddler bed a shot!

Well, can't wait for week 2 of our summer vacation to start!  Our plans include the library, Jungle Java, and possibly Splash Park again!  Ahhh...the possibilities are endless....