The Reese Family Comes to Town!

We met the Reeses not long after we moved to Michigan.  Tom and Andy started on the very same day at Bosch and were both in the same program.  They got to talking and realized they both had stay at home wives, and each had one kid.  As luck would have it, we also lived in the same apartment complex!  It wasn't long before Bethany, and here then 2-year old daughter, Ainsley, were hanging out all the time with me and Brady.  We were the first people to ever join this program with kids, so it was really nice to have someone else who knew what it was like to be moving all the time.  We both expected to be gone at the end of six months, but they were able to stay through that first year, and we headed down to South Carolina for a full year.  They had their son, Sam, in April, and then moved to Chicago during the summer.  We both knew that an international assignment was imminent, but they weren't sure which country they'd end up in (we always knew our only choice was Germany).  It worked out that they were going to be in Germany also, but up north in Hildesheim.  That's a five hour drive away!  We had imagined possibly going to Germany together, but we always assumed it would be in the same town.  That meant we probably wouldn't get to see each other.

It worked out that the guys had a conference just south of Stuttgart and all the people in the program that were currently located in Germany were to attend.  That meant that Tom would be coming down and Bethany and the kids decided to join him (something we've both done in the past while we were in the States).  The conference wasn't so far that Andy couldn't make the commute each day, but they had booked him hotel room.  It was far enough away not to be on the metro lines for the city, so I offered for Bethany and the kids to stay in our apartment with Brady and I.  She took me up on the offer and I was so glad to have my friend again!  The last time we'd seen them, it was a few days before Sam was born, and Brady had only just turned 1.  Now, Ainsley is 4, Brady is 2, and Sam is 13 months.  I was so excited for them to get to play together.

 They arrived on Monday, and we decided to head downtown to walk around.  This is all the kids in front of the New Castle downtown.  I love how the boys are checking each other out.  I also love the first picture where Brady is holding Sam's hand.

 On Tuesday, we went to the zoo and after we'd seen all of the animals and had lunch, we hit the playground.  Bethany and I were sitting on a bench while Ainsley and Brady played.  Before I knew it, Brady had scaled the ropes and was up high.  That crazy monkey!

Ainsley loved playing in the sand.

He loves to climb.  He simply refuses help and usually doesn't need it.

 It had been so hot that day at the zoo that the kids were all sweaty and dirty, so we decided to give the boys a bath together that night.  Brady had never been in the bath with anyone before, so I was interested to see how he reacted, but they both had a great time splashing.  The whole bathroom was soaked, but they had a ton of fun!

Wednesday was the last day of the conference, and we were expecting the return of our husbands that evening.  It had threatened to rain, but we got lucky and the sun came out.  We decided to grab a picnic lunch at a bakery and head to my favorite park in the city.  We got all three kids on the spinner.

 I love how Ainsley is just lounging, enjoying the ride.

I had the great idea to get Brady and Ainsley on the seesaw together, since it's always so one-sided when I do it with him.  It turned out to still be one sided, but I was able to give a little assistance and both parties had fun.

I decided to try Brady out on the big kid swings, since they have a bar to hold onto and he did so well!  You can tell he's pretty happy.

That night, the guys came home from the conference and we all headed downtown to get dinner.  We had a great time, just talking like we used to back in Michigan.  We were very sad to see them go as they left that night to head to Munich and take advantage of the upcoming holiday weekend.  We know that we're headed back to Michigan, but they still don't know where their final placement will be.  We are hoping it'll be Michigan, since Bethany and I have spent the last 18 months talking about going back there together so we can hang out again.  The kids get along so well that it would be fun to continue to do playdates as the boys get older.