We are not saying good-bye

John signed a contract and so we now have a real job. We are completely grown up (well, on the outside at least). I have been putting this post off until we had a more secure future and I was ready to say good-bye. Well, I am not ready to say good-bye, but I better get used to the idea since we only have about 3 weeks left, and one of those weeks we will be in WDW. Anyway, it has been very easy to complain while we have been here for school, but there are lots of things I am going to miss. Here are some of them, in no particular order:

1. The Green-ness. It is so beautiful right now. All of the trees have leaves and the flowers are blossoming. It really is gorgeous.

2. The Fall. It is very easy to complain about the weather here (especially when it is 30 below) but I love Autumn here. It seems to stay fairly warm for a while and the colors are wonderful! There is one tree in front of our apartment complex that gets a beautiful red-ish, orange that will really be missed.

3. My Chiropractor. I know this is silly, but he really helped. After Connor was born, my shoulder would get so tight that I could move my arm above my head, not to mention turn my head in any direction. I can actually sleep on my stomach again because I can turn my neck in a normal way (even though I know I am not supposed to). It is fabulous!

4. The Zoo. I love this zoo. If you go there, you will understand.

5. Book Club. Not only was this a great way for me to read some really good books, it was a great time to be with some great people. I love all the women in book club and will miss all the wonderful discussions we had (especially the ones that were not related to the books, which we had quite a few of). Oh, and the food was always great!

6. The YMCA. It is so nice to be able to drop my kids off and go to a fun exercise class. It has also been so nice for Sydney. She has taken a lot classes there and I know she is really going to miss her swimming and ballet classes. And I don't know how I am going to stay motivated to exercise without my fellow "steppers". It is so much easier to exercise when you have good friends keeping tabs on you.

7. Babysitting groups. It has been nice being so close to other young parents who are also in need of quality one-on-one time with their spouses. The kids love having their friends come over or going over to their house for a night and of course we loved the opportunity to talk over a nice dinner (which I didn't have to prepare) and actually hear one another.

8. Weekly Summer BBQ's. Okay, maybe it wasn't weekly, but it sure felt like it sometimes and it was great!

9. The Chocolate Nazi. Or the Northern Chocolate Company, as it is properly named. This is the best chocolate I have ever had. Come to think of it, I will miss all the wonderful goodies we have found here, like Amy's Candy Kitchen (best caramel apples ever!), ice cream at the Dairy Store in the zoo, and you can't forget the cream puffs at the state fair.

10. Great Friends! of course. I have met some wonderful people here and now that we are all blogging, I hope to keep in touch (still planning on the trip in 5 years!). I will really miss being able to run upstairs in my pj's to borrow the next episode of "24" at 11:00 at night, or drop the baby monitor off when I have to run to the grocery store real quick, or the desserts brought over because they "can't be at my house or I will eat them all". I will also miss the "is that a plus sign?", and the "guess who else is pregnant", and especially the "hey, my kids are driving me crazy, can I come up and let them play with your kids?" FUN TIMES! But luckily I don't really have to say good-bye because there will many opportunities to see each other, it will just take a little more planning for the next "girls only movie night" (it's going to be the "Twilight" movie right?) Again, I am not saying "good-bye", just "see ya later"!