As our oldest group of children go off to kindergarten, an email exchange from a few months ago comes to mind.　

Chris from Animal Embassy left us with several tad poles in the spring and one of our families, brought some water from their pond to create a habitat in a tank in the Discovery Room. 　The tadpoles grew to be small frogs and then Chris had to take them to a vernal pool. 　One day I received an email from the father in this family to see if we needed any more “mucky” pond water. 　

I replied with the following:

That mucky pond water kept them alive and ready to become frogs!　Chris took the tadpoles to a vernal pool near Animal Embassy because once they are frogs, they can’t survive in the tank.  Good to know, right?  I thought we were going to be able to keep them here as they grew to be big frogs.  Oh well!

His reply really summed it up for all of us:
Isn’t that just the way things are at CCDC?　 They start off small, and with care and nurturing they are on the cusp of becoming big, and right before they mature, they up and leave.　 Time and again.　 Must be tough.

It is with mixed feelings that we say our farewells. 　We have enjoyed the time we have spent watching these children grow and learn and will miss them as they move on. We know that their experiences here have given them a good start on their journey ahead and that the things they have learned at CCDC will truly last forever!  We are so grateful to all of the families for sharing their children with us and giving us the chance to learn together.

Here are a few of the photos from the last two days:

Photo albums can be found in Eileen’s Photos