A Sad Goodbye to North Carolina!

And so it begins! The major Blogathon of Summer 2015 is officially commencing.... Fasten your seat belts and keep your arms and legs inside the ride!  

I've got to play some major catch up-- we've been blog-less now for about 2 months and it's time to recap our final days in North Carolina. Zach suddenly began losing teeth left and right. This was his 3rd or 4th tooth he pulled himself during recess. His teacher was so surprised she said, "You're going to grow up to be a dentist just like your daddy!"  Apparently he just beamed at that compliment. We love this little jack o' lantern grin!

Both Lucy and Zach's school didn't get out until June 11th, which felt like FOREVER. Once all of their end of year testing was finally finished, their teachers must have been just as sick of school as the kids were, so they planned lots of fun themed days. Lucy had a Pirate Day (isn't she adorbs??), Super Hero Day, Magic Tree House Day, and Science Day. She loved planning her outfits those last few days of school! 

Mr. Cardon had his LAST DAY EVER IN THE MILITARY on June 5th. It was monumental! Epic, even. He is now FREE from payback, commitment, obligation, etc. to Uncle Sam. We are officially civilians, which is terrifying but also exhilarating. I don't think he was ever more glad to NOT have to wear a uniform and combat boots to work again. Farewell, Captain (Major Select) Cardon, you served your country well!

Miss Lucy had her end of the year piano recital, and she did great. She played "Zip A Dee Doo Da" and she blew us away. She's a "Whitney" in the making! We are proud of her for practicing all year and working hard. And yes, Leah did wear Lucy's dress to the recital. It was just that kind of month! 

Jon took these snapshots of our little guys one Saturday morning while they were eating breakfast. We had great windows in our dining room which let in the beautiful morning sunlight-- and I miss those windows. I love all those little faces!

Our second to last Saturday found us FOR THE LAST TIME at Myrtle Beach. Our weekend paradise. You have no idea how it breaks my heart to see these pictures while I'm here in Colorado, landlocked with mountains and desert on all sides!! I love how these two water bugs could spend every second swimming in the ocean.

A happy last trip to the beach! (Sniff, sniff)

Lucy and Zach boogie boarding. Thankfully we had no encounters with sharks like some beaches a little farther up North...

I can't even tell you how much I miss having this place nearby. I'll sometimes forget and think, "I'll ask Jon if we can go to the beach this weekend," and then realize we can't anymore! The wind and waves soothed my soul many a time, and I hope my kids will also remember when we got to live by the beach, and engendered a love for the ocean.

Zach's class did a final research project where they picked an animal and go to learn all about it. We printed some pictures off the internet and he designed this awesome poster and wrote out interesting facts about tigers. He had a great year in Kindergarten and learned so much. 

His class awards day, with his teacher Mrs. White. She was really good for Zach! She was Lucy's kindergarten teacher too, and helped him catch up on reading and writing and counting, and kept encouraging us that he was just a "late bloomer."

Mrs. Williams was his very sweet, very nurturing assistant teacher. Zach loved her and would frequently go up to her and give her little hugs--which if you know Zach, he is only affectionate with people he really, really likes. That alone speaks volumes about what kind of teacher she was!

Zach wanted a picture with little Sarah Castelli and her assistant Ms. Ebony. His whole class loved Sarah, and during the awards program Sarah walked unassisted all the way to the teacher to get her award. It was the sweetest thing to see his whole class cheer her on!

Lucy got a classroom award too, for being a great friend and helping build class unity. What AWESOME kids!

Their last day at school, at West Pine Elementary. Even though it was far away (that was my biggest complaint), we had a really great experience there for Lucy (K-2) and Zach (K) with the teachers and staff, and I hope as they grow up they'll be able to remember little bits and pieces of it. 

I love this woman! She was magical. She did wonders for Lucy in 2nd grade. Lucy didn't have a great 1st grade experience, but Mrs. McFadden was able to rebuild Lucy's confidence and just instilled in her such a love of learning. She also got Lucy in the AIG program (gifted and talented) because she really believed that was where Lucy belonged. I wish all teachers were as good and noble as her.  

Zach's little kindergarten class all packed up and ready to go home on their very last day!

Meanwhile as the kids were busy finishing up at school, the packers came to load up our house. They were two older women, but boy could they pack! They had the entire house loaded up and labelled in 2 days. It was whirlwind of not knowing what to keep out, what to have packed, and when the heck we'd ever see our stuff again!

To pass the time with an EMPTY house (empty aside from 700 boxes of course) we drove up to Raleigh and spent the afternoon at Monkey Joe's. The kids were so good to just roll with all the punches and uncertainty and anxiety that comes from moving. They are troopers!

Bright and early Monday morning on June 15th the movers showed up and started the lengthy process of loading furniture and boxes into the truck. Thankfully there was a lot of them and they were able to get their truck down our steep hill to the driveway, otherwise they'd have had to park along the street and move everything up the hill first!

The South decided to give us one last heat wave before sending us West. When I came by to drop off drinks for the movers at noon, my car showed 106 degrees and TONS of humidity. Yuck!

To stay out of their way, I took the kids to meet our friends the Bassetts at Chick fil A for lunch. We spent many lunchtime playdates at this little Chick fil A in Pinehurst (too many to count!). This is Zach with his buddy Grant.

Lucy and her cute friend Jane. I wish we'd gotten to know the Bassetts a little better while we were there! They are such a nice family.

I decided to do a little driving tour and take some pictures around the area of things we might forget later on. This is our church we went to for 4 years, and where Lucy was baptized. 

And our gym at First Health. I miss this place!! We spent so much time here. I took Leah just about every day, and sometimes even twice a day if I had to teach a class. We had swimming lessons here, summer camp, swim team, dodge ball parties, parents night out parties, you name it. The older ladies in the Kids' Center loved my kids-- especially Leah. I started taking her when she was around 3 months old, and they felt like she'd grown up with them. On our last day they started crying as we said goodbye. Turning over my classes to someone else was so hard too! When I first started teaching the lunch hour (12:15) Body Pump class I was lucky if I got 5 people to show up. By the time it was time to move, I'd gotten 30+ people in my classes. It was awesome, and such a testament to the power of great group fitness! My boss said she'd never seen someone be able to quadruple numbers like that at an "off-peak" time.  

We got home just in time to see the truck take off-- with quite a few boxes not fitting in the actual truck and lashed onto the back. Ha ha. All I could do at that point was just hope and pray we'd see our stuff again in one piece!

Look at that empty house! As soon as everything was finally out, Jon and I started cleaning like CRAZY people! We scrubbed and scrubbed until probably 11:30 p.m. that night, trying to erase all the sticky fingerprints and dings and scratches in the walls and floor that living somewhere for 4 years with 3 kids leaves. PHEW. We wanted that dang security deposit back even if it killed us! I don't think I've ever been so exhausted, or so ready to get out of somewhere in my whole life. Once again, our kids were troopers, trying to keep the house immaculate, and entertaining themselves while we cleaned-- with no toys for them to play with.

Our sweet neighbor Ali, and her boys Josh and Luke, were so good to let my kids come over and play that week. Thank goodness for them! We have so many good memories of Josh and Luke coming over and knocking on the door to see "if Lucy and Zach could play." That was a very bittersweet goodbye because they were GREAT neighbors and great playmates for our kids.

The FINAL picture before we hit the road to Colorado. Goodbye 5 Beryl Ct.!! We have so many fond memories of life in this house-- the only house Leah's ever known, and lots of ups and downs and growing pains. We will absolutely miss North Carolina, and would be happy to go back someday and visit.