We're officially residents of North Carolina

A couple of days before we left Sean decided to make things interesting. He ended my clear run of not having visited the ER for either of my children. Poor guy woke up unable to get air into his lungs. I rushed him to the ER where he received a few breathing treatments. I have only ever been more scared once.

When I picked Meredith up from her last day of school in NYC, her entire school said goodbye to her. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. She also got her school pictures in  that day.

We hung out with Rob's parents on Friday night after our truck had been loaded. We stayed overnight as Renee & I prepared for our drive down. Yes ladies & germs Renee & I drove down with 2 kids, 2 dogs & a fish. We thought it was going to be a rough drive since Sean & Meredith were crying when we first got started. I was fully prepared to park at long term parking in Newark Airport and fly down if the screaming didn't stop. Thankfully enough they fell asleep. For 3.5 glorious hours, they slept.

We stopped at IHOP in College Park, MD for breakfast with some friends. And because nothing involving me should be boring, I promptly got thrown up on by someone else's kid. They weren't even a part of our group. Blech. I was present enough to duck so that my hair didn't bear the brunt of the funk, but I did manage to get it all down my back. Unfortunately for Renee, I was wearing her sweatshirt.

 

 

I was pleasantly surprised by our drive down. Both kids were fabulous. Both dogs were fabulous & the fish survived. Renee & I chatted the whole way down and I am grateful she was there to keep me company.

It's official. We're North Carolinians. Say that 5 times fast. 

Meredith has started her new school. She loves it & they love her. We've met some of our neighbors & Meredith has made fast friends. She introduced herself to Jack (2 doors down) as Meredith "But I'm really Belle" Her friend Jack tells his mom that he wants to go visit his princess. Is that sweet? 

   

And yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting & hanging out with a fellow Brooklyn transplant and her kids. Andrea brought Alex & Cicci over for some moving box mural making. To say it was a fun time is an understatement. The kids played, painted, played marching band and had donuts. All while it was sunny and then raining. Alex thought paint slip & slides were the bees knees and she sure was right! We had a blast and can't wait to see them again. 

   

This is why we moved. We moved so the kids would have a better life and we'd be able to watch them enjoy their lives. Making friends for ourselves is gravy, but it's good gravy that we're happy about adding to our buffet (thanks GMA).  

The smiles are what it's all about. 

Flat Samantha's Going Home Soon

Flat Samantha's visit with us seems to have gone by very quickly this year. Maybe because we're packing. maybe because the kids were sick a lot this year. Who knows? But she's been very busy around here.

She came with us to Charlotte to look for a house & schools. She was totally impressed with the inside of the airport and couldn't believe she was actually traveling in the people part of the plane. What a treat not to have to travel in an envelope.

She was such a big help in helping us figure out where we should live.

When we got back from North Carolina, we had an extra special treat. We had tickets to see The Lion King> on Broadway. Even more special was that Flat Savannah was here for a visit. So she came with us.

Before the show we went to Toys R Us to ride the carousel and walked through the different toy areas.

We walked around Manhattan and showed Savannah & Samantha some sites. We even met a police officer.
   

We stopped for lunch at Bubba Gump shrimp.

How cool that the waitress was balancing our water like that?!

We even got sail boats.

Then it was time for the show. As we walked through the theatre to our seats we saw the costumes worn by the cast. We couldn't help, but take some pictures.

Today was Samantha's last adventure with us. We stopped for lunch at Gray's Papaya>. We had hot dogs & papaya juice. I'm really only in it for the juice. MMMMMMMMMM

After lunch we went to the Museum of Natural History>. It was pretty chilly out today so indoors was a good place to be.

We saw so many cool things. Our first stop was the butterfly exhibit. One landed on my arm!

Then we saw Asian Mammals. I love the elephants.

Samantha was really into the dinosaurs.

 

She even got to touch a real dinosaur bone.

Of course being the dare devil she is.... she got a little to close to one of the dinosaurs & almost got eaten. Lesson learned.

After that she stayed pretty far away from T Rex.

Here's Meredith being... well.... 3 years old. 

In the Hall of Ocean Life, Samantha was completely mesmerized by the blue whale hanging from the ceiling. Then we walked around & saw some really cool things.

 

On our way home Samantha got to see a real subway performer. And then as if that weren't good enough (and it was), she got to see a whole jazz band perform right there on the platform while we waited for our train home.

So Kayla, Samantha had quite the adventure while here with us. Samantha & her stunt double are  leaving on their trip home to you tomorrow. Samantha misses you terribly & can't wait to share all of her memories & moments from her trip with you.

Can't wait until next year when someone from the Flat family visits us again.