A tribute to Winston-Salem.

The day before we pulled out of Winston-Salem for good, I think I cried on-and-off pretty much the entire day.

Life was pretty grand in the Ardmore neighborhood of Winston-Salem. We lived within walking distance to no fewer than four parks, one of which was located on the rooftop of the hospital. We could also walk to the grocery store, the Dollar store, the bagel shop, Rick's school, Carson's pre-school, the post office, the YMCA, an entire shopping center, and the library (although the hills are killer). That community was so good to us. Our favorite bagger at Harris Teeter would hug the boys every time we went and often gave them quarters to get a treat out of the candy machines. And our favorite cashier at Aldi would send me text messages when special produce sales popped up. (I know; we really had it good!)

We had the best of neighbors. During naptimes I could often be seen sprinting out of my house and either across the street or around the corner to borrow some missing ingredient for that night's dinner. Our next-door neighbor, Barbara acted as a grandma to the kids, letting Carson come over to watch important basketball games on her TV and giving the boys unlimited cookies. We were further surrounded by a wonderful church family, so many mothers and women that I learned from and aspire to be like.

That last night in Winston-Salem, I walked down Queen Street one last time to drop something off at Carrie's house. As I looked down the sidewalk towards the medical school and hospital, I pictured Rick walking home: a former daily occurrence. The kids and I would often await his arrival, spotting him at the top of the hill in the distance and then racing down to meet him. Four years ago, it was Carson, toddling down the sidewalk to greet his dad. Then, much sooner than we expected, there were two boys waiting for their daddy. And in Rick's final days of medical school, he got to walk home facing a big four-year-old riding his bike down that sidewalk, his brother lagging behind on his trike, and a spunky little girl running as fast as her little legs could carry her. (And then there was the again-pregnant mother, probably wearing exercise pants and a T shirt, bringing up the rear.)

So many changes and memories from our four years in Winston-Salem! I hope our kids can retain something in their memories from that wonderful little city.

The day before we left, Carson and I drove around to take pictures of a few of our favorite places.

The race car carts, the free cookies, the super double couponing, and our favorite bagger, Johnny.

The family medicine doctor's office where the kids and I went. Our favorite nurse, April, who cried when we left. I will so miss having people I know and love care for me and our children, especially during labor and delivery!

A visit to this little pet store was often the reward for making it through series of errands. When we first started coming, Carson was terrified of most of the animals, especially the back wall of fish. Then one day he announced that he was ready to see the fish, and he hasn't been afraid since.

Sometimes I would get a little embarrassed at this store when the boys would yell, "hey, POOPERS!" to the ferrets, for obvious reasons.

Lots of Saturday mornings when Rick was at work or with the Scouts, the kids and I would walk down to the bagel shop, our own container of cream cheese in tow (since I am too cheap to buy theirs). The kids LOVED these bagels, and I loved the relaxing breakfasts since bagels take a while to chew.

"Daddy's hospital." We liked watching the construction of the new part of the hospital, especially watching the crane from the rooftop playground.

I joined the YMCA during our last year in Winston, when Rick was away for a few weeks at a time. Having a place to work out while someone watched the kids was wonderful! Oh, how I miss kickboxing!! And the kids loved Hanes Park, which was just across from the Y.

Downtown Winston-Salem. Whenever we saw the "Winston-Salem buildings," we knew we were close to home.

Cute little Central Library. We've been coming to weekly storytime here for four years! Carson started participating as a shy baby sitting in my lap, and by the time we moved he would complain he was bored of storytime and would prefer to go look for new Magic Treehouse books instead.

Although writing this post is making me cry, interestingly enough I haven't felt super sad about leaving Winston since we moved here to San Antonio. Our new house here is pretty much perfect, and we instantly met friends here, so there has been too much good to feel sad.

something recent: Sea World!

Still have a lot of catching up to do with the move and getting settled... but here is last weekend.

My best friends from both high school and college all live in Texas; isn't that funny? Jen and her family came down last weekend, and we all went to Sea World together. We're glad they give military families one free visit per year!

Nobody was brave enough to touch or feed the dolphins, but then again I didn't really want to touch them either.

Two bellies!

Faye surprised me by actually being interested in and paying attention to some of the shows.

During this show, the animals participated as actors. It was really funny.

Carson feels safer at any show if his ears are plugged. You just never know when a loud noise might sound.

The group except for Rick.

The kids, especially Everett and Faye, loved the Sesame Street Bay of Play. Should have brought swim suits, but they didn't care.

Happy boys on the carousel. They made Faye and me sit on the bench. 
The boys also went on their first roller coaster ever, this little Shamu ride. I sat with Everett, and Carson went on the trip before us to sit with Kate. As I watched him sitting there and the roller coaster took off, it totally broke my heart. I could tell he was scared and was not going to like the ride. I felt so awful for sending him by himself I just about cried. He will not be going on another roller coaster anytime soon.

Everett really wanted to see Cookie Monster in person, and we were super lucky to happen to walk by just as this show was ending.

Everett had this great plan where he was going to give Cookie Monster a cookie. We brought some along, and his dream totally came true. Ev was expecting Coookie Monster to go crazy and gobble the cookie up, so he was a little disappointed when he didn't. Someone told him Cookie Monster was allergic to cookies, so now the boys think he has an allergy.

Carson, Everett, Kate and Jane.

Looking for alligators.

The Shamu show was definitely a highlight, and we actually got to sit down since Jen and I decided being pregnant warranted sitting in the handicapped seating.

By 2 or 3 p.m. people were obviously feeling a little hot and tired.

Snakes.

carson was sleeping in the car faye and everett war awake. (Carson typed that all by himself.) Doesn't he look comfortable?

Dance!

Back in Winston-Salem, one of our favorite things was dance class. My good friend Emily kindly taught a bunch of kids dance at the church, just for fun. When she first started teaching, Everett was just a baby and would occasionally copy the dancers. By the time we moved, he was a real participant. I'm sad Faye won't be joining in on the fun! 

Emily organized a dance recital in May, since many of us were about to move. I loved seeing my boys perform, even though Everett  got a little out of control sometimes. 

The dancers join hands in prayer before the recital. 

Go team!

Sadie, Carson, Abby wait for their turn to dance.

The "I love you" dance.

The Cinderella ballet dance. Lots of princesses, and my two princes. (This was actually only half the group of dancers.)

Notice Everett is yawning here.

The Lion King dance.

Luckily the partner part of this dance worked out. Usually Carson got frustrated with Everett  not doing it right, but things worked out the day of the recital.

All the cute dancers. As I was making these little heart shirts, Carson and Everett saw me ironing in pink hearts, and they both said they would refuse to wear pink. See, even if they do ballet, they are manly men who only wear blue hearts.

Miss Emily, Carson and Sadie.

The dances! I love when Everett gets a little crazy and Carson tries to correct him, especially in the last one.

Hooding.

On the way to the hooding ceremony, Carson asked if his dad was going to have to always wear a hood from now on. I think he was picturing Rick and all his classmates wearing hoodies or something.

Do I need to mention which children behaved so horribly that I pretty much missed the whole ceremony and wore myself out chasing them around in heels? Faye lasted for a little bit in the back of the chapel, but that girl runs fast, and after sprinting down the aisle after her a couple times, we ended up outside. And look who decided to start sucking his thumb again; the graduation was just that bad.