Goodbye, Carolina Avenue...

It seems so strange that tonight is our last night at 201 Carolina Avenue, Greer. I was trying to remember the exact day we moved in, but couldn't. I know we closed on the house 4 days after Noah was born, but the move itself is a bit fuzzy. I do remember that I was still in a fragile state, and didn't do a whole lot (when I tried, well, it wasn't good...I just remember thinking, "Uh Oh" and "Did I rip something?").

I remember it was very, very hot, and we had everyone pitching in to help move us in--Patrick, Mom, Dad, Dan, Janet, Rachel... We had Sonic for lunch (I think I still have the receipt we used to write the order down on), which again reinforces Patrick's belief that I only remember things when there's food associated. He may be right.

I remember the first thing to come into the house was Noah's Pack-n-Play--this was the only bed we had for him, since a true crib wouldn't fit in the apartment. Then the red sofa for a place for me to sit. Then I just watched our belongings being carted in by various family members.

We were so excited about the house, the yard, the location. It really has a lot going for it--lots of charm in the wood floors and original doorknobs; the large kitchen; the huge, fenced yard; the man shed that we had all sorts of ideas for (guest cottage was what we would have loved to have done. As it was, it was an amazing storage space). We loved the little dollhouse, and could just see a little girl loving it (at the time we made an offer on the house, I was still pregnant, and the sex of The Bean was still unknown). Then, when Noah made his appearance we thought when he got older we'd make some modifications to the doll house & make it a boy house someway--a barn-type house, maybe.

The house wasn't perfect, but I don't think any house IS perfect. We loved the porch, the deck, and the fact that we could walk to Downtown Greer. We really loved that last part when Greer went all-out and did a gorgeous park, and restaurants started moving in (then moving out...but then a resurgence, and more eateries are moving to Downtown). It had its quirks, as most old houses do.

I think I'll always have a special place in my heart for 201 Carolina--

It's the first house we brought our son to.

It's the house our baby said his first word, "Kitty." (Thanks, Mouse, for upstaging us yet again.)

It's the house our baby first crawled, and then rolled.

It's the house our baby took his first steps (finally!).

It's the house we took our Christmas picture in for the first 3 years of Noah's life.

It's the house that saw the transition from floppy baby, to baby, to toddler, to little boy.

It was our home.

I wish the new occupant many years of happiness, and hope that some of our joy we found within these walls will remain to bless the new families that will call this house their home.

Boo at the Zoo!

We had our first Boo at the Zoo last night, and Noah had a great time. We were a little worried--driving up to the zoo, they had a police officer directing traffic, and we noticed immediately that the first parking lot was completely filled up. Granted, this isn't Disney World, but it is a little intimidating when you see the line getting into the zoo stretching past the gates, and nearly down into the parking lot, doubling on itself... But, we figured that we were there, may as well see how bad it's going to be. And you know, it wasn't bad at all. We waited in line for maybe 15 minutes, and during the wait, Noah really enjoyed seeing all the kids dressed up in the costumes, and it was great weather, and people seemed like they were in good moods.

Once we were in, they gave Noah a bag, and we went through the zoo, stopping at the various stations getting treats. We were there for about 1 1/2 hours, and got lots of pictures and some video of Noah the Dinosaur. He really enjoyed all the blow up decorations--in fact, he woke up this morning talking about one of the large decorations in particular (of course, it would be the one that I didn't take any pictures of, and Patrick thought he had video of it, but when we got home, realized he didn't get it).

I give it a big thumbs up, and hope we'll be able to go back next year!

Enjoy the pictures, and our love to all!

Out front, waiting to get in; they had a sorta Harry Potter theme going on.



One of the treats were vampire teeth; snapped this in the nick of time, because they promptly fell out of his mouth after the picture. I've got the teeth, though, and will sanitize them for future use!


Chatting with the "snowman."


Loved the kitty in the pumpkin.


This is one of my favorites, I think because it's something that I can see us getting a picture here each year...

In front of one of his much-loved blow up decorations.


With a fellow dinosaur!


One of the treats was an animal mask. He's the elusive Raccoonasaurus. I think there needs to be a comic book about him...


Looking for the piggy...


With his friend, the Owl. We were so proud of him--he saw "Boo" all over the place, and he pointed at it and said, "That spells boo!"

A new blog...

I am not giving up my blog--I've had it for too long, it's seen me through way too much, and I do enjoy it when I have time.

We think you'll like the new blog--it's basically a Noah Picture-of-the-Day.

I got a wild hair the other day to just take a quick picture of Noah before we left for school. We see him every day, and certainly notice the changes going on--legs getting longer, face looking more like a boy, ability to put outfits together.

So, we thought we'd document these changes on a new blog.

Hope you enjoy!

Noah Pic-of-the-Day blog