Moving into New House and First Day of School

Right after Labor Day, we were ready to move into our new house just north of Charlotte and close to Lake Norman. The kiddos stayed with Grandma and Grandpa (in their words, "mah-ma" and "pa-pa") while we got the initial round of boxes unpacked. After a few days, they joined us to get settled into their new home. They especially liked the completely empty living room and dining room -- we had no need for furniture for these rooms in Boston in our small condo -- giving them a lot of room to run around. Their new house also has space to create a "playroom" in the downstairs office area. Complete with two built-in bookshelves to store all of their books, this is a room they can go to get away from mom and dad and enjoy their toys.

The week after we got moved into the new house, they started preschool at an area church where they go two mornings per week. Isabel especially likes wearing her backpack to school (I think maybe she is wondering if it is magical like Dora's backpack), and they have enjoyed meeting new friends and learning from the great teachers at this school.

Some photos of our first weeks in NC are below.

Isabel enjoys sitting at her new table in the playroom...


...she really enjoys her new table.


Cameron is the book worm of the family, and enjoys putting his feet up and choosing a book from the shelves in their playroom.


A game they have enjoyed is an early version of "hide and seek", where one of them hides and we all say "Isabel, where are you?"....


...and when Isabel show you her hiding place, we all say "There you are!!!" Not much seeking in this game!!! Another aspect of the house the kids like are the extra kitchen cabinets that they can use for their version of hide and seek.


Isabel wearing her backpack on the first day of school. The backpack is as big as she is and we need to hold it up or else she falls over backward!!


Going out the front door with Mommy and Grandma to their first day of school...


..."Bye-bye Daddy!"

Farewell to Boston...

Even though we "love that dirty water" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a65H8PR17fY) and Boston will always be the city where we started our family, we packed up in August and moved south to North Carolina. On the weekend of Aug 6, we made the long drive to North Carolina with two dogs, two kids, and two cars full of two thousand pounds of stuff (or at least it seemed like 2000 lbs!). The following week, Meghan and I returned to meet the movers and say our final farewell to Boston with a dinner in the North End and a walk over the Charlestown bridge. See some photos below.

The moving truck barely fit on our little street, scraping by the power lines and trees above.


Self portrait from our driveway, with a final look at the entrance to our first house together.


Dinner in the North End with Jess and Darrin, with the best table in town, looking out the balcony at Hanover Street below.





Final parting shot, taken from the Charlestown Bridge with the Zakim Bridge in the background.