With our move looming the entire month of May,
Vic's best friend, Eric, would call him at work
and play the Boyz II Men song over the phone.
He'd also email us the video every once in a while.
It jokingly became the theme of our move to Dallas.
During a month filled with lots of goodbyes,
we tried to embrace Vic's mindset of just enjoying the moment.
That can be especially hard for me, but it was the best way
to avoid a nervous breakdown, so I went along with it :)
We tried to fit in as much as we could our last few weeks in CT.
First up was cheering on Vic and our Crossfit team
at the Reebok headquarters during Regionals.
Big thank you to Tom, Wendy and Courtney who came for the weekend
to help with Lexi/give us the chance to leave town for a bit.
Jessica, my childhood friend, and her twins paid us a visit
It's fun to see things full circle - both of us now mothers to two kiddos
We enjoyed lunch at Firehouse Deli and then a trip to the playground
The moms below were part of Ryleigh's playgroup.
They are all first time moms, but welcomed me and my always changing schedule
It was great to enjoy dinner at Artisan with them and reflect on the year
Lexi, Shane and Tyler met as toddlers at The Little Gym.
They remained friends - despite living in three different towns and going to different schools.
I also happen to love their mommies.
It's nice to know that when I think back on Lexi's early years, Shane,
and especially Tyler (not pictured here), will play such a big role.
I became friendly with Chrissy, Avery's mom,
after we each welcomed our second daughters.
Both sets of girls were fast friends, just like their mommies.
I will miss these three ladies dearly,
and I was so thankful to be able to spend one last evening out with them.
One Saturday night in May, Vic and I were treated to goodbye parties.
The ladies and I had dinner and drinks at 55 Degrees.
I will miss them all dearly.
At the same time, Vic (and 30 of his closest friends ;)
started with a private dinner party at Old Post Taven followed by a bar crawl.
Big props to Eric for organizing this special night -
he and Adrienne are truly one-of-a-kind friends to us.
I asked several of the guys to please, please take pictures.
This is all I ended up with - and it's one that I took
when we stopped by to say hello.
Oh well, he had a wonderful time and felt very loved,
and that's all that matters.
Oh, and he finally made it to the Sea Grape after living in Fairfield for 8 years!
One last play date at Avery's
They sent us off in style-complete with a framed group picture
surrounded by all of their handprints
and some goodies to entertain the girls on the plane
(which of course we accidentally left in our rental car)
Saying goodbye to our beloved babysitter, Alice.
She literally lived at our house this past month.
The girls both love her, and I love her even more.
She is headed off to college this summer,
so I tell myself we wouldn't be seeing much of her anyway.
My friends in Fairfield have already snatched her up,
while I have yet to find a sitter here in Dallas
She certainly set the bar very high.
I expect great things out of this mature, smart, kind young lady!
The moving truck arrived on a wet, rainy Friday.
No turning back now.
John and Sue, our next door neighbors,
came over to say one last goodbye to the girls.
A few last pictures on the front steps.
(This was just before Ryleigh ate the whole cupcake wrapper!)
And, boy do they need a sweeping.
But with buyers as frustrating as ours were,
we did not feel compelled to do them any favors.
After a 4 HOUR drive to Sparta (more than double the time it normally takes),
we limped up to my parents house in our rented minivan -
with two tired, cranky, hungry girls
and an even more cranky mommy.
After dinner and a nice visit, with my batteries recharged,
I said goodbye to them for the weekend and turned right back around.
Vic and I needed to spend the next few days helping the movers,
getting all the last items out of the house,
meeting with our lawyer and our agent,
and saying a few last goodbyes.
With no furniture in our house, we camped out at the Delamar for the weekend.
It had been a LONG TIME since we'd been kid/schedule free for an entire few days.
I have to admit, it kind of felt like a mini staycation.
Marci was my first friend in Fairfield.
Always up for anything, I will really miss her.
We're hoping she and Bron might return to Dallas one day!
Cocktails and apps with our favorite neighbors
Followed by dinner with some friends.
By this point, we were considered "regulars" at Artisan
And then it was our last night in Fairfield.
We had made these plans months earlier -
to spend our last night with our two favorite couples.
They are the kind of friends that can never be replaced.
I made photobooks for them both - pictures through the years -
of us together, of our children together, of our pre-children years.
It was fun to look through them over dinner
and relive some pretty spectacular times.
Vic made a little toast that brought tears to just about every eye, his included.
And then it was time for some good hearted fun - dinner at Splash
Followed by drinks at the Gray Goose
And then we bid goodbye to the Oziemblewski's
and joined Cam and Beth at their house
for some drinks and tunes by the Chiminea
At the very late/very early hour (depending how you look at it) of 2:30 am,
we called it a night.
Somehow, Vic made it to Crossfit first thing in the morning,
for one last workout with the group.
The members here (and all the rest not pictured) have become our friends over the years.
They have pushed us, challenged us and cheered for us.
And finding a community like that is one of the first things we did upon arriving in Dallas.
As for me on this particular morning though, I welcomed one last chance to sleep in :)
All the while, the girls were making memories of their own in NJ.
My wonderful parents and sister kept them busy the entire weekend.
There was no way we could have tied up all the loose ends
with the girls at our heels.
We are so very thankful for your willingness to take them with open arms.
I know it was a lot of work and a lot of late nights,
but the girls enjoyed every minute of their time with you all!
We paid one last visit to Madison on Memorial Day,
and then turned right around to spend the night in Sparta.
We were so disappointed not to be able to stop at Wendy's in Chester,
but Ryleigh was so overdue for bed it just wasn't in the cards.
Moving away from our entire family
is perhaps the hardest part about leaving the Northeast.
Seeing grandparents, siblings and cousins via a quick car ride
was something we certainly took for granted.
Cannot wait for both sides of the family to visit us in Texas!
We look forward to showing you around
and making some new Dallas memories.
For now though, we finally, finally were on our way.
We lost Ryleigh's one and only pacifier in the security line.
Very poor planning, I know.
The photo below was just before she lost her ever-loving-mind during take-off.
She literally screamed for 20 straight minutes.
Her ears seemed to hurt her something awful.
And there was absolutely nothing we could do to calm her down.
Lollipops didn't work, bottle didn't work, toys didn't work, changing seats didn't work.
We were for sure the stereotypical family that everyone kept glaring at.
It started out as the longest flight of our lives.
But, once we leveled off, she turned back to her sweet-as-can-be girl.
She charmed the row behind us with many games of peek-a-boo.
And thus began our new adventure!!!
As terribly hard as it is to "say goodbye to yesterday",
there's always something exciting waiting around the corner
