Sad Good-byes

Our good-byes have started. We knew we'd dread this part, but there is no avoiding it.

Yesterday, we had lunch with our buddy, Nolan, and his mom, Juli. We only live a couple of miles away from Nolan, but he and his mom are going to be flying to Nebraska on Saturday for a month to visit his cousin, Abby, who is receiving chemo right now.

Luke enjoyed our lunch together at Rudinos, a local restaurant favorite.

These great friends will be dearly missed. Edward and Bryce work together; in fact, Bryce is one of the new chief residents, taking over Edward's office. Juli and I have been great friends the whole time we've been here, and Madison and Nolan really, really enjoy playing together. I love it how Nolan just makes himself at home when he comes over...he usually starts off by going into Madison's room and grabbing a stuffed cat (the same one everytime), which is his favorite toy at our house. They can entertain each other just chasing each other around, which is really nice when Juli and I just need to catch up and have a meal! I can't believe I'm going to miss the birth of their daughter, Clara, this August, but I'll be back in November (after my college roommate, Jenn, gets married) to see all of them.

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Then, today, we ventured to Raleigh where we went to the Jump Zone with our pals, Cassandra and Julianne.

Of all the jumping activities, this firetruck bouncer/slide was the favorite.

Luke didn't jump or slide, but he managed to keep busy. In fact, he kept me busy as I chased him around the place. The mark on his face isn't from today, but it's evidence that this kid is always getting into something and/or getting hurt.

The toddler area didn't keep Luke contained for too long. The benches were setup to keep the kids in, but apparently they haven't had many kids like Luke. Luke just climbed over the benches.

One of the bounce houses-Cassandra and Madison had a blast in here.

Tired, yet still going strong

Looking a little worn out...

What made this place even better was the fact that besides our kids, there was only a mom there with her four boys (yeah, I'd be there too running the energy out of four boys!). Having the place to themselves was great.

Getting in and out was a little difficult because the entrance was a little high, but it didn't deter the girls long.

Girls being silly...they'll miss each other a lot. They've really become nice friends. Anytime we go to Raleigh, Madison wakes up that morning talking about visiting "Cassie's house" and both girls have a blast together.

When Madison was ready to go, she came up to me and just said, "I'm ready to leave now and get lunch" which we did...we went to a local pizza place.

Jen and I have been friends since 2003. We met at Bath and Body Works in Florida. I went in and applied for an evening job to supplement my teaching job while Edward was busy with medical school. I had just finished my master's degree and needed something to 1) earn extra money and 2) meet people/keep busy while Edward was away on rotations. Jen was the assistant manager and interviewed me. We found out we had a ton in common, as she was working there while finishing her master's degree at Nova (same university where Edward went to med school), and her husband had been an officer in the Army. Even better, her mom had been an Army librarian (my master's degree was in library science) and her mom now lived in Maine (same city I vacationed in every year for 22 years). Anyways, for the next two years, we worked a lot together and became great friends. We were pregnant at the same time, both having girls, and then I moved to North Carolina just a couple of weeks before Madison was born. Jen's husband, Tim, got transferred to Raleigh a year later, and that was the first time our girls got to meet each other. Since then, we've each had a second kid, and we believe Luke and Julianne could have a nice future together...

Jen and I talk to each other everyday, at least once. We don't have to talk for long, but I think we're each other's moment of sanity. Sometimes you can barely hear the other one talking because of the screaming going on in the background, but sometimes, that's why we need to call! We shop together and just have a lot in common. We've lived miles apart before, but this time, we're mainly dreading the time change...some mornings our calls start around 8:30, which is going to be 5:30 six months of the year and 6:30 the other six months (AZ doesn't honor daylight savings time). So, while we love to talk, that's a little early in the morning! I'm sure we'll make do, but it's also going to be hard since we usually shop for each other and then just give the clothes/items to each other when we see each other. That, sadly, won't work. Luckily, my main airport of travel will be Raleigh due to a lot of family nearby, so that means I will always be able to see Jen...I mean, she lives less than five miles from my brother! We're still planning one more trip to the outlet mall, but that won't happen for a couple of weeks, after we've moved out of the house.