How is it mid November already?

I feel like I start every blog post the same, "We are staying busy here" and the "Fall is just flying by" and I hate to sound cliche but the fact is that we are staying busy and having a really fun fall. Two weekends ago we had our annual neighborhood HOA party. This year, we rented a large smoker and the guys got up at 7am to put the pork and ribs on the smoker so they could cook all day. It turned out to be a big success and the food was great. We also rented a giant bounce house since there are so many kids in the neighborhood which was definitely the highlight for them.
It got a little cool once the sun went down, good thing I just got Ella a new winter hat. The kids weren't so interested in the pork but they thought the hot dogs and mac and cheese were yummy.

And a major benefit of having the party right outside your house is extra time in the bounce house. The company came out and set it up early on Saturday and didn't come back until Sunday afternoon so Ella was in heaven bouncing on the "trampoline" as she called it.

And her dad is a big kid also and had fun jumping around with Ella.

Last week we had some really warm days where temperatures reached the 70's and the weather was just perfect. One day after I picked Ella up from school, I decided instead of heading home and going right down for a nap like we usually do, we would make a pit stop at the park for some fresh air and play time.

We were the only ones there and Ella had a blast running from one thing to the other and of course showing off her favorite trick, swinging on the slide bar.

On Thursday, Mike and I picked Ella up from school and headed down to Atlanta for the Georgia Tech/ Virginia Tech game. My Dad got us amazing seats, 6 rows up and my aunt and uncle from DC (also VT alum) and my other uncle from Rochester all came down for the weekend so we had a blast. Ella stayed home with the babysitter so Mom and Dad and everyone else could go cheer on the Hokies. The game was close pretty much the entire time until the end and I am happy to say the Hokies won! Everyone was happy!

The game worked out perfectly that it was the day before Veterans Day so Mike had off work on Friday. We decided to go check out the Georgia Aquarium on Friday morning with the crew.

Ella loved getting all the extra attention all weekend. Both my aunts and uncles kids are older now so they loved playing with her and having a little one around again. Here is my Aunt Jeanne with Ella waiting in line for the Aquarium.

Once inside, we went to see an interactive dolphin show but cameras were restricted there so no pictures but it was very cool and the dolphins were amazing. Ella kept saying, "dolphins jump high" and they did. After that, we explored the rest of the aquarium.

(Side note, whenever the camera comes out, Ella says "Cheese" as hard as she can and shows all of her teeth.)

She was so excited to see all the fishies, especially the big ones like the sharks and sting rays. She loved that they were swimming above her also. She kept pointing every time time, saying there's a fishy and another one.

Ella also loved showing Uncle Court all the big fish, check out the shark swimming right behind them.

The aquarium is huge and I just loved how close you could get to the displays and tanks to see all the fish.

More "cheese" pictures, showing off her pearly whites again!

Ella and her crazy Uncle Court loved making fishy faces! Ella's is a hybrid between her fishy face and her monkey face so maybe she was acting out the monk fish's face!

Trying to look for Nemo in the tropical fish room, unfortunately, the nemo display was really small. Note to the aquarium, every kid loves Nemo, get some more clown fish!

Later that night, Ella introduced Uncle Al to one of her new favorite movies, The Cat in the Hat. She had a blast sitting with him telling him all about the movie and characters.

On Saturday, the girls went shopping and the guys played golf. When they returned, DeeDee and Papa took Ella for a ride in the golf cart and showed her a gift they had gotten for her before she was even born or knew she was a girl, a set of kids golf clubs! Papa showing her the proper way to hold a club!

(I have no idea why that grey line is on the side of the picture, weird!)

And then giving it a try all by herself. Of course she thought the most fun was picking them out of the bag and putting them back in so not sure she is sold on the sport yet but she does have a great pair of clubs!

Overall, it was such a fun weekend with lots of family that we don't get to see enough, watching the Hokies win and checking out the amazing aquarium. I can't believe it's already mid November and Thanksgiving is next week (and I am cooking, yikes!) Like I said in the beginning the fall is flying by! Have a good week!