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!

Hokie Hokie Hokie High!!

Tech Tech VPI!!! We are heading to the Orange Bowl! We had such a fun weekend and of course the highlight was the big Virginia Tech/Florida State game in Charlotte for the ACC Championship. This is the first year it has been in Charlotte and we were really excited to be playing for the big game. In fact, I tentatively booked our babysitter 6 weeks ago when I thought things were looking good for us! I was going to make sure we could go if we made it! So, the weather in Charlotte in December is usually high 50's, it was even in the 60's last week and all week, they were saying 55 and sunny but when we woke up Saturday morning, we had a few flurries falling and it was cold. Really cold, like northeast cold. Not like Charlotte cold. Throughout the day, the weather turned to sleet and my attitude towards going to the game started turning sour but as the time approached, it stopped raining and my spirits rose. Before we game, we went to a couple different tailgates and got to see lots of friends who traveled in from out of town for the game. I actually went to one that was indoors and heated and saw a bunch of my sorority sisters. And as when we all get together, debauchery soon ensued! Someone thought playing flip cup and reliving our college days was a good idea.

Well, I have to say, we haven't lost a thing! We went undefeated and it wasn't even that close!

We would like to think we won the ACC flip cup championship, I think we could compete for the National Championship!

After some hard core tailgating, we headed over to the stadium in our 17 layers for the game. It actually wasn't as cold as I thought it was going to be or maybe it was the 3 hot chocolates I drank and hand warmers that kept us warm.

And plus, you are never really cold when your team is winning! This was sweet revenge for the 1999 National Championship when we lost to Florida State in New Orleans. Mike and I were also present for that game and being on the winning side is so much more fun!

We sat with our friends Erin and Jeremy and we all had a great time cheering on the Hokies!

Now, it is on to the Orange Bowl where we will play Stanford. It will be a tough game but considering how the season started for us, we are happy to be playing in a BCS bowl game.

Earlier in the week, we had a short visit from Papa and DeeDee. Papa had a work dinner and they came up for just a night and got to spend some time with Ella. Ella was so funny, she would follow Papa all around the house and even into the other rooms when he was trying to make work phone calls. Papa also snuck her some treats so of course, she would stick by his side!

This cold weather has stayed in Charlotte, it only got up to 38 today!! Where is the normal 50 and 60's??? We are hoping it warms up soon, we are getting a little case of cabin fever and it's only been a couple days. We live in Charlotte for warm weather not this 30 degree stuff!! Oh well, I guess it's beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas! The elves have been busy, tree and decoration pics coming soon!

H-O-K-I-E-S

It had been way too long. Way Way too long! First I was pregnant and then we had a newborn last fall so it had been way too long since we have been back to one of our favorite places, Virginia Tech. We first had the idea of having a fun weekend without the kids when we found out VT was playing ECU and one of neighbors went to ECU and the others wanted to come back and see what Mike and I have been telling them about for so long. So, the grandparents all arrived to watch the kids and the adults headed up for a fun weekend. The weather was perfect and the game even better and we all had such a fun time. Especially the grandparents that got to stay at home and spoil the little ones and the adults got to relive some of our college glory (although, we quickly realized that we can't hang with the college kids anymore!).

The Charlotte crew, divided on who they were cheering on but we were all in good spirits at the tailgate.

The girls and yes, I tried to get them to wear VT shirts but they would soon learn, they should have worn orange and maroon!

The guys having a few drinks before we headed off for the game.

I even got to meet up with some of my sorority sisters that all came in for the game. It is funny how times have changed, 3 of us have kids, 1 is pregnant now and the other is engaged and getting married this spring! I guess we are officially old now.

Is there a more beautiful setting for a football game than Lane Stadium? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

The first half was a really close game and the Hokies were actually behind by 3 points but things started to turn around in the second half.

And this is how it finished, finally a victory for Virginia Tech after a rough start to the football season. Hopefully we can start moving forward from this win and forget the first 2 games.

After the game, we went back to our tailgate spot and had so much fun celebrating the big win. We planned on just going back for another drink or two but ended up staying until late and even ordered pizza to our spot for some dinner. We are pretty die hard fans!

And of course we had to show our friends that had never been to Blacksburg before our favorite spot, Top of the Stairs. I think they enjoyed it and enjoyed the rail drinks even more!

Charlotte invaded Blacksburg! It is such a memorable and magical place for Mike and I and we were so happy to share it with some of our closest friends. It was definitely a fun and wild weekend but we are all very tired now and were happy to get home to see the kids. Plus, Ella is officially walking nonstop now so we couldn't wait to get home to watch her, more pics and videos of her walking later this week, stay tuned. Thanks again to DeeDee and Great Grammy for coming to babysit Ella and Dakota all weekend!