Halloween at Virginia Tech...

As we looked at the Virginia Tech football schedule we were bummed to see that the best game for us to go to was on Saturday, November 1 - meaning we'd have to be down there on Halloween. Though after giving it some thought, we realized that camping on campus the night of Halloween could prove to be just as or more exciting for Adam than simply trick-or-treating around our neighborhood...and boy were we right! 

We had planned to pass candy out to our fellow campers so Adam could go camper to camper collecting treats, but the rainy and freezing cold weather made that option not such a great one. Instead, my mom informed us that the VT volleyball team would be playing that night and that they had lots of Halloween activities planned. Virginia Tech sports - check! Indoors - check! Trick-or-Treating - check! Watching volleyball - check! Free admission - check! Sign us up! 

Adam loved putting his Harry Potter costume back on and I think we even did better on his lighting bolt that night. We arrived at Cassel Colosseum and were immediately greeted by a group of college kids (we later found out they were the cheerleaders!) decked out in their costumes passing out candy. They got such a kick out of Adam, of course, who wouldn't? :) We continued to walk around gathering up treats and Adam continued to also gather up lots of "awwwws" and "oh my goodness it's Harry Potter!" 

Then when the volleyball match started we grabbed some seats and proceeded to cheer on the Hokies! Somehow in all my time at Virginia Tech I never attended a volleyball game, so it felt good to finally get a match under my belt. After the first game we did some more walking around gathering treats and the most amazing thing happened - we saw the Hokie Bird!! Having Adam get a photo with the Hokie Bird was quite the site to see and even better, one of the cheerleaders offered to take a photo of all three of us - it was too much! 

Shortly after our encounter with our beloved mascot an even more amazing thing happened - I spotted the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame Wall. I never knew that existed inside of Cassel - I always assumed it was in the football facility for some reason - and thus I had never gotten to see my granddad's plaque among all the other honorees. Seeing his face looking down on us was almost too much to take - what a wonderful man he was and I was proud to be able to show Dr. Louis Ripley off to my Adam Louis. Wow. This night was too good to be true. 

After all that excitement we settled back in to watch the second game, after which they announced they'd be holding a costume parade! Adam loved getting to march with the other kids and I have to say it was too cute watching him walk on the court waving to the crowd with such enthusiasm. Was this night really happening!? 

So, I'd say our decision to spend Halloween in Blacksburg was about as good an idea as we've had in a long time - and Adam had lots of candy to prove it!