"Hokie Hokie Hokie High, Tech Tech VPI!"

It's one of my favorite new traditions we have, our annual trip to Blacksburg for Hokie football! We were especially excited this year because of our new camper and as a bonus a bunch of my buddies and old roommates were also going to be down the same weekend. Score! 

We decided to let Adam stay home (and warm!) with Grandma and Grandpa which allowed us to get in a round of golf on the Tech course. Talk about memories! Andy and I did a lot of our dating on that golf course, so always fun to go back and relive the awkward conversations and random competitions we'd set up. 

Lunch was Macadoos, seriously the best sandwiches and dinner would have been Sharkeys if it hadn't been so crowded. Instead we headed to a new place, the Tap House, where two of my best college buds, John and Dave were hanging out. It was great to all be back together again and we enjoyed reminiscing about how we had me (13 years ago!!) at the bus stop our first night as Freshman. Couldn't have made it through my time there without them, and frankly wouldn't have wanted to.

Game day had everyone up bright and early with grills fired up, mimosas, bloody marys, and I suppose quite a few beers for some, and by 9:00 everyone was well into tailgate mode. 

Sadly, VT was unable to pull off a win in overtime to conference rival Maryland, but everyone still returned from the game in good spirits and ready for tailgate part deux! :) 

Nothing beats a fall football weekend in Blacksburg, regardless of the outcome, and we'll look forward to heading back next year, and I think we'll bring our little Hokie with us, who knows, maybe he'll be up for a round of golf by then! :) 

Leaves!!

Remember how excited we were when we moved into this new house to finally have a yard and how we actually enjoyed the task of mowing and mulching? Well, I will admit that as the leaves began to fall I was still pretty excited about raking and most importantly about letting Adam jump in the piles. The novelty only wore off after we realized just how many leaves fall in our yard which is when we called in nephew Drew to lend a hand. :) 16 bags of leaves, 4+ hours of raking, blowing, and "vacuuming" and one very happy little boy (that is until we bagged up his leaf pile....don't worry Adam, we'll do it all over again next fall! :) 

Meeting Baby Parker...

Nothing better than welcoming new friends (really family) into your lives. We happily got to do just that on October 17th when Parker Claire was born. Big sister Blake and Adam are so excited to have Parker join their little circle and we can't wait to watch these kiddos continue to grow up together. Love, love, love! 

Halloween - the sequel...

I suppose our Halloween weekend at the beach could have been considered a dress rehearsal for the real deal. Adam certainly didn't mind getting to do it all over again. Halloween Eve we decorated and carved pumpkins. 

Halloween day started with a celebration and parade at school and then the main event, trick-or-treating around our new neighborhood. We had just a little bit of rain and a lot of wind, but Adam enjoyed every second of filling up his pumpkin with all kinds of treats. 

The day ended with Adam making me promise he could dress up as something different next year...seems fair. 

A "beachy" pre-Halloween...

Every year I am amazed at how Halloween seems to become a bigger and bigger holiday. Maybe it's because I have a young son who just LOVES the idea of dressing up and getting free candy, but there just seems to be this growing excitement about Halloween that seems to last more than just the one day. This was all too clear while we camped at Ocean Lakes which turned into Halloween central the weekend before the 31st.

The campground was packed! We're talking, every. site. full. You'd have thought it was the middle of the summer. Not only that, but everyone decorated their sites, their golf carts, themselves! It was Halloween on steroids and we loved every second of it. 

There was trick-or-treating, costume contests (both two legged and four legged), pumpkin hunts, and what people really went nuts for was the site decorating contests. Some folks pulled out all the stops to make their campsites as spooky and festive as possible. My favorite was the site that turned into the set of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, including a motion sensor which played the song as you drove by. Loved it. 

There was a site that set up a haunted "tent" which we steered clear of, but could hear the shrieks just the same. Some sites had very creepy clowns and zombies passing out candy and sometimes jumping out from behind tables, but thankfully I had a scare protector - Adam. Phew!

Adam wore his shark costume which was a huge hit with everyone that saw him - I mean, hello, a shark costume at the beach!? Perfection. 

It will be hard to not want to make the trip back down there next year....so maybe we will. 

Trick? or Treat?

It seemed Andy had one additional reason for wanting to tag along on my trip down south. It was the perfect opportunity to visit the Camping World in Myrtle Beach which just so happened to have in stock the camper he'd been eyeing for quite some time now. Trick? Nah, I was in on it too. 

As I look back on this blog, it's amazing all the trips we've taken, weeks at the beach, weekends in the woods, quick getaways close to home and 500+ mile trips. By the numbers, it seems we've spent nearly 120 nights in our vacation home on wheels. Amazing. 

Each trip we'd comment on various features we wished our camper had to better accommodate our needs (and wants.) So when we got a look at this new model, we knew it easily met all those needs (and most of the wants). So, we had them slap a "SOLD" sign on the door and that was that. 

A pre-Halloween treat for the family. Looking forward to all the places and adventures our new vacation home on wheels will take us! 

New wheels...

When we were down south we found a new bike for Adam that he just loves. Within 15 minutes he had the hang of it and was riding it all over the campground. Definitely a rite of passage riding your bike around the campground and I know it won't be long before those training wheels are off and we're peddling hard to keep up! 

...They Played

With my work trip in Charleston it seemed like the perfect opportunity to squeeze in a trip to Myrtle Beach. It accomplished a few things. One, it allowed Andy to use a week of vacation (he has way more than I do), two, a good excuse to visit Don & Mae Mae, three, mileage paid for - Score! 

Andy, Adam & Liddy had a great time hanging out in Myrtle. I'm told they played about a gagilion bazillion rounds of putt putt, spent a somewhat chilly day playing on the beach, rode bikes, drove around and around and around in the golf cart, and carved pumpkins.

Was sad to miss out on the fun they had, but I think they enjoyed their father/son bonding time.