Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi!

More family fun at Virginia Tech. We walked around part of the campus, stopped by the bookstore to purchase Hokie apparel, and took in the street vendors and concerts that were part of 'Stepping Out' in downtown Blacksburg. It was awesome to be back at VT! I told Katy that I miss it a lot and that she had to go to college at Tech so I could get back more often. Her suggestion was that I start taking graduate classes at Tech!

Hokie Alum with future Hokies girls

Don't you love the school spirit!

Take note of the VT shoes. I couldn't resist purchasing when I saw them at the bookstore. Not only are they darlin' VT shoes but they also have squeakers in the sole. Carrington stopped cold in her tracks after taking her first two steps. She had no idea what was going on under her feet. The third step was a totally different story. She took off running from one side of the street to the other, absolutely loving the noise her shoes made.

How many Hokie Birds do you see in the picture?

Meredith, future Hokie in her belly, Brett and the "great" Hokie bird!

Take me out to the ballgame...

The first weekend in August was filled with family fun in Roanoke, Va. We went to the Salem Redsox baseball game to enjoy some stick ball, peanuts, and popcorn.

Brrett schooling Carrington on the game of baseball

A rare picture of me with straight hair.

That's one good corndog!
And kiss to go on the side

Carrington ate popcorn (pop,pop), nacho chips, pretzel and cheese, and dip'n dots.

Brett was calling Carrington over so they could sing and dance to Sweet Caroline.

The pink baseball bat makes a great microphone, as well as, a great toy to knock people out and keep Bear Dog in line, if needed.

Carrington's turn to sing

Brett loves him some Carrington. He even taught her a new saying...What's up, Chicken Butt? Only problem is Carrington got the last half and goes around saying, "Chicken Butt". What am I going to do!

Happy 14th Birthday, Katy!

The Birthday Girl celebrated her 14th Birthday on July 31st. She got all dolled up, complete with crown, for dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse.

Party people!

Looking on in amazement at the fire.

Cupcake...

Birthday candle...

The big wish!

Time for gifts

and cash!

Birthday Cake with Candles

and more wishes. Hope they all come true!

Carrington day dreaming about turning 16 and the little red convertible that daddy will buy her.

Donuts, and Jumpys, and Slides! Oh, my!

At the end of July, Carrington and I headed out one morning for donuts at Dunkin Donuts and a little fun at Monkey Joe's (or Monkey Jumpy's as Carrington calls it). I don't think Carrington had ever had donuts before this trip. I started her out on blueberry donut holes, blueberry being one of her favorites. Much like her mother, she didn't think much of them and only ate two. I had to force her to eat the second one.


Then is was off to Monkey Joe's, an indoor fun park with inflatable slides and jumpys. This was her first time at Monkey Joe's but she did not waste any time climbing aboard the inflatables. I figured she would have a blast, and would want to climb and slide for as long as I would allow her. Little did I know, it was going to be a workout for me because I had to help her climb up in order to go down the slides.

I don't think this picture does any justice to the size. It was huge and even more daunting trying to get a one year old to the top.

I attribute her liking this kind of stuff to gymnastics. She would spend the entire class jumping on the floor trampoline, in the block pit, or going down the slide if she could. Next time we'll bring Aaron with us so he can do the manual labor.

Independence Day Celebration!

Downtown Wilmington was the scene of our 4th of July celebration. My parents were in town for the week so they were right there with us. We headed out early to get dinner before the fireworks show. I didn't realize you needed to have reservations to get in most restuarants that night so finding a place to eat was a little challenging. It all worked out and we had dinner at a great Japanesse place. Not your typically hamburger and hot dog cookout but mixing it up once in a while is nice. After dinner we went in search of a good spot to see the sky light up. We must have hit it at the perfect time because we couldn't have had better seats (unless we were flying in a helicopter - we saw several and thought that was really cool); beating the crowd before all of downtown was packed!

Before the show started I tried to explain to Carrington what would happen once the fireworks went off. I was hoping by telling her there were a lot of loud booms and bright lights in the sky that she wouldn't get scared once things got started. I guess my crash course helped because she loved them! She looked at me a couple times and said, "pretty". I had tears in my eyes thinking how cool this first time experience must be for her.

Visit from Aunt Meredith & Uncle Brett

Meredith and Brett visited us at the end of June for a long weekend. We spent several days at the beach and made a trip to Myrtle Beach to eat at Captain George's (a favorite of Brett's). Meredith is due in September and is having a little girl! I know Carrington will be excited to have another girl cousin to play with.

The Expecting Couple

Granddaughters, Granny, Aunt

Cousins...Girls rule!