First Down - Pirates

Megan posted online the other day that we were trying to find ECU tickets. She was trying to find out how much they would be, but they were no longer selling online because the game was sold out. I was completely unaware of the inquiry and was very surprised to get a call from a friend who said he had four tickets. I told him I thought that we would be interested in them, and how much did he want for them. When he said I want to give them to you I told him we were definitely interested! Within the hour I had these.

It turned out that they were not only tickets, they were great tickets, this was our view from the stands.

For us, a football game is less about football and more about the experience. Three girls, not really understanding what was going on, but fully aware of the festivity around them. They loved it ...

Emily saw a kid with a foam finger and that is what she wanted on this day. The problem is that the finger the kid had was a reasonable size, the only ones that they were selling on this day were big. So, Emily Grace has a foam finger as big as her.

Everyone loved it ... You can still see the faint outline of Addison's whiskers from facepainting the night before at the fall festival at Brinson elementary.

Olivia ran into the Bojangles chicken and even this vegetarian could not pass up a photo-op. Besides, this chicken is still alive; he just represents dead chickens who are about to be deep fat fried.

And then there was the food.

We had popcorn and we had drink but the big hit of the day was purple cotton candy! 

It was a day of fun, the weather was perfect, the game was perfect, the food was perfect, and even the football was perfect; East Carolina defeated Tulsa. We even ended up staying for the whole game – no one would've predicted that.

A shout out to Lloyd and Wendy Daw who generously gave us these great seats for this day. Our family enjoyed every last bit of this entire college football experience. We shall not soon forget this day.

We all left with smiles like these.

Meanwhile... Back at the Ranch

Megan had to be at a family wedding in Vermont. She took the opportunity to have one on one time with Olivia. They went to Boston and then on to Vermont. I am sure there will be a post related to this trip.

While at home, the rest of us held it in the road. This was our experience.

We started our days like normal:

Then we did some fun things at night. Imagine Chuck E. Cheese all to yourself.  Not planned - it just happened.

We stopped at Subway on the way home.

I discovered these, they sounded better than they tasted but it was an awesome find.

The next day found us at this old familiar place.  The Linwood Zoo in Jacksonville. 

This is Addison with a baby chick

A chicken named snowball

This is Franklin and his little brother. Our. girls have known Franklin for their whole lives. They know him well indeed.

They try to teach kids not to be afraid of all snakes.

So, they made me hold him too.

Next we went home and mom and Olivia would be arriving soon.

Looking back at Boston

This is a little late to just go with it! I'm a working mom and trying to keep everything up and running takes everything I've got.

You've seen on this blog over the years that we gave up birthday parties. We found that I got stressed out, which stressed everyone with a 5 mile radius out so we took on a new strategy. Each girl gets to choose a trip. Sometimes it is a family trip sometimes it's a parent and child trip. It just depends on so many factors.

This year Olivia and I were fortunate enough to get away for a few days, just the two of us. Let me think back to a time where I had days with her by myself and we go back 8 years. Yep, right before her sister Addison was born. We were definitely due. If you know Olivia at all, she is busy. I mean always moving but in a good way. Her imagination is unbelievable. She doesn't always know how to express herself but what comes out at the end if always beautiful. From a very young age everyone told Joe and I how beautiful she was. I mean they would say things like…I mean all babies are pretty but Olivia is a gorgeous baby. Now those same people might tell every new mom that but I have put that out of my head.



She is still beautiful both inside and out. If you must know anything else about Olivia know that she is a hard worker. She works extremely hard in school and we are amazingly proud of her.


Back to the title of the post, Boston. My cousin Zach got married in Vermont and it turned out that the closest airport was Boston. I had never been there so I was able to convince Olivia to forego the Chuckie Cheese family trip and go to Boston with me for a few days. It was not as easy as you would think, but after much arm twisting and a later Chuckie trip promised she was all on board.

We booked a VERY early flight out of New Bern at 5AM. Which meant that we had to be at the airport at 4:15 ish. IT WAS EARLY. We took late showers and slept in our clothes. Yep, that's what we did. She had no trouble getting up and moving. She was beyond excited to have me all to myself.

Olivia and I landed in Charlotte and then off to Boston. It was a great day. We got our rental car and braved Boston traffic and made it to our hotel. There my parents had already arrived and met us at the hotel. We went for lunch and then we were off to find our way in Boston.  I was tired but she never blinked. We went to the Science Museum and checked it out. It was Free because of our NC Aquarium pass and I got my parents in too. It was a win, win. We had a blast walking around. To top it off the planetarium was having a Magic Tree House exhibit. Well if you know Olivia you know that she read nothing but MTH books through out 3rd grade. We know all the titles by heart and some she has read two and three times. Unfortunately, it was past the time and the lady at the front said it started back at 10AM. Well the big blue eyes made me promise we would come back the next day and see if. So we decided we would do that before catching the subway back to our hotel, etc and then head to Vermont for the rehearsal dinner, etc of Friday night. We had a great time seeing my parents and spending time with them. We headed back to the Subway station, ate dinner and then went to bed. We had been up since 4AM. It had been a long day.

The next day we got up and got back on the Subway-on a side note for those not familiar with Boston. Our Subway ride was a good hour commute each way. It wasn't bad but I didn't budget that in our time frame really well. We made it work but Olivia got bored quickly. I was thankful it was just her I had to manage and not three little girls on a subway for an hour each way. Next time if we bring all the girls we'll know to spend the money on a hotel near the city center, etc.

Olivia and I also took the Original Duck Tours of Boston. This is always either wonderful or a bust. Well, it was terrific. I learned so much about Boston. To be honest, I kept wishing Joe was there so he could explain it all to me-the history part. But we got to see Boston and learn a little too.

Well as luck would have it, the receptionist did not fully explain that the Magic Tree House planetarium movie showed at 10Am and at 1:30PM. So there I stood with a 10 year old after being on the subway for an hour with her heart set on seeing the movie…yep, you guessed it. We switched our plans and hung out for a few extra hours. We ended up buying tickets to the Pixar exhibit which had just opened the day before. As you know we are BIG Disney fans. She got to move all kinds of Pixar characters, models both hands on and digital. It really was pretty cool! We went and ate at Cheesecake factory and had a great lunch. After we headed back to see the movie. I took a good 20 minute needed nap and then headed BACK on the subway to the subway station where our car was parked. Shew, now for the 3 1/2 hour drive through Mass and Vermont. I have to say I had not driven through either area so she and I just talked about the scenery. We had such a great day. We even passed a famous author's childhood home. Sorry, at the moment I can not remember the name, crazy!

We made it to Vermont at the B&B and spoke to family. We checked into our hotel and explored a little. The next day would be the wedding. Olivia was excited to go as she had never been to one.

That Saturday we woke up and there was a Bazaar and street fair down the mountain. We grabbed a bite to eat and then met my parents, Drewsky (my brother) and baby Ella. We all drove separately but we ended up downtown walking around. Olivia made sand art, got kisses from dogs and pretended to be interested. After about an hour we had enough. We packed into the rental car with my parents and headed to the Vermont Country Store. It was a trip of a lifetime. We saw amazing mountains and countryside. We ate delicious ice cream and walked through a MASSIVE store. I picked up Vermont Moose for both Addison and Emily Grace as Souveniers. We also picked out our tradition Christmas Tree Ornament. The Wedding came and Olivia got panicked about the music, and candles. So she and I stood off to the side and enjoyed the beautiful outdoor wedding. It was behind the B&B and just beautiful scenery.

That night we danced and partied. Baby Ella really knows how to throw down! I will never forget her dancing and dancing to the music. I will never forget Olivia running around in the dark with her new found friends and cousins and cousins, cousins.

The next day we woke up super early and hit the road back to Boston. She and I had an early 11AM flight which mean we had to be there by 9AM and a 3 1/2 hour drive meant we were up early with the birds. Yep, that was all that was awake when we left in the am. We got on the road found drinks (not styrofoam BTW) and got to moving!

We had a 4 hour lay over in Charlotte. It was a looooong day. We were beyond excited to get to our van back in New Bern. We had a fan club meeting us when we arrived. Olivia if your reading this, I want you to know how much fun I had on our trip just you and me. It taught me so much about you! I will always remember how much we laughed. I love you sweet girl.
love, mom