Happy Halloween!!

It's that time of year again. Dressing up and trick or treating. I have to admit Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays but I'm not a party pooper and will make sure Mia has fun. Getting into the Halloween spirit, we dressed Mia up in her costume and went to the Weapons School's Halloween party Friday night. I think she had a good time. She mostly ran up and down the "haunted" hallway. Saturday we got up and went to Dave's favorite restaurant, Hash House A-Go-Go, with the Thieles. If any of you come to visit, this is a place we need to take you. It's so good. Anyway, after breakfast we took a few pictures of Miss Mia with the pumpkin display there and then we decided to take Mia to the local pumpkin patch and let her pick out her own pumpkin to carve. As you will see in the pictures, she had a lot of fun trying to find the perfect pumpkin. Saturday night, our eating buddies, the Thieles invited us for dinner and pumpkin carving. The pumpkins turned out great. The daddies did most of the work while the girls just sat back and supervised. Once pumpkin carving was over it was tubby time for Mia and Kaia. We hope you all enjoy the photos and I will be doing my best to update our blog as often as I can.

Go Phillies!!!

It's time to cheer on our Phillies. Getting into the Phillies spirit was easy for Miss Mia thanks to her Uncle Mike and Aunt Gina. They sent her this adorable dress and she loves wearing it and watching the game. We even do a "Let's go Phillies!!" chant. Too cute.

San Diego

September came to an end with much excitement with a trip to San Diego with Dave's squadron over the Columbus Day weekend. His squadron goes every year and this the first year we were able to go since last year Mia was too little and we'd just moved to Vegas. We made sure we were able to go this year, and we stayed on Coronado Island at the Navy Lodge which is right on the beach...the perfect location. The weather was absolutely beautiful.


The fun started Saturday morning with a trip to the San Diego Zoo. We figured that would be a place Mia would love but who am I kidding, I'm the one who really wanted to go (I'm a sucker for animals!). Mia had a blast though, she was pointing at all the new sights, making noises and just enjoying being outside. I think her favorite was the monkeys. Probably because she acts like a monkey at home, swinging, jumping and climbing on everything....Ha Ha. After a long day at the zoo we headed back to the hotel to relax and let Mia nap. Yeah right, Mia didn't nap at all the whole weekend. Her naps lasted for the few boring minutes in the car ride home from the zoo and Sea World. I think she was just too excited to sleep. Sunday we went to Sea World and saw Shamu and friends. What a fun place to bring the family. Shamu put on a great show as well as his friends, but Mia really enjoyed the penguins the best. She was laughing and clapping every time they came near her. I think she takes after her Mom....I love penguins. Once we were finished at Sea World we went to a place called Seaport Village near the gaslamp district down on the water, with shops and restaurants. It was beautiful. The sun was setting and we had dinner on the water and Mia had her first sourdough bread bowl of New England clam chowder. So far there's no food she won't eat or at least try. Monday we had to head back home, but not after a little more fun. First, we walked out onto the beach and Mia played in the Pacific for the first time. From there we hopped into the car and swung by Point Loma for some fresh seafood. There Mia tried a crab sandwich, some squid, and had herself another bowl of chowder, which at that point officially became her new favorite food. We got home to Las Vegas Monday night and back to reality.

Happy Fall

It's been a little while since I've posted an update but here goes. Things are good here in Vegas. It's still warm but I'm hoping that the cooler weather will soon arrive. Fall is my favorite time of year but in Vegas you don't really get the sense Fall has arrived until about November. Anyway, the last few weeks have been a lot of fun for us because we had company. Dave's parents came for a visit the beginning of September and stayed for about a week. For me it was nice to have them here because they were a big help with Mia. I was able to get things done that are normally hard for me to do with Mia, ie a haircut, so that was great for me. Corrinne and Dave were especially nice in offering to babysit one night so Dave and I could go out for dinner without having to chase Mia around. Usually what happens is one of us sits at the table by ourselves and the other one plays with Mia until the food arrives. So needless to say we enjoyed every minute of our dinner and we also were able to go bowling. Besides, I know Mia loved hanging out with her grandparents. It was an enjoyable evening for us and we can't thank Cork and Abe enough.

In the middle of September our great friends that we were stationed with at Hill AFB in Utah came for a visit. The Dunn's and the Litz's, they are all at Luke AFB now. The weekend was awesome. It was nice catching up with close friends and it really makes us appreciate our friendship. The air force sends us all over the place but someone was looking out for us when they stationed us all so close together. We're hoping that we can get as lucky on our next assignments. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed. Anyway, ramble, ramble. We miss them and can't wait to see them all again. Lucky for us we'll be seeing the Dunn's over Thanksgiving in Minneapolis. Dave, Mia and I will be spending the holiday with Dave's family there. We're really looking forward to it.

Crazy Summer

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, what's left of it anyway. I know we certainly did and were very busy too. We started off in June with a trip to South Dakota for Dave's cousin Mandy's wedding and then to the Black Hills for the Berkland family vacation. If you've never been to the Black Hills I highly recommend it on your list of places to go. It's absolutely beautiful and if you like the outdoors you'll love it there. You can go hiking and biking on the scenic trails, go into town and visit the local winery and shops, visit Mount Rushmore or just relax on the front porch of your cabin and listen to the creek running by. After that fun filled week in the Black Hills we spent a couple days in Sioux Falls before heading home. We stayed at Casa Del Comet and Naomi. I believe it's the only 5 star hotel in Sioux Falls...LOL! On a serious note their home is beautiful, right on a golf course. It was so green, which is a far cry from what we see in Vegas. Their hospitality was exceptional and we wished we could have stayed longer.

Our next adventure after South Dakota (only a week later) was a trip back home to Pennsylvania. Actually, Mia and I made the trip by ourselves, Dave had a work trip to Austria (yeah right) with my Uncle Bill and would meet us for a long weekend once he got back. The trip back home was to be with my Mom while she had surgery and to help her with her recovery. Mom did very well and is back to her good old self. While back east Mia celebrated her first birthday (June 25th). Boy, did she have fun. I was able to spend time with my parents, my brothers Chris and Michael and my sisters-in-law Erica and Gina. As most of you know when you live away from family it's hard to squeeze in everything and everyone you want to see while you are visiting. I always try my best to fit it all in but the time just seems to slip away from me and before I know it, it's time to go home.

However, I think the most fun for Mia was playing with her cousins Alexa and Christopher everyday. She doesn't get to see them very much, so the three weeks we spent with them was a real treat for her. Christopher and she were partners in crime, whereever he went she went and vice versa. It was too cute.

Our trip to PA came to an end and it was time to head back to Las Vegas, but only be for a couple of weeks. At the beginning of August we all headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for the Capozzoli/Sharp/Ercoline family reunion. My family's been vacationing there for over 20 years and we always have a great time. Dave and I were looking forward to seeing Mia play in the ocean and the sand. She did not disappoint us either. She had a blast running up to the water's edge, then running away when the waves rolled towards her and then building her version of a sand castle. I actually think that she had more fun knocking others down then building them. Needless to say all of us had a great time and are looking forward to the next family vacation.

We're back home in Las Vegas now and staying put for a while. It's nice to be home and we will be enjoying the remaining warm days of the year in our pool. Mia loves the pool and so do we. It really helps with the extreme heat we get here. Sometimes I wonder if our house is actually sitting on the sun's surface. Well, that's it for now but if any of you are wanting to visit Vegas we have plenty of room and would love the company. We love and miss you all. Here's a few extra pictures of Mia.

Getting started

Hey, we just created this blog so thanks for checking it out. We're hoping it will allow us to keep in touch with our friends and family, and keep everyone updated on our latest.