Welcome, Fall!

Well, fall is finally here in the great state of North Carolina. Took ya long enough, geez! It literally went from being in the 90's with a blazing sun and record setting humidity to a nice 60-70 degree days with a chilly breeze to boot. What happened? Well, a "monsoon" hit, also known as Tropical Storm "Nicole". Nicole dumped a record setting 8+ inches over the period of a few days and we are STILL under a flood watch for the Neuse River. But, I welcomed Nicole with open arms and was tempted to all but open up my guest room so she could stay as long as she wished. We didn't have a single drop to rain for over a month before this storm so to say we needed a good soaking, well, that'd be an understatement. We are now enjoying cooler daily high temps and even nights dipping into the 40's. This is the kinda weather that makes me want to get out of my house and enjoy the day.

So with the start of fall came a great day out at the park. We were celebrating a friend of Ava's 2nd birthday on base and the day was just fantastic. We even needed jackets when we first got there! I tend to be the one behind the lens these days so I rarely find myself in a picture with Ava. I'll try to be better!

I don't really have much news to report other than the big wedding coming up this weekend! My dress is ready to be picked up tomorrow morning, just in time, as we're leaving around lunch to make the 7-8 hour drive up to Pennsylvania to see our families. I hope Ava sleeps for most of it! (Keep dreamin'...). Ava usually does really well on long car rides but seeing how her last road trip, which was only about 4 hours, was a major bust...I'm a tad worried. Fingers crossed! Prayers said! Entertainment packed! Let's do this...

My Mom is hosting a 2nd birthday party for Ava and we only plan on having immediate family there. I promise I'm not intending on leaving out all the friends we have at home on this night but you see, I'll only be in PA for about 48 hours and I want to soak up as much time with my sisters as possible. My parents and, of course, Curt's mom and dad will be at the wedding in Maryland so we'll see them all weekend as well. We just plan making up for lost time, eating, drinking, relaxing, and celebrating Ava's second birthday. I'm taking another quick trip home early November sans Curt so I'll catch up with everyone then!

Ava is doing so awesome these days! I have to say, her sense of humor lately has been cracking us up. She's laughing out loud when she watches cartoons, playing tricks on Curt and I around the house, and just being such a fun and creative little girl all around. (Remember those easy-going days? Eh, me either...). Ava just bring so much entertainment to our lives these days! We just love her to pieces and have to keep ourselves in check with how much we spoil her with love and attention these days. Not that it's even possible to love too much, but you know what I mean. We need those boundaries to be in check too!

This past week we found ourselves a "back up" babysitter. We already have a girl that we really like as our primary sitter but just the other day a really nice 17 year old girl who lives two houses down came to our door with her own little babysitting business card. No joke. She's "CPR/Red Cross certified, trustworthy, and responsible". We did a test run today, which is what I always do with a potential sitter, and she came over to play with Ava while I was home. Based on all the noise and laughter coming from the toy room, I'd say she was a keeper. Ava ran right into her arms the second she walked in the front door...and she'd never even met her

before! Yes, please!

Okay, so before I ramble on any more, here are a few of the pictures I mentioned from the other day out at the park. Sorry my facebook friends, you've already seen these.