My Little Vampire

Okay so she's not that "little" anymore.... she's the only one that dressed up this year. They are all growing up! We did darken the hair. It was suppose to be jet black but I guess it needed to sit longer. It'll wash out in a few days and she'll be back to natural.

Happy Halloween!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!



Yes, I'm still alive - just horrible lately at keeping up with the blog.

We've had a little bit of Halloween fun in the past couple of weeks. We attended the Zombie Walk in Richmond, VA last weekend. Then we hit up Busch Gardens one last time this season for Howl-O-Scream and of course we've carved our pumpkins for the year.



Corey & Alyssa carving their pumpkins.



I carved the wolf (inspired by New Moon!). Alyssa carved the vampire takin' a bite and Corey carved the zombie. He must have been inspired by our walk with the zombies in Richmond!

Busch Gardens




Zombie Walk
This was actually really cool but I will say that I have a harder time looking at the photos after the walk than I did walking around taking photos of the zombies! They really get into this. It was their 5th year and there were over 300 zombies walking the streets of Carytown in Richmond, VA. They actually hold workshops on how to be a zombie as well as how to dress & do your make up like a zombie. (told you they take it seriously)
So be warned - I'm only posting one photo here - these photos are not for the weak at heart. You can see more HERE

Summer CONCERTS (Part 3)

This is the last blog entry on concerts - I promise! Told ya we hit quite a few this summer.
As the summer rolled on by, a friend emailed one day asking if I wanted to go see the Doobie Brothers & Bad Company. She had a couple of free tickets so off we went!

DOOBIE BROTHERS
These guys are getting old but they've still got it! The crowd at this concert was just a tad bit older too.

BAD COMPANY
Bad Company did an exclusive 10 concerts this year. Virginia Beach was one of them!






And our last concert for the summer.....NICKELBACK with Saving Able, Papa Roach & Hinder. Saving Able was really good and they gave a shout out to all the sailors and soldiers. We did not care for Papa Roach at all. The language in their songs as well as when they were just talking to the crowd was a real turn off for us. I realize there are many people out there who have words in their vocabulary that they use daily and don't think anything of it but I can only handle so much! I didn't get any good pictures of Saving Able. Not going to bother with Papa Roach so here's Hinder and Nickelback.

This is my daughter's friend and my daughter.
As you can see it was a packed house....or should I say lawn.


HINDER





NICKELBACK
These guys are from Canada and they ROCK! I enjoyed listening to their music before we went to the concert but I like it even more after seeing them. The lead singer has a very unique voice. They just have a great sound. The drum set. Gotta tell ya about the drum set. It rose high above the stage when the drummer did his solo. He's probably the best drummer I've ever seen and heard too. He was awesome! The had a big screen behind them so we could see them even though we were back on the lawn. Sometimes they ran videos on the screen while they sang. That was cool too. One of the neatest shows I've been too. I'd see them again in a heartbeat.

Summer CONCERTS (Part 2)

LeANN RIMES
This was the one concert we managed to get to on base this year. The USO/MWR sponsor several of these though out the summer for the service members in the area. It's really great they do that.

LeAnn was fun. She's a tiny little thing. She's full of energy and just loves to entertain! Alyssa was lucky and got right up to the stage with the camera!

Summer CONCERTS (Part 1)

As summer comes to an end, one of my fondest memories this year have been all the concerts that my daughter and I hit. I was a huge concert goer in my younger years. Then I got married (to a not my thing concert goer), had kids and well just didn't attend concerts. Many times the tickets are just too expensive but we're fortunate to live in an area that has many big name groups come through and sometimes for free. We have three venues where we see our concerts: Busch Gardens (free b/c we get summer passes); on the local navy bases (also free as the USO/MWR sponsors) and the Virginia Amplitheather. The tickets for the shows at the amphitheater were lawn seating. We cashed in on a one day deal where all lawn seats were $10 each!

We saw some great entertainers this year. We have photos of all of them but the first concert - No Doubt with Paramore opening. We really, really enjoyed this concert. My daughter loves Paramore and even has her hair cut a bit like Haley Williams (the lead singer). Gwen Stephani is now one of my favorite female entertainers. Oh my gosh did she put on a great show. I really wish we had photos. They were our first concert at the amphitheater.

Next up in June was two of my favorite Christian bands who performed for the Glory Garden days at Busch Gardens.

MERCY ME
Awesome, awesome, awesome!










Next up was Third Day, NeedToBreathe and Revive. Revive is a band that Third Day is mentoring. It's kinda like Third Day's way to "pay it forward". Revive left Australia with nothing but their guitars but God has provided for them all a long their journey. They are very good too. You can find them at iTunes.

REVIVE






NEEDTOBREATHE

These guys were great. This is an up and coming band that many people are familiar with these days. Their break out song on the Christian stations was Washed By the Water.
They have a southern rock kind of sound to them. They've been considered Christian and Alternative. Touring with Third Day I'm going to go with Christian.





THIRD DAY
I have loved Third Day for many years. Not only do they do praise & worship songs but they throw a few of the old hymns in there. No one does Blessed Assurance the way they do.

College Graduate ~ Better Late Than Never!

A day that some never thought would come! My husband completed his Bachelors degree in May. Not an easy thing to do balancing the Navy, home life and school but he did it. Now to get the Masters.....

Fair Winds and Following Seas

Yesterday in Washington DC, several US Navy sailors bid a "fair winds and following seas" to their shipmate that went ashore after 32 years of service! Fleet Master Chief (SS/SW/AW/PJ) Mike McCalip served this country for 32 years. That's a very long time.
I attended his retirement ceremony with my husband who has severed with the Master Chief in the past. He happens to be a pretty good friend of ours as well.

I couldn't let the opportunity slip by me to have my photo with some of my favorite US Navy Master Chiefs.


My husband, Master Chief "Duke" Owings, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Rick West (we've known Rick since 2001 when we first went out to Hawaii), me, FLEET Master Chief Mike McCalip (RET), Master Chief April Beldo (future Command Master Chief of the USS Carl Vinson - one of our many carriers) and FORCE Master Chief John Snyder (we know John from our USS Archerfish days)