New Years In Florida

December 30th - January 3rd

It didn't take us long before we hit the road after our trip to Shreveport. Since the game was so early, we were able to make plans for New Years. We decided to head to warmer weather for the holiday and drove down to Orlando.

We made it into Orlando on New Years Eve and quickly meet up with Jimmy & Evan for lunch at 4 Rivers Smokehouse. Those guys always find the best places to eat while we are down there!

After lunch, we had some time before the evening festivities so Jimmy gave us a tour of the UCF campus and sports facilities.

Florida was practicing at the UCF facilities while we were there.

I always enjoy checking out other schools, their campus & facilities and hearing stories. Jimmy was a great "tour guide".

It wasn't long before get were picking up Kim, getting out stuff together and heading down to Epcot to enjoy all the New Years Eve entertainment.

Every country had a different way to celebrate and we had a great time partaking in each one. Each country also counted down to New Years when it was happening there so if felt like we toasted 10 different times during the evening. We also picked up new friends as we made it through different countries.

It was such a fun and different way to celebrate New Years.

On the first we didn't waste a lot of time sleeping in. We were back out and about to see if we could get cheap tickets to the Citrus Bowl in downtown Orlando. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in our plan but it was still fun to head down to the stadium and enjoy all the events happening outside the stadium before the game.

As close as we could get to watch the game.

We spent the rest of the day at Jimmy & Kim's place watching other Bowl Games before heading out to dinner with a group of friends and ending the night being introduced to Jeremiah's Italian Ice. SO GOOD!

In the morning, we said good bye to friends and headed cross town to spend time with Jackie & Evan.

We had a fantastic time catching up and hanging out with them. Jackie introduced me to adult coloring books and they introduced us to new traveling shows on Netflex. Thank you for feeding our obsession!

Our days with Jackie and Evan went by really, really quick and as we hopped back into our car to start the drive home, we promised to make the trip down again as soon as we could.

It is so great to have such great friends all over the country.

Christmas in Shreveport (2 of 2)

December 26th

It is Game Day!! Today we take on Tulsa. We were up and out headed for the stadium bright and early Saturday morning. Derley and I made it to the game before the gates were even opened so we went wandering to check out the area around the stadium.

Mathis and Nicki joined us about an hour or so before the game and we headed in to check out the stadium and all the souvenirs and snack options. We were able to "start jumping" one more time with each team being allowed to come in with there home entrance.

The game was exciting and pretty stressful. At half time it was Virginia Tech 45 - Tulsa 31. It was a super high scoring game and very fun to watch our offense. While the teams were in the locker room getting ready for the second half, I took the opportunity to go visit a friend that made the trip to the game from Texas.

It was so great to see Robyn and see how she was adjusting to her recent move to Texas.

The second half was STRESSFUL and low scoring compared to the first half. Tulsa pulled within 3 points towards the end of the game but our defense held strong and we walked away with the win!

With Coach Beamer retiring and most of the staff moving on to other places next year, we took a few liberties that we otherwise wouldn't. For instance, we finagled our way onto the field after the game.

There were lots of hugs, laughs and tears and we all felt the importance and finality of the game, season and era.

After the game, we all headed back to the hospitality suite where Coach Beamer was toasted and also gave a toast. I am not sure there was a dry eye in the room. I can not put into words the appreciation we felt for having the honor and privilege to be a small part of all of this. We are different people (for the better) because of our time under Coach Beamer.

When the toasting was over, it was time for all of us to cut loose. It was a very memorable night.

Christmas in Shreveport (1 of 2)

December 23 - 25th

What a fitting way for Coach Beamer to end his coaching career by coaching his last bowl game where he coached his first. It was neat to see how it had all come full circle. 23 years ago, Jed also made his first trip to a VT bowl game at Shreveport and it was great to walk down memory lane with him.

We arrived in Shreveport, the afternoon of December 23rd. The first day of most bowl weeks just a bunch of unpacking and getting the lay of the land. This year was no different.

The first night a few of us walked around and found a great little restaurant for dinner, the Blind Tiger.
On Christmas Eve, many of the wives enjoyed an outing to the Krewe of Gemini float warehouse, a cooking demo and a great local lunch.

We had the opportunity to even meet the Queen of the Gemini Krewe and try on some of the traditional costumes.

Since most things were closed on Christmas Eve, we spent time with some awesome friends that made the trip to Shreveport at the casino in the hotel.

Christmas in a hotel is starting to feel normal these days. So this year, we started the morning with a church service with the team and all the support staff. Knowing this was the end of an era, it was a very, very memorable and emotional services. This has been our family away from our family for the last 16 years. It was a sobering feeling knowing this was our last Christmas all together.

After the services, we headed over to where we had Video Christmas set up. We spent the rest of the morning laughing, White Elephant gifting and hanging out. It was a great time for all of us. It is a favorite Christmas tradition of mine.

We spent the rest of Christmas with Nicki and Mathis. We found a few casino's to walk through before we happened upon a great little dive near our hotel called Fully Staked. These guys were great! They definitely made the most out of having to work on Christmas.

Next Up: GAME DAY!!