Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Saturday, August 23, 2014

First day of school - Second grade for Connor and VPK for Paige


This past Monday was the first day of school for both kids. Connor started second grade and Paige had her first official day of VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten). 

As is our tradition, we got a couple pics with both kids before they left for the day. Mommy always does a great job getting them cute back to school clothes. Connor had a new backpack that was very bright and fluorescent.


Paige struck some cute poses before we left. 


After I dropped Paige off at school, Andrea and I went down to the bus stop to wait for the bus with Connor.



The kids all got together for a cute group shot.


The bus came a little late and I kissed Connor goodbye. The bus driver pulled up the intersection, looked down at his paperwork and then pulled away. Andrea guessed that he was looking at the wrong street signs. Everyone freaked out and called everyone they could think of to get the bus driver to come back. I waited for a few more minutes and then kissed Connor again and went back home to work. Eventually the bus got there, but it was a long wait.


The first week went well for both kids. Paige was well behaved when we dropped her off at school, so she earned a Queen Elsa Frozen dress as a reward. Connor seems to really enjoy his teacher and he's already got some good friends in the class and comes home in a great mood every day.

We're happy to get the new school year off to a great start!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Connor meets his second grade teacher Mrs. Frank at Wolf Greeting




This Friday we showed up at Connor's school to meet his teacher for the first time at "Wolf Greeting". It's kind of crazy that we had no idea who his teacher would be until a couple days before school starts. We were hopeful that he'd have a good teacher with good classmates. Before we got to school we asked him "If you could have one kid in your class, who would you pick?" and he said "Simeon". Simeon and Connor got along really well last year and Simeon seemed like a great influence. Connor would tell us how Simeon never once got on a "bad color" on the behavior chart.


When we arrived, we were happy to see that Simeon was in the same class! He is currently sitting two seats to the right of Connor.


Mrs. Frank has been teaching at the school for 4 years and last year taught 3rd grade. She seems excited to get back to 2nd grade, which is where she started when she got in to teaching.


Connor seems right at home already at his school and we're excited for next week for him to start a new school year.

Tennis camp at JCP


This past week was the last week of summer break. Connor opted to do tennis camp on the last week and it was one of his favorite camps. It was nice that it was at JCP since Andrea has some of her clinics there at the same time and she was able to check on him and take some pictures of him.



Connor made a bunch of good buddies at the camps and after they did tennis in the early part of the day they'd spend the rest of their time at the pool together until they got picked up. When Andrea went to pick him up, very often other kids would be buying Connor snacks and insisting on paying for him. We gave Connor $10 per week to spend on snacks and goodies and he was cute about managing his money and stretching it out across the week. It was also very good for him to count his change and keep track of his cash. Usually he ended up buying Starburst, which is also one of Andrea's favorites.

Andrea took a pic of Connor with the tennis coach Greg when she picked him up at the pool.


Sunday, August 10, 2014

Great Grandpa Roger Vernon's 90th birthday party



This past Saturday was Great Grandpa Vernon's 90th birthday and birthday party in Chicago. We debated long and hard whether or not we should take the kids with us, and Connor decided he really wanted to go so we took them along. It was a fairly short trip and we flew in Friday and back on Sunday. It was a lot of work and a lot of expense for such a short trip with four round trip tickets plus rental car, but it was an important day for our extended family and we were happy that we were able to be a part of it.


We got in fairly late in the day on Friday and then we went over to Uncle Roger's for a BBQ and some fun with family. It's funny that on the way there I prepped the kids and told them that it would be an adult party and there wouldn't be much for kids, no bounce house or slide or anything. We were pretty surprised that Uncle Roger's still got a swingset and slide in the backyard. The kids had a good time playing on it and they had a lot of energy to burn after sitting on the long flight and long drive.





When it got a little dark we went down to the basement and Connor played some pool with Steve and Kirstin.




We didn't stay too late, and drove back to Grandma and Grandpa's for bedtime. In the morning Steve and Kirstin came back by along with Erin and her daughter Emmy to visit before the party. Connor showed them some of his iPad games and we played with Emmy for a little while as we got ready.


A little before noon, we drove to the Cantigny Golf Course to have lunch and celebrate in one of their banquet rooms. Great Grandpa gave a short speech, we took some pics, and Uncle Chris announced his upcoming baby.





Connor was very happy that he got to sit with Uncle Chris.




I took a pic with my brothers outside. It was the first time all three of us have been together since the 2011 Christmas get together in St. Louis.


After lunch, we went to Aunt Sharon's to celebrate some more. When we got there, we took a group shot of the Vernon family. Everyone was in it, except for Abby and the baby bump.






Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Great Grandpa and he blew out his candles.






The kids had a lot of fun getting to know everyone and visiting with all the family.


Connor really worked hard at the ball game. He got the silver ball pretty far multiple times and he just would not give up. He must have worked on it for at least an hour.




 
When it was time to go, Connor was very sad. He teared up quite a bit as we were telling everyone goodbye. In the morning on Sunday, we ate Belgian waffles with Great Grandpa and then we kissed Grandma and Grandpa goodbye. 

In the airport we got the kids some souvenirs so they could remember their fun trip. Connor got a Chicago Bulls animal and a Chicago Bears animal ball. He named the Bull Chris and the Bear Alex.

 
The plane ride home was nice and quick, a direct flight, and we got home without any trouble.



The squished snake


Connor saw a snake recently in the neighborhood and has been really interested in snakes again. On the way to basketball camp I spotted one squished in the road so we got out to take a look. As we were walking away he said "Daddy, take a picture so we can show Mommy!"

He was scared to get too close to it, but we got a good pic.

Paige's frog prince


This past week, Paige had a tea party with Kissy the big frog that Uncle Chris got for Connor for Connor's birthday. After the tea party, she danced with the frog and then I told her to kiss the frog and it turned into a handsome prince! Connor!

Connor was sweet about it and danced with little sister for a while. Paige played the music from her music box and I took a quick video.