Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Halloween 2017


Today was Halloween, and since it was a school night, we didn't stay out all that late. This year, Connor didn't want to go trick-or-treating and dress up, so he just put on his favorite Chiefs jersey (they won last night on Monday night football, so he was pretty pumped for them). Paige went in her Princess Elena dress. They actually kind of matched nicely although that was unplanned.

Before we left the house, we snapped a few pics of the kids on the front porch.








We drove our golf cart over to Lamplighter to hang out with a family we know in that part of the neighborhood. Paige and Abby were excited to see each other and had been talking about the hay ride that would take them trick-or-treating.


Connor was pretty pumped to have a bunch of boys to hang out with. He did some football and then they played tackle basketball on the trampoline.








It was a little crazy there and a lot of the kids took off to start trick-or-treating. One of the moms wrangled about half the kids together for a group pic.



Then, Paige and her buddies loaded up on to the hay ride trailer. They didn't stay on long. They actually ended up sprinting through the neighborhood from house to house. We actually lost track of her for a little while when she got so far ahead of us.











We ended the night a little early so we could hand out some candy at our house, however we didn't get too many trick-or-treaters. I think next year we'll just trick-or-treat more ourselves. It was a fun night out though, and the weather was beautiful and cool. It was nice for us all to meet some new friends too.


Sunday, October 29, 2017

Abby and Alli visit



On Friday afternoon, Allison and Abby flew in to Jax to visit us for the weekend. We hadn't seen them since July, and we've all been looking forwards to seeing them. On Friday night we went to the club to watch Connor's tennis team and then came back to the house.




On Saturday, we went to Barbara Jean's for lunch and then to the beach.



After lunch we went to the beach club. Thankfully Andrea checked the weather and we went to the beach on a beautiful day. Sunday was cooler and windier, but Saturday was perfect.








After the beach, we cleaned up and then went for a ride around the neighborhood on the golf cart while Alli drove.


For dinner, we went to Cantina Laredo and did a little shopping.


On Sunday, we went to Toys R Us and did a little shopping for Paige. Connor looked around, but he didn't find anything he was really interested in.





We spent the rest of the day relaxing and then the girls went on another golf cart ride, although it was very chilly out.

The girls are flying out tomorrow in the morning. The kids loved their visit, and we're so thankful they came to see us!

Connor the ballboy - PVIC fight night


On Thursday night, October 26th, Connor went to the club with us to see the pros play. Everyone got tickets for free and would bet on which pros they thought would win the various matchups. Connor, Zander, and Liam all volunteered to be the ball boys, and before the matches started our head pro Mike went through their responsibilities with them.

The pros all played a really great level of tennis, and it was fun to see them going all out. Connor and his buddies took their jobs seriously, and it was cute to see Connor taking a leadership role at times, helping everyone out on where to be. It was pretty tricky since the players changed serve every couple points and the boys would all have to shift to either be at the net or behind the person serving. It was also important for them to stay aware in case a ball came at them at a hundred miles an hour.


I took a couple videos, but my favorite was one that had a pretty good point, and Connor got to grab the ball and then give balls to David who was about to take his turn serving.


Andrea and I both won some prizes from the drawings, and Connor and his buddies all picked out matching Wilson hats as well as thanks for their job well done.


After the matches, we also got a pic with Andrew who does Connor's small group lesson and private lesson weekly.


Sunday, October 22, 2017

Oktoberfest Party


On Saturday night, Andrea and I went to a neighbor's house for their annual Oktoberfest Party. Prior to heading over, we went to the Tavern for some drinks with friends and then we headed over to the party. It was our first time going, and it was fun to see everyone dressed up in their Oktoberfest gear. Andrea tried an outfit she'd gotten online, but decided not to dress up. I was a bit uncomfortable in my outfit, and I was worried that my shoes weren't quite right for it, but I shouldn't have worried. Nobody took it very seriously and it was good silly fun with everyone.




Gator in the pond


Before hurricane Irma came through, we'd noticed a small gator occasionally in the pond behind our house. We hoped he'd get washed away with the hurricane, but we saw him a bunch recently now the weather's cooled off and he's laying out in the sun outside the water. I snuck up on him and snapped a pic while he was resting. He always jumps in the water and disappears if I get too close.

Unfortunately for Mr. Gator, I am a little worried that he's going to grab Chloe one of these days while she's out doing her business. I called the Florida nuisance gator number and they're going to come out some time to remove him. I think he just barely qualifies for their program since he's around 4 feet from nose to tail. I haven't measured him obviously, but I think he's just a bit too big to be hanging around with our puppy dog and kids.

Turtle Trot hat day


The kids participated in the Turtle Trot fund raiser this last week and since their school hit their donation goal, the kids got to have flip flop day and hat day during the week. They looked super cute getting off the bus with their hats and I ran out to get a pic of them before they came in the house.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Paige at the park


This weekend we mostly just stuck around the neighborhood and did some tennis in the mornings. On Sunday we decided to go on a golf cart ride and we stopped at the park so Paige could play. I spun her around, she did some swinging, and monkey bars. She still loves the park and we will have to be sure to take her quite a bit now that the weather is starting to cool off a bit.