Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Thanksgiving 2018 in Wild Dunes with Alex, Laura, Grandma and Grandpa Vernon


This year we got to celebrate Thanksgiving with Grandma Alice, Grandpa Vernon, Alex and Laura in South Carolina at Wild Dunes. We had reserved a house and decided we'd ask if Alex and Laura would be interested and we have been looking forwards to it ever since they accepted. Unfortunately Chris didn't come, but Grandpa and Grandma rented a house nearby and we got to spend a few days together over the holiday.

The trip down was a little tricky this time. As usual, we had the SUV stuffed full of junk, we're terrible packers. We also brought all of our bikes for the first time. I put a trailer hitch on the vehicle and got a decent mount that would hold all four bikes. It was a struggle to fit them all on there, but I got them all in place after a lot of sweat and frustration. 


We arrived at the resort on Sunday, and we did our normal tennis playing and bike riding until Alex and Laura arrived late Tuesday night. On Wednesday after tennis we went to Page's Okra Grill and hung out with them until Grandma and Grandpa arrived.
















When Grandma and Grandpa arrived, the kids wasted no time with the


























On Thanksgiving morning Andrea and Connor played tennis and I went with Paige, Alex and Laura to our favorite French Restaurant. After breakfast we found a spot on the main boulevard and watched the Thanksgiving Day parade. We got a nice place on the sidewalk and ended up collecting a big bucketful of candy.












For our Thanksgiving meal we went to Morgan's Creek Grill. We had 1pm reservations and ended up with a nice table near a window with a view of the water.








After eating we relaxed for a while and then went on a walk and bike ride. We spent the rest of our time going on walks and bike rides, playing games like Sleeping Queens, Uno, poker, and we also played "volleyball" in the screened in enclosure with beach balls.







On Friday night Alex and Laura made us Jambalaya and on Saturday they made us Ramen stir fry. 



We brought a couple of our Disney puzzles, but we also tried our hand at the massive 1000 piece puzzle that was in the rental. We enjoyed fiddling with it off and on throughout the visit and on Friday night we finally finished it. Unfortunately there were over 20 pieces missing which kind of made it difficult and frustrating at times.




Overall, the trip was nice with only one day with rain. Most of the time the weather was cool, but it was still nice enough that we got to spend quite a bit of time outdoors having fun. Grandpa and Grandma left a little earlier than planned on Saturday morning due to a lingering UTI for Grandpa, but we really enjoyed the time together that we had.



Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Sick Chloe


Chloe has been a mess lately. She had her UTI in early October and recently we noticed she looked very skinny and she threw up a few days in a row. I took her to the vet and her blood work showed she had abnormal liver values. We tried feeding her all kinds of things to help with her digestive problems. She was excited to eat ground beef in rice, canned dog food, grilled chicken, etc. Unfortunately it didn't seem to help much and her appetite hasn't been great. Chloe continued to have bad diarrhea and vomited a few times. At fifteen years old, we've been worried that this might be the end of the road for Chloe.

I scheduled a euthanasia appointment for Chloe on 11/18, and I was broken hearted about it all week. I struggled constantly with the decision, and although Chloe's digestion didn't improve, she put on a little weight and seemed to be in good spirits. On the fateful day, we started leaning towards giving her more time, and when the vet arrived we were interested to see what she thought. Dr. Katie examined Chloe and after a discussion we decided to try some medicine and a new diet.

We love our Chloe Bear so much and I really hope that she pulls through and we have more time together.


Shawn's 39th birthday



On my birthday, we celebrated with Grandma Alice and Grandpa Rick. We went to Valley Smoke BBQ for lunch and then everyone came back to the house to hang out a while and I opened some presents. Thanks to my wonderful family for the gift card, yummy macaroons and clothes.