Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Paige's 9th birthday party


On Saturday, we celebrated Paige's birthday a little early, along with her friends Maddie and Abby. Andrea picked up some goodies for her from Allie's cakes, and we got her some balloons and decorations for the inside and around the pool. We've been remodeling the outdoor kitchen, and while it's not completely finished, we were able to schedule it so most of the important stuff was wrapped up in time for the party. Before Paige's friends showed up, we took a few pictures of Paige with her decorations and cake.


Maddie showed up first and they got dressed in their swimsuits right away and jumped in the pool. Abby showed up a little later, and the three of them played and swam all afternoon together. Connor got in for a little while with them and they all had fun with the inflatables and pool toys.





For dinner we had Papa John's pizza and then we cut Paige's cake and sampled all of the goodies.






After dinner, we cleaned up everything and the kids played upstairs in Paige's room. They had a really fun time with all of Paige's toys and they put together a cute little sleeping area on the floor made out of sleeping bags, blankets and pillows. As we expected, it took the girls a long time to fall asleep. Well after midnight I finally got them to lie down and after I got them to lie still with their eyes closed for a few minutes and sang some bedtime songs, they all fell asleep.


Paige enjoyed her day so much. Abby and Maddie are both such sweet girls and good friends to Paige. All three got along the entire time and we are happy that Paige was able to celebrate her birthday with them. Happy birthday Paige!

First golf lesson


Andrea set up a golf lesson for the kids in the neighborhood on Saturday morning. When she brought them in that morning she decided she would participate too and the three of them learned some golf basics and got to practice hitting some balls. They all had a lot of fun with the lesson and did pretty well for their first time out.

Connor's Middle School tennis team - end of season


This past week was the last week for Connor's middle school tennis season. Andrea took our camera to the practice on Wednesday so she could get a picture of the Landrum White team all together.


On Thursday Connor played line 1 doubles with Liam against a very hard team. They went in to a tiebreak and managed to win it.


Later in the week we got the final standings of the season and Connor's team tied the Landrum Black team with exactly 242 points overall, tied for second place behind the Landrum Blue team. We think Connor enjoyed being part of a school team and it was fun to go to his games and cheer him on. We're proud of Connor and his team for an awesome season!




Sunday, April 21, 2019

Ritz visit for Andrea's birthday


On Saturday we left in the morning for Amelia Island to spend the day at the Ritz. We stopped by Marche Burette on the way through Amelia Island for lunch and then arrived at the Ritz, hoping for an early checkin. Unfortunately our room wasn't ready so we wandered around the property to see what was going on. For the Easter weekend, they had all kinds of fun family stuff setup. By the pool we got some cute balloons, Paige got her face painted, and the four of us were drawn as cartoons playing tennis together.







At three there was an animal show in a conference room and we got to see a bunch of lizards, turtles, snakes and an alligator. Paige was excited to get her hands on all the creatures and she got to be very involved in the show. Connor pet the alligator when the host brought it around, and he also volunteered to be one of the seven kids that held the big albino python.





After our room was ready we lounged around a bit and then went back to Marche Burette for steak out for dinner. Unfortunately there was quite a long wait, but we eventually got seated in a nice spot outside where it wasn't too windy.




We got two big honking 36 oz steaks. It was quite a bit of work chopping them up and working around the bone and fatty areas. While we all got enough to eat, I think next time we'll get different steaks to share since these were quite a bit of work.



That evening we went to bed and were woken up at 12:30 by our smoke alarm shrieking. We stumbled out of bed, got dressed, and then realized it was only our room that had an alarm going off. We called the front desk and they said they'd send someone up. We had to wait in the hallway since the alarm was so unbearably loud. They removed the smoke alarm and we were able to get back to sleep eventually.

In the morning we went to the indoor pool to swim for a while. I roughed the kids up and threw them around for a while and then they played and raced together in the pool. It's been pretty hot out, but unfortunately this weekend was a bit cold and windy, so the indoor pool was a great option to have available.



We enjoyed our visit, happy birthday to our special lady Andrea!

Easter egg hunt


The Easter Bunny came early this year on Good Friday. The kids collected a bunch of Easter Eggs in the morning and they got some very nice baskets stuffed with all kinds of goodies. Happy Easter!


Andrea's birthday



Andrea celebrated her 39th birthday on Friday. Her birthday fell on Good Friday, so the kids had the day off of school. We got Andrea some of her favorite Rice Krispie treats with Fruity Pebbles, a strawberry cake, a candle, flowers, and balloons. We went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and spent the day with our special lady. Love you Andrea!

Paige Field Day - 3rd Grade



On Wednesday, Paige's class competed in Field day with the other 3rd grade classes. 


The morning started out with all of the classes marching out together and Paige got to carry her class's flag. The competitions officially began with the mile relay and Paige was the first in her class to run. She ran hard and got her lap done faster than almost anyone else, only a tall boy beat her around the track. Her class ended up in second place overall for the mile race.





The next event was the 50 yard dash and Paige didn't compete in it. Paige was with a big group of girls for the first heat of the 100 yard dash. We were really nervous for her and we were blown away when she pulled out to an early lead and won her heat with a big margin. She was so fast and strong she looked unbeatable!


The top three from each heat moved on to the finals and after the second heat was done the top six racers lined up. The final heat was super competitive and a tall girl in blue pulled away by the 50 yard line. Paige ran hard to catch her, but near the end of the race Paige pulled up a little and finished in third place. It was a really close race and with fresh legs I bet Paige may have won it. She ran so fast and strong, we were so proud of our speedy girl.



The rest of the day consisted of some fun relays and tug of war. Paige did the 3-legged race with Maddie C and their class actually won that event.










Paige posed with Ms Caldwell after Field Day and when she got home she posed for a pic with her 3rd place ribbon from the 100 yard dash.

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Kids swimming lessons at the neighbor's house


Andrea wanted to get the kids some swimming lessons so they could work on their strokes and was having trouble getting a hold of someone at our club to work with. The kids had taken lessons with Ms Linda in the past, so Andrea got in touch with her directly and they were looking to find a good place to do some lessons privately. Ms Linda knew a lady in our neighborhood that has a nice pool and got permission to use it, which was super convenient.

The kids worked on all kinds of swimming skills and it was great practice for both of them. They had fun swimming the length of the pool, treading water, and when they got finished up they took a few turns jumping off the rock waterfall in to the deep end.