Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Abby's spa party


On Sunday, Paige went to Abby's house for a spa birthday party. A spa truck pulled up and the girls all got pampered with manicures and pedicures, and they got to dress up and have a fashion show too. It was pretty much Paige's dream party.











Before Paige went to the party, we took some "before" pics and when she got home we took an "after" pic, such an improvement!



ML Tennis Lessons - Paige and Connor


This past weekend the kids did a lesson at the Marsh Landing club in the morning. Connor worked with Max and Paige worked with Josh. They both focused on their swings and got some good instruction. I took a few pics and videos so we could see their strokes. Looking forwards to Paige playing in some tournaments or matches this year, and looking forwards to seeing Connor grow and get stronger as he matures. Both are doing so well lately and they've had fun at tennis camps this summer.





Water park fun with the Froehlichs


On Saturday we went to the Froehlich's house for fun at their neighborhood waterpark. We enjoyed the pool on a hot day and the kids all had a lot of fun hanging out together. After fun in the sun, we went to see their new house.











Walks and bike rides in the neighborhood


Andrea hasn't been able to play tennis yet, so we've been trying to get out and get some exercise when she is feeling good and the weather isn't too hot. We have been doing a lot of walks, but the yellow flies have been brutal this summer so we decided to ride bikes. We thought maybe we'd be moving quick enough that they wouldn't catch us, but that was not the case. It was still fun to switch things up and ride bikes, but we've gone back to walks.

Andrea also has been taking walks on the beach with friends in the morning after dropping the kids off at camp. No bugs on the beach, which is nice.



Monday, July 15, 2019

Beach day with friends at PVIC - Cailyn, Emily, Quinn



On Saturday we spent the day at the beach club with the kids and thought it would be fun to bring some friends along. Connor wanted to bring Quinn and Paige brought Emily and Cailyn. After I finished with my morning tennis clinics, we all met at the patio for lunch. After lunch we swam at the pool for a little while and then went to the beach. The water was nice and cool on a warm day and it wasn't too hot since there were some clouds in the sky. I threw a football with the boys for a while and then all the kids played together in the ocean. It was cute seeing them all goofing off in the water together. I figured the boys and girls would go their separate ways, but they all held hands and tried to stay together as the waves crashed over them.








We all got some sweets eventually, the kids got oreo and M&M shakes, I got a popsicle, and Andrea got the new ice cream taco.






Sunday, July 14, 2019

Breast cancer update - TNBC/IDC/BRCA2

Andrea is continuing to heal from her double mastectomy. This past week it's been one month since surgery and we had a few appointments with the plastic surgeon to look at everything. Andrea has had one fill so far and went from 100mL in each side to 150mL in each. The unfortunate news is that the left side had some skin that didn't quite survive right where three pieces of skin came together at the bottom of the breast. A small area about an inch in height has been an open wound for over a week now and it's healing very slowly. It is not infected and we've been applying zinc oxide to it and keeping it covered.

We met with Andrea's oncologist Dr. Advani a few times now and we're discussing chemotherapy options. At the moment we are considering four rounds of TC (Taxotere and Cytoxan), which would be administered once every three weeks.

Overall, Andrea is doing well physically, and the mental aspect of it has been difficult. Andrea looks back on her life and feels like there is a division with everything before cancer and life after. There has been a lot on her mind, making it hard to sleep and hard to focus.


Thursday, July 11, 2019

Summer Tennis Camp at PVIC


This week and last week the kids have been enjoying tennis camp at the club. Connor and Paige are some of the more experienced players at the camp, but they still have some good competition with Quinn, Carter, Robert, and some other friends.



During the second week, Paige was put with the big boys including Connor and hung in there really well. At the end of the week she was awarded the "Camper of the Week" award.


Little Mermaid show with Grandma Alice and Grandpa Rick


On Sunday, July 7th, Grandpa Rick and Grandma Alice came over to our house at 11am to watch the US Women's soccer team with the World Cup. We hung out with them in the afternoon and in the evening they took the kids to see The Little Mermaid show at the Alhambra theater. It was thoughtful of them to invite the kids to the show with them and it was fun spending the day together.




Emily sleepover with Paige


On Saturday, after Genie went home, I took Connor to Quinn's birthday party and then we invited Emily over for the afternoon. Emily was having such a good time with Paige we asked her parents if she could stay the night and they agreed. Paige and Emily drove around a little bit in the Powerwheel, played some basketball, and then they made a fort under the ping pong table in the bonus room. They made it pretty cozy in their fort and actually slept in the fort overnight. Emily is a good buddy and super easy to get along with, we're glad Paige has a friend close by that is so wonderful.


Grandma Genie heads home


On Saturday, July 6th, Grandma Genie flew back to KC early in the morning. We took her to Cheesecake Factory on Friday night before she left so we could all enjoy the Limoncello cake one more time with Paige. It has become Paige and Andrea's favorite dessert at the Cheesecake Factory, and Grandma Genie enjoyed it as well.

We are very thankful for Grandma Genie for coming and spending two weeks with us. It was such a huge help having her here after Andrea's surgery and she was so easygoing and fun to have around. Thank you Genie for everything!

4th of July with Grandma Genie and the Fishman family



The second week of Grandma Genie's visit included July 4th on Thursday. It was kind of an odd day of the week for a holiday, but it was nice the way it broke up the week and we decided we would take the opportunity to go the beach and have some fun. In the afternoon we went over to the Fishman house for a BBQ. The kids played soccer out back, which Connor has been enjoying lately, and then they swam in the pool until the food was ready.








We all loved Remy the new Fishman puppy dog!


In the evening, we went to the beach club, where the Fishmans had a tent setup. The kids ran around in the sand for a while and we went through about a hundred sparklers.










It was a wonderful, cool, enjoyable evening at the beach. We could see the Jax Beach fireworks from our spot and the locals on the beach shot off a very impressive variety as well, some closer than we would have really liked.