Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Four Seasons with Andrea

 

With the COVID-19 pandemic still an issue, we haven't been able to travel much or far, but we have enjoyed going to the Four Seasons. The Four Seasons does a good job with temperature checks, mask wearing and sanitation so it's one of the few places we feel comfortable visiting. We'd already been twice since they re-opened and Andrea scheduled another visit for us this past weekend. With the kids at my parent's house for the weekend it was an awesome opportunity to have some adult time together. We hung out at the adult pool, watched the Chief's game, and relaxed together.




Kids weekend with Grandparents

 

This past weekend, Andrea reserved a room for us at the Four Seasons in Orlando so we could get away and out of the house. Paige has been dying to spend some time with puppy dogs and even has been considering putting together a pet sitting service, but we've kind of discouraged it at the moment with the pandemic issues. Grandma Alice was scheduled to pet-sit some of the cutest clients and Grandpa and Grandma invited the kids to hang out this weekend. The kids stayed from Saturday until Monday and Paige enjoyed chilling with the dogs, especially Gemma. She even got to have Gemma spend the night with her in her bed.

Grandma and Grandpa took them to a "Barktoberfest" dog get together at a local veterinarian's office and they also went on a bike ride in the neighborhood. 




Zoom call with extended family

 


On Saturday last week we had a Zoom call with family. My cousin Steve got engaged to his girlfriend Haley and let everyone know via email and then everyone decided it would be fun to setup a Zoom call. We dialed in and talked for an hour and caught up on how everyone's been doing lately and what everyone has been up to. After the Zoom call, some of the family stuck around to play "Among Us", and while we do love playing, we had some other plans over the weekend so weren't able to participate. I enjoyed catching up with everyone and so thankful that everyone is healthy and surviving the pandemic so far.


Sunday, October 18, 2020

Barbara Jeans and Pumpkin Patch with Grandma and Grandpa

 


Today we met Grandpa and Grandma at Barbara Jeans for lunch and then went to a pumpkin patch that was nearby. The water is pretty high this time of year and it was the highest we'd seen at Barbara Jeans. A moment after Grandpa took the picture on the blog, the boats created some big wake waves that blasted all over Connor and Andrea. 

After lunch we picked out some pumpkins and we're excited for it to cool off soon and for Fall.




Top Golf with Zoey and Charlie

Saturday afternoon we went to Top Golf with a couple friends. Connor invited Charlie and Paige invited Zoey. We got a nice third level spot and the weather was a little cooler lately so it was a nice day for hitting some golf balls. I think I sliced almost every shot to the right fence, but the kids were all so good and they actually had some competitive games and were hitting the balls where they were aiming. 












Flu shots - Mayo Drive Through

 


On Saturday we went to the Mayo Clinic Hospital for flu shots. We'd originally put together appointments at the doctor's office for each of us but Andrea learned that there was a drive through for COVID testing and for flu shots. Andrea printed up the paperwork for the flu shots and we went through in the morning on Saturday. There was no wait for the flu shots and the nurses did a nice job making it quick and relatively painless. Paige was a little scared for her shot and Connor held her hand, he's such a sweet brother. I snapped a pic of them in the back when it was Paige's turn.

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Nektar with Paige

 


Paige has been wanting to try a local restaurant called Nektar that has healthy fruit and vegetable offerings. We both tried some fruity bowls, had them delivered, and we were pleasantly surprised that they actually looked exactly like the pictures on their website. The bowls were pretty much like a smoothie with fresh fruit on top. Paige gave hers an 8 out of 10 and I enjoyed mine as well.

Beach time with buddies

On Saturday we went to the beach club and invited Quinn and Cailyn to join us. Connor ran in to his friends Robert and Hugh as well and they all played at the beach for a few hours in the afternoon. We're still avoiding socializing indoors and eating at restaurants indoors, but we hoped that some beach time with friends outdoors would be fairly low risk. 





   


Remote school update - Q1

Connor and Paige have continued to do online schooling from home and we were given the opportunity to decide whether to continue remote learning for Quarter 2 or to go in to school. As COVID cases continue to go up and down throughout the US and the uncertainty with the pandemic, we decided to keep them home for the second quarter as well. Both kids have been doing pretty well with it and some of Connor's friends have actually transitioned from going to school to remote learning as they have come in to contact with people that were infected. We don't know too many people directly recently that have contracted COVID, however the big news this last week was when President Trump revealed that he'd been infected. It's not clear whether remote learning will be offered past December, but until then we're planning to keep the kids at home. We are proud of them for adjusting to the new routine and for all the new skills they've been learning.







Sunday, October 4, 2020

Eagle Harbor Level 8 Tournament - Connor and Paige

 


On Saturday morning, both kids played in a level 8 tennis tournament at Eagle Harbor. Connor started earlier in the morning than Paige, so we decided to take them separately. I drove Connor over and his first match started at 8am. 


Connor played really well in all of his matches and won all of them. His opponents were not bad players, but Connor just played at a higher level in all aspects of the game. His serve, service return, ground strokes, ball placement and court awareness were solid and he played consistently. 

Andrea and Paige arrived just as Connor was receiving his first place medal and we snapped a couple of pics with both kids together. 


Paige was a little grumpy because she had a blister on one heel that was bothering her. Andrea put a big bandaid on it along with three socks and thankfully that kept it from affecting her out on the court.


Paige won her first four matches and was on a roll. The format was one 5 game set and Paige only lost one game in the first 21 that she played. She won 5-0, 5-0, 5-1, 5-0. We were hoping she was done and had one at that point, but there was one other girl that had also won all of her matches so they decided to play them against each other although Paige had a better overall record. The match was a close one and although it was tied 3-3 at one point, Paige ended up losing 3-5. 

Overall, we were happy with Paige's performance. She showed great sportsmanship, tried hard, hit her shots with confidence and she's improving with each match.



Great job to both kids!







USTA Team Tennis - 1st matches of the season

 Paige is in the 12U Green dot division and played their first home match against Palencia. Paige played singles on line one against a very strong boy and lost, but she won her doubles match with Zoey on line one doubles.



Connor is in the 14U division and played an away match at San Jose.

Andrea's 1 year Chemotherapy Bell Anniversary

 


One year ago on October 2nd, Andrea rang the bell at Mayo Clinic after her last chemotherapy treatment. It's been hard, but Andrea has gotten stronger and healthier every day. It wasn't always obvious, but she lost most of her hair following the chemo. It's been growing back fairly quickly and it's actually cute to see her new curly hair coming in along with the remaining long hair that didn't fall out. Andrea did a lot of yoga and tennis lately, and I feel like she's back to playing tennis even better than before her cancer diagnosis. To celebrate, we got Andrea some chocolate covered strawberries, flowers, and we are looking forward to many more years with our special girl.