Connor's Apartment Move-In - Sophomore Year

This past week, Andrea and I went with Connor to drop him off for his Sophomore year, and to help move him in to his new apartment. His new apartment is actually right across the street from the dorm he lived in last year and it's about one block from campus which is convenient. Connor's living with five friends in their unit and it's nice that each person has their own room and bathroom. They share a living room and kitchen and they chose a slightly upgraded unit that also has a covered balcony. 

The move in process was fairly well organized and after Connor picked up his keys we checked out a big cardboard box that was balanced somewhat precariously on a rolling frame. We loaded up our wagon and box in the parking garage and then maneuvered everything down the street, up an elevator, and then in to his apartment. 

When we arrived, Connor's friend Netra had already brought up one box load and was unpacking. We met his friends Chimmy and Owen as well while we were getting his things unpacked.

 

Connor's room was down the hallway from the front door and tucked away nicely in the unit where it will hopefully be a bit quieter. Each room comes with a bed, a dresser that tucks away under the bed, a nightstand, desk, and chair. After we took a "before" picture of the room, Andrea had a good suggestion on how we could rearrange it to better utilize the space.

It took us a few trips to get everything out of both cars and up to the apartment. We vacuumed, mopped, and Andrea did a lot of wiping down before we unpacked it all. 

We brought a rug for the room, but it was a bit too large for the space available and we decided it wasn't going to work. Everything else tucked away nicely, and in just a few hours we had it all unpacked and his room looked great.

In the evening, after we cleaned ourselves up, we went to Walmart to get Connor a bunch of groceries to get him started for the school year. Unlike his dorm from last year, there's no meal plan this year, so Connor's got a $150 per week budget for food and will likely need to plan his meals out accordingly.

The next day, we met Connor for lunch at McAlister's Deli before heading home, and we are happy that he's off to a good start and living with some good friends this year.

Connor and Friends at Top Golf

 

The day before Connor headed back to school, he went with some buddies to Top Golf to hang out one last time for the summer.

Indiana Fever vs Atlanta Dream + Atlanta Aquarium

 

This past weekend, Andrea and I drove to Atlanta to watch the Indiana Fever play against the Atlanta Dream. We'd gone earlier in the year to see the Fever play, but Caitlin Clark sat out that game, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to see her play when they were somewhat nearby. We drove up in our new car and tested out the self driving quite a bit and were overall very impressed with how easy it made the drive for us.

The days before the game, we wandered around Atlanta a little and didn't enjoy the downtown area much, possibly because it was so brutally hot. Sunday, the day of the basketball game, we went to the Atlanta Aquarium beforehand. There were some interesting things to see, especially the whale shark, and we checked out all the exhibits fairly quickly. It was a bit crowded and we didn't see any of the shows, but we had enough time to see everything else.

We walked over to the State Farm Arena for the basketball game and were let in at 3:30 for the 5 pm game. Our seats were higher up than the seats we had in Indiana and right in the center where we could see everything. We liked being a bit closer, but the section where we sat was on the club level which meant we got unlimited food and drinks for the game. There were multiple food options including pizza, grilled chicken, salads, hot dogs, cookies, and ice cream. 

We stayed until there were just a couple minutes left in the game and then Andrea decided it would be a good idea to beat the rush and start our long drive home. We are glad we left when we did, because the game ended up going to overtime and if we had stayed until the end, we would have been home incredibly late. As it was, we got home around 1am Monday morning.

Paige and Friends - Fun Photoshoot

Paige dressed up cute and went out to Atlantic Beach with her friends to take some cute pics for Instagram.

First Day of School 2026 - Paige's Junior Year of High School and Connor's Second Year of College

This past week was Paige's first day of school for the 2026 school year. She drove herself in the white Model Y and parked in the church parking lot near the school. Her friend Abby won a really great parking spot in a raffle and she has been picking up the rest of the friends from the Davis lot in the mornings and then they all drive in together. Her days are fairly chill since she's doing dual enrollment classes and only has to be at school through 4th period.

Connor isn't starting school for another two weeks, but we took our traditional first day of school pic with the kids together and they're great about cooperating.

Paige's first day of school was good and when we ordered our Firehouse Sub sandwiches for lunch we got one for her too. While she ate her lunch she told us all about her first day.

Paige's Anesthesiology Shadowing

Paige went out to Orange Park to shadow an anesthesiologist twice this past week. She had to get up early in the morning both days and Connor drove her to the hospital since it's quite a drive across town. The first day she got to see a transesophageal echocardiogram, open heart surgery, and even a C-Section. It was an amazing opportunity for her to see behind the scenes at the hospital and experience life as a doctor.

Lunch with the Kids at Barbara Jeans

 

Everyone's been busy this summer, but this past week we had a day when both kids were around for lunch and we insisted that we all go somewhere together. We had a nice lunch at Barbara Jeans and it was such a treat to have both kids there chatting with us and laughing together.

Top Golf - Andrea, Shawn, Paige, Caleb, Grandpa Rick and Grandma Alice

 

Paige and Caleb were thinking it would be fun to go to Top Golf over the weekend and asked Andrea and me if we'd like to join them. Grandpa Rick and Grandma Alice invited us over for dinner and we told them about our plans and asked if they'd like to join us instead. We all met up, hit balls for a couple of hours, had some snacks, and played a few different games. 

Paddleboarding with Paige, Emma, Millie Mae, Shawn

 

We had a mostly fun time paddleboarding in the intracoastal waterway last weekend. Emma came over and we drove out to our friend's dock and this time around we had two paddles so we could actually use two different boards effectively. Last time, with Caleb, we only had one paddle and it wasn't ideal. 

I'd say it was actually a fairly ideal day for paddleboarding and would have been perfect except I may have broken a rib. Paige was horsing around trying to tip us in the water. I wasn't sure how deep it was, so once she tipped my board, I fell partway in the water and partway on the board so I wouldn't hurt my feet on whatever was lurking below. That turned out to be good for my feet and bad for my ribs.

Millie Mae came along as well and she's definitely getting more comfortable being on the boards and swimming in the water. She actually seemed to prefer just swimming and it was difficult sometimes to keep her from jumping off the boards. 

Spiderman Movie - Paige and Caleb

Paige and Caleb went to see the new Spiderman movie and I went along too so I could drive Paige home afterwards. I didn't sit by them, but I met up with them afterwards and snapped a pic of them while we were walking through the parking lot.

Millie Mae 2026

We had an assortment of pics and videos lately and I decided to make a post about Millie Mae. She is five years old and will be six this December. Her personality cannot get much cuter, and she is such a sweet and smart dog. Lately she looks cute, even despite the fact that I took responsibility for cutting her hair. I got a vacuum clipper system and used it on her a few weeks ago. It was certainly not her cutest look, and her eyebrows have been hanging over her eyes lately, but it is looking a bit better as it grows out.

In our rental house, Millie Mae likes to lay on the bed in the from bedroom and look out the front windows to keep an eye on the cul-de-sac. When I'm working, she'll be perched on a chair at the window of the office that also gives her a commanding view.

Millie Mae also likes to go and do anything and everything. If the door is open in the car, she'll jump in eagerly, hoping to go with us. Connor has been cute this summer about taking her with him when he goes to Starbucks, or to run errands in general. 

Millie is not the most cuddly dog in the world, but if she's in the right mood for it, she will at times. She's sweet about putting her paw on your cheek when you lay together and she likes kisses on her cheek or even her nose.

Millie has lots of stuffed animals, rubber bones and balls, and "poofs" which are little round fabric balls that she tears off of one of Paige's blankets. She likes if you throw her things so she can chase them, but she is awful at bringing it back.

Millie has such a different relationship with everyone. She is calm and cuddly with Paige. Paige can pick her up and hold her in any position and give her rubs and brushes and Millie will be so calm. With Connor, she's a bit of a wild animal. She loves to chase him or be chased by him, and she is like a snarling gremlin when they play. She loves Andrea's special "Sweet Tater Treat" dog treats that she gets in the morning and will wait patiently for Andrea every morning. She also likes to boss Andrea around with her toys, which are in a basket next to Andrea's chair. She'll "sit pretty" and moan and whine at Andrea to get her attention and then will insist that Andrea throws her things for her.