Odessa visit for Grandma Genie

This past Thursday, September 17th, Grandma Genie got some bad news. A lump that she'd noticed recently turned out to be breast cancer. Andrea talked to her Thursday night and we were all depressed about the bad news, especially coming so soon after Garry's long fight with cancer. Genie's treatment doesn't start for a little while and Andrea talked to her about how she should go and do what she can and what she wants while she is still healthy. Genie said that all she really wanted to do was have a BBQ at her house with her family.

Andrea was supposed to go on a cruise with her friends on Friday morning and she said that what she really wanted to do was to go support her mother and surprise her. We bought plane tickets for a flight at 6:20 the next morning, Abby agreed to pick us up from the airport and keep it a secret, Grandma Alice and Grandpa Rick picked up Chloe, and we unpacked Andrea's cruise suitcase and packed for everyone to go. We woke up at 3:30am and got everything in the car and drove to the airport. Thankfully we got there early because it was the worst TSA line we'd ever seen at the JAX airport. Our flight left late because of the holdup, but thankfully we made our short connection in Atlanta and arrived in KC on schedule.

Abby had taken off work on Friday to spend the day with Genie and convinced her to go to the airport with her to pick up some friends that had been out of town for a while. Genie and Abby were parked on the curb by the baggage area and Andrea spotted them through the window. Andrea took the kids' hands in hers and walked out to see her mother's confused and then surprised face. It was an exciting moment and I don't think we'll ever forget it. We spent the rest of the day surprising everyone we could. We picked Alli up from school early and then when Drew got to Grandma Genie's house, we jumped out to say "surprise" in the kitchen.

When Amanda got home from work, we were all hiding behind the couch and Nate secretly took a video of Amanda's and Graydon's reaction.

We spent the rest of the day making sugar cookies and playing together.

In the morning, we all went to watch Graydon play soccer with his team.

After the game, we cleaned up, played outside, and got everything together for the BBQ.

Renie came to the soccer game and to the house for the BBQ.

In the afternoon, Amanda and Ryan went to a wedding, and we went to a park to play with Graydon and the kids. Connor got to play the role of the older cousin and was cute chasing Graydon around.

Paige was a bit cranky on the trip, especially having started it with a short night's sleep. She fell asleep on the "relaxing swing" while Mommy was pushing her.

We ate dinner, and then the kids went over to Abby and Nate's house to spend the night.

At Abby's house, Paige got a princess Mulan makeover and Allison took some glamour shots.

On Sunday we went to the Blue Springs Fall festival.

 

After the festival, we went to watch Drew play tennis with his high school team. Paige and Connor played for a bit at the park and then Paige and Alli fell asleep during the game.

Drew did really well in his doubles match and won. It got me in the mood for tennis and I got to play for an hour with Nate before it got dark in Odessa.

On Monday, we flew home. It was a short trip, but we actually got to do a lot and it didn't feel too rushed at all. We are thinking about Genie every day and praying that her fight against cancer will go well. She's a strong woman and we are all hopeful that we'll get some good news soon, it's been a tough year for Genie and all of us and I think we're due for some!

We love you Genie!

Playing outside on a cool day

Summer's been brutal this year. It's been in the high to mid nineties for weeks and weeks and weeks. Today was the first day in a long time that was in the seventies. We all went outside to play with the neighbor kids and enjoyed the weather.

Connor played all kinds of sports games with the boys. Ben, Harry, Lomax and Nick were all running around with him.

Paige and Olivia did their normal routine. First, they said hi and greeted each other. Then, they both ran in to their houses to put on some fancy dresses. Paige wore her Halloween costume from a couple years ago. Finally, they got out a bunch of markers and crayons and colored separately. Typically, they beg any adults nearby if they can go in the houses to play. We try to encourage them to ride bikes or something, but they have their own ideas about playing outside. 

Paige and her guacamole

Paige still loves making guacamole at Cantina Laredo. She's been helping for a while now and never gets bored of it. She asks the server herself if she can help and enjoys dumping in all the ingredients and sometimes serving. She loves the guacamole, but not the tomatoes in it, so usually we get a little on a plate for her so she can enjoy it tomato-free.

Connor's phone

This week we decided to setup Connor's phone for him so he can use it. We've been dropping him off at tennis a few times a week and going to some friends' houses, so we wanted him to be able to contact us and also wanted to be able to track him with it. He's been enjoying the added functionality and has been texting up a storm, mostly with the Rudolphs.

Marriott Harbor Lake trip in Orlando

This past weekend we went to the Marriott Harbor Lake resort in Orlando for Labor Day. We drove down on Saturday morning and checked in to the hotel after lunch. We played out at the pool and the kids are still a good size and age for the pirate ship and pools. It was super hot, but it felt good in the water. We played a team game with some other guests where we picked up poker chips with letters on them to spell words. Our team won!

It rained a bit in the afternoon, so we went in and changed and then went to dinner. After dinner we went to the park on property and I chased the kids around for a while. We'd thought about staying up for S'Mores, but had dessert at Uno's, so we skipped it and watched the US Open and then went to bed.

On Sunday morning we went to the other pool area on property. The kids played with the big water cannons and the big buckets that dumped huge amounts of water. The buckets didn't seem to be working really consistently, sometimes they would dump every few minutes and sometimes they seemed to get filled up and then would just sit there and overflow for a long time. It was pretty unpredictable.

The kids went down the slide a few times, but surprisingly Paige didn't really seem to love it. 

Paige's eyes hurt after a while. She said that the water was too "spicy", and her eyes got super red. Like on Saturday some clouds blew through in the afternoon, so we went in and changed. 

In the evening, after it cooled off, we went out and played mini-golf with the kids. Paige did her own special technique as she normally does, and Connor did well although he rushed his shots sometimes. He's pretty good! Andrea and I kept score between the two of us and on the last shot I missed and she beat me by one stroke.

Paige did manage to get a hole in one on one once and was very excited out it.

On Monday morning, we drove home after we checked out and spent the rest of our Labor day holiday watching some tennis and relaxing together. It was a nice weekend with our little family!

Kenlyn's Dance party

Kenlyn celebrated her 9th birthday party at the neighborhood clubhouse. Although both Connor and Paige were invited, it was a dropoff party, and Paige isn't quite old enough for that yet. We dropped Connor off and then went to dinner with Paige. I picked him up close to 10pm and he was pretty tired. I think he had fun, and Clara even said that he'd danced a little with his friends. She texted Andrea a picture of Connor with Sofia, Kenlyn, Danny and Trevor.

Paige practices the vacuum

Paige made a huge mess while eating a snack. Andrea hates our dark wood floors because any crumbs stand out big time on the floor. Andrea's been trying to train the kids to clean up with the vacuum and it was Paige's first time trying it out. It is a good size for the kids and isn't too heavy, but the trigger gets tiring to pull after a while.

Paige did a good job, and enjoyed the novelty of the experience. I'm sure that after she does this for the tenth time she'll be tired of it and maybe will eat a little more carefully!