Shawn's Ultimate Tennis 3.0 level championship game

On Sunday, I played for the Men's singles Ultimate Tennis 3.0 level championship.

This was my second season doing Ultimate Tennis and it's always a pain in the butt to get matches scheduled with other men that are busy with work and family. I was only able to get 3 games scheduled during the "regular season" out of 7, and my record wasn't a very good 1-2. I improved quite a bit by the end of the season and since most of the guys in the league weren't available to play in the playoffs, I got the #4 seed spot although I was ranked about #8 or #9 overall. Right after Thanksgiving, I played against the #1 player who was 6-1 and won so I was scheduled to play against the #2 player on Sunday.

Andrea came back from her girls' weekend a bit early, so she came to the match to watch. The weather was pretty stinking hot out and I was a little nervous getting started because Andrea was watching and because my opponent brought five family members to watch him play. I had actually played him earlier on in the year and he'd beaten me 4-6, 6-4, 4-6. I didn't expect to win, but started off pretty well and won the first set 6-3. The second set started a little rough and I lost it 3-6. We took a break after the second set and I took a little time to talk to Andrea. She gave me some important pointers and gave a few suggestions on different strategy. Importantly, she noticed I was too far up in the court much of the time and was taking a number of balls to my feet. I adjusted my game and won the third set 6-0.

I was pretty thrilled with the win and it was a nice validation that my tennis game is improving.

Melbourne Girl's weekend trip

Andrea went away for the weekend with some of her tennis friends last week.

Dawn, one of her friends, is moving to Australia and a group of them went to their friend Tara's beach house to celebrate together and play some tennis. They did a tennis clinic on Saturday morning and enjoyed their time with Dawn.

Daddy time while Andrea is out of town

This past weekend I got to spend a lot of time with the kids. Andrea was out of town with some girlfriends and I decided to let the kids make a lot of choices. I told them that they each got to pick one place to eat for the weekend. On Friday night, Connor picked Burger King. Danny and Logan were over playing with us when it was time to leave, so I took them with us. They loved eating there and playing in the kids play area.

Paige had fun playing outside with friends too. Olivia, Megan, and Julia were out quite a while and we spent a lot of time outdoors with everyone.

On Friday night, Connor got to have a sleepover with Logan. Logan is always a good kid and he enjoyed spending Saturday with us. We went shopping for Christmas presents at Toys R Us and ate lunch at Town Center. The kids picked out some gifts to buy each other, and we picked up some gifts for Mommy and family.

That evening, I let Paige pick dinner and she decided on Papa John's Pizza at the park nearby. We took her "Gingy" project with us and took some pictures. "Gingy" is a girl gingerbread person and we had to do some activities with Gingy for Paige's Christmas project.

It was a fun weekend with the kids, and the enjoyed getting to pick their activities. It was nice to have Andrea home again on Sunday! It would be tough to be a single parent!

Santa and Hayride

On Thursday, December 10th, we went to our neighborhood clubhouse to see Santa and to go on a hayride through the neighborhood to admire all the Christmas lights.

We didn't have to wait too long, and the kids got to talk to Santa for a little bit and take a few pics. Connor told Mommy afterwards that he knew it wasn't the real Santa, he's starting to figure out old Santa's tricks.

After seeing Santa, we jumped on the first hayride. It ended up being a bit cold as we went through the neighborhood. The kids enjoyed the ride and afterwards we went back in to the clubhouse for some hot chocolate, snacks, and got to visit with some neighbors we hadn't seen in a while.

When Connor's friend Trevor had his picture taken with Santa, all the kids jumped in and I snapped a pic of them together. Connor's got a lot of buddies in the neighborhood.

Girly girl and her lipstick

Paige got home from school the other day and came running in to my office to show me her surprise. Her friend Ella on the bus brought lipstick to school, and on the way home they all put on lipstick. She was so thrilled with how pretty it looked and I didn't want to break her sweet little heart at that moment by telling her about germs and how she was too young for makeup. Instead, I took a few pictures and later on in the night we discussed how maybe it wasn't the best idea to share lipstick or chapstick with friends.

So pretty though!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Today we went downtown Jacksonville to see "Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical". We hardly ever go downtown, so it's always a bit of a stressful project to drive there and find parking. We got there with plenty of time to spare and took a few pics inside with some of the decorations before the show.

We found our seats and before long the show started. It was super chilly in the theater, so I put Paige in my lap so she could see better and so I could cuddle up with her in her little furry vest. We eventually gave the vest to Connor so he could be warm enough.

The show was cute, but a bit slow moving at times. I think we were spoiled with recently seeing so many good Disney productions on our cruises. It was a fun experience, and definitely helped put us in the Christmas spirit.

Julington Creek C Team Christmas Party

On Friday night, Andrea and I went to her JCP C Team's Christmas party at her teammate Michelle's house. Two of the pros, Scott and Jeff, were there and many of her teammates too. There are actually two C1 teams this year and people from both teams came to the party. It was nice to see some of the ladies that Andrea had played with on the D and C2 teams, but she hasn't been playing much with this year.