Disney Dream Christmas Cruise 2019 - Castaway Cay with Grandma Alice and Grandpa Rick

On December 20th, we set sail on the Disney Dream for a Christmas cruise with Grandma Alice and Grandpa Rick. When we first arrived, we boarded the boat and had some lunch. The kids had been encouraged to try seafood on this trip and they both ate some shrimp at lunch. They didn't care for it, but I was proud of them for giving it a try.

We got some ice cream at Vanellope's for the girls and soon after our rooms were ready and we unpacked and went through the evacuation drill.

In the afternoon we solved some mysteries, showed Grandma and Grandpa the kids' area and then ate dinner.

We skipped the show on the first night and instead we watched Frozen 2 and afterwards Grandpa and I stayed up late and watched the new Star Wars movie.

On Saturday morning we got up a little early to see Santa and then we went to the Princess gathering.

The boat was at Castaway Cay on Saturday and it was the first time we decided not to bother getting off for the day. The boat was quiet, so it was a nice opportunity to ride the Aquaduck and to relax at the pool and hot tub.

In the afternoon we played some shuffleboard and then went to dinner and the show "Beauty and the Beast".

On Sunday, Andrea and I went to Palo's for brunch while the kids ate breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa.

Andrea loves all the little bite sized desserts at Palo's.

In the evening, Paige went to the show with Grandpa and Grandma while the rest of us watched the Chief's game in the room.

Such a fun cruise to get us in the holiday spirit!

Paige's haircut

Connor and I have been going to a new place to get our haircut and this past week we decided to bring Paige along too. She was super grumpy about it at first and complained and pouted when we arrived. Her attitude turned around though when the owner's dog came out and visited with her and then she loved her haircut and braids so much that she asked me to take a pic when we got home. I'm glad she liked her haircut!

Andrea's tennis team party

Andrea's tennis team celebrated Christmas at Elizabeth's house this year and she put together some huge tennis racquets as decorations. They had fun exchanging silly gifts and snacking together.

Paige's Winter Party at School

Paige's class had a Winter Party on December 13th and Mommy surprised her and showed up to be a part of the fun. The kids did some crafts, decorated some goodies, ate snow cones, made "snow" and played outside with a snow machine and made "snowballs".

Music Club Performance with Paige

On December 9th, we finally got to see Paige perform with her music club at school. They've been practicing since September (http://www.vernonvolumes.com/2019/09/music-club.html) and it was exciting to see her perform. Paige had a performance at Vicker's Landing the week before, which included the High School Jazz band. Our performance on Monday night didn't feature the Jazz Band, but some of the kids that have been learning instruments did some solos. Grandpa Rick came to watch as well and met us in the school cafeteria.

Paige had a part as a lead during the snowman song and she was out in front with her camo hat and binoculars.

Everyone did awesome! After the show we snapped some pics with Paige and she took a pic with Ms Suppa.

We went to Longhorn steakhouse for dinner with Grandpa Rick after the show. It was such a fun night and it put us in the holiday spirit!

House tour party

Our friends Ross and Gina had their home in the house tour on December 7th and afterwards had a party. Andrea went with some friends to see all the homes while I took the kids to the tennis tournament. It was neat to see their home all decorated and finished, and we had a fun night hanging out with them.

Jacksonville Golf and Country Club Level 8 Grand Prix Tennis Tournament

On Saturday, 12/7/2019, we got up early to go to a Level 8 Tennis Tournament with the kids. Paige was in the first group to start at 8am and Connor's group started at 10:30.

Paige was only one of two girls signed up for the tournament, so they ended up combining the girls and boys. Paige played four very close matches to qualify for the final match and she tried so hard and such a positive attitude throughout the tournament. It was awesome to see Paige putting together all of the things she's learned from lessons and clinics, as well as the things she's learned in previous matches and tournaments. In difficult moments, where she might have previously over-hit a ball, she hit smart shots that gave her an opportunity to recover and get back in the game. In the right moments she also swung hard and finished her strokes. Paige ran down many balls that I didn't think she had a chance of touching and got the balls back in the court and won many close games as a result.

Going in to the final match of the day, Paige was undefeated and another boy was also undefeated. Every game was close, but unfortunately the boy won 3 out of 3 close deuce games and Paige lost the match 0-5. I believe Paige is a consistent player and may have been better off if the games weren't scored with no-ad scoring. It's hard to know how that may have affected the outcome, but I definitely don't think the score reflected how close the match was. Paige was disappointed that she didn't win the final match, but we were proud of the way she played and she was happy that she received a finalist trophy.

Connor's matches started at 10:30 and I missed a portion of Connor's warmup and the early part of his first match since Paige's final match went a little longer than anticipated. Connor started the day playing a tall boy that he's played multiple times in the past. Although Connor has beaten the other boy every time they played, the matches are always close and their match on Saturday was the closest yet. Connor started off slow and found himself losing 2-4 after the first six games. I could tell that Connor was frustrated and not hitting as well as he was able to, but he made some adjustments and won the next three games to win the match 5-4.

Connor went on to win the next few matches much more easily and went in to the final match of the day against the only other undefeated boy who was a freshman in high school. By this point of the day Connor was hitting much more confidently and I don't think I've ever seen him hitting so well as he did during that final match. Connor was driving shots deep, mixing in a variety of strokes, and at some points was jumping in to the shots and twisting his body to muscle the ball cross court for clean winners. The jumping swings are not necessarily encouraged by his coaches, but they were definitely working on Saturday and Connor won the final match quickly at 5-0 to take the first place trophy.

We are super proud of both of our kids for how well they played, their positive attitudes, and their fair sportsmanship. Great job Paige and Connor!