Valentine's Day 2021

On Valentine's Day, Andrea and I got back from our trip to Amelia Island and mostly just relaxed at home. I had some roses delivered for Andrea and she got me some Sugarfina sweets and a card.

Grandpa Rick's weekend with the kids and puppy

 

Grandpa Rick stayed at our house from Thursday through Sunday. We tried to make our house comfortable for him and although the puppy was quite a bit of work, I think our kids are more self sufficient and hopefully were a good help with Millie Mae. Paige enjoyed cooking some spaghetti with Grandpa's supervision and they also went over to Grandpa and Grandma's house on Saturday night for dinner and games so Grandma could hang out with them too. Thanks so much for being an awesome Grandpa!

Valentine's Getaway to the Ritz - Amelia Island

 

Andrea and I went to Amelia Island for the weekend, for what was supposed to be a double's bootcamp tennis weekend. Unfortunately, a huge winter storm rolled over America and came through Florida over the weekend. While we were happy to get rain instead of snow, the weather was pretty miserable for tennis. Our Friday afternoon/evening session was rained out and we opted to get a credit on our account instead of worry about the weather the rest of the weekend. The rain actually wasn't too bad over the weekend and we probably could have gotten a decent amount of tennis in, but we really enjoyed our relaxing time together.

We ate at Marche Burette for lunch a few times and we rode bikes provided by the hotel, a couple times. We did get caught in a rainstorm on the way back once and we were pretty soaked and chilled to the bone by the time we got back to our room. We went to Nana Teresa's Bake Shop a couple times and got some Valentine's themed chocolate strawberries, which may have been the best ones we've ever eaten. So yummy we went back for more on Saturday evening. It was a wonderful weekend to watch the Australian Open on TV, chill and relax, and more than anything to connect and enjoy my wife's company. Love you Andrea, Happy Valentine's Day!

Life with Millie Mae, the Kitty-Puppy

We've had our Millie Mae for three weeks now and she's definitely a part of our family. She is quite a bit of work and definitely has her own unique personality. She is sweet, playful, smart, and cuddly. She is also mischievous, stubborn, uninterested in training and a little gross. She's come a long way over the last couple of weeks and is getting better about using her puppy pads in the house; although she still enjoys using the carpet for no apparent reason from time to time. 

We play with her a lot during the weekends and in the evenings, but during our school and work days, we haven't decided what to do with her yet. I've been trying to train her to stay in my office on the bed where I can see her during work and we're using a training collar. Paige had been taking her up to her bedroom during some schooldays, however Paige wasn't able to watch her while she was doing her work and Millie Mae used the carpet instead of the puppy pad a few times without Paige noticing. We tried to clean it up with some normal cleaning supplies, but ended up having to buy a carpet cleaning machine and the kids worked with me to deep clean Paige's carpet. Millie does spend some time in her kennel when we're busy,  but she definitely doesn't spend as much as Chloe ever did and much less than most dogs. 

We've taken her out on walks a few times and she does not enjoy it yet. She whines and wants to be picked up immediately, but will walk along with you if you insist. She will cry the entire time though. I took her out on a somewhat longer walk on the golf course the other day and she seemed to enjoy it at times. We even went for a jog in the grass and I think she liked to run. 

We took her out with us to restaurants a few times and she has been very well behaved, sitting in our laps, or on a chair, while we eat.

Millie Mae mostly enjoys wilding out in the evenings, biting everything around her, zooming around the family room, and hiding under the couch. We call her our "Kitty-Puppy" since she likes to hide under things like a kittycat. 

Grandma and Grandpa came over on Sunday, February 7th, and played with Millie and watched the Chiefs lose in the Superbowl with us.

Chef Paige

 

Paige has been enjoying home-cooked meals. We are nowhere near a point where we're cooking from scratch, but Andrea's been getting us some meal-kit type of things from Target recently and Paige enjoys the process of making them. The meal-kits are really just lists of ingredients from Target along with a recommended preparation. For instance, we got one that consisted of frozen broccoli, chicken chunks, macaroni and cheese, and cheddar cheese and you pretty much heat it all up and stir it together. Not hard, but does require a bit of work and it's a perfect level for us and they meals are pretty tasty.

2-7-2021 - Level 7 Tennis Tournament - Queen's Harbor and Bartram

Connor and Paige both played in tennis tournaments on Sunday, February 7th. The tournaments were supposed to be on Saturday morning, but it has been pretty rainy lately so both got moved to Sunday. 

Connor's got moved to Bartram High School, which is a hard court and one of his least favorite places to play. I took Connor and we met Grandma and Grandpa for lunch at Tijuana Flats and then we watched Connor play three matches. Connor won his first two matches and lost the third match. The competition was pretty difficult and Connor ended up getting third place overall since the tournament was arranged in the bizarre way where there are 2 separate groups of kids that don't play between each other, but then afterwards the records are all compared between the groups. 

Paige played well at her tournament, which was at Queen's Harbor, and she ended up winning the tournament overall. Paige played three matches to make it to the final and she won in her fourth and final match. Paige played quite a few of the same girls she'd played recently, and had a great day of tennis.

Overall, both kids played great and we're happy that they've been playing well. Both tournaments had a 1-set format to 5 games which we believe doesn't favor our kids since they are both stubborn and will often come back and win a match even after they lose the initial set. We got a communication after the tournament that the future tournaments will have a 2 out of 3 set format and we like the idea that there will be a reset after the first set. It's hard to come back if you have a bad start when there's just one set.

Millie Mae's first vet appointment

 

On Tuesday, February 2nd, Millie Mae went to her first vet appointment. Due to COVID restrictions, Millie had to go in by herself while I waited in the parking lot. She had an overall health checkup, her stool sample was sent to a lab, and she got a microchip. The good news is that she looked great overall and healthy. She was well behaved and all of the staff loved her and thought she was so cute. 

The bad news is that her stool sample came back with evidence that she's got a Giardia infection, so we've started her on an Antibiotic Flagyl (Metronidazole). She has been doing ok with the medicine so far and doesn't show any symptoms or issues behaviorally.