Trasca and Beach day with Grandpa Rick

 

Saturday morning I jogged with Millie Mae and then while Andrea was at the beach with friends I met Grandpa Rick at Trasca with the kids and then we went to the beach for a walk. 

Paige met her friend Cailyn, so it was Connor, Grandpa and myself on the walk. Millie Mae had fun running with Connor until a big dog that was off-leash ran over to them. They both got a little nervous about running off after that, so they stayed closer to us. 

During our walk we came across a fairly large crab that had gotten tangled up in fishing line. Thankfully Grandpa had his trusty credit card sized toolkit on hand and we used the scissors and the knife to cut the poor crab free. I took a video of the ordeal, but stopped it after a couple minutes so I could help. 

It was a beautiful day at the beach! After our walk we went and got ice cream and then we relaxed the rest of the day.

Birthday lunch with Anna and Rachael

 

On Saturday, Andrea celebrated April birthdays with her friends Anna and Rachael. They met at the club for the tennis drill clinic at 10, then they relaxed by the pool and ate lunch at the beach. 

Happy birthday ladies!

Jogging with Millie Mae

 

Millie Mae's been doing well on her walks and she has a lot of energy so I decided to take her on my jogs. We worked up to it over a few weeks where I'd jog with her for a couple miles and then see how she was doing for a couple days. I wanted to make sure I wasn't overdoing it with her and checked her paws to make sure she was holding up ok. On Thursday (April 8th, 2021) I finally decided to give my regular jogging route a try with her. The route takes me from our house to the southern end of the neighborhood and it's a little over 6 miles to my cooldown spot and then I walk the last half mile to the house. 

I was so impressed that Millie Mae made it! We took a couple walking breaks where I would check on her, and I picked her up at one point when she was lagging a little behind, but I could tell she wanted me to put her down. On the cooldown walk she was pulling ahead of me and we did a full speed sprint for the last couple hundred yards, she loved it!

The rest of my workday, Millie was pooped. I gave her a bath after our walk and she was happy to relax the rest of the day. She's not usually a very cuddly dog, but after her bath she let me put her in my lap while I was working.

Millie ran with me on Saturday as well and she is such a strong puppy dog! Great work Millie!

Tricks and Training with Millie Mae

 

Millie Mae has been learning a lot lately. We're still working to get her to use the puppy pads consistently, but she is much improved and rarely makes mistakes. We've worked on the basic commands like sit, stay, come. We've recently been working on more complex things like lie down, roll over, shake, and sit pretty (we used "beg" but I think she thought we were saying "bad" and would always look sad). 

Andrea took a video of me working with Millie Mae over the weekend.

Easter 2021

For Easter morning, the kids did an Easter egg hunt and we gave them their baskets that were filled with goodies that Andrea's been saving for the day. They both got some yummy sweets, some pajamas, new swimming goggles, strawberry lemonade, and gum. We got a few pics of them, along with Millie Mae, before we went to brunch.

 

We met Grandpa Rick and Grandma Alice at the Nineteen restaurant at TPC and we pretty much had the restaurant to ourselves since most of the other reservations didn't show up, so it was a very nice private meal together. The Easter Bunny came by with a basket of goodies and we snapped a pic with him/her/they/it.

Connor was a hungry boy and wanted the steak and eggs. It was a big brunch meal and we snapped a pic of him and his plate before he dug in. We expected there would be leftovers, but he pretty much finished it all. He didn't finish all the eggs because he didn't like the sauce they put on it, but otherwise he loved his lunch. We also got some donuts to share, Grandma Alice got quiche, Grandpa Rick got Croque Madame, Paige got pancakes, and I got the beef brisket. Andrea just shared a bit from each of us.

When we got home, we snapped a few family pics with our puppy and the kids were cute about putting on their Easter rabbit ears.

The weather was beautiful and cool, so Paige, Millie Mae, Grandma Alice, Grandpa Rick and I went on a long golf cart ride around the neighborhood. I operated the pedals and Paige did most of the driving. We looked at some of the houses under construction and went down some of the roads that Grandma and Grandpa had never seen.

We played some "Sleeping Queens" and dominos for a while after we got back and then we bid Grandma and Grandpa farewell so they could get home to feed their dogs and let them out. 

It was a fun Easter celebration and we're thankful we got to spend a beautiful day together with family.

Millie Mae's walking weekend

 

Millie Mae's been walking more lately and doing well on the leash. During the tennis tournament on Saturday I took her for a long walk between matches and we ended up walking over five miles. I carried her briefly a couple times when I was worried she was getting tired, but she actually seemed to enjoy it and wanted to be put down. 

Afterwards, she was tired, and I got to have some rare snuggle time with her.

On Sunday morning I took Millie for a jog. I stayed close to home in case she got too tired, but she kept up well. We walked about half the time and on the last stretch towards home I could tell she wanted to go faster and we sprinted full speed for a couple hundred yards. She ended up going six miles on Sunday! 

Level 7 Tournament in ML

On Saturday, April 3rd 2021, the kids participated in a Level 7 tournament. It was super convenient since it was in our neighborhood. Connor played first and his first match started at 8am. I brought him to the tournament and brought Paige up so she could start at 11am. 

Connor was successful for his first three matches and although he didn't feel like he was playing his best, he won them. His fourth match was against his buddy Charlie and they split sets 1-4, 4-1 and then did a 7 point tiebreak to decide the match. Unfortunately Connor fell behind early in the tiebreak and a few close shots hit the net. He lost the match, but had a great day of tennis otherwise. Andrea took over tournament parent duty once Connor finished, and I took Connor to lunch. 

Paige's group started at 11, but unfortunately Paige had a bye the first round. Personally, I think that's the worst time for a bye since everyone else has a match and get warmed up and then Paige has to come in cold and play someone that just finished playing an entire match. The format also didn't favor Paige since it was a single set to 4 games, which doesn't give any opportunity for a reset and regrouping if you fall behind. 

Paige lost the first match, but then won the rest of her matches and finished in second place overall. She got very frustrated in the first match of the day, but we're proud of her for getting it together and focusing to play well afterwards.

Paige's friend Yasmine came to the tournament and afterwards Andrea took the girls to Barbara Jeans for lunch.