Andrea Visits Kansas City

 

Andrea went to Kansas City for quite a long visit in mid-May. She stayed with her mother to help her out with some appointments, ran errands, planted flowers, and also to just hang out and enjoy some time together. It was a productive visit, and they also had some fun together while she was in town. The family spent some time at Amanda's house with her dogs and her pool, and Andrea went to a couple of Graydon's baseball games as well.

Mother's Day 2026 - Lunch at TPC

For Mother's Day, we had lunch at TPC to celebrate Andrea together. It was a fairly chill weekend otherwise, and nice to have everyone together.

2026 Tennis Banquet - Paige's Sophomore Year

 
This past week was the tennis banquet and Paige and Shawn went to the banquet this year. The banquet's always been at the Marsh Landing club in the past, but this year it was at the church near their high school instead. It was a very nice setup with food from a local Mexican restaurant. 

Paige won an award for the best overhead on her team and her team captains gave her the "Life of the Party" paper plate award. 

Solo Driver! Paige Drives to School by Herself

This morning was the first time Paige drove herself to school and I snapped a pic of her before she departed. She's been riding with Amelia all year and while she's enjoyed their time together, it's nice to leave on your own time and on your own terms. She does not love driving, but she certainly likes the independence and freedom it provides. 

Connor - Home for the Summer

It was a bit more difficult than he anticipated, but Connor got all moved out by himself last week while wrapping up his first year of college as well. He studied hard his last week and got a 97% on his final Accounting exam, finishing the semester with a great GPA while balancing his work, exercise, fraternity, and friends. We could not be more proud of him, he's grown so much in many ways over the last year and experienced so much. 

He had planned to chill out until Saturday to move home, but a huge storm was forecast on Saturday so we encouraged him to wrap it up on Friday instead. He got his car packed full of junk, floor to ceiling, and he still had to leave a few things behind. He checked out of the dorm and made it home late Friday and got all his stuff in to our rental house and in to his room. We got a desk from Grandma and Grandpa for him, made up a bed and re-arranged things so he would be comfortable over the summer. It's fun having him around again and he's got so many exciting things coming up soon. In the next few weeks he's planning to just relax and catch up with friends.

Amelia Island Birthday Celebration for Paige

 

Paige and four of her friends went with us to Amelia Island for the weekend to celebrate Paige's birthday together. Abby, Payton, Kendall, and Keira all packed in to a rental van so we could make the hour drive together. It turned out we are so bad at packing that Andrea had to drive separately in our SUV so we could bring everything for the weekend. 

When we arrived, the girls changed in to their dresses and did the required Tik Toks and Instagram worthy photos before we departed for dinner. 

There was a bit of a wait at Marche Burette, but we managed to get tables outside and enjoy the live music, the ambiance, and of course, the delicious steaks.

After dinner, the girls changed in to comfy clothes and then explored around the resort. They had planned to play mini-golf but it had just closed when we arrived, so they went over to the hotel and went out to for a walk on the beach.

When they got back, the played some board games and then made a Jeopardy style game to compete and study together for their upcoming AP exams.

Saturday morning, the girls were up bright and shiny in the morning and ready for some adventures. I drove them to the downtown area where there was shopping and a shrimp festival. Unfortunately a huge storm was blowing through around noon, but the girls didn't let it slow them down, they just grabbed umbrellas and piled out of the van in to the rain.

While they were away, Andrea and I went to the Nature Center to look at the animals and have a nice quiet lunch together. 

The girls ate lunch at a restaurant downtown and then we picked them up and brought them back to the house so they could change into drier clothes. The rain stopped around two and it was nice a cool, perfect for some mini-golf. 

When they finished golfing, we picked them up along with a couple of pizzas and spent the rest of the evening playing games, watching movies, and goofing off. 

There were two rooms for the girls, but they preferred to all be in one room together, so they dragged a mattress in to the room with the king bed and all piled in the room. I don't think any of them slept all that well, but they had a good time.

Although there were a few hours of torrential rain, it was actually a pleasant and cool weekend in Amelia Island otherwise. The girls are all funny and adorable together, and we are so happy that Paige has such a nice group that she can celebrate with. 

A huge thank you to Andrea for organizing the weekend, booking the rental van, ordering sweets and treats, and coordinating everything. It was a memorable weekend and we hope that Paige has lots of happy memories for her sweet sixteen birthday. 

Paige's Sweet Sixteen Birthday

Paige turned sixteen on a Thursday this week. Andrea has been great about taking the kids on their birthdays for permits and licenses and she got Paige out of school a little early so they could go by the DMV and get her license. Paige passed her driver's test a couple weeks ago and so it was a fairly simple process to take a picture and fill out all the paperwork. 

After they finished with her license she drove over to Anejo for lunch with her parents. 

When we finished lunch, Paige drove all by herself for the first time to get a pedicure. We were all a bit apprehensive to see her driving alone, especially as it had just started to rain, but she did it and got home without any problems.

Although Paige skipped most of school on Thursday and wasn't planning to go to school Friday, she still had some things to do in the afternoon and evening, but she enjoyed getting birthday wishes from everyone. 

In the evening, we heard her playing guitar up in her room and asked her to come down and play for us and she sang for us for a little while.

Happy Sweet Sixteen to our Sweet Girl! We love you always and forever Paige!