The Vernon Blog: 2021

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Christmas Day 2021

Saturday was Christmas morning and we slept in a little before we went to the Family room to see what Santa brought. We all wore our matching PJ's (even Millie Mae) and snapped a couple family pics before we jumped in and started unwrapping gifts. Connor's big gifts this year were Bowflex adjustable dumbells, magnet boards for his room, and an Apple TV. Paige's big gifts were nightstands and lights for her room makeover and Nike Airforce One's.

For lunch, we ate at home and Andrea made Hawaiian Roll ham sandwiches along with a couple sides. We chilled out for a while after lunch and then went on a bike ride. Connor and I played some tennis together and then we all just relaxed at home.

Christmas Eve - Doggy Picnics and Caroling

Christmas Eve was a pretty chill day for us at home. We went to TPC for lunch and then mostly relaxed. Paige has been enjoying hanging out with some of the neighbor kids lately and she and Bryson got the dogs together for a picnic. They pulled out some food for the dogs and Andrea took a picture of Paige holding Cooper and Bryson holding Millie Mae.

In the evening, Bryson decided he wanted to go caroling and Paige agreed to go along, somewhat reluctantly. They put on their Christmas PJ's and Paige put Millie's Christmas sweater on as well. I didn't think it would last long so I sent them on their way, but Andrea was a bit worried about them roaming around in the dark so I jumped on my bike and followed them. They did pretty well and sang "Jingle Bells" at a few houses. I took a few videos, but it's a bit hard to hear them as I'm in the street on my bike. I uploaded the video of them singing at our house.

Once the caroling was finished and Bryson was home, we watched another Christmas movie. This year we didn't watch Home Alone as we've seen it so many times now, and we watched a few that we looked up online. In the days leading up to Christmas, we watched "Elf", "Christmas Chronicles", and "Christmas Chronicles 2".

Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt

On Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd), we got bundled up and went for a golf cart ride through the neighborhood to look at Christmas Lights. We found some that were hard to find last year like the Grinch and Ms Claus, and it was a nice peaceful ride. Millie Mae enjoyed it as well.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Vernon Christmas 2021 with Grandma Alice and Grandpa Rick

Saturday, December 18th, we got together with Grandpa Rick and Grandma Alice to exchange gifts and celebrate Christmas a little early. They're setting off on a river cruise on Sunday, so it was our best time to get together before Christmas. We exchanged gifts, went for a nice long walk and looked at a nearby house that's under construction, ate some snacks, and then played Snorta (Grandma Alice was very excited to win).

Paige's Flag Football - First Practice

Paige had her first flag football practice yesterday afternoon. She never had much interest in football, but in gym class she formed a very strong team and they made it to her period's championship game. Her friend Saylor's put together an all-girl's team and Paige joined it with a little trepidation. Originally they were going to be in an all-girl league, however it looks like there weren't enough girls signed up so they may end up playing against some boy teams. Paige enjoyed the practice and I'm hopeful she'll have a lot of fun with her friends.

PVIC Employee Appreciation Christmas Mixer

Saturday morning, Andrea and I played in the club's employee appreciation mixer. It was a round robin format with three rounds. We played match style, no-ad, first to 6 games. Our first two matches we played together and we were matched up against some very good players. We played fairly well, but I know I didn't play my best since I haven't really been playing matches in a long time.

I got a couple pics and a short video of Andrea playing before it ended.

Christmas Party with Friends

Our friends Liz and Mike had a Christmas party on Friday night and Andrea and I had a nice time chatting with friends.

A few people took pics, but unfortunately we haven't gotten them yet, so I only have a couple candid shots I took on my phone.

Gobles Visit - Amanda, Ryan and Graydon

December 10th, late Friday evening, the Gobles arrived for a brief weekend visit. Their main goal was to check on their new house's construction and to make sure everything looked good and was progressing as planned. It was also a beautiful weekend for their visit so we made sure to plan some outside fun while they were in town.

The kids played outside quite a bit with Graydon. Paige got some of her younger neighborhood friends together and they all ran around on the golf course and up and down the street together. Connor played football with Paige, Graydon, and Millie.

We went out to Rivertown to check on the Goble's home and it looked pretty good, although it sounds like the builder hasn't made a ton of progress lately.

Paige and I have found a nearby Ramen restaurant and went with Ryan on Saturday evening. We enjoyed some ramen, dumplings, and an Asian pancake dessert.

Sunday evening we went to Old St. Augustine for dinner at A1A Ale Works Restaurant & Taproom and then we took a short golf cart ride around downtown to see all the Christmas lights.

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Magic Kingdom - Christmas Visit 2021

This past weekend we decided to take a quick trip to Orlando on Saturday and went to the Magic Kingdom. We went to Disney World earlier in the year but went to all the parks except for Magic Kingdom. We like to go to the park when it's decorated for Halloween and Christmas and we were excited to go on a weekend that was supposed to be nice and cool. We drove in on Saturday morning and stopped at Uno's for lunch before heading to the park. We had to go to a different one that normal since the one closest to Disney is permanently closed as there's a new road going right through where it used to be.

At the park, we tried to make sense of the new phone app and the Genie system. It was confusing and buggy, also cost $15 extra per person for the Genie plus option. After our first ride, somehow Connor's account didn't get checked in right and we had to wait in a line with a customer service person to figure it out. On our next ride they wouldn't let us through and contradicted what the customer service person told us. We stood our ground and eventually it worked out, but super painful process especially after paying extra for it.

Overall it was a great day at the park. We got a little hot and it was most crowded in the early afternoon hours but it eventually cooled off and was pleasant. We pretty much rode everything we'd hoped to, except for Space Mountain which appeared to be closed for maintenance. We stayed pretty late, almost to closing time, before heading to the hotel. Sunday morning we slept in and drove home, nice short visit!

On the way home I had everyone list off three of their favorite parts from our visit, in no particular order. Connor wrote them down so I could put them on the blog.

Shawn