Today was Logan’s first school fieldtrip and the destination was the Uesugi Farm Pumpkin Park.  I was one of the five parents who won the lottery to be a chaperone, and so I switched my day off work to be there.  This morning, we had to start our day early as we needed to arrive by 8am.  I was assigned to have 3 kids (one being Logan) initially, but one of the boys was not there, so I was given only Zachary as the additional child to watch.  He is a sweet little boy who loves to hold hands with me so that made things easier.  The plan for today was to board the bus and leave promptly at 8:15am, but unfortunately, the bus was late.  While waiting, the kids listened to the teacher’s instruction for the day and to a story, then played outside in the playground for a little while.  We then returned to the room to hang out, most of us by then were just doing some readings in small groups.  Logan and I were reading nicely together initially, then a few kids came joined us.  Logan brought me another book to read as I was reading one to the kids, so I told him that I would read his book when I finished with the current book.  Just by that, Logan got upset and ran away from us.  He kept running back to tell me “I am not reading!” with his grumpy look and voice.  I tried to calm him, but I had to keep up with the reading to my audience, so I just had to let him be.  Logan finally got distracted by the arrival of the bus.  Everyone was then happily holding hands and waiting in line to board the bus.  At that point, we were over an hour later than scheduled.

      Both Logan and Zachary, as well as the rest of the kids, were very excited to be riding the bus.  The kids were called alphabetically by name to go up one at a time; Logan responded to his call quickly and was fine that I had to stay behind to wait with my other boy.  We then found each other on the bus and sat together.  After 30+ minutes of bus ride, we finally arrived at the pumpkin farm.  We had to wait quite awhile in line before being taken into the farm; once inside, the first activity was the Hayride.  It was an open-top truck ride hauled by a tractor; they took us around the cornfields and the farm.  It was a fun ride and the kids were all fascinated by it.  We then were taken over to ride Logan’s highly anticipated choo choo train.  Logan had been asking for snacks periodically since we left school; by then, he asked to have “dinner” (he must have been hungry, and actually I was too).  Fortunately, we were told that lunch was scheduled after the train ride.  Logan was happy with that news, and we enjoyed the train ride as usual. 

     Everyone was hungry, and sat nicely at the picnic tables eating our own individual sack lunch.  After that, it was potty time for everyone before we moved on to other activities.  This was the first time that I helped a boy go potty other than my own.  It was a bit hectic trying to help two boys using the Port-a-Potty and washing hands while making sure I did not lose any kids.  We then were taken into a tent to watch a video of how pumpkins were grown.  Next we took a short walk through a maze to look at some displays.  Logan wanted to walk fast and my other boy liked to take his time with each display, so it was a bit tiring keep track of them.  Fortunately, they both were relatively obedient.  To wrap up the fieldtrip, we spent a little bit of time at the pumpkin patch, picking out a pumpkin for each kid.  By then, we, the chaperones, were all tired and ready to take our kids back to school.  During the bus ride back, Logan fell asleep on my lap while Zachary was still energized and played with the kids in the seat behind us.  We finally got to school at 2pm.  Fortunately, Logan got a short nap since the class was going to move on to their afternoon activities as the naptime was over.  I said my goodbye to Logan which concluded our first fieldtrip together.

     After midnight last night, when Stuart and I were in deep sleep, we heard some bangings on the wall.  It was Logan kicking the wall with his leg.  Stuart went over to see Logan while I watched on the monitor.  Logan was very upset or angry; he was kicking all of his extremities on the bed.  Stuart talked to him a bit, but Logan continued to be very upset.  He first threw Daddy Bear to the wall, then Mommy Bear, and he even threw new Teddy to the wall.  After the fit, Logan started crying in frustration.  He was crying so sad that I was tempted to go over to give him a hug.  Stuart picked up him as soon as he started crying in attempt to console him.  He was still sobbing when Stuart took him to go potty.  Stuart then laid down with him trying to get him to sleep, and Logan was hugging Stuart for comfort.  Eventually, Stuart had to bring him some warm milk before Logan could return to sleep on his own.  According to Stuart, Logan was just saying some random things earlier, but did not mention about Teddy.  However we wondered if this night awakening was a result of missing Teddy.

     While I was watching the monitor, I remembered how Logan would keep holding Teddy, saying hello to people including strangers, and he would use Teddy to give all of us lots of kisses.  He used Teddy to show his affections.  But now this gesture was not existing the last couple of days.  We all miss Teddy a lot.  It is strange that we could have such strong feeling toward a non-living object.

     Logan used to bring old Teddy out with him when he woke up in the mornings, but he had not done that with the new one.  Stuart asked Logan this morning if he wanted Little Brother Teddy to come sit with him, but Logan actually said no.  Stuart decided to bring him out anyway to place on Logan’s lap for a hug.  On the way to the car, Logan only took a small McQueen with him, but we did bring new Teddy out just in case.  Before I took Logan out of the carseat, he placed both McQueen and new Teddy in the pocket of the carseat.  He was being playful and told me to be quiet so Teddy would go to sleep, and he said he will say "boo" to wake him after school today.  I am glad that he was playing a bit with the new Teddy, but I know he MISSES his old Teddy!

     This year we decided to check out the Ardenwood Farm in Fremont for their annual Harvest Festival.  It was a huge farm with an old fashioned farm train, a large cornfield, some farm houses and many picnic areas.  There was also a large pumpkin patch outside of the farm. We started the visit by riding the train ride first.  We waited in line for a little bit, then the train arrived.  However, they wanted to add a freight cart, and ended up re-doing the seating arrangement and did some more hammering.  So after another 20+ minutes of waiting, we finally got to enjoy the short train ride.  We then went to the cornfield in hope to get some corns too.  There were many people coming out with bags of corns.  But after walking around the empty cornfield for a little bit, we gave up knowing that the corns were probably deeper into the field.  The boys did have fun wandering around the field as this was an unique experience for them.  After all the running around, it was time for lunch.  Stuart and Logan went to watch the blacksmith making horseshoes while Connor and I bought our lunches at the farm café.  We then had a nice little lunch on a picnic table.  Pumpkin patch was our last destination before heading home.  The patch was actually quite nice; it had a hay pyramid for us to climb on, and a cool hay maze.  Logan ran through the maze three times, and Connor had a great time walking through it while holding my hand.  We went around the pumpkin patch for a bit longer until we were all tired and hot, then we headed home after taking a few pumpkins with us.

     An update on Logan.  He seemed to be accepting the replacement bear; we actually just called him Teddy too.  Logan had taken new Teddy around a few times today, but definitely not as much he used to do with old Teddy though.  He did ask about old Teddy once tonight at bedtime.  We are happy that Logan is ok with the whole thing, but we’ll see if he still feels that way when it really settles in that he’s not coming back.  However, we do wonder if it was due to losing old Teddy that Logan was acting out today.  He yelled out “no” to me and walked away, and once he just ran all the way to the hay maze on his own without checking with us.  We had to have a few serious talks with him.  Besides Logan’s bad behaviors, Connor was tiring us out too.  He wanted to walk on his own rather than being in the stroller while we were at the farm, so we ended up having to carry him for quite a long time.  Stuart and I were exhausted from today; we were happy to relax a bit after both boys were down shortly after 8pm today.

     The sad day came today when we really truly lost Teddy.  It happened this morning when we were at the Heart Walk for the American Heart Association.  Stuart and I had registered and donated to do the 3k walk which was being held at Vasona Park this year.  We did this event a few years ago, but this year would be the first for Logan and Connor.  We parked at a hospital parking structure and were shuttled to the event by a big bus.  Both boys were fascinated by being in the bus, especially Logan. This photo was one of the last we saw of Teddy.  We got to the event just in time for the company group photos.  There were probably 200+ Kaiser employees participating today.  The photo was taken earlier than the time promised online, so my teammates had not even shown up yet.  We waited around and finally met up with some of our teammates, and we took a few photos on our own.  After that, we parted with them to check out the booths and picked up a few freebies.  There was a stage with some ongoing activities and a kid zone.  But the kid zone was not too exciting and it was located right next to the stage with loud speakers.  I did manage to wait in line to get a balloon sword and a balloon ghost for the boys’ entertainment while we walked.  The walk finally started after a warm up exercise with all the participants which was quite impressive since there must have been over 1000 people there. 

     We did not enjoy the walk at all.  The trails at the park were too narrow for all the people.  We were so packed and moving so slow that the boys were getting antsy in the strollers at times.  The trails were not designed well for many parts of the routes.  The leading runners had to run in the opposite direction of the main crowd, trying to squeeze in between all the walkers to find their way back to the finish line.  The entire 3k was supposed to be 2 laps, but after one lap, Stuart and I decided to call it quits.  We took a quick bite of the little sandwiches that were given to us, and walked around the festivity area a little more before heading back to the shuttle.  The boys enjoyed the bus ride again and had a fun balloon sword fight since we were sitting facing each other this time.  At that point, we realized we were missing Teddy.  Teddy must have bounced out of the stroller during the rough walk.

     Logan did ask for Teddy a few times the rest of today.  Stuart and I just told him that Teddy has gone somewhere far, and then tried to distract him with his little brother (the new bear that we got last week).  Logan did not seem to be as stubborn today as in some mornings when we forgot to bring Teddy.  He did say once at bedtime tonight that “I can’t fall asleep without my baby bear”.  Teddy had been a great pal to Logan for over a year and we hope he found himself a happy place at the park.

    It is true that we should never brag about our kids.  I was telling Robyn yesterday that Connor has been waking up once or twice each night for almost a month now due to molar teething.  However I usually just feed him and he returns to sleep nicely.  Connor must have heard what I said, and last night he showed us what he can do.  He woke up at 1:45am; I went in to feed him as usual.  Once I returned him to the crib, he stood back up and started complaining again.  Since I did my part, I just decided to leave him alone hoping he would go back to sleep.  It must have been like 15+ minutes, but he was still standing up and crying occasionally.  Stuart decided to pay him a visit, but as soon as Connor saw Stuart instead of me, he flopped down onto the crib continuing his fit.  Stuart just patted Connor on his back while he was sobbing, and he actually almost fell asleep until Stuart opened the door to leave.  So Stuart picked him up this time; Connor was initially still complaining until eventually became comforted by Stuart.  After a period of time, Stuart attempted to put him back down but it failed again.  Stuart returned to our room in defeat.  I gave in after another period of crying, I went into the room.  Connor was so happy to see me, he gave me a big smile which I don’t actually like to see in the middle of the night.  He wanted me to hold him and he just leaned on me for a long time while we were rocking on the chair.  I did enjoy our moment together.  He later gestured to be fed again, so I thought it was time to wrap up this awakening.  However, Connor still did not appear sleepy.  I had to just lay him back down in the crib after feeding and the crying resumed again.  While Stuart and I were contemplating if we should bring him to our bed, Connor finally flopped down and fell asleep.  It was like 3:15am; Stuart and I could then get some sleep too.  Connor ended up sleeping until 8:20am (record time).

     Today we were invited to join the Kaos to visit Gilroy Garden again.  We got there right before it was opened so we could get a season pass for Logan since he is now three.  The park was decorated for Halloween, and Logan enjoyed looking at the scarecrows, ghosts, cobwebs and spiders decorations.  Since we were there early, we decided to try out the Duckie paddle boat that usually has a long line.  Logan had a fun time boating in the lake while Stuart got a little bit of a workout.  Then we headed over to Logan’s latest favorite ride, the Backroads (car driving).  I was chosen to have the honorary seat next to Logan this time, and we all had a fun time just like our last visit.  We met up with the Kaos after the ride and we walked around the park together.  We then tried out a rock maze which was quite tall and turned out to be quite challenging.  Inside the maze, there were cobweb decorations and several Boo zones.  Shortly after we stepped inside, Mckayla got scared and started to whimpering.  So Michelle and I skipped all the Boo zones, just hoping to get out of the maze as fast as we could.  Connor and I were leading for awhile, and I was just happy to find the exit for Mckayla without getting lost.  Logan apparently did not enjoy their run either since Logan is not fond of cobwebs these days.

     We took a train ride (which of course Logan always enjoys immensely) and then had our favorite fish and chips.  After lunch, we let the kids play at the climbing playgrounds for awhile.  All four kids ran around a lot and had a great time.  Connor loved walking around the structures while holding my hand.  After we went down the slide once, he just wanted to keep going back to it, he even wanted to climb back up on the slide.  Connor is definitely the more daring one of the two.  Over at the playground, we also finally met up with Kristina and Josh after trying for awhile with multiple phone calls.  We ended up going separate ways from them after a quick catching up since we were heading a different direction.  We and the Kaos continued to walk around the park.  We all played at one of the carnival booths; Logan, Mckayla and Marcus were so happy holding their winning stuffed crayons, although Ted did have to be told by Michelle to let Mckayla win.  We hit a few more rides, then it was about time to wrap up another enjoyable visit to Gilroy Garden. 

     We stopped by the gift shop before heading out.  We were on the look out for a small bear for future emergency purposes so we asked Logan if Teddy wanted a friend as they had several there.  Logan was very fond of that idea, and he immediately bonded with a new bear.  He was holding one bear in each hand while sleeping on the way home.  He was holding only the new bear in the afternoon.  But after dinner and bath, Logan seemed to forgot about the new bear and was content with his old Teddy again.  Stuart decided to bring new bear to bed for Logan anyway.  Logan was happy to see him and chose to have all his bears sleeping with him.  In the end, he refers to both small bears as brothers.