This morning we did something different; we had asked one of Connor’s classmates to come over to play.  This boy actually goes to CDC as well, so Logan knows him too.  The mom dropped Chris off in the morning before she went off to her study and planned to return after lunchtime.  Both boys were excited to have guests, and they welcomed Chris when he arrived.  Then they were off to show him things to play in the game room.  I told the boys and Chris to let me know if they need anything, otherwise I planned to stay slightly away to work on my project.  They played for quite awhile in the game room, then Logan came to tell me that Chris wanted to play with Connor more.  I had to remind Logan that Chris is younger and is Connor’s classmate, and of course he would play more with Connor.  I suggested that Logan helped supervise and make sure Chris enjoying his stay; Logan agreed with the idea and off to play again.  They took a break for some fruits, then they suddenly got a burst of energy.  They started playing “wrestling” with each other with pillows.  I was sitting by them and overseeing it all; as long as they were not being too rough, I was letting them have their fun.  At some point, I made them a lunch, and they all had a great appetite.  Several hours went by quite fast, and the mom returned to our house.  The boys had started running around the house again, so the three of them continued to play while the mom and I chatted.  The last few minutes before our guests left, Logan and Connor took turns coming to complain about each other not being nice, so I knew it was time for the playdate to end.  Overall they all had fun.

    The weather was strange today and it was cloudy with drizzling.  In the afternoon, Stuart used his lunch time to go out with us to hit some tennis.  But as soon as we walked into the court, it started to shower heavier.  Stuart had brought the sport tent, so the boys mostly hung out inside.  Stuart and I managed to hit against each other for few minutes without slipping on the wet ground.  The rain came at the worst time for us, but since we really need water, we did not feel too bad to pack up and go home.  The rest of the day the boys played games and I joined them too.  I hardly ever played video games with them, and as a result, I almost ended with carpal tunnel, but we had a good time.

      Today was my turn with the kids as Stuart had to return to work.  I really wanted to take them to a movie, but there were no kid movies available.  So I made an alternative plan and took them to one of the local parks we had not been to for months.  We walked around the lake and arrived at the playground they liked.  It was very quiet there, but surprisingly each boy happened to see a classmate among the only two families in the park.  The boys played in their favorite pirate boat structure for a long time, then went to climb at the climbing structure.  Later all the kids ended up playing all together at a game of tag.  They ran around so much around the small playground that fortunately no one fell down.  The other kids finally were convinced to go home and my boys needed a break anyway as they were dripping with sweat.  We slowly made our way back around the lake, and we took a detour walking down toward the water to sightsee as well.  Then we headed home to have lunch with Stuart.

    In the afternoon, I took the boys to do some grocery shopping before we headed to Logan’s eye appointment.  We waited quite awhile but the boys had a good time playing quietly with each other while sitting on the tall stools.  Then the doctor called us in.  Connor promised me that he was going to be quiet during the exam, and he was.  Logan knows the drill well now, and he answered all the doctor’s questions clearly.  The result of the exam was wonderful and somewhat surprising that his vision is stable this time and did not worsen over the past 6 months.  Therefore we did not need to redo any of his glasses.  But we stopped by the Optical Shop anyway so they could re-adjust all of his frames and nose pieces.  We had to wait again, but the boys entertained themselves by solving mazes.  They both did well with those.  We then returned home to spend the rest of the night with daddy again.

     My stepmom and Grandma are in town these few days and they are staying with her sister in San Ramon.  We met up with them along with other relatives for dim sum on Sunday.  It was a quick lunch as they had to get ready to attend a wedding.  But I made plan to take my mom and grandma to visit her cousin in San Francisco on Monday.  Monday was the boys’ first day of Fall Break, but the driving plan was definitely not very kid friendly, so Stuart took a day to keep them at home instead.  They played tennis in the morning, played games in the afternoon before Connor’s soccer practice in late afternoon.   I ended up spending 5.5 hours driving all over the Bay Area, but it was not too bad as my mom and I caught up with many things.  At the end of the day, as I returned to our neighborhood, I made it just in time for the end of soccer practice.  The boys ran all the way up to me when they saw me.  This moment definitely made up for the long drive.

    We went back to the school again for more biking today.

    Both boys enjoyed balancing on their bikes on the big black top at school.  They both learned to balance without touching the ground for many seconds.  Logan was interested to have the peddles added back on, but after a few fast bikers came to school to ride too, he got cold feet.  Once Stuart put the peddles back on and Logan hopped onto the bike, he did not think he could do it.  Stuart continued to encourage him and push him around for awhile, Logan was finally riding it on his own.  He was pleased too as I could see the little smile on his face.  Stuart did not want a bad first experience, so he ran aside Logan the entire time.  Logan ended up riding around the black top for quite awhile before he stopped.  We are so happy that Logan finally did it!!  Connor was envious and wanted his peddles on as well.  Stuart actually did not bring his, but Connor was easily distracted and the three of them moved onto soccer for a little bit before we all headed home for the day.

     Since many families are going away for the fall break, Logan’s soccer game was postponed.  Therefore all of us were able to go watch Connor’s game today, and Connor was thrilled.  The game went well and we all cheered the team on.  Connor preferred to leave his water bottle with us so he could run to see us periodically.  Once he whispered to me to ask if Logan was watching him play.  Logan was practicing writing in a composition book while he watched the game, and he wrote about Connor’s team winning 4:2. 

    In afternoon, both kids asked to go swimming.  The club is closed now, so we expected that it would be relatively quiet, but to our surprise, it was empty.  We had the entire club to ourselves.  The water was chilly, but once we made it inside, it was pleasant.  The boys enjoyed using the noodles to flow around sometimes which allowed Stuart and I swimming around on our own too.  At the end the boys played at the wading pool for awhile before we went home.   Then we packed up and went to their school to learn biking.