There were two picnics last Sunday for us to choose from to attend, a school one at a winery like last year or my work medicine department one at a park.  We decided to go to my work one.  I followed Kathy’s inspiration and made “watermelon” rice krispy treats to bring with us.  We tried to be fashionably late to the gathering, yet we beat most doctors or MAs there.  The park fortunately had many things to offer; the boys played at the climb structure, and we played basketball for awhile.  Then we moved on to lunch; we were served some delicious Hawaiian food, Kona ice and the potluck items for desserts.  There was face painting for kids, but the boys never care for it.  Stuart led them to the field to play some catch, and they had fun.  We did not intend to stay too long; after I felt like I socialized enough, we wrapped up to go home.

     The boys had their tennis lessons on Saturday morning.  While Connor was in his class, we found a court and the 3 of us played on our own.  Logan was actually doing quite well and had some great hits.  We did not want him to be too tired for his lesson later, so he took breaks periodically.  We peeked at Connor every now and then; he paid attention well and he learned how to serve for the first time.  Next it was Logan’s turn, and there was only two kids in the class that day.  They worked on serving and volley.  Logan did quite well serving over the net.  Connor joined Stuart and I to play for a bit, but he ended up sitting down and watching Logan instead.  Stuart and I continued to play on our own until Connor wanted to run a lap around the football field with Stuart.  By then I was exhausted and was happy to sit and watch Logan’s lesson the remaining few minutes.

   Saturday night was the movie night at the martial art studio.  Logan and Connor were very excited about the event and to watch The Captain Underpants movie.  We had dinner together first, then we dropped the boys off.  Stuart and I decided to go clothes shopping.  It had been so long since we shopped in the mall in the evening, and we had a productive night.  Toward the end, our legs were so sore that we could barely make it back to the parking lot.  When we picked the boys up, they told us that they had a good time.  The group took breaks during the movie to play some games and they enjoyed the movie too.  The boys knew that they had missed Kick the Can at our neighborhood on Saturday, but they both said the event was worth it.

    It was the annual Almaden Lake Park Festival on Sunday.  I love festivals and so we went in the morning.  We looked around the booths briefly and the boys requested food as they said they were starving.  We got pizza for the boys while Stuart and I got something from a food truck.  We sat down to listen to a band, and later we moved over to watch a gymnastic and a dance performance.  The boys, especially Connor, loved watching the performances.  Next we walked around the art and craft booths again.  I bought a hat for myself and Connor was happy to wear my previous girlie hat.  The boys remembered the dipping dots booth, and were happy when they found it; they enjoyed a bowl while listening to a singer performing.  As always, we picked up a sunflower on our way out of the festival.

    In the afternoon, Connor’s classmate Blake had his birthday party at the Rockin Jump.  The mom was nice to invite Logan too, so I took the boys to attend the party in the afternoon.  During the car ride, Connor was telling Logan all about the different jumping areas in the facility.  When we arrived, Connor showed Logan around as well. Logan surprised me how quickly he jumped in and tried the activities.  Connor on the other hand just watched and still did not care to try the diving one or the dodgeball one.  But over time, while I was chatting with other moms, I noticed that Connor did follow Logan’s lead and started playing.  They both had fun during the hour, then we headed to the party room for some food.  Afterward, they were ready to go home to see daddy again.

   We signed the boys up for tennis classes which intended to start last Saturday.  Connor’s class stayed on schedule while Logan’s one was postponed by a week.  We all headed to the courts in the morning with Connor, and I accompanied Connor to his class.  Stuart and Logan were trying to play tennis, but unfortunately all the courts in both schools were full, so they hung around to play other sports.  For the class, there were five kids and Connor was the youngest.  I sat around and watched them.  Connor was very attentive to the coach, and he was doing his best following the instruction.  I saw Connor holding a good tennis posture, bending his knees and keeping his racket up.  He was a good student.  The coach was great too, and I too learning all the basics just from listening to him.  Connor smiled to me periodically and twice he gestured to me to find out the time remaining from the class.  When the hour was over, Connor and I went to join Stuart and Logan who started playing for just a few minutes.  Connor was excited to tell Stuart all about the names of every part of the racket that he just learned.

     The boys went to Maxim’s house to play on Sunday morning, and Stuart and I went to play tennis.  All four of us did not play too well on Saturday, so we wanted to try again.  We did better this time; we played longer and I was exhausted after playing a close game with Stuart.

   In the afternoon, Connor attended a birthday party at Rockin Jump for his classmate.  Connor had gone to this place during a field trip in the summer and was interested to be there again.  When we arrived, Connor said hi to the mom and the birthday boy, and he followed a few classmates into the basketball court.  Connor was being careful, and he stayed on the edge when there were too many of them on the trampoline.  Next the few kids headed over to the dodgeball court, but Connor did not want to follow them as he said kids were rough in there.  So he just went to the open trampoline area and played by himself; later a couple of his classmates joined him.   After some more jumps and plays, Connor came out to find me instead.  He chose to walk around with me and watch others play the rest of the time.  We hung out until it was pizza time, and Connor joined his classmates to eat, sing and have some cake.  Even though Connor did not play much, he said he liked the place and wanted to return next weekend for another party.

    Stuart was woken up early Saturday morning (6am) for a work issue, and he practically worked for 12 hours straight. The only break he had was going with us to play tennis for an hour in the morning, then he returned to the issue while earing lunch.  We barely saw him the rest of the day.  In the afternoon, after the boys did the usual things, i.e.quiet time, reading and video time, I took them out to run errands.  We went to the mall to return something, then we walked around a bit as well.  The boys always love going into the Apple store, and they stayed in there for a few minutes as we normally allow them.  At the food court, they also enjoyed a little icy treat before we headed out.  Next we went to Costco to pick up some grocery.  The boys were helping me shop and pay for them.  When we arrived home and had dinner out on the table, fortunately Stuart was able to put a pause on work and joined us for dinner.  Finally the day ended with the boys playing “kick the can” on the street for a couple of hours.  Stuart and I could relax a bit in the house.