Connor discovered a different kind of race on FitBit a couple of weeks ago and invited all of us and Dora / Gloria to join.  Racing to the first three slots was kind of fun and the interface for the race was cool.  Since then, we have done a few races and all of us are crazily into it.  Between the runner Dora and the little legs of the boys, Stuart and I don’t usually stand a chance to win.  But with the hard work for a few days, I made it to the 3rd place which I was quite happy with it.  This stepping thing has become quite a hobby for us, and it is definitely a good workout too.

    When the boys went to their friend’s house on Sunday morning, Stuart and i went to a nursery to choose some plants for our front yard and did some other shopping as well.  After lunch, since we got rained out at the tennis lesson on Sat, we took the boys out to play tennis.  The boys hit well and we had some good exercise.  When we came home, we went straight to work on the strip of planting area together.  Connor and Logan helped us remove the old mulch, then Stuart dug the holes for me.  Shortly after, Logan went to the backyard to play with Cole, and Connor stayed to help.  Connor and I transferred the plants onto the ground.  We worked hard so I rewarded Connor with an ice cream break.  Afterward, I finished planting with Stuart.  We still have to go buy mulch to re-do the entire front yard, but for now, I think the side of the house is already looking better.

   With this productive day, I was exhausted by the end of the day and my body was aching so much that I had a hard time sleeping too.  Hopefully the plants will survive and grow after the hard work we put in.

    I decided to take 1/2 day off on Friday so I could pick the boys up from school and take them to martial arts.  It turned out that it was also the Spring celebration walkathon, so after the martial arts lesson, the boys and I returned to school for the event.  Maxim had asked and coordinated the same arrival time as us, so as soon as we arrived, Logan joined Maxim to begin their walking.  I had signed up to volunteer; before it was my assignment time, Connor and I looked at the auctions and walked a lap together.  Then from 5pm to the end of the walkathon 6:30pm, I staffed at the prize table and gave little rewards for every 10 laps the kids made.  This was a fun volunteering job; I enjoyed saying hi to the kids passing by and loved seeing how excited the kids were for the little toys they scored.  Connor was so cute; he stopped by to say hi to me like every lap or every other laps.  He had some cash for snacks and once he bought me a bag of M&M too.  Logan and Maxim were working hard to make laps; at the end Maxim really wanted to get to 50 laps and he did it.  Logan did great too and made 42 laps.  Connor completed 30 laps too.  Stuart had come join us when he was done with work.  By the time we walked home and ended the day, but the boys had earned 28k and 30k steps for the day.

    We went out to celebrate Theresa and Jennifer’s birthdays at a Japanese restaurant tonight.  We ordered a variety of small dishes and sake to drink; we all enjoyed this delicious dinner very much.  And as usual, it was great chatting and catching up with everyone.

    We suddenly remembered about our ping pong table and took it out to play on Saturday.  Cole was here at our house playing with the boys, and all three boys were excited when we suggested ping pong.  Cole is actually quite good with it, so all five of us had fun taking turns playing against each other.

   Today Stuart and I decided to play an old board game Memoir44.  This was a two person game, so we played in teams; Stuart and Connor battled against Logan and I.  We had forgotten how fun this game was, and despite Logan and I lost at the end, the battling was entertaining.  I was almost late to head out to dinner with the girls as a result. 

    Logan had a fever, and so we kept him at home on Thursday.  Thursday and Friday were conference days for school, so the kids were supposed to have only 1/2 day of class anyway.  By Friday, Logan was getting better, but still quite congested and had a cough, so we kept him home again.  By 12:45pm on Friday, Stuart had to go pick Connor up early from the early out and they picked up the classwork for Logan from his teacher as well.  Since Logan was still a bit tired, he opted out from going to martial art and only Connor attended  After the class, Connor was happy to go to T4U on his own to buy drinks for them while Stuart and Logan watched him from the car. 

   Today on Saturday, as we were deciding if Logan would go to tennis lesson, the coach called to cancel as the courts were still wet.  This evening we were initially invited to one of the nurse practitioners’ house for a potluck dinner party.  I had planned to leave Logan and Stuart at home since Logan is still coughing. but as it turned out, the nurse practitioner’s son had an urgent medical issue and the party had to be postponed.  I am actually quite relieved to have a day with all events cancelled, so we could all rest up and be well again.