Last Sunday we decided to go strawberry picking at Watsonville.  We mistakenly picked the windy route to get there, but fortunately the boys slept through the whole way.  The weather was perfect when we arrived, and it was amazing walking through the great smelling strawberry farm.  The boys followed our advice and only looked for bigger and pretty strawberries.  They were careful cutting out the chosen ones and diligently putting them in the bucket.  It was fun walking through the rows of strawberry plants looking for the pretty ones.  We enjoyed this little outing, and I love the photos we took too.

    After fruit picking, we headed over to have lunch at Phil’s.  The line was extremely long, so Gloria and I decided to stay in line while Stuart could take the boys to the beach to play.  When we finally ordered the food a long time later, the 3 of them returned to the restaurant as Stuart was freezing out at the beach.  After finishing the yummy lunch, we headed back out to the beach.  This time it was my turn to watch the boys while Stuart preferred to stay in the car and later Gloria followed him as well.  I played with the boys at the edge of the water, and the wave was quite strong.  Although it was freezing, we had fun running around and keeping ourselves warm as well.

    Gloria came to spend some time with us; she arrived on Tuesday night.  She is staying here while working remotely, and she had taken last Friday off to spend with the boys and I.  We did some errands in the morning, then we headed over to the pool to swim in the afternoon.  Cole was playing with the boys there too.  Afterward, we took Cole along with us and walked to T4U so Gloria could enjoy the place that we all do.  

   On Saturday, we went for a walk around the lake park; we had not been there for a long time.  While we walked our usual round around the lake, we found a short little trail on the side and we hiked that too.  We had a good walk.

    In the evening, we went for dinner at Santana Row.  We were able to have an early dinner to avoid the crowd and it was a good meal.  After dinner, we walked around the area.  Connor and I had fun checking out some Tesla.  Then we all spent quite awhile browsing inside the Amazon Book Store which I think has became one of our favorite stores.  We even sat around and listened to an artist playing guitar for a few songs.  The weather was so nice, but we had to end the night to go home.

   The year had come and gone quickly.  Connor had their end of school party last week at the Carabelle Park and I just saw some photos from that today in the school Shutterfly site.  Connor had told us the games that he played and the treats they had.  Connor always had a good time in school events, but he said he did not like the sack race.

     The 4th graders had their yearbook signing party on Tuesday. Logan initially did not care about the party, but he enjoyed some ice cream and hanging out with Maxim.  He also got a page of signatures on his yearbook too. 

     The last day of school finally arrived on Thursday; they had to say goodbyes to the teachers and classmates.  Logan is now a 5th grader and Connor is a 3rd grader.  One other thing I would also miss the next few months is walking the boys to school and picking them up from the After school program.  The boys were very happy when we picked them up on this last day.

     The cabana had planned to open a weekend earlier this year and it was perfect for the hot weather.  We took advantage of it and we went on both afternoons.  The water felt great and even Stuart and I enjoyed being in it as well.  Connor noticed that Logan was able to dive to the bottom of the pool to pick up a toy, so he started working on that.  He became pretty good with it soon and he kept doing that many times.  After the “adult swim” break, surprisingly the kids wanted to return to the water again.  Since the boys did not see any of their friends there on Sunday, they just stayed and played with us in the water the entire time.  I cherish these moments a lot as I know that the kids are growing older now and enjoy spending time with their friends too.

    The boys had their last tennis lesson on Saturday.  Since one of the classes was previously cancelled, the coach decided to double up the classes.  Connor’s class would be from 12 to 2pm and Logan’s would be from 2-4pm.  The only problem with this arrangement was that it was a hot day, up to 92 in the afternoon.  We all arrived at 12pm; while Connor was in the class, the other 3 of us played.  Logan did a good job playing against Stuart and I, and afterward he rested in the shade.  Stuart and I enjoyed playing a game despite the heat but we only lasted one hour in total.  Stuart took Logan home to rest a bit while I watched Connor’s class.  There were only 3 kids in all who showed up; they did a little tournament and Connor got 2nd place.  Since one of the kids was leaving, the rest of the us decided to call it a day.  The coach then took the kids to his van to give out the certificates, the pictures the coach took of them at last class and the trophies for them.  Connor was happy to place this trophy next to his 1st place one from the last class.

    Next by 2pm, Logan wanted me to accompany him to his class.  Since it was hot, we had decided to only attend the first hour and go swimming after.  After warming up, the kids did a serving contest and Logan received 2nd place.  Then the five remaining boys played a double game.  It was fun watching them play; Logan had a good serving game and he also did well returning some serves later too.  One hour later, Logan wanted to go; despite the heat, the other four boys wanted to keep playing.  So Coach led Logan out to give him the prizes including a medal as his reward.

   It did not occur to us until just a couple of months ago that Connor is one of the two representatives from his class as a member of the Student Council.  For some reason, Connor did not tell us when he was chosen or when he spent his recess or lunch times there for meetings.  From what we learned from Connor, they were the ones planning or making posters for some special event days at school, like Crazy Hair day or Spirit day.  The biggest event was the one they organized last week, the book giveaway.  Connor told us that they had gathered and organized a lot of books in one of the classrooms and for two days last week they staffed there to let students come in to get free books.  The only reason I found out was in the morning at drop off when I heard one of the boys asking Connor the room where the books would be and another boy asking him how many books they could pick up.  Connor answered them with some authority in his tone too.  We are still surprised that Connor does not brag about being in the council to us, and every time we did ask him about it, Connor was matter-of-fact in telling about all the important things they had helped with.  When I asked about how he was chosen, Connor told me that his teacher picked him as he listens well and is helpful.  Then Connor added “I love to help”.  Now I also saw a group picture of the Student Council in the yearbook.