I helped out at Connor’s science lab on Friday.  Their class was learning about dams.  At the experiment, they were comparing how quickly the water sift through different construction materials, and the kids had to use a timer.  They all had fun racing against the other table groups.

   On Monday, it was Logan’s turn for my volunteering.  Their class learned about a chemical reaction.  They combined yeast with sugar and added warm water to it, and each table had a control group.  It was interesting to see how much carbon dioxide was made in the flask with the sugar.  The top from Logan and Lucas’ flask actually popped out in the middle of the class and gave the class a little laugh.  At the end, the kids got to smell their experiment solutions, and many of them did not care about the little alcohol smell from it.

    We cleaned up the house a bit over the weekend.  On Monday, New Year eve,

we went out for Chinese food after work.  The boys had great appetite, we cleaned all the plates and enjoyed the meal.  The one thing the boys looked forward to the most on CNY is the red envelope, and they were happy when we gave them one on Tuesday.

    I decided to join my coworkers and signed up for the Kaiser sponsored run in San Francisco last Sunday.  I registered for 5K while the rest of the girls signed up for 10K.  I had to wake up at 5am that morning and met up with Nicole at her house, then she drove us up to Golden Gate Park.  We were in the midst of the storm last weekend, but fortunately we had a break that morning and our drive was smooth.  We picked up our bibs and met up with a couple more girls before the run began.  The 5K race started first and so I took off with the other 3000 5K runners. The park was beautiful and it was nice to walk and jog through it.  After a couple of miles, I started jogging consistently and I ended up keeping the same pace until the end.  I finished my race in 40 minutes, and I was happy with that.  I was surprised that they gave out medal for this run and I got another nice long sleeve shirt for completion too.

    Nicole and latter other girls finished their 10K, and we walked around to check out the expo.  I ran into some old coworkers from Oakland days and also met up with Jennifer and her family too.  It was starting to drizzle on and off again, so it was time to head out.  Nicole and I decided to just walk from 48th Ave there back to our car at 17th Ave.  We walked, talked and jogged, and eventually made it back.  I ended up with 16,000 steps when I got home.

    After lunch and a short nap later, I felt better.  I was able to join the boys and Stuart for some tennis in the afternoon.  The rest of the evening we watched Superbowl and relaxed in the house.

   Two weeks ago we had the parent teacher information night at Bret Harte.  The boys were invited to stay at Cole’s house, so Stuart and I could both attend.  It was nice to meet the principal there and to hear an overview of our new school.

    Then last week was a school tour for the students.  Logan chose me to go with him, so on Wednesday after dropping off Connor at school, Logan and I walked to Bret Harte.  I looked forward to this day, and Logan seemed excited to have this visit as well.  The big group of parents and students was divided into 4 small groups and each was led by an advisor and an 8th grader to share her experience.  We were taken to the cafeteria, the library, the pool, playground, and some interesting elective classrooms, like robotic and computer room.  The advisor shared many good information and answered the parents’ questions.  It was very nice for both Logan and I had this overview of his new school and we both felt more comfortable after this tour.  Afterward we had to walk very fast to return to Graystone as Logan did not want to be the last one coming back to his class.  We made it back just in time before his recess, and I could return to work.