We and the kids had had conversations about the coronavirus situation and we had warned them that likely school would be closing.  Connor was somewhat fascinated with that idea, but on the day when the school shared the news with the students, Connor felt completely different. The after school program called Stuart and he went to pick Connor up early.  Connor shared that he was crying for a whole hour since he learned about the news, and that he was very sad about not able to go to school and see his friends.

    Back in February, Stuart noticed Buddy had a minor limp.  We watched him for a couple of days and finally decided to take him in to see a vet before the weekend.  I got out from work earlier and asked Logan to accompany Buddy and I.  Later Stuart joined us as well as the vet was close to his bus stop.  The vet checked out Buddy and did not find any major issue, and just prescribed anti-inflammatory and suggested resting for 2 weeks.  We suspected the injury likely from him dashing down the staircase carelessly with his 95 lb body.  Thus we decided to stop him from going up staircase and hold walkies for 1-2 weeks as his rest.  But keeping this high energy Buddy running was definitely a chore.  Few days later the limp did seem to improve.  Over time, Buddy slowly returned back to his previous routine.

    The last art class for Connor this year was held in February, thus it was my last assigned volunteering task.  The kids were to use some magazine cut out to create something completely different from what the objects were, and made an artwork out of it.  It was cool to see how imaginative the kids were, and especially when they also had to come up with a title for their artwork.  This was an easy help from the parent, and thus it was fun to just walk around observing the kids.  Helping out with art class is definitely my favorite volunteering task.

     In Feb when the weather improved, we decided to do some golf practice again.  We took the boys out to play a short 9 hole course one day.  We also decided to have the boys, especially Logan, practice in the backyard; the goal is to also have Logan work on being more patient.  Now we also noticed that the boys’ clubs are growing too short for them, thus Stuart got Logan a new set of teenager’s clubs.

   We made short trips to two different beaches while we were at SoCal.  Manhattan beach was nice as usual, but this one Buddy was only allowed on the board walk.  He was however very happy to see so many other doggies taking walks there too.  Logan, Connor and I enjoyed ourselves playing with sand while Stuart, Grandma and Buddy took th walk. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LrO9BTrYP0

    Another day we decided to drive down to Long Beach to Rosie Beach (a dog friendly off leash beach) to let Buddy have a full experience with the beach.  We were not ready for Buddy to be off leash yet, but Buddy was still thrilled to touch the sand and water, and play with other dogs.  This was actually a very nice beach too and was clean.  Logan and Connor also enjoyed themselves using sand to build things; but poor Connor had several doggie visitors using his sand castles for other reason .  With Stuart’s biggest effort, Buddy did get loose once while he was chased by a doggie.  His collar came off his head and he had a 30 second freedom running into the water and back out.  Logan was upset and worried that he even told off the owner of that dog who was chasing Buddy.  Fortunately Buddy ran back toward Stuart and Logan, and Logan immediately grabbed hold of him.  Buddy had enjoyed this outing very much, and had a nice long nap afterward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajA_OJSx5TE

     We made a trip to visit grandparents during the President’s weekend.  This time we brought Buddy with us and thus we decided to stay in a hotel near Torrance.  We were worried how Buddy would do with this long drive.  Initially with the first 1-2 hours of the trip, Buddy seemed antsy, and periodically popped his head up to see and check on us.  But after first break on the road, he seemed to understand the routine and became quite relax the rest of the trip and during the return drive home too.

    Buddy was very excited to see grandparents; fortunately always calmed down after a minute or two.  He hung out in the backyard with us sometimes, and he did well not ruining Grandma’s beautiful garden.  We had the opportunity to listen to Grandpa playing string instruments live and he was awesome. 

    The hotel we chose was new and very nice.  Buddy did well accommodating staying in a small space with us.  One of the evenings Logan and Connor chose to spend a night with grandparents.  This was the first time the boys did not stay with either one of us.  They had a good time bonding with Grandma watching a movie, and Stuart and I had a relaxing time on our own with just one baby.

    The main purpose for this trip was for Grandma’s birthday.  We were happy to be there to have a small celebration with her; we went out for dinner and then came home for cake time.  We were so stuffed afterward.  This was definitely a nice evening and was a good way to wrap up this short trip to SoCal.