My project finally completed.  It took quite a long time to collect, to print and to put together.  Grandma also helped me gather the pictures for Stuart’s grandparents too.  I am glad that we now have this for the boys to learn about their families, and I learned a lot from making this too. 

    Dora had planned to visit us in May awhile back.  Somehow Gloria and Chuck asked us just a couple of weeks ago if they could drive to us near the same time.  Thus it all happened last weekend.  Dora flew in on Thursday around lunch time; Gloria, Chuck and their dog Zara drove in by dinner.  Since then, our house was full of people and noise the next few days.

     During this period of time, we took many walks with the doggies, went for a hike a couple of times, played a lot of Puyo/Tetris and Overcooked video games together, and EAT!  Our house was full of food on those days and I also went out with the guests for lunches a couple of times. 

   The one thing we worried the most for this visit was how Buddy would react having another dog in the house.  We started with them meeting each other in the backyard.  As soon as they met, Buddy was eager to go near or play with Zara; he was often in her face.  The first day Zara was more guarded and growled at Buddy a few times, but afterward they both hung out quite well together.  They loved to “play” together by grabbing and soft biting each other, but these plays were hard for Logan and I to watch as we became too nervous.  One thing I love the most was when the dogs walking side by side together; every now and then, Buddy would go lick her which was cute.  When they were “playing”, Stuart periodically had to have Buddy take a break before he tired Zara out too much.  Buddy was just too energized and overly excited.

     Gloria and Chuck are very good with Tetris and Overcooked.  After playing with them, the boys have learned to do better with Overcooked.  Connor played well with Gloria and they made a perfect team.  Logan was quick in the game but he sometimes messed around and even stole the others’ plates just to mess with them.  All 7 of us had fun taking turns playing Puyo or Tetris; we made good use of these games during this visit.

   Dora left us Monday morning, and this morning before 5am, Gloria/Chuck/Zara took off to drive the long way home.  It was nice to see all of them, and now we especially Buddy have to get used to a quieter house again.

This is the type of noise in the house:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF0z6_i0ZuU

This is to remind us how Zara and Buddy were together:

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

    Logan needed a new pair of eyeglasses.  This pair of eyeglasses has been needing multiple adjustment. Initially the frame was a bit too small; Logan is now in between sizes, and we decided to have it remade with a small adult frame instead.  Then after his follow up optometrist appt, the lens were made with a bit too small bifocal window.  With the need for appointment, I needed to take Logan back once again for the optical sale appt for a re-measurement for the lens.

    Surprisingly the vaccine has quickly become approved for the youth/teens, and I was able to make Logan an appt on the same day.  Logan was nervous but he did well going with the flow.  There was quite a line with parents and teens; it was awesome seeing more people being vaccinated.  Logan did well receiving the vaccine and I am so excited that one more of us will be protected soon.  

    We found out from our neighbor friend Lisa that the swim team is happening again this year.  Due to the pandemic, the competition part is more like an option and ihe season is mainly for conditioning, thus we talked the boys into joining, using it as the only summer camp.  As a new member, the boys had to show up at the assessment, and the boys surprised me how well they managed to swim across the pool with freestyle.  They also tried their best to swim back with backstroke per demand.

      Last week the practice began.  Logan and Connor are in separate time slots daily for practice, thus Connor was not too thrilled.  The practice is an hour of hard work; the boys complained how tiring it was the first couple of days; especially with Connor being more verbal, he really disliked it and he talked about even quitting the team. I had watched only 10 minutes of it here and there, and I was exhausted just watching the kids swimming back and forth.  Practices are drop-in, so we have let the boys skip a couple of them each week.  This week they seem to complain less. Logan is in the same group as Cole so they accompany each other.  Fortunately after a couple of days, Connor reconnected with his previous buddy Neil and he felt less alone now.

      With the pandemic situation easing up, it looks like the team will have a few swim meets down the road, but the boys had already made the decision that they will not be joining the meets.  I am just happy that they are doing the practice to becoming stronger swimmers.

     With school opening back up, sports in school had also resumed with modifications.  We decided to sign Logan up again for Track and Field which he had missed last year due to the pandemic.  With the safety restrictions, the team would not compete with other schools and also the season has reduced to only 3 weeks to allow more participants, thus it is mainly for conditioning.  But we thought this is perfect to get Logan back out to socialize with a small group of people and do some exercise.  So far, with only 6 practices in three week span, Logan spends his time running on track only.  He seems to like it though and calls himself a distance runner now.

    Stuart’s birthday was on a Monday, so we had works and school.  We managed to have a homemade meatloaf dinner for Stuart and an ice cream birthday cake.  Stuart liked the presents too and enjoyed this low key celebration.  We also remembered this was the adoption day for Buddy meaning he has been with us for 2 years now.