We wanted the boys to go see the grandparents during the break; after some contemplation, it was decided to have Stuart taking the boys down while I stayed home with Buddy.  It turned out to be a successful and nice trip to SoCal.  The drive was great, and they spent some good time with the grandparents.  Connor did an awesome job playing chess with Grandpa and Stuart.  Logan played Connect 4 with Grandma.  They went to the beach one day; with the good weather, the boys had fun there.  Logan told me that they dug a very big and deep hole.  With Stuart and Grandma sending me photos periodically on those days, I was able see them often and not to miss them too much.

   While the family was gone, I took longer walks with Buddy, went shopping and worked part of the weekdays.  On Sunday, I also arranged to have lunch with Karen; it was great to finally catching up with her.  In the evening I went out to Benihana with the girls to celebrate Robyn’s and Julie’s birthdays.  With the table set up, I was able to only talk among my side of the table, but nonetheless it was a good evening seeing everyone and a wonderful meal.  On these few days, Buddy listened quite well to me and enjoyed the longer walks we took.  Once he even looked tired and sat on the lawn at our neighbor’s, I had to ask him to get back up to finish our walk.  Buddy is usually quiet; once he barked overnight and woke me up; it turned out that I accidentally left the light on in the family room.  After I went downstairs to turn it off, he stayed silent the rest of the night. 

     On Tuesday, I rushed home from work to welcome the family home.  Both Buddy and I were thrilled to see Stuart and the boys when they arrived; we all hugged each other for a long time.