Our project of making the little patch of grass into a sitting area was finally completed with the delivery of the furniture yesterday.  We tested it out tonight in a cool evening of a hot day.  It was quite comfortable sitting out there in our backyard.

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

     We have a great news!  Connor’s headache is gone.  Connor usually mentioned his headache to Stuart every night at bedtime, but Stuart noticed that Connor did not for a couple of days.  So I asked Connor about it, then he had an expression that he had been reminded of something.  Then he said to us “My headache is gone.”  We were ecstatic with this incredible news, and we almost could not believe the headache he had for 3 months was finally gone.  A couple of months ago, Connor and I had talked about how we would celebrate if the headache disappeared, he said he wanted to have pizza for breakfast, pizza for lunch and pizza for dinner.  This time, I asked Connor the same question; he thought about it and said he wanted to have ice cream.  So I took the boys to have Connor’s well deserved bowl of frozen ice cream on Sunday.  We are so happy to have our healthy child back!

    Stuart went to help Scott out at the annual Obon yesterday.  After Stuart left home in the morning, I took the boys to Ikea to buy something I needed.  They had fun checking out the model rooms, but they got tired by the time we went through the first floor.  At the end, we also stood in the worst checkout line and it felt like forever before we paid for the few items.  With this long delay, I got tired of waiting and changed our plan to take a break at home first.  The boys had a good sleep in the car; we then had a quick lunch and some game time before we headed out again.  We arrived at downtown San Jose and we finally found a parking spot.  We walked a few blocks and made it in time to watch the afternoon Taiko show at the Obon Festival.  It seemed to be a lot more crowded this year, and the boys managed to get a spot to watch between the gaps among people.  The show was definitely more fun to watch if you could see the drummers better, but the boys enjoyed watching and later tried to imitate the rhythm on my tummy.  After the show, we headed into the food court to find Stuart.  We said hi to a few people and the boys were shared some beef teriyaki skewers to enjoy.  Afterward we headed over to the child booth area.  The boys had fun playing some arcade games and they especially liked the “Grab Bag” booth when they could finally win some little toys.  Stuart was exhausted and was filthy with BBQ smoke, so after we walked back to the cars, he headed home while I took the boys for some frozen yogurt.

    We were invited to one of the school parents’ house last evening for swimming and BBQ.  Logan and Connor both told us that they did not want to swim before we headed out, but shortly after we arrived, they both wanted to go into the pool.  They were happy to swim and walk around the half of the pool where it was shallow.  Connor was having a great time swimming back and forth too.  Later Connor started to come out and jumping back in the water.  Surprisingly Logan later followed his lead and both of them took turns jumping into the water.  They also played with pool toys and with other kids too.  Connor finally had enough and wanted to come out to eat.  He placed his towel in the sun and enjoyed some food under the warm evening sun.  Logan continued to stay in the water and enjoyed floating around in the deep end with a noodle.  The adults were relaxing with some drinks and BBQ while watching the kids in the water.  It was also nice to get to know some new folks.  It was starting to get a bit cooler and Logan finally came out to have some food too.  After the kids all dried up, Logan and Connor went inside the house to play video games with the older brothers.  Everyone migrated inside the house for coffee and desserts later as well.  It was a late night for us, we all finally packed up to go home close to 9pm.  The boys told me that they would love to go back since they had a good time swimming and loved the video game they were playing too.

    The boys were at CDC last week.  The number of participants was lower this time, but the boys did not seem to mind the small group.  The few boys who showed up early in the morning all liked to play Yu Gi Oh cards, so Logan and Connor were excited about that.  They both wanted to be drop off early and they brought their cards to battle and trade with the other boys.  Playing the cards seemed to be the main highlight of the week.  They also had a walking field trip to a local park on Thursday; they had fun there but Logan did say the walk was long. 

     We had a busy day on this holiday.  We headed over to the cabana for its festivities after an early lunch at home.  Once we settled down with our small tent, Logan went to check out the kids’ activity tables and got hooked at a spinning wheel table.  He went through the short line over and over again to get small toys.  I thought Connor would be excited for the cake walk, but he was totally not interested and did not even care to go watch.  He later joined Logan at the spinning wheel until we eventually pulled the boys away for other activities.  After some snack, we did some swimming.  Then it was time for the greased watermelon battle.  We watched the entertainment, then we wrapped up to go home.

    After dinner, we packed up the car to head out for fireworks.  We knew it would be crowded, so we decided to park just a few minutes from home near the hiking trail.  We brought the wagon for the boys and we hiked the 1.8 miles into the park.  It took only 25 minutes, shorter than we expected, and it was a nice hike.  We found a patch of grass and settled on our picnic blanket.  The boys were so comfortable laying down that they were too lazy to walk with me to check out the festivities.   There were a lot going on at the park, a band playing on stage, many showcase tents, and food trucks.  I came across someone selling some homemade blankets.  Stuart and I were worried that we were not prepared for the cold evening, so I was happy to buy a blanket.  It was the best money I spent as the boys were so happy and comfortable under the blanket the rest of the evening.  When the sky turned dark, we started getting excited for the fireworks.  We were able to see some other events fireworks from faraway, then by 9:20pm, our show finally started.  There was a tree in the way a bit, but it did not dampen the show for us.  The fireworks was wonderful, and everyone cheered at the finale.  Then the crowd all packed up to leave.  The boys got back in the wagon and had their flashlights ready for our trek back.  The trail was quite packed, but a short way later the crowd lightened.  Stuart was able to pick up speed and the boys enjoyed sitting in the wagon passing other people.  We made it to our car in good time and headed home to end the late evening.  We were definitely happy with this celebration outing.