After we returned from southern California, the boys and I hung out a couple of days on our own while Stuart worked.  We caught up on some video and board games, and the boys helped me do some grocery shopping.  By Friday it was only slightly warmer, but enough for us to go swimming.  We played some version of tug a war in the pool, and it was fun but tiring.  Over the weekend, Stuart and I spent some time working on our project in the backyard, and did some more swimming.  Connor also had a birthday party to attend on Sunday at the other local cabana club.  He had fun hanging out with a few of his classmates, and sometimes he tried to swim around on his own.  We had pizza and cake in between swimming breaks, and we stayed longer than I expected.  The week off was very nice, but it was time to return to work and start the boys in nine weeks of summer camp.

    After the long day at Disneyland, we went to California Adventure the very next day.  As soon as we got into the park (shortly after 9am), we went to pick up the Radiator Springs Racers fast passes for later.  By then, Connor was already complaining his legs were hurting, and he also mentioned that his head hurt.  Fortunately Connor was hanging in there, and he wanted to check out the Bugs’ Land.  We rode a bumping car ride there, and waited for another small ride next at Cars Land.  But after 15 minutes we were told that they were shutting down the ride temporarily and we were asked to leave the area.  Being a little discouraged, we headed over to the other end of the park, and rode The Little Mermaid ride which we all liked.  Next Stuart took Logan to ride the Goofy’s sky school mini roll coaster.  Connor and I waited for them, but it was not too long later we saw Logan’s unhappy face coming out with Stuart.  He survived the ride but he did not care for it.  Next, we were hoping to ride the Toy Story Mania but the wait was just too long, so we chose to walk back to watch the Disney Junior Live Show.  The show turned out very cute; we enjoyed it and the boys especially liked the extra special effects of snow or the coin shower.  We had a quick lunch, then we rode the Monster Inc and headed to the Animation Academy.  I had heard about this from Robyn and really wanted to try it.  The character we were learning to draw happened to be Perry the platypus which the boys were quite familiar with.  We all did well following the instruction and drawing it in our unique way.  Logan was a bit shy with his drawing, did not really want to show off while Connor was proud of his Perry.

     By then we went to check on the next showing of the brand new Frozen musical which was scheduled to be in 50 minutes and we learned the brutal truth.  There were fast passes and standby, but they were all full.  We then once again walked back to the other side of the park and waited for the Toy Story Mania this time.  We all loved this ride.  I really wanted to watch Frozen as it was one of the main attractions for us, so I decided to go check out the status for the next and last showing at 5:10pm while Stuart and the boys could hang out a bit longer.  It was a little over two hours before showing at that point and the standby line was starting to form.  I was told that the fast passes were all given out in the morning, but if I stayed in line then, we could actually make it into the theater.  So I decided to go for it.  It was not too bad initially as most of the people were sitting down on the ground in the shade.  It started to get a bit crazy later when the fast passes people started to line up there too.  Stuart took the boys to ride the Radiator Springs Racers with the fast passes which the boys still thought the car was too fast, then they came join me.  It was a bit hectic trying to find them to come join me in line, but once we were reunited, I was relaxed again and continued our wait.  Thanks goodness with the “chopstick game” as it entertained us with this long wait.  We were finally led into the balcony of the theater looking over the beautiful stage.  We know the movie so well that we were familiar with every scene.  The show was terrific with good singing, great stage scenes and cool graphics.  The only problem we had was a crying baby and a noisy toddler right behind us; we tried to ignore their noises out to not let them ruin the show for us.  At the end, we all enjoyed the show very much, and it totally worth the wait time in my opinion. 

     One event worth mentioning.  A scare happened as we were leaving the theater and going down the long escalator.  Logan and I were ahead, and waited for Stuart and Connor at the bottom.  I was waving at Connor and even took a picture of them in the crowd of people, so I did not notice the escalator had come to a jarring stop when the two of them were on the last step.  It turned out that Connor’s shoe had somehow caught on the side.  Stuart gave Connor a yank and fortunately his shoe freed from the gap.  Connor did not scream and actually stayed very quiet.  We came to one side and I picked him up.  He just nodded that his foot hurt and started tearing on my shoulder.  We examined his shoe and foot which were ok.  Connor was probably just got frightened by the scene.  Some people passed by us and asked if he was ok, and we were very glad that he was.

     The musical concluded our two fun days at Disneyland.  We took our final walk back to the tram to return to our parking.  We came back to the grandparents to have a late dinner.  We hung out with them the next morning on Wednesday as well before we drove back home just in time to watch the Warriors game.

Here is our photo album for this trip.

     Connor did not listen well and was being rude at times yesterday, so we were mad at him a few times.  Before dinner, Connor was in his room quietly for at least half an hour, and he just periodically asked us to spell a word for him.  Later he gathered Stuart and I to go check out what he made for us.  When we walked to his room, his door was closed.  When we knocked, he said to come in and told us to wait a quick moment.  He hurried up and played “All of Me” on the iPhone which he knows it is one of my favorites.  Then with the music in the background, he showed us what he wrote for us, “You are the best Dad and Mom that I ever had in the world”, “I love you MB, DB”, and “All about Mom and Dad, xoxo”.  It is hard to stay mad at this little boy.

     We drove down to visit the grandparents on Saturday.  The drive was relatively quick; we only had to stop one time and the boys were content during the ride.  After saying hi to the grandparents, the boys immediately remembered their two favorite things to do in their house, play chess with Grandpa and play with the Lincoln Logs.  Both Connor and Logan did well playing a few games against Grandpa, and I think they are getting close to beating Grandpa one day soon.  Connor had brought his Kindergarten Memory Book and their Yearbook to show Grandma, and he reviewed every page with her.  For the rest of the weekend, the boys had fun building and battling with the Lincoln Logs.

     The weather was not as warm on Sunday, so we decided against going to the beach.  We hung out with the grandparents locally and had dinner at the Manhattan beach.  Afterward we came home to watch the Warriors to end the night.

    We started out earlier on Monday to head to Disney.  The wait to park was long and we finally got into the park after 9am.  Connor was happy to be the first to enter after he earned the right the previous day.  We immediately headed over to one of the boys’ favorites, Astro Blaster.  We rode Autopia which we all liked, and we decided to try the Star Tours this time.  We were worried for Logan and had prepared with a bag, and at the end of the ride, Logan said “The ride is so short” that I knew he was fine.  On the other end, I was happy that the ride ended before I got too sick from the motion; Connor later claimed that he was dizzy from it as well.  Star Tours has now become Logan’s favorite of the day.  We had lunch while the boys were entertained by the Jedi training on the stage.  We moved on over to Pirates and Haunted Mansion afterward.  Connor was nervous and almost in tears according to Stuart.  Logan had learned to put his head down during the two dips at the beginning with Pirates and now he likes the ride too.  He also was not afraid of the ghosts at Haunted Mansion; he called out to them at time to say that he knew they were fake.  In the afternoon we also rode Pinocchio, Small World and Winnie the Pooh, and watched the Mickey and Magic Map.  The boys had fun checking out the ToonTown, and we really enjoyed Jungle Cruise.  We passed by the Enchanted Tiki Room and decided to check it out.  We liked this little show too and now the boys like the Tiki song as well.  One thing worth mentioning was that the boys taught Stuart and I how to play a finger-based “chop stick game” which was a good entertainment while we were in line all day.  The boys were quite good with it that we had a very difficult time to even try to win a game with them.

     
     After dinner, the boys were excited to choose a stuffed animals as pre-gifted from grandpa.  We then rode Alice in Wonderland and let the kids hang out at the Star Wars Launch Bay to play some video games before we got ready for the night Parade.  Connor was looking forward to the parade and Logan wanted to ride the Star Tours again, so we decided to divide and conquer.  Connor and I found a good place to sit and wait.  The line for Star Tours was just too long, so Stuart and Logan finally decided to watch the parade as well.  Since they could not find us, we enjoyed the show separately.  This was our first time watching “Paint the Night” parade, and it was incredible and filled with excitement.  Stuart’s phone battery was close to drained, but fortunately I could track them and we ended up meeting in our agreed area after the parade.  By then Logan told us that his legs were so tired that he wanted to go.  But of course, we, especially Connor, wanted to watch the firework, and Logan was fine with that.  We were told that the best view was at the Small World, and we waited just a short while before the amazing fireworks started.  The experience was unbelievable with the music, scenes on the outside of Small World, explosion on top of the Matterhorn and the unexpected snow during the Frozen song.  We were just mesmerized by these evening entertainments as we trekked the long way back to our car.  The boys fell asleep as soon as the car was in motion.  This was our longest stay at Disneyland, 13 hours.

      Logan had a walking field trip with the entire 2nd graders on Tuesday to celebrate the end of the year.  This is a busy work week for me, so I did not volunteer.  According to Logan, it took the kids 45 minutes to walk to the local park.  They had a meal of pizza, cookies and cupcakes there, and they played some group games before walking back.  I saw one of the kids’ mother later who filled me in with more details.  The walk was a bit hard since it was very hot, but the kids had ice cold water and popsicle to cool them off.  The activities at the park were fun and all the kids had a good time.

    Wednesday was Connor’s turn to have his End of Kindergarten celebration which I managed to take the morning off to attend.  It started with a “Memory Book Celebration” early in the morning.  The teacher gave a little speech about how much the kids have grown and changed in a year, and how to keep them ready during the summer for first grade.  Then she recognized each of the volunteers with a gift to show her appreciation.  Next it was time for the kids to show the parents their own special Memory Book.  Connor went through each of the pages with me, and it contained some great writings and drawings he did and some nice pictures from all the fun events throughout the year.  It was a wonderful collection of Connor’s awesome kindergarten year.  Afterward the parents were dismissed.  Before 11:30am, I headed back to school to help out at their celebration picnic in the park next door.  We all enjoyed hotdogs, fruits and chips before the kids went off to play at the structure.  When the kids were about to start group activities, I had to say goodbye to return to work.  Connor later told me that they had fun and enjoyed a cupcake too.

    Today was the last day of school.  Both boys brought home their school supplies and school work they had accumulated through the year.  Stuart and I now have lots of reading materials for awhile.  They also brought home their report cards.  They both did well, and are ready to move on the next grade.  I have been telling Connor that “I can’t believe you are going to be a first grader soon”, and his proud response to me was “Yes, I can believe it”.

     We worked around the game schedule during the Memorial Day Weekend, so we could be sure to watch the games.  With Game 6 on Saturday, I got too nervous to continue to watch and I volunteered to shower the boys during the last quarter.  When Stuart came in to share the good news of the comeback win while the boys and I were reading, I totally thought he was joking and of course we all cheered.  At Game 7, even Logan and Connor were into the game.  We sat and watched the most of the game together.  We were so excited and jumping with joy when the Warriors beat OKC finally.

    For this weekend, we had some work to do in the backyard.  I have a vision to add a sitting area, and hope it will pull through.  So I worked in the backyard little by little whenever I had some free time or when it was not too hot.  We had invited Maxim over on Sunday morning to play with the boys which freed us up too.  The three of them played together the entire time.  They played some Lego, Two Squares in the backyard and later some video games.  The three hours went by quite fast. 

    We also had a movie night on Sunday as requested by the boys.  We watched the 4th Harry Potter.  Stuart did not think much of the movie, but the three of us enjoyed it. 

    The cabana was opened over the weekend.  We did not really feel like swimming yet, but by the holiday Monday, we decided to give it a visit.  The water was much warmer than we imagined, and it felt great going into it.  We were surprised and happy how quickly the boys were willing to get inside the water.  They were able to pick up almost where they left off last year.  We played in the water for 1.5 hours.  This was a good start of the season.