Dora left us this morning after I dropped her off at the airport bright and early.  Other than hanging out with all of us during her trip, Dora and I spent some time on our own too.  On the rainy Sunday, we decided to check out the Winchester Mystery House as both of us had interests in it for a long time.  We decided not to take the kids as the tour did not sound appropriate for young children.  We purchased the mansion tour which was 65 minutes long.  We walked through 110 rooms of the house and listened to the stories shared by the tour guide.  The stories were very interesting, and both Dora and I enjoyed the tour very much.  We also agreed that it would have been too much walking for the kids too.   Afterward, we went to a restaurant for some seafood carryout to bring home for dinner with Stuart and the boys.

    After dropping off the boys to schools on Monday, Dora and I had a nice breakfast before we headed up to San Francisco.  I recruited Dora to come with me to go to the jeweler for my ring check, then we went to Fisherman’s Wharf to do some touristy things.  We walked around the wharf and went up to the Ghirardelli Square to do some shopping.  Later we went to check out the remaining sea lions at the pier before we took a yummy lunch at Boudin.  By then we were tired as we had walked 10,000 steps, so we took the long drive home.  It was a nice visit to the city and we managed to spend a non-rainy day there.

    Stuart and I finally put up the new curtains in the boys’ rooms.  We decided to use curtains to keep their rooms warmer at night and darker in the morning.  We brought the supplies from Ikea; I had to cut them shorter, then Stuart installed them afterward.  The curtains look fine to us and the boys seem to like them. 

    While I was at work yesterday, Stuart, the boys and Dora went out to the park to play.  Dora did a short run on her own, then played soccer with the boys.  I think the boys tried their best to keep up with auntie Dora.  I was able to leave work earlier which was very nice.  By Connor’s request, Stuart and I put up the Christmas lights on the house.  Then we went out for a nice dinner.

    Today Dora and I decided to go have dim sum, and only Connor chose to come with us.  Connor wanted to be festive and wore a Christmas hat for our outing.  Connor was very adventurous trying different food.  He actually enjoyed “chicken feet” when I offered him some small pieces.  He even copied us using chopsticks and was successful eating the dumplings with them.  Afterward, he was helping us buying grocery.  Connor was very good opening up those produce bags for us that he had asked to stop doing it at some point.

   Tonight we had hot pot for dinner which was delicious.  The boys enjoyed it with some noodles on the side.  After cleaning up, four of us played Chutes and Ladders.  We laughed and had fun.  Logan was not a good loser; he wanted to quit once but held it together until the end.  Connor enjoyed the game very much and he was so happy that he won the second game.  He even said to me later “Mommy, I never won and I am so happy that I won.  Can we play again tomorrow?”

    We were home to celebrate Thanksgiving this year and Dora came to spend time with us.  Connor had been making many Thanksgiving drawings to decorate the house, and I decided to make our holiday meal too.  I made a pumpkin pie and some mini pecan chocolate pies last night.  Today I put the turkey in the oven before picking Dora up from the airport.  The boys were happy to see auntie Dora, and they bundled up with her to watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving show too.  We had dinner very early at 4pm.  The boys were not a huge fan or not too hunger then, but the rest of us enjoyed the meal.  After some relaxation, we decided to go for a walk around the block.  Somehow Logan got into a bad mood before we headed out and he maintained it throughout the walk and the rest of the evening.  Later Logan told Stuart that he was hungry, but he was too stubborn to tell me.  Dora, Connor and I enjoyed small slivers of the two pies, and Logan passed on that along with the bread and milk that I offered him.  We cleaned up and got ready to read at bedtime.  Logan was still too grumpy to sit with us, so he did not sit with Dora for the first book or with me for the other two. By then Logan finally started crying when it was time to sleep.  He calmed down later with Stuart and had some bread and milk before he went to sleep.  It was a good day today but was slightly dampened by how Logan wrapped it up.

     We got ready early this morning and walked over to the high school for the race.  There were lots of people there; we ran into one of Logan’s classmate family and chatted with them briefly.  Then it was time for the 10K racers to start and we cheered them on.  Afterward, it was time to line up for our 5K.  While we waited, Connor was excited and he kept telling us that he wanted to win to earn a trophy.  Logan on the other hand seemed nervous, not knowing what to expect.  It was finally time and we all jogged and fast walked for the initial stretch.  Logan was quite bubbly then and had a hop on his walk.  Connor saw one of his classmates which was motivating him to run past her several times.  By the first mile mark, Connor and I had lost track of Logan and Stuart.  Connor asked about how much longer and reduced to a slow pace occasionally, but he cooperated well with hand holding and some motivation.  Once we passed the mid point, I felt more relieved.  Connor and I talked about Christmas decorations and what he wishes to get for Christmas, and it was working to distract him.  When we arrived to the 2 mile mark, I received a call from Stuart to inform that they had passed the finish line.  Apparently Logan ran the entire way, and did not really complain about the distance.  Stuart had to jog to keep up with him.  Connor and I continued to keep up our pace; we talked and we jogged at times.  By then Connor complained that he was quite tired but we finally saw the end of the race.  We started hearing people cheering us on, and before we got to the cheerleaders, Connor agreed that we should run all the way to the finish line.  He was so excited to see Stuart and other people cheering us while we crossed the line.  Connor was so proud and so were we!  He had walked 3.5 miles by then and I did not have to pick him up even once.  We picked up a snack bar and chatted briefly with Logan’s classmate family.  The mother told me that Logan did a great job and was trying to run past her to cross the finish line.

   Then we were on our way to walk home.  We finally picked up Connor part of the 1/2 mile walk home as he had earned to take a break.  Surprisingly Logan was still energized and asked me to run a short stretch too.  Once we were home, instead of being tired, Connor wanted to make a feast.  He helped me preparing lunch and getting lots of fruits ready.  He chose to sit on the ground to eat the feast and asked Logan to join him too.

    We finished dinner a bit earlier this evening and we were just hanging out in the bonus room.  We heard a loud siren, then shortly after we saw some flashing red lights.  We were so surprised to see a fire truck parked right across from our house.  We all hurried to bundle up and rushed outside to see the commotion.  There were four fire trucks and two smaller emergency vehicles.  We saw the firefighters at the door to the house diagonally from us.  We never met the owner of that house, and we did not see the door opened up.  There were more neighbors from the street gathering around by then and someone told us that there was a circuit break but someone else said there was some ashes at the chimney.  At that point, we saw firefighters walking on the roof, and later there was even more action.  The big ladder from a huge fire truck extended all the way up to the roof, and a firefighter climbed up to the top.  It appeared that they were spraying something at the chimney, then the job was finished.  The boys were totally fascinated by watching the firefighters in full gear and in action.  At the end one of the firefighters walked across the street to say hi to them; we chatted briefly and he left with the group.  It was funny that the only response both boys told me was that “he did not give us any stickers”.  This event wrapped up our weekend.