We received the 2013-2014 class photos when the school year ended.  I always love looking at them. 

    I had made an additional eye checkup for Logan with a pediatric optometrist on Monday, so I just decided to book Connor’s annual doctor visit in the same afternoon.  Their appointments were relatively close to each other, therefore Stuart had to come with us too.  Stuart and Logan dropped Connor and I off at the entrance to the hospital as Connor’s appointment was first.  His visit went fast; we were called in quickly after we registered.  The MA checked Connor’s weight, height and blood pressure; Connor cooperated well.  Then it was time for eye check.  The MA had Connor read close to 20 letters with each eye while covering the other.  Connor was getting tired toward the end but he did a good job reading them aloud.  For the hearing check, Connor did not do as well.  MA thought that Connor did not fully understand the test and Connor later told me that the noise was too soft for him to hear well. 

    Once we were brought to the exam room, the doctor came see us quickly.  Connor answered her questions and the physical exam went fine.  Since we are not noticing any hearing issue, the doctor just suggested rechecking the hearing exam next year.  Connor’s growth stats were definitely on upper end, but the doctor reported that kids at his age would have a growth spurt soon and they will stretch out.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 43.4lbs (93 percentile)

Height: 41 7/8” (85 percentile)

BMI: 91 percentile

BP: 96/55  P: 102

    Stuart accompanied Logan for his exam.  Stuart did not think that this eye doctor questioning was clear, so he ended up re-phrasing the questions for Logan a few times.  The exam results were similar to two months ago, and the doctor answered the questions we had.  We now just need to educate Logan to use the eyeglasses only when he needs them, ie. looking at things far away. 

    We picked the July 4th weekend for our camping trip and we chose to return to Mt Madonna this year.  Stuart and I had considered going for two nights like Dave/Brandon and Theresa/Martin, but a couple of weeks ago, we decided upon going for just one with the rest of the gang.  It took some times to gather all our supplies for this trip but we were all excited.  On Saturday morning we left the house almost an hour behind schedule as the nearby stores were out of ice from July 4th.  We finally arrived the campsite just in time for lunch.  The Tsaos and the Kaos were relaxing at the site, and Theresa and Martin just returned from their long hike.  Stuart unpacked and set up the tent while the boys started playing with the rest of the kids.  Dave began making some sausages, so we had them with green beans, spam masubi, Hawaiian bread and fruits for lunch.  Sometime In the afternoon Kathy,Ian,Kira and Chris arrived too.  We loved this campsite as we felt quite isolated from other campers, and we had the restroom in a relatively close vicinity.  We basically hung out near the campfire all day and just periodically moved our chairs around to avoid direct sunlight.  Most of us were served with assorted wines all day by Theresa and Chris while Stuart did find a few takers to share some variety of beers with him.  We had snacks in the afternoon, then we were served with one of my annual favorites, chicken skewers, for appetizer.  Then for dinner, Dave grilled us his homemade yummy juicy burgers along with veggies and fruits, and we were really stuffed by then. 

    All the kids went around the campsite all day long.  They played hide and seek, tag, and swords.  Once Logan and Connor were having so much fun just hiding and waiting for Mckayla while she was having a snack; they did not mind at all waiting for her.  Most of the kids later played Twister and Connor joined in too.  Ian was so good helping Connor out to stretch his leg so he could fulfill his turn.  The kids had fun with Frisbee and kickball at some point.  The boys and I played one game of Uno, later the girls, Mckayla,Kira,Peyton, and Marcus really got into the game.  The four of them were very content sitting around the long cot playing on and off the rest of the day; it was cute watching them.  Kathy also brought an art and craft project for the kids to do.  She set up the area with paints and brushes; the girls, Marcus and Connor were very excited.  Marcus and Connor quickly painted their masterpieces while the girls were very diligent and did some beautiful paintings.  Ian made a quick drawing later too.  Neither Logan or Brandon were interested to paint, so they probably were off playing together.  Later all the kids had fun with the walkies talkies, running around trying to talk with each other.  We also had a bunch of plop airplanes where Brandon, Ian, Logan and Connor were interested in putting them together and flying them.  They had played a game of music chairs; they all had fun playing it until we the adults tried to interfere with the rules and ended the fun.  When it started to get dark, the kids quickly played with some glowsticks as well.  During the day the kids just stopped playing briefly to have lunch and dinner.  They also had some snack times with ice cream drumstick and chips.  The S’more after dinner was of course the kids’ favorite.  Connor had so much fun playing with all the kids that he did not sit with me around the campfire as much this year compared to last, but he was sitting on me very contently watching the S’more in making.  Later he enjoyed taking the S’more apart to enjoy them separately.  Logan on the other hand was not interested in S’more, so he asked for another ice cream drumstick instead. 

   We took a couple of hikes during the day.  The first one with just Michelle and I leading Mckayla, Ian, Kira, Brandon, Logan and Connor.  We took a different turn and hiked into a non-familiar nice scenic route, but the track got more narrow with steep hills.  So Michelle and I decided to turn back before someone slipped down the hills.  In the late afternoon I enlisted Stuart to go on the second hike so we could work off some calories to make room for dinner, and the Kaos joined us.  Logan asked to stay on the campsite with Ian who agreed to keep an eye on him.  We went on the familiar hike this time and had a fun easy walk.

    Before it got completely dark, the kids were all slowly sent to bed.  We got Logan and Connor cleaned up and changed, then I left Stuart with them to join the adults around the campfire.  It was warm this year and there were quite a bit of mosquitos.  Despite our effort of putting on scented oil periodically, the boys might have been bitten.  They were complaining for a long time that they were itching.  Stuart put some lotions on them and after a long struggle (an hour) the boys finally fell asleep.  Stuart later came out and joined the crowd too.  We had a good time hanging out and a great chat as usual, and we snacked and drank some more wine too.  Before midnight we all had to clean up and go to bed.  During the night, Logan and Connor both woke up once complaining of itchiness; we put socks on them and they returned quickly to sleep until the morning when the loud bird woke us up.

    For the morning we hung out and played just the same as the day before.  The chefs all jumped in to make a big yummy breakfast for all of us.  Afterward, the men tossed the football around while Logan and Ian tried with the little football; later Connor wanted to join them too.  Our boys are huge fans of “Big Ian” and that goes to all the kids too.  Ian was so nice to all of them, and at one point, the kids were all in line waiting for the Ian’s spin.  Ian was such a good sport and we had to encourage the kids to give him a big group hug so he could take a break.  Everyone slowly cleaned up and packed up.  Then it was time for our group photo to end another successful camping trip.  A big thank to Dave and all the other chefs for the wonderful feast!

    Here are the rest of the photos that I have taken.

    Connor has been so excited about the America’s birthday for several days now, and was counting down.  When he brought home all the school projects yesterday, he could not wait to decorate the house with them.  He even suggested to write a happy birthday note on the easel too. 

    We decided to do some neighborhood things today; nothing turned out too exciting but we enjoyed this packed day though.  In the morning we hung out at home before heading over to the cabana club at 11am.  The festivities had started and we began with the barbeque lunch first.  After we ate, the boys wanted to go in the wading pool.  Shortly after, there was a kid event “Cake Walk” which was like a musical chair; Logan was not interested, so only Connor and I went over to check it out.  With some encouragement, Connor participated but he would prefer holding my hand through it.  Then Connor and I went to play in the big pool for awhile and Stuart got a chance afterward too.  Logan finally got tired playing and swimming, so we headed home to clean up for naptime.

    In the afternoon, we drove over to Almaden Lake Park where they had a July 4th event.  It was quite crowded and we had to park the car farther away.  We took the long walk to the festivities; they had some food trucks and a few local organization booths.  They also had a parade with people in costumes standing in line there.  We sat down on the lawn to listen to the live music briefly then they presented several awards to the parade participants.  Connor was paying close attention to the stage while Logan was just busy eating his snack.  Afterward we walked around some more and shared a small ice cream treat before we went home.

   Since we are new to this house, plus knowing we have a big plan tomorrow, we just wanted to stay home to see if we could watch fireworks tonight.  The boys were very excited but we had been warning them that we might not actually see any.  After dinner the boys had a dancing party in Stuart’s office until it got dark outside.  Then we took a quick walk outside with their glowsticks before settling down in the “Bonus Room” to wait for the show.  Unfortunately we could only see a couple glimpse of fireworks from our windows.  Later we took a short walk on the block; we caught a brief show of our neighbors playing with some crackers and saw a small scale of big fireworks in a different direction.  Logan was disappointed that we did not really get to see a firework show, but I thought it was sort of fun searching for one.  We then went home and ended a late night for the boys.

    Logan finished second week of camp at Galileo, and he had the same team leader as the first week.  The team leader’s written notes reported that Logan was more comfortable there now and he was always determined doing the activities and finishing with his projects.  Again Logan said he had fun but had not shared much about what went on during the camp.  Yesterday, he also brought home the projects he made; one of them was a cool car and it works!

    Our neighbors, Marilyn and Andrew, coordinated a dinner date to invite the four adjacent families for a get-together and it was on Saturday night.  Before we went to the dinner, we had a swim first in the afternoon.  We then cleaned up and got dressed, and walked up to their house.  We were the first to arrive and the boys were very excited to explore the house.  The hosts have many precious decors along with one piano and three harps.  The boys were so intrigued to play with the instruments; even though they were given permission to play with them, we had to ensure that they were being gentle.  We later decided to take them out to the yard to avoid them getting too hyper inside the house.  Their yard was big and it was surrounding the entire house.  I followed the boys and it was quite a hike walking through the paths and the steps all around.  The other two families slowly arrived, and one of the families also has younger kids (9, 2).  We all chatted for awhile, then later the dinner was served.  Marilyn did a great job cooking a spread of different entrees and side dishes to accommodate different food restrictions.  By then Logan and Connor were drawn to the Tablet the big boy Parsa was playing and they were all content in the living room.  So we decided to have our dinner first.  It was nice talking and getting to know our neighbors.  I finally got the kids down to eat their dinner; the food was a bit too sophisticated for them but they managed to eat just enough.  Parsa went home to get his basketball, and he and Logan played a quick game together.  Later we got the four kids down to watch a movie, so we could join the adults in the conversation again.  Later Marilyn served us her homemade desserts and some coffee.  Connor was telling us he was tired then but his eyes widened after learning that there were desserts.  After we enjoyed them and the kids had some ice cream, we realized how late it was, 10:15pm.  We said our thank you and enjoyed a short walk to go home.