Connor has been trying to copy Logan to dribble a ball lately, but he had been a bit too gentle contacting the ball.  He claimed that he was dribbling but the ball actually did not get much height from the ground.  However two days ago Connor finally dribbled a few count with the big bouncy ball, and the next day he did even better as shown in the video. 

     During “Free Draw” at school today, Connor drew a couple of drawings.  While I was admiring how precise he was duplicating a drawing, then I discovered that there was one thing different between the two, ie, day and night.  I told Connor how very cool they were.  But Connor’s response was that “No, they are not very cool, they are very pretty!”

     We had been brainstorming for awhile what we should do with this little corner in our yard.  We wanted to increase the useable space but we are not ready to spend too much money.  So we finally came up with a long term temporary solution.  Stuart and I had been working on it a bit whenever we could; Stuart removed all the old yucky plants then I cleaned up and leveled down the ground.  We lined the area and covered it up with rubber mulch.  Now the corner looks cleaner, however it does not really seem very useful.  We wish to build a cool fort for the boys, but with the money constraint, we now decide to try a dome climbing structure.  It is on order now and we will see how it will fit in.

     For years, we never made ice in our freezer as we just did not really need it and we rather saved the freezer space for ice cream instead.  We finally decided that it was time, and after Stuart cleaned out the ice box, we now have ice.  The boys were thrilled every time we brought out the water pitcher with ice to the yard lately.  They would rush over to get their icy cold water. They also enjoyed having some ice cubes in their water thermos bottles and liked shaking the bottles to hear the clinking.  Who knows how much fun the ice had brought to the boys!  As a result, they have been drinking even more water than usual too.

     We took Michelle’s advice and checked out the Helix science store at Los Altos this morning.  It was a nice place, small in scale but it had many fun exhibits for the kids.  The boys were fascinated with everything and enjoyed the hands on experiences.  We sat down briefly at the activity hour to watch videos of “animals that spin” too.  We were at the store for over an hour and we bought a couple of toys to take home.  We then stepped out to enjoy the nice downtown area; the boys sat for a little bit to have a snack and used the provided chalk to draw on the designated street area.  We also checked out a small adoption area at a bookstore to see the dogs and cats.  We then finally met up briefly with the Kaos, after their lunch, at another bookstore.  Afterward, it was our turn to eat and the boys were excited to have pancakes for lunch.

       As the kids took their naps in the car during the ride home, it felt that we had a long and productive afternoon.  When we got home, Stuart and I worked on the backyard while Connor constantly asked “What can I help with now?”.  He helped me cleaned out some old mulches, laid down some liners and then new mulches in a couple of areas.  After Logan’s game time, he joined Connor and played together for awhile.  Stuart opened up the “half tent” for them to play inside too.  After almost three hours in the yard and a short walk while Connor rode the bike, we were tired.  However the boys still had lots of energy; they played with the new purchase from Helix this morning, “Indoor boomerang”, and had a great laugh and run around with them.

    We went out to play tennis on Saturday morning.  Logan did not mind the idea and Connor was excited.  Logan usually pairs with daddy while Connor pairs with me.  I feel like we can work on Logan’s form a bit more but he is having fun and is getting some hits.  Connor follows my advice and tries to stay with the taught form.  Slowly he is getting some hits too.  The boys are used to Stuart and I playing on our own during their snacks.  It is definitely a win-win situation for all of us.  After snack, we resumed playing in pairs again.  I am surprised how long we played before we moved on to basketball.  Logan was a little bit more assertive and enjoyed playing against Stuart and Connor.

    After nap, I suggested playing chess with Logan and he liked the idea.  He was a little bit of a sore loser after losing the first game to me, and the second game was taking forever.  During the game, I suddenly realized that we had forgotten about Connor’s soccer practice.  So basically all of us just quickly grabbed what we needed and left the house.  We made it in time; the class began just after I put on Connor’s shin guards.  Connor seemed less interested and followed the instructions only slowly.  He even came to me for an extra water break and asked if the class was over soon.  When it was time to pick up all the cones at the end of the class, Connor then looked more energized and enjoyed cleaning up.  These soccer classes are definitely not too exciting and I don’t think Connor learns much from them, but we will finish up the season and enjoy these weekly park times.