Logan finished his seven weeks of summer school last week and will now have three weeks off before school starts again.  We signed him for two weeks of summer camp at a local gymnasium.  We shared the news with Logan only a few days ago, but since then he just told us he did not want to go.  Even this morning, he again mentioned that he did not want to go.  On the other hand, Connor only heard the words “summer camp” and “gymnastic” once, and he kept whining that he wanted to go there too.  He ended up doing some morning stretching exercises with Stuart to fulfill his request.

     Logan and I arrived 15 minutes before class started this morning.  He was curious and looked around while we waited.  When the coach asked the class to line up to enter the gym, Logan showed only a second of hesitation and gave me a hug as I requested, then he just proceeded to follow the class.  I watched them for a few minutes; Logan participated in holding hands with everyone and going through a hula hoop just liked everyone else too.

     I arrived just right before 2pm to pick Logan up, and he was hanging onto a high bar at the time.  I noticed that he was quite high in energy, giving hi-fi to the coaches at the end of the class.  He told me that he had fun, he liked “the volcano”, and that the balance beam was the hardest as he fell on his bottom several times.  He also told me that he tried doing a tumble but needed the teacher to help him finished it.  I was happy to see how willing Logan was to try new things and how well he adapts to new environment. 

      After pick up, I also took Logan in for a TB skin test and an afternoon frozen yogurt treat.  When we returned home, I had Logan spent some “homework” time before he had a chance to play his Xbox game.

     We went to the Oakland Zoo today for a stroll.  I knew Connor would be excited to go there, but was surprised that Logan was too.  They both talked about which animals they like to see before we arrived; Logan wanted to see tigers while Connor wanted to see elephants.  We had a nice walk seeing different animals, and the boys enjoyed patting and brushing the goats.  They also had fun playing at the Children’s zoo playground, but Connor ended the play with a bump on his head.  At the end, we wrapped up our visit with the train ride; Connor loved it so much that after we left he was sad we hadn’t wait to see it pass by again.

     We have now settled into our apartment, and we all like this place.  Other than the loud traffic noise, we don’t hear much other noises.  We initially heard our neighbor upstairs only at 5am in the mornings, but now we must have grown used to it and are not waken up by them anymore.  The boys are now used to sharing a room, and falling asleep has not been a problem.  However they end up waking up each other early in the morning and often are trying to get out of the room before 6:30am.

     The apartment complex is surrounded by a lake/park and a convenient train station.  We took our adventures last weekend.  One day we rode the train to the nearby mall to hang out, and another day we explored a walking path to the lake.  Since then, we have been taking a daily walk to the lake, and the kids are used to this routine as well.  Connor now likes riding his push bike instead of walking, but he only wants to steer and have us push him everywhere.  Logan on the other hand prefers walking over riding bike.  He has been good and not complained of the long walks.  We walk various routes and lengths, sometimes we walk to the playground for the boys to play for awhile too.  We all are definitely getting our quota of exercise everyday.

    Connor’s school was closed on Thursday and Friday, so Stuart and I both took a day off to accompany Connor.  On Thursday, I took Connor in for his annual Doctor visit.  Connor was very excited to go to the hospital and to see the doctor.  His enthusiasm went down a little bit when he was actually called in by the medical assistant, but he was still quite cooperative.  She checked his weight, height and blood pressure.  Then Connor changed into the gown in the room and waited for the doctor.  He was a bit shy when the doctor came in; however, he was doing what he was told, holding the stethoscope to his chest for her to listen to his lungs.  Then Connor became more relaxed with the rest of the check up.  He even giggled and told the doctor “tickle” when his ears were checked.  Everything checked out well and I was happy to see that his BMI is trending downward now.

Weight = 37.4 lbs (92 percentile, down from 97% last year)

Height = 39 inches (79 percentile, up from 62%)

BP = 82/51

BMI = 17 (84 percentile, down from 95%)

     We owned the house on Chambers Drive for 8 years and finally passed it on to the new owners as of 7/26/13 at 5pm.  Stuart and I went back to the house a few times that day to pack up the remaining things.  The house looked nice and clean again.  We were happy that we were able to make the deadline just in time.  It was sad to say goodbye to the house where the boys were born and where we had good memories.  Even Connor had said a couple of times “I miss the house…I miss everywhere” when he learned that we were moving out.  But we are excited to look forward to finding our new home. 

    With all that is going on lately, we have not paid much attention to Connor’s birthday.  But Connor remembered well that his birthday was coming; he had been reminding us that it would be “Connor B’s birthday”.  On his birthday 7/25/13 morning, he even told me “Happy Birthday to Me”, and the rest of the day he was singing his own birthday song.  He was so excited. 

    We managed to do a low key celebration for Connor that evening.  We took them to Chuck E Cheese after school per Connor’s request.  Logan loved the driving and shooting games while Connor liked a variety.  Connor sometimes just enjoyed holding a coin and walking around to look for a machine that he liked.  Connor was scared to see Chuckie and wanted us to hold him every time he passed by.  We left the place two hours later to go home for Connor’s favorite ice cream cake.  The apartment was still not unpacked then and we could not find a lighter for the candle.  We sang the song to Connor, and we pretended to blow the candle.  Connor was so excited to eat the cake; he kept saying “yummy in my tummy” as he enjoyed every bite.

    I have forgotten about the school birthday celebration, so the teacher suggested that they would do a little circle time for Connor on 7/26/13.  At the end of the day, Connor told me that the class sang a birthday song to him, but I did not hear any more details about it.