We went for a short hike this morning at a local trail we found a month ago.  We took a different, slightly hillier trail this time, and the boys were excited to explore.  Logan had fun climbing up some big steps while Connor wanted to climb up a big rock with Stuart.  Logan was excited to go to the playground area, so we even ran for a bit to get there.  We had a snack at the playground, then the boys played at the structures for awhile.  On the walk back, we saw a woodpecker, a lizard and a mouse (maybe) inside a dirt hole.  The kids were thrilled to see the different creatures.  Connor did quite well this time, walking on his own at least 3/4 of the entire mile walk we did.

    This afternoon we were hanging out with two families across the streets.  The boys played hide and seek, ran around, then played with basketballs.  Later one boy suggested riding bike to his school to play at the playgrounds, and Logan was interested to go with them.  We agreed to go only if Logan would ride his bike there too; Logan initially wanted us to drive but finally agreed.  All the families got ready and took off.  Connor and I fell behind as Connor was picking his choice of vehicle.  He did not want the balance bike or push bike, and he decided on the buggie.  I had to clean it up quickly as it had not been used for a season.  Connor barely fitted in it now as his legs are longer, but he managed and we were on our way too.

     After we walked to the local school, Joaquin and Caleb were already flying their kites while Logan, Abby and Antonio were playing at the structure.  Connor joined them at the structure too.  It was quite windy by then and the kites were flying very well.  Caleb accidentally let go of the roller and the kite flew away.  The dad and Caleb tried to run after it down the field but were unsuccessful.  The kite ended up being stuck at a palm tree just a street away.  They decided to ride their bikes to go look for it while the rest of us continued to play.  A long time later, we had fun playing and had a snack, but Sam/Caleb had not returned, so the rest of us decided to head home.  Since Stuart had to help carried Caleb’s bike home, I ended up pushing Connor’s buggie while supervising Logan and Joaquin riding their bikes.  Joaquin is older and very good with his bike.  He rode fast but would always stop before we made any turns or any crossings.  Logan actually did very well riding behind him but definitely not as fast.  I had to run at times pushing Connor and running after Logan.  Logan got slightly nervous twice and needed to know that I was there for him, but I ended up having to give him only a couple of gentle pushes up the ramps.  He managed quite well crossing streets and making turns.  I was worried that he would fall as he had fallen twice on their way to the school according to Stuart.  I was proud of the boys when we arrived home.  Sam/Caleb actually came riding back shortly after along with the rest of the gang too.  It was quite an interesting afternoon.

    We had a get-together at The Merons on Saturday.  Logan was excited to see Bar and Rohan, and Connor was able to name everyone there before we arrived.  There was one more family joining us for the evening this time.  Connor was happy as soon as he saw Raz and he said hello to her shyly.  All the kids started playing together right away.  They went from running around in the backyard, to jumping on the trampoline, to making some drawings, then back to running around.  Connor was quite daring; he enjoyed jumping in the trampoline with the big kids.  We had to keep an eye on him every time he was inside the ring, so he would not get crushed by the bigger kids.  Logan had a lot of fun jumping, however, the girls got quite physical at times and once climbing up on Logan while he was down on his tummy.  Logan became nervous and was almost in tears.  He got out with the help from Stuart.  He calmed down quickly, then the rest of times all laughs again.  The kids snacked on fruits and popcorns, and had some of the Israeli dinner too (pita bread with tomato stew).  We all moved inside as the evening came; the kids watched TV and had some cake while the adults enjoyed some chocolate mousse.  After four hours of playing, Logan was so tired during the car ride home.  He almost gave up bedtime reading to go to bed.  Connor on the other hand did not seem tired, but eventually went to sleep.

    Connor’s school pictures just came back yesterday.  They were cute.  I was most excited to see his group picture, however, he was the only one not cooperative.  Logan’s pictures came back awhile back, but I just now had Stuart scanned them together.  We were not big fans of his photo as his smile was so forced plus his hair was parted wrong.  His photo reminded me of my kindergarten photo where my dad moved a strand of my bangs to the wrong side.  Hope Logan won’t dislike his photo like I do to mine.

      I took today off to accompany Logan.  We initially had planned for a trip to San Francisco, but it fell through.  I then decided to take Logan to the Children’s Discovery Museum as it had been awhile since our last visit.  Logan was quite intrigued with the different exhibits.  He tried almost everything, and he especially liked the ones he could climb up or into.  His favorites were walking over the movable bridge, hanging inside the ambulance and plugging away at the traffic light switchboard.  We spent quite a bit of time in those areas.  To my surprise, he did not even care to check out the water area with tossing balls.  When we were on the second floor, I tried to convince Logan to try out the arts and crafts area, but he was not interested.  He did like climbing the stairs and going through the tunnel in the younger kids area.  We spent almost two hours at the museum, and Logan was still interested to stay longer, but he was fine when I suggested to leave.  After stepping out of the museum, he wanted to hang out outside the entrance way for a bit.  The huge field trip group of elementary kids who arrived the same time we did was then sitting out there having their lunches.  Logan was envious and wanted to join them.  But we ended up picking some lunch to share with Stuart at home instead.

     This afternoon I gave Logan a couple of options, and he picked to paint and put together a wooden train.  He was doing quite well painting the train according to the picture.  We then dried it together and put on the stickers.  Lastly we glued on the wheels.  Logan was engaged and was happy with the end result.  While we were working, I asked him about the spring break.

Me:  Do you enjoy your spring break?

Logan:  Yes.  Is there school next week?

Me:  Yes.

Logan:  Yay.

Me:  Who do you miss seeing from school?

Logan:  Miss Diana

Me:  Anyone else you miss?

Logan thought about it and then said it with emphasis:  Connor  I miss Connor!

    Scottie has been a Cheung for 18 years now.  We celebrated his birthday by getting a cake for him.  We sang him a song and enjoyed the chocolate cake on his behalf.  The boys loved the cake; Connor even scraped his plate with this fork and tried to get Logan’s leftover cream too.  I did open a can of tuna for Scottie which he loved too!  Happy Birthday Scottie!

   Logan’s a week-long spring break began yesterday.  Logan is very excited about it and has been talking about it since the weekend.  I think Logan’s biggest excitement for this week is able to play his Xbox games.  Logan has learned not to brag in front of Connor as Connor can understand quite well these days.  Initially, we tried to talk with Connor about how they would take turns having their weeks off.  Even though he seemed to be ok with the idea, he kept asking “Gow Gow school?” in the morning.  So we just decided to make thing simpler by having Logan pretending to go to school too.  Since Logan knows that he can play game after Connor left to school, he has been very cooperative.

   Stuart was with Logan yesterday.  After some Xbox time, Logan played with other toys and watched some TV.  They went to the park, shopped at a store, and did some running drills in the front yard. 

   Today was my turn.  Logan and I talked about all the stops that we would do today, and we kept our count throughout the day.

Stop #1:  We went to the bank.  Logan was interested in looking at the “vault” (the deposit box); he was hoping to see Batman there though, as in his Lego Batman game.

Stop #2:  Shopped at Costco.

Stop #3:  Shopped at Trader’s Joe.

Stop #4:  Home to drop off grocery.

Stop #5:  Went to the mall for lunch.  Logan enjoyed his lunch choice of pizza.

Stop #6:  We watched “The Croods” and we loved it.  There was one thing toward the end of the movie that we both laughed at.  So throughout our entire walk back to the car, Logan kept talking about it and we tried to re-live the moment. 

Stop #7:  We rested at home for a bit.  I had Logan take his 30 minutes “quiet time”, then he had 40 minutes game time.

Stop #8:  We made a quick stop at JCC (our new gym).  Logan enjoyed another short tour of the facility.

Stop #9:  We picked up Connor.

Stop #10:  Finally home again.