My sister and family (Yvonne, Allen, Katie and Kevin) are here in California for a visit.  They arrived on Friday, and spent the past two and a half days with us.  The last time Logan saw them was two and half years ago, so this visit was definitely well anticipated.  The boys and I returned home a bit earlier on Friday to wait for their arrival.  The cousins were happy to see each other and they did not take long to start playing together.  Kevin even asked if he could sleep with Logan that night, and Logan seemed happy with that suggestion.  Katie enjoyed more sophisticated toys; so she played with Legos while the rest of the boys played with dinosaurs, cars, hide & seek and guns/tags.  Logan was happy to find someone who loves playing hide and seek as much as he does.  The two of them, plus Connor, just ran around circles in the house many times during the night.  We were impressed how well Connor could keep up running with the big boys.  All of them were so excited that we finally had to make them take their baths before we would end the first night too late.

     Over the weekend, we hung out at home to let the kids play more together, had a few outings and did some eating out.  Once again, the kids played very well with one and other; there was not even one fight between them.  They played Wii; Katie, Kevin and Logan were laughing aloud while playing with swordfight.  It was fun watching them.  They all listened and took turns well to play.  They then moved on to the Indiana Jones Xbox game which had become Katie’s favorite very quickly.  Katie, Logan, Stuart and Allen all spent some times talking and trying to go through the challenges together.  Funny that Logan had a lot to say about the game, telling people how to get around.  Kevin was not as into the Xbox game as much, so he would occasionally play Legos by himself while everyone else tried to figure out what they were doing.  Connor was being a very good sport, just hanging out around the kids and observing what they were doing. 

     One of the outings on Saturday was to see redwoods as Allen and Yvonne requested.  We went to the closest redwood park, Henry Cowell Redwood National Park, for a hike.  We chose this one because it had the least windy route, as both Katie and I aren’t good with snakey roads.  It was beautiful there, and we all enjoyed taking a stroll and checking out the large trees. There were some big hollow trees that the kids liked going inside; we even needed a flashlight and to crawl into one of the largest one.  We had a nice picnic lunch half way through the hike before we continued on our way.  Everyone enjoyed the nice walk, 0.8mile, especially Connor; he walked most of the way on his own without the stroller.

    On Sunday, Allen and Yvonne decided to go visit the Stanford campus with their kids while we came home for a nap.  They picked up some Chinese food on their way home for dinner, so the kids could stay home to play while Stuart, Yvonne and Allen were able to chat after dinner.  Logan and Kevin were playing on the iPad together, and Connor decided to go sit with Katie and watch her play instead.  I ended up hanging out with Katie and Connor, so Connor would not interfere Katie too much.  Everyone had a good time, but we finally had to say goodnight and goodbye.

    Today was a school day and work day for us.  The Liangs went to San Francisco for a day trip on their own; afterward, they went to visit and stay with their friends in Dublin the remaining two nights before they fly out on Wednesday.  We don’t know if we will see them before they leave, but this was definitely a great visit for the cousins to get to know each other. 

       We showed more Olympics to the boys after school today.  They were fascinated by how fast the swimmers were.  We watched the 4 x 100 men relay; Logan got to appreciate the tight race and how fast people can swim.  After the race, both Logan and Connor wanted to watch more swimming, but I changed gear to show them gymnastics.  They were quietly watching the floor exercises and the balance beam, and seemed amazed by all the tumbling.  Whenever the gymnast finished the routine, Connor would ask for more again.  Suddenly, he decided to move to the ground and try some tumbling himself.

     We had bounce house parties both days this weekend.  Yesterday was a block party to say goodbye to one of our neighbors.  The neighbor’s son is one of Logan’s best buddies on the street, so he was quite excited to attend.  By the time Connor and I woke up from nap, Logan and Stuart had already left the house.  According to Stuart, Logan took a little bit of convincing before he started enjoying jumping in the bounce house.  When we arrived to the party ourselves, Connor was not ready to play yet so he asked for me to find him a snack there first. After that and the rest of the afternoon, both Logan and Connor had a blast playing inside the bounce house along with other kids.  I crawled inside to be with them a majority of the time so I could keep an eye on Connor.  He enjoyed bouncing and then flopping down on the surface.  I was worried that he would get stepped on by older kids which unfortunately did happen once, ending up with a big cry but no major hurt.  Beside the bounce house, the neighbors also rented a huge water slide which was a big hit for the older kids.  Logan was interested to watch the action there, but was not interested to go try.  The slide was very steep with a pool of water on the bottom which we did not think Logan could handle anyway, so we never pushed him to try it.  For hours of the rest of the afternoon, we sat, talked, ate and played.  It was a fun party.

    Today was a birthday party for Logan’s schoolmate Justin, so I decided to go with Logan alone.  It was held at their huge house with a beautiful backyard.  They also rented a bouncy/slide house.  Logan needed a little bit of warming up time when we first arrived, so he asked the parents to let him go inside the house.  We were taken to the playroom; Logan and I played a toy for a little bit before returning to the backyard.  By then, Logan was ready to join his friends in the bouncy house.  He was not as aggressive as the other kids and it took him a little bit learning how to climb up to the top of the slide.  Once I ensured that Logan was doing fine, I joined the rest of the parents for a relaxing time.  All the kids became independently playing without the parents, and they eventually migrated inside the house to play with their toys and Justin’s birthday presents.  The parents and I had a great time talking, eating and drinking while occasionally checking on the kids.  Logan played well with all of his friends, and every time I checked on him, he and his best bud Rohan were staying together.  Logan enjoyed it so much that he even declined to eat cake, but he agreed to take a break from playing to sing birthday song to Justin.  After many hours, the parents finally decided that it was time to break up the kids to go home.  Fortunately, all the kids were good and said their thanks and goodbyes.

     Stuart and Connor had a good time together too while we were gone.  They went to the park, then picked up some groceries and had lunch.  Connor took an 2.5 hours nap, and was very happy to see Logan and me when he woke up.

     I have been doing a poor job teaching the boys Chinese, basically I have not even been trying.  But for some reason, Logan recognizes Chinese when he sees it.  When he reads the birthday card from my dad to Connor, Logan said “Why is there Chinese on it?”  If the Chinese channel was on TV, Logan would immediately say “I don’t want to watch Chinese.”  We have borrowed a few Chinese children books from Michelle, and Logan would occasionally ask me to read them.  I usually asked him if he likes to hear Chinese only or Chinese then English.  Logan would answer “English!”, but he would agree when I suggested Chinese then English and he would pay attention the entire book.  Last night when Stuart suggested reading the Chinese book, Logan responded “Daddy does not know Chinese”.  Stuart told Logan that he did indeed know and started reading it by making up what he thinks Chinese sounds like.  Logan looked at Stuart funny and replied “That is not Chinese”.  Logan once told me that he knows two Chinese words; then he attempted to say grandpa and grandma in Chinese.

ps. This is a funny picture.  I am still learning how to focus on the right person with the new lens, but it happened to focus on Logan.  This is the look of someone who is not having their birthday.

     Connor turned two today!!  Connor knew that too; he has been proudly saying “Two” whenever we and the teachers asked how old he is.  He seems to be learning his numbers, definitely knows one and two.  When he was playing in the car yesterday and mumbling to himself, Stuart even heard Connor said “one, two, three”.

     The birthday celebration starts at the afternoon snack at school.  I made the Oreo cupcakes again as it was a big hit for the kids, but I decided to make mini ones this time for the toddlers.  I brought them in right before snack time.  Logan happened to be in the courtyard playing, so he came into the toddler room with me.  Connor was so happy to see me, and was ready to go until I told him that it was cake time.  He sat down at the table along with all his classmates.  Logan must not felt comfortable sitting along with the little ones, so he rather returned to the yard to play than eating cupcakes.  The class sang the birthday song to Connor while he was looking a bit shocked but smiley.  I guess we had not taught Connor how to blow candles as he just stared at the candles when told to blow.  The teacher finally helped him out (I was filming), so we could move on to serve the cupcakes to the kids.  All the kids enjoyed the treat, and Connor even asked for seconds.  After cleaning up, we met up with Logan and left the school for the second half of the celebration.

    We picked Stuart up and went to our local Chuck E Cheese to let the boys play.  We decided to go there again as Logan had been asking about it lately.  The boys were excited, and immediately walked around and looked at the different games.  Logan was basically interested in the driving and shooting games only.  He actually could drive quite well in most games now.  Connor was happy just holding a token in his hand deciding where to deposit it.  We took a break for dinner; the boys were able to watch the big puppets and the TV show while we ate.  We played few more games afterward, then headed home for cake.  This time, we did give a quick lesson to Connor on how to blow a candle before Logan lead us in singing the birthday song.  We all enjoyed a small portion of our favorite ice cream chocolate cake.  Afterward, it was presents time.  Connor was in a roll opening all the presents, including the ones from grandparents and auntie/uncle.  He was so focused in opening the wrappers, then put all the papers into the trash can before he started paying attention to the toys.  Both Logan and Connor had fun playing with all the new toys, but Logan was whiny tonight, constantly asking us to play with him.  Logan must be tired of Connor getting all the attention lately. 

PS.  Logan came home from school the last two days with his shorts on backwards.  We think this happens as he changes from his water clothes to his regular outfit after outdoor play.  We will be focusing on teaching him back versus front this week.

      Connor had a doctor visit today for the two year checkup.  Since Logan has not received his set of vaccinations yet, we decided to make a family trip to the hospital.  Before picking up the boys, Stuart and I made a detour to have a quick visit to the Changs and to meet the brand new babies.  Colby and Cameron are so little and adorable; they were peacefully sleeping while we were there.  We had a chance to see Ashlyn and talk with her too.  Talking to Julie and Robert reminded us of all the hard work yet fun times are involved with little babies.  Unfortunately we couldn’t stay long as we had to take the kids to the doctor visits, but hopefully we can visit again soon when everyone is awake and huggable.

     After arriving at the hospital, the plan was for Stuart to take Logan to the Injection Clinic for his shots while I checked in for the appointment with Connor.  After 20 mins, while Connor and I were still waiting for the doctor, I saw Logan coming out with a very sad face.  According to Stuart, Logan did not cry at all, just whimpered a bit.  He even said a reluctant thank you softly to the nurse after receiving some stickers.  When Logan saw me in the waiting area, he looked like he was about to cry until I gave him a kiss and a hug.  The rest of the evening, Logan did complain of arm pain, especially the arm that received shot #2 and #3.  He needed help to put on his pajamas and getting up into his bed.  Other than that, he was very brave.

    Connor did well at the visit too.  He stood still for weight and height check, and for the head measurement too.  He smiled to the doctor several times, and even answered “Ya” to her questions.  He softly called for “mama” when he was being examined, and he cooperated as long as I stood next to him.  Everything checked out well.  As soon as I put the clothes back on him, Connor was ready to leave to the room to go find Daddy.  He did say “bye” to the doctor first before we left.  The following are his stats.  The doctor mentioned that his height might have been skewed as it was being measured while standing up for the first time (compared to being measured laying down in the past).  Connor is only 5-6 lbs less than Logan is now.  I compared Connor’s stats with the 2yr old Logan, and Connor is actually only 2lbs more than Logan was at that time.  They have the same height and same big head too.

Weight = 33lbs 6.4oz  (94.8% compared to 91% in March)

Height = 2’ 11’’ (68% compared to 91% in March)

HC = 20 3/8’

Calculate BMI = 19.17