The boys had another bonding opportunity with daddy today.  The school had its Teacher Appreciation Day today where it closed at 12noon.  I dropped off the kids as usual in the morning before going to work.  Stuart was able to take the day off, but he ended up attending an important teleconference in the morning and did some work, then it was time to pick up the kids.  He got to school around 11am, picked the boys up, then grabbed some lunch before going home.  After eating, Stuart put Connor down for nap, then Logan afterward.  Logan got to play Wii for a little bit before Connor woke up from a longer nap.  They all then headed out to the library, and they had fun there as usual.  According to Stuart, Logan was very content reading his superhero book at a table. Connor found a couple of books that he was very interested in, and sat next to Logan and tried to read.  They did that for awhile before moving on to the computers.  Logan played at the Nick Jr website while Connor insisted on sitting at the adjacent computer next to Logan again.  When Stuart checked out the books, Connor was making sure that his two books were checked out too.  Stuart had to finally convince the boys to leave the library to go home.  They spent the remaining afternoon playing in the yard and took a walk around the neighborhood. 

   In the evening, the boys were excited to read their new books.  Connor carried those two books from the living room to the bathroom counter for bath, then moved them with us to the bedroom for bedtime reading.  He really likes the two books (Wheels on the Bus & Down by the Bay)!

     Last night was my work dinner, so Stuart spent the entire evening with the boys by himself.  He picked up the kids from school, drove them home to play for awhile before he set up dinner for everyone.  They ate well, played a little more, then Stuart got both of them in bath.  After bath, Stuart helped them into their pajamas, then he asked Logan to read some books on his own while he put Connor down.  Stuart read a few books to Connor, cuddled him a bit then put him down.  Logan was still reading and waiting patiently when Stuart came back to him, but right away, Connor called for daddy.  Logan did not mind as Stuart had to leave again.  After a few more minutes, Stuart finally returned to read to Logan before he went down to sleep too.

     After a big dinner and an evening of catching up with coworkers, I came home and swapped stories with Stuart.  What a great job Daddy did!  Logan did well helping daddy out too.

     On Tuesday night upon returning from the trip, I was worried how well the kids would go to sleep in their own rooms after sleeping with us the past 4 nights.  However, they followed the usual routine of reading, and went down to sleep very well without any complaints.  The next morning when I dropped off the kids, there was no crying at all either.  Connor was excited to look around his classroom and was happy to give me a goodbye hug.  Logan tugged my leg briefly, but then just walked into his classroom causally.  I was surprised how well the boys returned to their routine.

     I forgot to mention about Dino, a little orange dinosaur that was given to Logan at the Casa Bonita.  Since then, Logan is very fond of it and carries it around often.  He asks to sleep with it along with Teddy at night too.  A couple of days later, when we left the house, I forgot to put Dino on the upper shelf, and as a result, doggie Abby got hold of Dino and bit away one of the eyes.  When we returned to Dora’s, Logan asked for Dino, so we had to present the damaged toy to him.  We told him about the “the big owie”, and how it happened per Logan request.  Dora offered to put a bandage over the lost eye to cover the hole, and Logan agreed.  After that, Logan loves it as much as before which we were a bit surprised and also proud of him.  And Logan did not resent Abby for damaging his toy; instead, he just kept reminding us to put all toys out of reach of the doggies.

      Both Dora and Gloria each have a dog, and this was the first experience the boys had with doggies.  Dora’s dog, Abby, is 20+ pound three year old friendly girl, and Gloria’s Arvin is a 70+ lbs 7 year old loyal boy.  When we first arrived at Dora’s house, Abby was so excited to see us and jumped up to see all of us.  As she jumped up to Connor, he freaked out; since then, he was scared of her.  Every time when Abby or Arvin walked by Connor, he would cry and tense up.  He was so scared that he was slightly shaking when we picked him up.  Even though Arvin is so much larger, Connor appeared slightly less afraid of him compared to Abby.  It could be that Abby is super friendly and often wanted to get near us, especially to Connor.  Logan, on the other hand, was content with the doggies.  He was smiley to them, and did not mind being brushed by, sat next to or licked by them.  He followed the auntie’s leads to give treats to the doggies too.  Day by day, Connor finally was warming up to them.  The last day, he sometimes would not even notice when the doggies walked by him.  Today, Connor even wanted to give treats to the doggies too.  They both said yes when we asked them if we should bring the doggies home with us.

    We arrived at Dora’s house at around 4pm on Friday.  She had prepared some food upon our arrival which was just perfect as we were all hungry.  After eating, Gloria arrived to meet us too.  It has been a few months since we last saw Dora, and this was the second time for Logan to see Gloria and finally the first time for Connor to meet this auntie.  We sat and caught up for awhile, then we took a walk in the neighborhood and let the boys play at the playground.  After bath, Stuart went to bed with the boys so that I could hang out with my sisters.  According to Stuart, it was tough initially as the boys were quite hyper; it took at least 30 minutes for them to fall asleep.  When I went to the room later, Stuart let me sleep on the bed with the boys while he moved to the bedding on the ground.  It was a tough night as the boys kept waking each other up.  We finally had to move Logan down to the ground to sleep with Stuart, so we all could rest the remaining of the night.

    It was a hot day on Day 2, 90s F, so we decided to go swimming at Dora’s community pool which was only two short blocks from her house.  We were packed with lunches and spent some time at the beautiful pool.  Both boys enjoyed being carried by us in the water.  Logan had so much fun attempting to swim (kicking legs) while being carried.  Connor had a good time hanging out in the water too.  We played some more after eating lunch, then packed up to walk home for nap.  After naptime, I wanted to go check out the famous Casa Bonita.  It is known for it’s activities rather than the food.  The restaurant was huge, and it had an indoor cliff-diving show.  The boys were so intrigued by the actions that they were distracted during dinner.  After eating, we walked around the many different rooms inside the restaurant, watched the mini show and played briefly at the arcade.  It was an interesting experience; Logan kept asking to go back there.  That night, we decided to have the boys sleeping separately and we all had a good restful night.

    On day 3, Gloria hung out with us in the morning while Dora went to her soccer game.  There were many nice local parks in the neighborhood, so we walked to another one of them to play.  It was still a beautiful day, but the temperature dropped 20 degrees compared to the day before.  The community pool was so nice that we decided to go there in the afternoon despite the temperature change.  Both boys were excited to go into the water once we arrived.  As long as we were inside the water, we were ok, but it was chilly when we came out.  Connor enjoyed it but told me that he was done after 20 minutes.  Logan stayed and played with Stuart for a little bit longer.  After we dried off and changed, we hung out at the poolside to enjoy the sunshine while having a snack.  Gloria had prepared dinner for us when we returned, so it was a nice and relaxing evening.  That night, Logan wanted to sleep with Connor on the bed, so we had another rough night until we separated the two boys sleeping together.

   On Monday, day 4, we had planned to go to the Denver Zoo all together.  We had purchased the tickets online and booked a timed entry to the new elephant passage exhibit.  It was another beautiful 70s sunny day, so it was perfect for the visit.  The zoo was very nice as it was packed with many different animals and nice exhibits all over the park.  The boys, along with us, all enjoyed seeing everything.  After three hours of visit, we all took a nice nap at home.  In the afternoon, we all went to a park to play for awhile before heading out to dinner.  That night we slept well as the boys were not sleeping together on the bed.

     Logan really enjoyed his visit with the aunties.  He was not shy with them; he talked to them and would hold hands with them.  He even told Auntie Dora that he wanted to stay there with her forever.  Connor, on the other hand, was shy as usual; he preferred staying with me majority of the time.  He finally did warm up more and would run to give hugs to Dora and Gloria upon demands on the last day.

    This was a nice trip to see the aunties and to visit part of Denver.  We really enjoy the nice and quiet neighborhood that Dora lives in.  Hopefully the boys will see the aunties again soon.