My birthday was a Tuesday this year, and along with Martin Luther King’s birthday, I earned a 5 day off long weekend.  I was happy that the boys had a 3-day weekend and I had extra time to work on my house project.  On Monday, we went out to a Brazilian steak house for a big lunch.  I imagine Logan might be eating the most as he has been asking for more protein for his meals, but it turned out that Connor and I ate the most there.  After this large and delicious meal, we strolled around at Santana Row to walk it off. 

     Stuart had taken the Tuesday off for me, so I requested to play a round of golf at Deep Cliff.  We were paired with a nice retired gentleman, and we enjoyed the round.  Stuart did better than the last time he was out on the course, and I think i did fine too.  Both Stuart and our partner on the course gave me some hints to improve my game.  That evening we had a Vietnamese dinner and wrapped up the nice day with an red velvet cake.  I really enjoyed this mellow and relaxing birthday weekend.

    This year we started the house decoration early because of the reminder from Connor.  Connor also chose a new location for the Christmas tree which we all loved.

   However we were not really ready to start celebrating until close to Christmas as the kids had school up to 12/22.  The very next day we spent some time at Santana Row to soak up some pre Christmas spirit.

    The main addition to this year’s holiday was the visit from the grandparents and they arrived on 12/24.  Thus we were able to enjoy many of our usual Christmas traditions with the grandparents which was very nice.  We decorated the gingerbread house and watched our favorite Christmas movie on the eve.  We opened our stockings and all of our presents, played with our new toys and enjoyed a homemade holiday dinner and desserts on Christmas day.

    
    It has been a relaxing break at home this year.  Stuart had already returned to work this week, and I will start tomorrow as well.  The boys are able to relax a bit longer for the rest of this week.

https://youtu.be/MwON95uib40?feature=shared

    Right after Stuart returned from his trip, he took me to attend his work holiday party on Saturday.  This was the first Stuart’s work holiday party that I was able to attend, so I was excited too.  It was held at one of the Google offices.  When we arrived at 7:45pm, only 15 mins after the party began, there were tons of people already.  The decorations there were very nice. There were lines formed in front of the different foods on both floors.  Outside the building, there were a few tents with other activities, ie.karaoke, photo-op and drawing, and arcade games, etc.  There was a drink bar in each of these tents too.  I was quite impressed with all that being provided.  We got a drink and started to wait in line for food.  There were a lot of people and the lines for food were not well defined and maintained which was somewhat frustrating.  We got something to eat and they were yummy, but we definitely not wanting to spend more time to try everything else.  

     We walked around again.  There was a dance hall with good music and it became quite packed toward the end of the night  We found a room with a Lego craft; we made a little cool project, and we also took an ornament home for Connor.  They also had casino tables there as well and we spent some time playing Black Jack and roulette with fake money.  At the end we had some desserts, like cream buffs and hot mini donuts and coffee which hit the spot well.  By 11pm, my legs were tired.  We then discovered another location with more art and craft but we were ready to go home at that point.  Overall I was impressed with the party and had a great time just hanging out with Stuart.

    Stuart had a week-long team building work function in London; he left on the Saturday so he could arrive on Sunday before the work week began.  The three of us and Buddy had to hold down the fort here at home.  The first day for us was uneventful except one sink clogged.  Connor and I played tennis the next morning and everything was fine, until Connor threw up in the afternoon.  He was then hanging out with me to rest, and that was when I realized he had a fever.  Connor’s fever lasted two full days and it went up quite high to 102.9 at one point.  Fortunately I had planned to work home on Monday, so the day was not too hectic.  Connor was medicated and rested as much as he could those first two days.  He did not eat much as he was feeling nausea.  Finally by Wednesday his fever was mostly gone, but he was still tired and bothered by his throat and some runny nose.  We had prepared for Connor to potentially return to school on Thursday, but ultimately he stayed home to get stronger; his appetite still did not return to normal yet.  He also started to have a cough as well.  While he had been off for the days from school, Connor did try to do some of the missing work on his own.  He also had to study for a science and math test on Friday.  After Connor finished with the science study guide, he and I also reviewed all of this math topics together for this test.  Finally reluctantly, Connor returned to school on Friday and did his best for the tests.

     This week was also tough as I had to be standby for my mom and Yvonne’s medical appointments and updates.  The norm finally restored when Stuart’s flight landed on Friday and returned home.  Our lives are definitely better with Stuart’s back with us.  Stuart had a long packed week there in London too, but it also went well.

    Our local turkey run was held on the Saturday before the holiday.  They had to move the date due to the timing company; this date was definitely not as popular, but the four of us signed up for it as usual.  Logan did well, finished the 5K in 26 minutes.  The rest of us fast walked and ran a bit, and made good time for us too. 

     Since we did not have the run on Thanksgiving, I asked the family to go play golf instead.  The boys reluctantly agreed and they played well without any complaints at all.  They both had great hits and beat both Stuart and I.  Stuart has been playing virtual golf that affected his usual game.  I actually played well for me and had a birdie, but yet still lost to the boys.   I am so happy that we had a great golf morning.

     In the afternoon, we just took it easy and played Gin Rummy too.  I also prepared a traditional Thanksgiving meal for our dinner.  We all ate well; we finished a 3lb turkey breast along with ham and the few sides.  We wrapped up with eating the two homemade pies as well.  It was a good day!

    The sisters and I had decided to meet up and we made a plan to go to Boise.  Yvonne had to cancel the last minute, so only Dora and I went to visit Gloria and Chuck.  They had purchased a house a couple of years back and it was a very nice place in a good neighborhood.  It was wonderful to see their lovely home with their dog Zara.  We spent the next few days together taking walks, did an exercise class in YMCA, played some card games and of course eating out too.  We saw a beautiful green belt with fall leaves, checked out an outdoor mall and also made it to a lighting ceremony for a beautifully Christmas decorated park.  We made an important phone call to our auntie in Hong Kong together too.  This was a very wonderful sister bonding trip for us.