We received a very pleasant surprise from Logan’s orthodontic appointment today; he was told that it was time to get rid of his retainer.  This orthodontic journey of Logan’s went quite smoothly; it all owes to how great Logan dealt with the entire process.  I had to look through old blogs to find all the important dates. 

    Logan started well with his first orthodontic visit on 7/15/17.  He tolerated the separators between his molars and later with the metal bands around the molars.  The toughest part was having the impression made as it took time and almost made him gag.  Then Logan got the expander in on 7/28/17.  On 10/11/17, the next phase was the braces on Logan’s upper teeth.  He did extremely well dealing with all these metal pieces added in his mouth, and he never complained of any pain.  After his crossbite corrected and his teeth strengthened, braces out on 4/16/18 and retainer in.  Logan has been taking care of this retainer and cleaning it every day for the past 11 months, and he did not once lose it.

    Tonight Logan kept telling us how weird it was to eat and talk without his retainer.  Now he has a beautiful smile without any hardware inside for at least the next few years.

    On Sunday while we were watching the Warriors, we heard some really loud thunders.  Next it was this crazy hailing none of us had experienced.  The boys were so intrigued that they stood in the backyard to feel the hail fall on them and they collected some to keep in the freezer for souvenir.  Then we moved onto the front of the house while it continued to hail.  It was beautiful as our neighborhood appeared to be covered by snow.  After at least another 5 minutes, the hail finally stopped and it was definitely the longest hailing I had ever seen.  After dinner, the boys went outside to play with the ice and enjoyed this unexpected weather change.

    Connor was invited to the STEM workshop yesterday afternoon.  The kids were learning how to build strong bridges with uncooked spaghetti noodles.  While Connor was at the workshop, Stuart and I decided to take advantage of the moment of dry weather to play tennis with Logan.  It was awesome being out there to get some exercise while hitting some balls.  Logan did great; he and I did well battling Stuart.  The harder Stuart hit the balls to Logan, Logan returned them with just the same intensity. 

     We were tired of the rain.  It rained so much during the week and we did not get breaks on the weekends either.  We had not been able to do any outdoor activities and we are especially sad to miss out on tennis.  The only thing the rain brought that we enjoy was board game time!

    The boys had their testing today.  Stuart told me that both boys did very well; they knew their routine well and had strong moves and kicks.  Logan’s teacher complimented him on how great he did when he put his mind to it; she mentioned that Logan sometimes goofed around in class with his friends, but today he did an awesome job.  Connor’s teacher, on the other hand, shared how he appreciated Connor trying his best at all time.  He would repeat his moves until he gets them right.  

     The boys were happy to share their news with me when I came home.  Logan felt that he could even pass the next belt level now if he learn just one more routine.

   We wrapped up the long week off with an easy weekend.  Maxim came home from their trip and asked the boys over to play in the morning.  In the afternoon we went for a hike as the weather was so beautiful.  It had been awhile from our last hike, and we were able to do an 1.5 hour one.  It was definitely nice out there.

    The boys had another tennis lesson, and thus Stuart and I had an hour of play time.  I did not do as well; I lost both sets 0:6 and 0:6.  Cole came play with the boys afterward.  I prepared dinners for the next couple of days and Stuart barbequed to make our evening meal.  This was a peaceful way to end the boys’ week off.