On day 3 in Denver, we decided to check out this museum of transportation that was not too far from us.  When we walked inside, this was a huge place with many modes of transportation on display.  The main one was classic cars and there were many beautiful ones in the showroom.  When I started taking pictures of my favorite ones, Logan wanted to be part of it.  After the first picture, Logan was on a roll and led me around to take pictures of him with many other cars.  He was enjoying his time looking at the cool cars and having his pictures taken.  We also saw many motorcycles, bikes and trains.  Once we were finished with the showroom and walked next door, there was also a big collection of toy cars which was quite awesome as well.  Here are all the photos from our Denver trip and Logan was my model in many of them.

    Dora had helped us make a reservation at Breckenridge for dog sledding on Wednesday.  Knowing about the upcoming storm in Denver, we had considered cancelling the trip, but fortunately we kept it.  The weather was perfect that day, and the drive to Breckenridge was also quite smooth; we arrived before our scheduled time.  After bundling up, we headed out to meet up with our tour guide.  He introduced us to the eight Huskies who would be our leads.  Logan and Connor were a bit shy from the doggies, but they did say hi to all of them.  During the introduction, Logan also told the guide that we would prefer the calmer route than the more adventure one.  When it was almost time to start, the guide assigned one of the adults (we volunteered Dora) to drive and Logan to be the passenger.  We were surprised that Logan just followed and did not complain or hesitate.  Stuart, Connor and I then went to sit in the sled behind the guide’s snowmobile.  By then Connor complained more about being too cold and his toes were frozen.  He even started to sob.  The guide decided to help and go grab a rental snow boots to try.  When I switched off Connor’s own snowshoes, it was dry and warm inside; we think that Connor was just having “cold feet”.  After we settled in, the trip began.  The guide stopped every few minutes to allow us to stop and switch the driver/passenger.  Connor continued to decline being in the doggie sled.  The rest of us took turns being the driver or the passenger; Logan did not hesitate either when he was asked to be the driver, and he did well.  It was quite awesome to watch the doggies pulling us.  The Huskies were well behaved and we tried to pat them whenever we had a break.  When the guide told us that the second to last segment was calm and suggested Connor to drive, we were happy that Connor agreed.  Logan was helpful and gave Connor some pointers.  Earlier when we were in the sled, Logan also helped Connor to shield from snow that was hitting his face; Logan was being a nice big brother.  One more segment and we were back to the starting point.  This was an incredible experience.  Thanks to Dora for taking us.  When we now watched the video we took, we actually admired the scenery even more so than when we were there.

    We went to visit Gloria and Dora last week while the boys were off for the winter break.  Our flight was very early on Tuesday, and we had to wake the boys up at 4:30am.  However the boys were very cooperative as they were excited for the trip.  One of the things they looked forward to was the place we were staying at, the townhouse that Dora had helped us rent near hers.  After Dora picked up us from the airport and arrived at the townhouse, the boys were thrilled; they quickly went up the three stories and claimed the master bedroom on the top floor.  They wanted to stay together at night and loved to hang out there for video game time.  Stuart and I had to stay in the 2nd bedroom on the lowest floor which worked out better afterall as we would rather be the ones close to the main entrance.

    We were secretly hoping for some snow for this trip and our wish came true as it was one of the coldest stretch of days Denver had had for a long time.  We were prepared with clothing and it was awesome to be able to walk around and play in snow.  Another plus was that our townhouse was close to Dora’s (where Gloria had come to stay as well during our trip) and to many great restaurants where everything was within walking distance.  Stuart especially enjoyed the varieties of beers available at the restaurants; once he tasted two beers at lunch which led to a wonderfully long nap in the afternoon.

     Dora and Gloria had taken some time to spend with us, so it was great for the boys to spend some quality time with them as well.  We also could go see their dogs Arvin and Abby, and were able to take them for walks.  The boys were still a bit nervous if they jumped up to them, but otherwise they learned to handle them a bit better.  Logan grew to love walking Arvin and liked how calm he was.  While we walked, we all tried to throw snowballs for Arvin to catch which he loved.  Each day we also did an excursion and more on those later.  In addition, we had invited both Gloria’s and Dora’s boyfriends and Dora’s friend Julia (who we met) for dinner at home.  That dinner had to be postponed by a day due to a major snow storm during  the commute time.  We ended up meeting on Friday night and it was good to finally meet Chuck and Robb.  I was not feeling too well and was not able to talk with them very much.  However it was still very nice to get to meet them in person.  Chuck is an artist; once the boys found out about that, they looked forward to ask him to draw and draw with him.  The whole evening, the boys were keeping him busy with drawing some cartoons, and Connor also enjoyed coping and learning how to draw from him.  Chuck was patient with them and Connor was especially determined and did some great drawings together.  The evening went well with chatting while we all watched the Olympics too. 

    This was an awesome four days trip to Denver.  We spent some good time together with the sisters and had many memorable moments.

    We had planned to go for a hike on Sunday morning, but the weather suddenly cooled down followed by a quick shower.  Thus, instead of going up the hill and be muddy, we just took a walk in the trail near us.  We decided to go as far as Stuart’s 3000 steps would take us and looped back.  We also stopped to do the exercise / stretches on the way.  One of the stops was to hop over the logs with double feet.  Connor wanted to follow our lead, but he was scared to do it.  He however did not want to give us and was determined to try it.  He was standing over the log and stared at it for awhile, and eventually did it.

    Every year I think I am becoming slightly less into the traditions for Chinese New Year, but there are still a few things we do.  On NY Eve last night, we went out for a Chinese dinner.  When we came home, we quickly cleaned up and tidied up the house.  Today we also gave the boys a red envelope which was the one thing they were most excited about.  One cute thing worth mentioning this year was that Connor decided to give us a red envelope too.  Last night before bed, Connor found some old red envelopes in his room and stuffed them with $1 from his own money.  This morning he woke up early and excitedly came to our room to give us the envelopes.  He is so sweet!

    Both of the boys had a small Valentine’s Day parties in their classrooms.  They could also exchange Valentines with classmates if they wished.  Logan did not initially want to participate, but eventually agreed with me to prepare them in case he changed his mind.  So over the weekend, they wrote the cards and I helped attaching small M&M bags to them.  On the day, Logan did end up giving his cards away and both received different treats from their classmates.

   Stuart and I don’t typically do Valentine’s celebration and buy any gifts.  So I was surprised to see the three cute cards Stuart and the boys made for me.