Last Saturday was our last two hour tennis time for awhile as we will miss both classes next week for a birthday party.  Connor will actually miss the last class while Logan will have one more the following Saturday.  Although tiring, Stuart and I really enjoy being out there for two hours and feel great getting the exercise.  This week, Logan played quite well solo against both Stuart and I, and he kept us running around returning his hits.  Afterward Logan usually sat out for a long break before his class.  When Connor finished his lesson and switched with Logan, Connor was still full of energy.  He wanted to show us his serves and practice on backhand.  I think we will miss the opportunity to play two hours on the court.

   After martial arts and work on Friday, I took the boys to school for the annual event Pumpkin Bust.  The boys wanted to bring their 4-square balls with us, and as soon as we arrived at school, they immediately joined other kids at the 4-square action.  I walked around to check out the different booths and activities.  Later Connor came and found me and then Cole found us, so they took a picture with the Star Wars troop.  The boys are now older, so I did not mind them walking around the blacktop on their own.  Connor hung with some of his friends and met with me periodically.  Logan was staying at the 4 square area watching our ball for quite awhile until he finally decided to let go and joined Cole to check out the booths.  The boys had pizza for dinner; I waited for Stuart to come to school and we had fish tacos from a food truck.  Toward the end of the event, Logan finally wanted to use the tickets he had; he played some games and earned some chocolate bars.  Both boys also bought little toys and snacks before we walked home for the night.

    We had our 12th anniversary on Sunday.  I wanted to spend some time in San Francisco along with going to Alcatraz with the boys, so we decided to pick this weekend for a little getaway.  After our usual tennis lessons on Saturday, we quickly had lunch and packed up, then we headed up to the city.  We all were excited with the first sight of the Golden Gate Bridge, and thrilled that the weather was perfect.  We parked at a slight distance but none of us minded the walk over.  We took some pictures then we started our walk on the bridge.  It was good to see that the boys were enjoying their time as much as we were.  We walked to the first tower before we turned around.  We stopped for some hot cocoa and cookies at the visitor center before leaving the bridge to head to our hotel. 

    We checked in at the hotel at Union Square.  We had a nice view from the 23rd floor and we relaxed a bit before heading out for dinner.  We walked around the block to look at some restaurants and ended up returning to the hotel one as they had craft beers that Stuart liked.  After a nice meal and watching a football game, we took a longer walk around Union Square enjoying some nightlife before ending the evening.

    The next morning we hung out in our room for some video game and TV time, and we had breakfast from the hotel too.  We finally packed up to check out and checked in our bags.  We planned on riding the trolley to Fisherman’s Wharf, but unfortunately the line was quite long already at 10am.  We waited for a bit, and finally decided to bail and walk instead.  We strolled up and down the hills of the city and it was actually quite enjoyable walking through different neighborhoods.  We arrived at Pier 39 in less than 40 minutes later, I then realized that the Alcatraz tour was at Pier 33.  So I headed over to get our tickets while Stuart bought the boys a treat.  Then we quickly had a quick lunch of fish and chips before we lined up to board the ferry.

   During the ferry ride, the boys enjoyed the scenery but they were cautious and worried about falling into the water.  After we arrived at Alcatraz, we made the hike up to the cell building and the audio tour began.  The boys were completed engaged with the audio and followed every direction carefully.  They were fascinated with the stories and the background simulation audio.  The expression on the faces let us know that they were enjoying it as much as we did.  We all loved the tour.  Afterward we walked around the gift shop for some souvenirs, walked back down to the hill to watch the film at the little theater. This entire tour at Alcatraz was incredible.  By the time we returned to the Pier by ferry, we all were tired so we grabbed the boys a quick snack and took Lyft back to the hotel.

   We picked up our car and drove ourselves back home.  This was a very fun weekend and a great celebration for our anniversary.  We especially love seeing how the boys enjoyed exploring with us and able to walk a lot without too much complaints.  We all had 18 to 20K steps each day.

     I took yesterday off to chaperone Connor’s class to Uesugi farm.  Connor was very excited that I was coming along and wanted to make sure we stayed together.  The bus unfortunately did not show up in the morning and it turned out that the school made a mistake with the arrangement.  Luckily they were able to find another bus to come over and we were an hour behind the initial schedule.  Connor wanted to sit with me in the bus but his friends requested to sit with him; we finally agreed that he and I would sit together on the way back instead.  When we arrived at the farm, it was quite crowded, staff there led us to wait for the hayride and next the train ride.  The rides were fun but It did feel that the kids might be too old to be as thrilled with them.  Afterward, we finally stopped for lunch.  With the time constraint due to the bus situation, we seemed to be a bit rushed.  Quickly after we wrapped up lunch, we were led to the pumpkin patch to pick up a pumpkin, then we walked through the corn maze and the butterfly garden.  Afterward it was time to hop back onto the bus.  Again the rest of the activities seemed too tame for the second graders.  But all in all, the kids had a fun day being outdoors and were happy to take a pumpkin home.  I also enjoyed a day off from work and spent some time with Connor along with his classmates in my group.  The few kids especially the three girls in my group were such cute kids and did a great job staying together.

   After school, I took the boys to martial arts.  I always enjoy watching them as I am often working when they have lessons.

   This year I signed up to volunteer at Logan’s science lab.  There are multiple volunteers, so I only have to help every other month.  My first one was last Wednesday.  I was happy to walk the boys to school in the morning, then I headed over to the science classroom.  This volunteering job was easy, I just hung to listen to the teacher, then help distributed materials or assist the kids if needed.  During the class, it was fun to watch the kids make a human close loop and later worked in small groups. I learned some electricity basics as well. 

    After our two hours of tennis on Saturday morning, we came home to have lunch and to clean up quickly.  Rohan had invited the boys to go play at his house, so we dropped them off before we headed to Ikea.  Our goals were to look for a bookshelf for Logan and search for closet solutions for the boys’ room and Stuart’s office.  Stuart and I were excited to take our time to shop this time without the boys.  We spent time looking everywhere in the showroom and got many cool ideas.  We started thinking about furniture for part of the game room, either a couch or a table.  The boys are growing taller and our small Ikea kid table is getting too small for Logan.  We finally decided on getting a table and some chairs.  We also found a good bookshelf for Logan, some blankets and a bench shoe rack.  But unfortunately we knew we could only fit a few things in the car, so we had to skip the bookshelf and the shoe rack this time.  We also had to drive all the way home to drop off the boxes before returning to pick the boys up.  When we arrived at their house, we sat and talked with Vrinda for awhile before going home. 

    Despite being tired out all day, Stuart decided to start putting the table together since the boys were out playing “Kick the can” anyway.  The boys were very happy with the idea of a new and bigger table, especially Logan.  This morning, Logan was thrilled to use his Chromebook on the table.  So I decided to join him for some reading, then Stuart brought his laptop to watch a soccer game.  Connor wanted to join the family table too and tried to play his XBox game in a distance.  In the afternoon we played a board game and it was refreshing to spend some time in a part of the house where we are not usually together.