The boys went to Maxim’s house to play on Sunday morning, and Stuart and I went to play tennis.  All four of us did not play too well on Saturday, so we wanted to try again.  We did better this time; we played longer and I was exhausted after playing a close game with Stuart.

   In the afternoon, Connor attended a birthday party at Rockin Jump for his classmate.  Connor had gone to this place during a field trip in the summer and was interested to be there again.  When we arrived, Connor said hi to the mom and the birthday boy, and he followed a few classmates into the basketball court.  Connor was being careful, and he stayed on the edge when there were too many of them on the trampoline.  Next the few kids headed over to the dodgeball court, but Connor did not want to follow them as he said kids were rough in there.  So he just went to the open trampoline area and played by himself; later a couple of his classmates joined him.   After some more jumps and plays, Connor came out to find me instead.  He chose to walk around with me and watch others play the rest of the time.  We hung out until it was pizza time, and Connor joined his classmates to eat, sing and have some cake.  Even though Connor did not play much, he said he liked the place and wanted to return next weekend for another party.

    Stuart was woken up early Saturday morning (6am) for a work issue, and he practically worked for 12 hours straight. The only break he had was going with us to play tennis for an hour in the morning, then he returned to the issue while earing lunch.  We barely saw him the rest of the day.  In the afternoon, after the boys did the usual things, i.e.quiet time, reading and video time, I took them out to run errands.  We went to the mall to return something, then we walked around a bit as well.  The boys always love going into the Apple store, and they stayed in there for a few minutes as we normally allow them.  At the food court, they also enjoyed a little icy treat before we headed out.  Next we went to Costco to pick up some grocery.  The boys were helping me shop and pay for them.  When we arrived home and had dinner out on the table, fortunately Stuart was able to put a pause on work and joined us for dinner.  Finally the day ended with the boys playing “kick the can” on the street for a couple of hours.  Stuart and I could relax a bit in the house.

    I had initially taken last Friday off to spend with Gloria, but since she had to cancel her trip to us, I decided to return to work for just half the day.  I was excited that I could take the boys to school and pick them up afterward.  And I was especially happy that I could take them to martial arts and watch them for the first time.  The boys know the routine; at home, they put on the uniforms, and Connor taught me how to tie their belt.  Logan wanted to make sure we leave on time so they would not be late.  When we arrived, they got their papers and waited by the mat.  During the lesson, I saw both boys following the instruction well and trying their best with the moves.  When the instructor was talking about “family”, Logan looked over to me and smiled.  Watching them while sitting down for the 50 minute lesson was tiring me out, but the kids out there still looked energized.  The last 10 minutes I did see Logan started talking and giggling with Cole quietly, but Connor was still focused at the instructor.  The class played a game Zombie tag at the end, and everyone had a blast out there. 

    After the class, we went next door for boba drinks from Connor’s request.  He likes to order his favorite strawberry lemonade smoothie.  Logan finally decided not to be left out and wanted a drink, chocolate milk shake, with his usual french fries.

    We had a heat wave last weekend and we stayed indoor as much as we could during the day.  The boys play with the neighborhood kids so often these days that we don’t play much board games, but on Saturday and Sunday, we finally played games together.  We liked the new game we bought, The Wizards always Wins; we played that over and over many times.  By 4pm each day, we did hit the pool and tried to enjoy a little more swimming toward the end of this season.  We also had Maxim over on Sunday to play with the boys.

    On Monday, we were invited to Jennifer’s house for lunch.  It was great to see the beautiful remodeled house they created, and we enjoyed the big lunch Jonathan and Jennifer made for us.  The boys were happy to see Ian and other kids too.  They played hide and seek around the house, and later when other kids made cookies, our boys, Ian and Jayden watched TV.  The group all stayed for awhile to chat; it was fun catching up with everyone.

    It was our Back To School Night on Tuesday, and since one of us had to stay with the kids, I was the chosen one to be at school.  First I listened to Connor’s bubbly 2nd grade teacher Mrs Fenn talked about what the kids would do and how much fun they would have this year.  Then it was 30 mins of presentations from the principle, Home School Club and the Cornerstone project.  Last but not least, I went to listen to Logan’s 4th grader teacher Ms. Medlin.  She was so calm and thorough, and she shared some of the things the kids would go through this year.  At the end of this one and a half hour presentation, I was tired, hungry and intimated by how much Logan will have to learn this year.  Hope both of the boys will have a great year.

This was Connor’s folder he drew for the night. 
This is a relief map that Logan was working on the first week of school.

    Last weekend Stuart’s cousin Erik and family had a road trip from Southern California up to the bay area, and they came to visit us at San Jose.  They arrived in the afternoon on Saturday, and the boys were happy to meet these “First Cousins Once Removed”, Eleanor, Amelia and Edward, who they had never met before.  We chatted briefly; then we changed into swimming gear, and moved over to the community pool to swim.  Most of us swam while Stuart had a chance to catch up with Erik and Alison.  We then relaxed in our backyard for a bit and had a barbeque dinner at home.   After dinner the boys wanted to go outside to play “Kick the Can” and they convinced their cousins to join them.  The boys introduced their “English cousins” to their neighborhood friends; Eleanor and Edward just jumped right in to play with everyone.  We all stayed out on the street to talk for awhile as well.  I also enjoyed a little chat with Eleanor (14) while we had dessert in the house; she is still the nice and proper little girl who I met in England 11 years ago.  The boys had fun playing games with Edward and they bonded quickly within minutes of meeting each other.

    The next morning we all woke up and had breakfast together.  We chatted some more and the kids played more games, then it was time for the Horns to take off to San Francisco.  Logan kept asking them if they could stay longer or return to see us after visited San Francisco.  Overall this was a nice visit for us to meet and spend some time with the Horns.