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It was a short week, starting on Tuesday, but it was jam-packed!
Peyton had picked up a cold over the new year, so she was sent to bed at 745 pm on Tuesday. She slept 11.5 hours until Wednesday morning. Brandon got his stitches out on Tuesday, and what was thought to be an easy removal, turned out to be quite the ordeal. The skin had grown into the stitches, and he had to soak in saline for almost an hour to soften the skin. We’d kept his skin dry all week long, and we’d done too good of a job! It didn’t help that the clinicians questioned why they were so tight, why we were told to wait 7 days versus a typical 5 for facial lacerations, and why the antibiotics. Glad he’ll live!

Brandon was changing teachers with whom he was volunteering. His current teacher, his former 1st grade teacher, is having a baby, so he is switching to his second grade teacher, who was Peyton’s second grade teacher as well. I reminded him of the switch (and later was informed that the teacher was there for one more week).

Brandon had a volleyball game that was a close on on Wednesday. I arrived in the middle of the third game, to see that one thrown away after two close wins in the first and second. The fourth game was also a close loss, and the fifth is only played to 15. They couldn’t pull that one out either. Seems the holiday funk couldn’t be shaken, as Brandon did not serve well that day. Thursday, I cancelled Peyton’s piano as her teacher is very sensitive with germs, especially as she is also a singer. The teacher had also picked something up, so it worked out well. It allowed Peyton to get her homework, reading and piano done before getting Brandon, who was at volleyball. I got them home, fed them a snack, the drove to Stanford to meet Dave for the basketball game. It was a good thing they’d gone with Dave a few weeks ago, as they were the ones who told me where to park, even with their questionable memory on things. I got us to the main area, and they pointed me to the free parking lot where they parked last time. We had seats through the alumni section, so we were surrounded by Bruin fans! The kids eagerly awaited Dave’s arrival, as we were super early, having been one of the firsts to enter the stadium, and definitely in our area. Dave showed up shortly thereafter seeing us as the only ones in our section. He took the kids to get food for dinner, and we enjoyed that while watching warm ups. The Kaos came right before tip off, and we waved to them from down our row, as we were separated by two seats. It was super warm up in the nose bleed section, and we were sitting in bench seating. The kids reminded me that they sat in the plush, actual chairs of one of the big donors. The game was looking like a victory up until the final minutes, when the Cardinal started coming back! They ended up tying up the game, sending it into OT. They almost won in OT, when one of the Bruins launched a three pointer to tie it up at the buzzer. I was texting Michelle, so I missed it, but Brandon definitely let me know! He’s become a staunch Bruin fan, and I’m sure he was excited to have the game extended, meaning he could stay out later. He did whisper to me that he was tired, but he did have a surge of energy with that play!

Sadly, they didn’t pull out the double OT victory, but did extend the kids’ bedtime by almost an hour. We brought two tired kids home, but they quickly showered and got ready for bed, but not before almost 11 pm. Peyton was leading flag salute on Friday with her class. That motivated her to get ready in the morning, as she was supposed to be at school by 8 am in the office. We managed that, having fixed their lunch the night before, and feeding them an easy breakfast at home. Brandon was happy about getting to school earlier than usual than when going with me. Since I was one of the earlier parents, I was appointed teacher’s helper, as she was on yard duty. I corralled the straggler kids who didn’t know where to go. I had the scripts and assignments, and helped the kids outside and later inside. It got me a front row ticket to see the kids. Peyton was one of the last to go.

Here is her announcement of the caught being good for her fifth grade, former softball teammate.
Normally, flag salute is done outside in front of the entire school, but when it is cold, the announcements are made in the office on the intercom. The intercom is piped through the principal’s phone, and from the office, there is a bit of echo.

I headed off to work after the students returned to class. I worked until it was time to pick Peyton up again. We did piano then headed to get Brandon early for their dental appointment. He was concerned about when and where to meet, but when we arrived, the kids were waiting for the bell outside of PE. He saw me, and ran to tell the PE teacher, while I checked him out of the office. We met up through the office, and as I was going back to the car, his friends all saw him leaving, and started giving him emphatic GOODBYES! They were mocking and teasing him, and he told me, “Why did you pick me up in the front of the school!” He was a good sport about it, and it was funny to see. We got to the dentist, and both kids had x-rays and movies going. He picked Guardians of the Galaxy one (totally not kid-ok), and she picked “A dog’s purpose” because she LOVES dogs. They only saw less than 20 minutes, but both were so happy. In fact, while he was waiting for his dental assistant, Brandon was giggling. I looked over at him, and he pointed up to the screen and told me, “It’s so funny!” Both left without any cavities, and both had done fairly well with their brushing (yay for us for Peyton’s teeth, since it’s a reflection on us).

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Saturday was a nice day, and it was free for us! Dave headed to his favorite coffee place, in Santa Cruz! We hung out at the boardwalk and got the kids all access rider passes. They just left Dland, yet Dave felt the need to get them more rides. That suited us as we just hung out and waited for them. They do get along well when they are on their own to take care of themselves in lines. Except Peyton refused to go on the haunted house. Brandon went alone, and it was awhile before he came out! I was worried he’d gotten off the ride or was pulled off somehow in there. PEyton looked a bit worried at the suggestion, but soon, we saw him emerge. He said it was kinda scary. Peyton was trying to pump him for more details, and finally, she had the courage to go back with him. She came out and he told me she almost cried. She had her hoodie all the way up over her face, and didn’t really watch. So, that was a fail! After the rides, we headed to a little quaint restaurant that served craft beers and tapas. We all split food, then went to the ice cream shop. It was a great day out! While on our way back home, we picked up Peyton’s birthday card for Toys R Us. It was an invitation to get a free Lego build, but we didn’t have time to go shop. We were running out of daylight, so we returned home to get some softball and baseball practice in for both kids. They got about an hour in before there was an injury – Brandon hit a ball back under the screen, and it came up and hit Dave in the ankle. He came up a bit lame, and he wanted to get ice on it as soon as possible. We came home, had the kids shower up, then after ice was applied, we headed to the mall. We had to return some clothes that didn’t fit them from Christmas, so we braved the mall, which we had not been to in years, it seemed. We went to the two stores where their clothes were purchased and did what we needed to do, then left. We wanted to get to bed earlier as Brandon and I had our chocolate run on Sunday. Dave said we should go sleep downstairs to avoid waking them up. Brandon didn’t want to sleep alone downstairs, but when he found out I’d go, too, he quickly moved in. Peyton asked what she would do. I suggested (if I was going to be inconvenienced by Brandon) that she should sleep in my side of the bed. But I worried about her falling off, and she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll sleep in the middle, so I won’t fall off!” Dave shot me a glare. But she quickly moved in to our bed, while I was getting our things ready for an early morning.

Both kids fell asleep quickly. I set my alarm for 415 am. Brandon’s last words to me at bedtime were “good luck getting me up tomorrow morning.” He wasn’t wrong. But after 15 minutes of rolling around and complaining, he jumped up as if to say, “Let’s do this!” He’s such a good sport about these things.

He was happy to only be doing 5 k with me. I had parking and two shuttle passes, and we drove up to the City by 525 am. We passed the parking structure the first time, but we were early enough that we had it pretty easy. He wanted to stay in the warmth of the car, but I didn’t want to fight traffic to get on the bus. So, we waited a bit on the bus, and when it filled, we headed off. We were still very early, by 6 am, to wait over an hour for the start at 720 am. We went to the port a potties and I was the first to use the toilet paper, as I had to open it up, so at least it was clean. Last time we did the 15 k, we started much later, so we didn’t have such an early start. And we had a ride as Dave dropped us off last time. It was much colder this time as well! We huddled up in the merchandise tent and talked to another mom and her 13 year son. They were doing the 15k, so we left before they did after wishing them a fun race. I offered Brandon music, but he declined. I set myself up, and with 20 minutes to go, we corralled to B. He asked why we weren’t in A; I told him we are NOT that fast. The corrals went as far back as G or so, so I think it was good we were even where we were! When our corral was starting to move forward after A went, I was queuing up my music, and he was quite concerned that my phone would be dropped. He had his phone off in his breast pocket. I told him only to turn it on if he got lost. Last time, we held hands, but this time, I told him it was easier to NOT do that. He was fine with that, and we kept pace with one another. He knew that it was better to start running in the beginning to go with the flow. It was a bit more hilly than I recall, and he did a great job at the start, and was actually pacing me! I didn’t want to slow down as I didn’t want him to wait for me, so I pushed through for him. I hadn’t run in awhile, so I felt like I was struggling the first half mile. He kept running and looking back at me, so I ran up ahead to run side by side. He did a great job, and he stopped for water and chocolate chips on course. He grabbed me one, too, but I declined it. He only ate his, then tossed the second cup, as they must have been pretty thick to chew or eat while running. 3 miles was over sooner than we knew it, and I pushed him to run past each of the photographers. As we got our finisher’s mug, we took our requisite pictures, and he told me this one was more fun than the last one. He stayed awake during our drive down, though he was quiet. We got home and I showered up, awaiting Dave and peyton’s return home from the grocery store. We headed back to toys r us per our promise to them to return to spend their gift cards. Then, we headed to Peyton’s softball practice in San Jose for three hours, and straight to Brandon’s basketball game at 430 pm back in Daly City. At the end of the day, after the kids showered up, Brandon thanked ME for running with him today. He also asked when our next one was, if he could do a Disney one, and if we could do the hot chocolate one again. This prompted Peyton to ask, “What about me?” Brandon chimed in, “Well, you have to do what I did…you need to do the 15 k next year (she’d be the same age he was when he did his first 9 miler), and then 5K, and then you can pick whatever race you want.” She responded, “But I’m going to throw up!” She’s still scarred from that turkey trot where she over-exerted herself. Phew what a week.

Here are the pictures: