The Johnson's

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Jun 8-13: A Return to Normal

After Gramma & Grampa Johnson went home on xxx, we had a week of "normalcy" before our next big thing - a trip to Quebec Province, Canada! We did yard work, went to swimming lessons, played with all the toys we could think of, did some shopping for Elin's birthday & the upcoming trip and went to an event in College Park where we got a glimpse of pro-cyclist Jens Voigt! The Tour de France starts next month and Kent & I are big fans of Jens! Since we had the kids with us - and it was boiling hot outside - we couldn't stay & listen to him for long, but we were glad to be able to see him in person for a little bit!

Jens Voigt

Erik pulled out his inner drama king this week when he hurt his knee. I don't even remember now how he hurt it (I'm writing this blog entry in August, sadly [sigh]) - oh yeah, he fell in the parking lot after swimming lessons while running in flip flops. He scraped his knee & lost some skin; I tried to severely down-play the entire incident because I remembered what happened on Mother's Day when I babied him after he scraped his knee. It didn't work. He cried (very loudly) all the way home and throughout the entire process of cleaning & washing the scrape. I managed to win the battle with him to put on some Neosporin ointment & a bandage so that he could lay down for his nap without smearing yucky stuff all over bed. That bandage was my downfall! But the time he got up from his nap, he wouldn't straighten his leg and wanted to be carried everywhere. If he did walk, he managed the most pathetic, gimpiest limp you've ever seen. I didn't give him any sympathy this time around and tried really hard not to just laugh outright at him. Kent & I finally managed to convince him that his leg was just fine for walking and he was running around shortly. Occasionally, he would try to "work" it and would pretend that he couldn't straighten out his leg, but we held strong and made him do things himself!

On Wednesday, the 10th, I witnessed a little boy have his very first lesson. This little boy must be part of the full-time daycare program at the JCC because the swim instructor picked him up from his classroom and brought him to the pool (no parents in sight). It was a complete disaster with him screaming & claiming that he was dying for 20 minutes. He even tried to bite his swim teacher! I haven't seen the little boy since. Watching that episode made me super thankful that my kids are past the crying phase and that they enjoy their swimming lessons!!

A few cute things that the kids have said or done lately:
1. When Erik has been asked lately what he wants to be when he grows up, his response has been a very disgruntled "I'm staying home with Mommy & Daddy!" Uh oh, we may have an introvert on our hands here!

2. Elin has become really good at sibling teasing and button pushing! All she has to do is say "Hi" in a cheerful voice to Erik and he just throws a fit! I'm not sure why that bugs him so much but it really does! I think that it's hilarious!

3. Elin will say "Back" while holding up her index finger - her version of "I'll be right back"

She fell asleep in the swing - ouch!

She showed up in our bathroom one morning with Erik's hat & sunglasses on - her own styling!!

We had an indoor picnic one day this week!

Elin sitting pretty...hmm, maybe she's ready for a forward-facing carseat!!

Saturday, June 6, 2015

May 24-Jun 6: A Surprise Visit

On Thursday of this week (May 28), the kids woke up from their afternoon nap to a surprise! Gramma and Grampa Johnson had come for a 10 day visit! The trip was planned just a few weeks ago and we decided to let them surprise the kids rather than have the kids ask us every day when Gramma & Grampa were going to arrive.

We had lots of fun while they were here - Gramma & Grampa both spent A LOT of time in the pool with the kids (I was so happy to pass the baton on that activity)! Elin is absolutely fearless in the pool and loves to jump into the water from either the steps or the side of the pool, irregardless if someone is watching her. Erik is also getting very good at swimming underwater; he is getting more & more confident in his skills every time he gets into the pool. I also "made" Gramma & Grampa work on puzzles with me - I'm not sure why, but I pulled out a few of my puzzles a couple weeks ago (just before my parents came for their visit) and I've been addicted to them since. We completed 4 different puzzles while they were here!! I hope they didn't leave vowing to never again look at a puzzle again!

I apparently put my phone & camera away for most of their visit because I don't have that many pictures to show everything we did! I know we played with a lot of toys, we spent time in the pool, we read a lot of books, we worked on lots of puzzles and we took the SunRail into Winter Park (our new favorite activity). This trip, however, wasn't incident-free as all our previous trips!! We were sitting on the 2nd level when we arrived in Winter Park and, apparently, took too long to get out of our seats & off the train because only Roger made it off the train before the doors closed & it took off again!! Oops. The rest of us had to ride the train down to FH Orlando and then wait for the northbound train to arrive so we could get back to Roger. That little incident took some of the fun out of our excursion - and it also meant that we couldn't eat supper in Winter Park since the long train stops running for a few hours in the late afternoon.

Here are some of the pictures that I do have of Gramma & Grampa's visit:

Elin & Gramma just after the surprise arrival!

Some family photos taken after church on May 30:

Having Grampa read to them

Horse back rides with Daddy

Playing in the pool:

On the SunRail train ride - during happier times!!!

Kent & I were able to take advantage of the free baby-sitting and had a date night!

Saturday, May 23, 2015

May 17-23: Memorial Day Weekend

This week started with a goodbye; Nana and Pops had to leave to go back home to Ohio early Sunday morning. Before they left, though, they took Erik, Elin and I for a little ride up and down our street in their big red truck. The kids love these kinds of rides because we don't put them in their car seats; both kids love to look at the GPS pictures & back-up cameras in Pops' truck. Thankfully, the doldrums that descended on our house after Nana & Pops left were cured when Kent came home by 10 AM on Sunday morning. The kids (and I) were thrilled to see him!

On Sunday evening after naps, we loaded up our car & went to a party! We went to Doug and Heather Hilliard's house to celebrate Norway's National Day! This is the day that they signed into law their current constitution, I think.The party was for people of Norwegian descent, of which both Kent and I can claim, but it was a small group! We had traditional Norwegian food (I made Norwegian-style cabbage, which was surprisingly good), including Kent's ultimate favorite, LEFSA!!! It was a lot of fun and I hope that this becomes a tradition. I'm not sure how it happened, but Doug & Heather were persuaded to bring out their miniature pony, I think his name is Hershey, to let my kids take rides - both kids loved it!

Kent wore his Norway flag T-shirt & Elin practiced her pouty face!

The dessert section of the food table - so good!!

Erik gets a ride on the pony

Elin gets a ride, too!

The rest of our week was pretty normal with us getting ready for a big long weekend. We went to Pompano Beach near Fort Lauderdale to celebrate the long Memorial day weekend with the Cochran and Zbaraschuk families. After spending a few days swimming at the beach and in the pool, we concluded our trip with a visit to the Lion Country Safari and Amusement Park. Erik's favorite thing there was the elephant ride which looks eerily similar to the Dumbo ride at Disney! I think we rode that ride at least 40 times; thankfully, there wasn't a line so we were able to get right back on the ride each time. The Lion Country Safari drive was pretty neat, but a lot of the animals were hiding out in the shade to escape the Florida heat. We were able to let the kids sit in our laps while we drove through the park so that they could see better. I've posted a video below (see last item) that illustrates why you should never put an almost 2-year-old in your lap for a long car ride, especially when said child loves to point out facial features! Elin does a spectacular Three Stooges worthy eye-jab on me while we were going through the safari ride! You don't see the actual jab but if you listen closely you can hear my initial reaction at around 20 seconds and then you'll see me explain it to Kent. There's also a pretty funny sound bit at the very end.

The whole gang

An amazing Johnson family portrait - at least we are all looking in same general direction!

At the beach with Addi, Erik & Devin

Elin chilling in a chair

She will take a nap anywhere!!

Kent somehow managed to partially walk back to our car with his eyes covered - I think he even ran for a bit. Brave man!

Eating & entertaining the kids with a video on the phone!

Little train ride

Erik's favorite ride

Elin looking at a baby "raff"

Kent & Elin on tiny train ride

Brushing a goat

More goat petting

Feeding the birds

And again

Erik on the merry-go-round

Saturday, May 16, 2015

May 11-16: A Visit from Nana & Pops

My parents arrived late on Sunday night so that they could spend the week with me while Kent jetted off to Lake George in New York for a work conference. Kent left on Tuesday and the kids were both super sad to see him go. I have to think it was a genius move on my part to have Nana & Pops already installed on site to help mitigate the sadness!!

We were very busy during the week and to keep this post somewhat short, I'm going to focus on pictures. However, I have 1 quick story about Elin before going into the pictures; this incident actually happened in April, but I kept forgetting to include it in the blog posts. One morning, I put Elin into a cute little dress that she is on the verge of being too tall for. When she walked out of her room, Kent saw her and commented on how cute she was in her dress. Elin stopped walking and then twirled around in a circle to completely show off her outfit to Kent! I have NO idea where she learned that!! I certainly don't do it!! She is just too precious.

Okay, onto the pictures. While Nana & Pops were here, the kids got a lot of water time! This was the most extended amount of time they have had in the pool this year and, by the time Nana & Pops left, both kids were swimming & playing in the water with ease. Elin is completely fearless in the pool and Erik has been showing off his freestyle crawl moves!!

We played in the pool A LOT: