Circus & Cake time

Today we took the girls to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus that was here in town at Reliant Stadium. It was a lot of fun. I don't know who enjoyed it more the girls or us. It is so nice that we have children who have a good attention span and like to see live theatrical events. We got to the stadium early and were able to see the animals and go down on the floor of the circus and see some special performances of acrobats, an elephant 'painting', and the show dogs. Merlova was in awe of the lights, costumes, animals, and dancers. Zhivanna, "... loved all the ponies best". The snacks were very pricey and I was amazed when Glenn brought back two $12 snow cones in cool animal mugs for his darlings after the intermission. It must be that daddy's girls thing! A fun afternoon for the 4 of us. Today we also celebrated with my Birthday with a cake. Glenn and the girls made me angle food cake with a blue cinnamon flavored frosting. It was yummy! I got to be sung to twice, I must be special! Family at circus, me with my cake...blow

Who's b-day is it?

We made it back safely to TX a little tired and worn out from the two 8 to 10 hours days in the car. It was weird to drive back with just the girls, we put them next to each other for the ride back home to keep it easier to wrangle them. The dogs had the run of the back row as we put the seat down and had the back area open (well somewhat open, with the luggage and such). Today is my 38th b-day. Older but not "40" yet, so I still have time before I have to grow up. All I wanted was to go out to a nice dinner, Papa Herman, Lois, Glenn the girls and I went to Red Lobster. I have not been to one in about 10 years, or so. I really wanted lobster for my birthday ( I love the water bugs). I had lobster, with grilled shrimp, and Alaskan king crab legs (Yummy!) It was a nice meal topped off with a strawberry margarita. When we came home we lit a candle and I blew it out in lieu of a cake, (as Glenn and the girls had not baked me a cake yet). Lois, Papa's girlfriend gave me a beautiful vase full of flowers, and my dad gave me a card along with some money in it. I really don't need anything now that I am an adult/parent but it was nice to know that I had some money to be able to spend on something just for me. The only part of my b-day that I missed was not having my big boy around to give me a hug. I do miss my man, Akorren. I guess I'll just have to hug his daddy instead. Here we are waiting for our food to come, don't we look cute?

Akorren's Dairy Trip

Today we left Akorren with Papa Clyde and Grandma Dani and headed back on our drive to TX. Akorren was able to have a special day and start off his vacation time on his own by going to a local dairy farm here in Indiana. He got to see how the cows were milked (note second photo), saw some young calves, and got to play around the farm (ridding tractor). He had a good day and spent his first night away from mom and dad, sleeping on the floor at Aunt Mae's place in Papa's room. Tomorrow AM he takes a plane ride back to Papa's place in Newhall, CA for more fun and adventures.

Last PM with Grandma

After coming back from Julie's, mom gave the kids a treat by taking them around in her tractor. They thought it was so exciting. We then headed over to Robert & Michele's to visit one last time with Matt/Pixie and clan. The cousins Tommy, Akorren, Aurora, Zhivanna & Merlova just played and played outside. More firefly catching and doing Harry Potter imaginary play. It was time for hugs and goodbye until next time. We ended up missing seeing Vincent & Christine and Robert as they headed down to Julies for one last visit. We would love to make it out to Arizona or South Dakota before the next reunion, but we will have to see. We were not looking forward to the long drive ahead of us, or saying bye to Akorren tomorrow, but we eventually made it back to mom's house and had the kids all in bed by 9:30 PM. We had a great time and being around the greenery, trees, open land, corn and farmland was such a refreshing break from our concrete suburbia that we see. So much new, new, new all the same houses all sectioned off where we live. A taste of country was so nice a real recharge for Glenn who misses some of the slower IN lifestyle. Thank you all for the great time and hospitality. Merlova's ride, Zhivanna in the sink, Akorren's turn, Akorren & Tommy, the girls eating berries.

A Day with Julie

We spent yesterday playing at Grandpa's the day after the reunion. Then packed up the tent/ gear and headed down to Indianapolis to spend the night with Julie, Mark and kids. Mark and Julie made us a wonderful noodle dinner and the kids ate it all up, Julie had to work that night at the local public radio station so Glenn went along with her to chat and see what she did. I stayed with the kids an Mark and finally got them asleep by 10:00 PM so we could watch some Star Trek Borg videos. Then the following morning we got some repacking done, and after being lazy around the house for a bit we walked over to the Jewish Community Center in her neighborhood. The kids had a great time in the splash pools, water slides, and tub floating river. We stayed cool and played for most of the day until it was time to head back up to mom's for the night. Tomorrow we would be leaving early to get Akorren to Papa Clyde (so he could spend one more day in IN before flying out to CA until Aug.6th). The girls, Glenn & I would then make our 2 day drive back to TX. At the JCC taking a snack break

Reunion Day!

Well our clan got up around the usual time and after getting dressed for the day headed right to the pond again. I had to cajole some food into them, then it was right back into swim suits and the water again. The day was bit more overcast, with slight chances of rain, but that would not deter us from swimming or having fun. Family started arriving shortly after and everyone got comfortable with chairs, swim suits, bug spray, sun block, snacks, cameras, video recorders, more hugs, tents for more shade, food & drinks, and joy to see how big all the kids looked now. We ate, played in the water, rode the dune buggy, had some water fights, flipped family off their water floats, talked, ate more good food, looked for turtles and fish, had a short rainfall, and just had a general great time. I know I was exhausted by the time night fell and the evening ended with a big campfire put on by Donnie. Clyde did make a listing of all the family and friends who attended...I don't recall the exact number but I want to say it was the biggest event so far and we had up to 60+ in attendance. You can try and count all the people in the family reunion photo (if you wish), I do know that we did miss a few people. We love all of you and can't wait to see you in Texas? Is that right? We may want to reconsider a summer reunion as I don't know if many of you can survive the heat out here. We will be in touch. The whole family, Grandpa Johnson with some of the grandchildren, Clyde with his boys (I do have to say I got the cutest one in the picture) and Mary Ann and her kids & grandchildren.

At Grandpa's

It took us about 45 minutes to get to grandpa's house from mom's place. The kids were so excited. We arrived and were greeted with hugs (from Joshua & Sarah, Ruth Ann to name a few) and the kids quickly took off to check out the pond. A small paddle boat, canoe, barge, and an assortment of water floats were open to play with. In no time, Glenn was off wrangling kids into swimsuits and into the water. I took off with Aunt Jill to help pick up other needed food items for the big reunion party tomorrow, as that was when most everyone would be here. It was just a day of water fun, setting up the tent, visiting with family, jumping in the kiddie pool, on the trampoline, and relaxing, the weather was wonderful (yes hot and sunny but nothing like TX heat). Papa Clyde, Grandma Dani, Matt, Pixie & Jenny, Vincent & Christine, Robert & Mic, Uncle Rob & Terri were also around to visit with. More family was to arrive later that night, Uncle Lloyd, Cousin Sarah/Paul & kids. By the time the kids made it to the tent around 9:00 PM they were ready to be asleep, excited for the family fun the next day. I cannot express to you the delight in being able to jump into cold water after being in the heat of the sun, it is not something we are able to do out here in TX. All the water is hot/warm in the summer, such a treat to be cooled. Family at the pond, kids in the little pool, trampoline time.