The big green world

We had a great crop of strawberries this year. Perhaps it was the cage we put over the top to keep the birds out of them, or it could have been the safety measures we took while harvesting. It's hard to know.

Carl has fulfilled one of his dreams he didn't know he had. Is there anything as wonderful or loud as driving on Grandpa's tractor? Since this day, every trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house comes with a request for a spin on the lawn mower.

A couple of weeks ago we had a lot of rain for a long time. When that happens, a lake forms in our yard and mallards swim happily above the grass until our kids find out. Then the scene of calm, pristine beauty turns into a loud splashing party.

They spent all day swimming in Willy Wonka's chocolate lake. Much to my chagrin, I think they even sampled it. Thankfully, no one's reported any illness.

A couple of weeks ago we had "5K Friday." It's hard to tell if my kids were more excited to make the numbers to pin on their shirts or run the course. We had to slow Corbin down by putting Carl on his back.

Ah, the thrill of the race, the heart pumping, arms swinging, legs stretching... is that a killer whale on that runner's back?

Since school got out, Ryan's been taking the kids for their morning "Running Club". It's a beautiful thing. The kids just pop out of bed and then do their morning chores so much more cheerfully and quickly after a brisk morning jog.  Maybe we could put giant hamster wheels in the kids' rooms for when it's dark and cold in the mornings.

Happy Birthday Jane and Helen!

 Here are some of the kids at Jane's birthday party. We really have only had two hot, hot weeks this summer, and once again they landed right on Jane's birthday. Jane who loves chili. Jane who talks about eating chili for her birthday for 364 days of the year in anticipation and so I won't forget. Once again, we had chili with the fans blowing high. 

I'm so happy that Hannah lives nearby so she can make purple velvet cakes and decorate them so lovely. 

What do you get a girl for her birthday who loves all things citrus? Sing with me now . . . Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flowers are sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon Jane's really excited to eat. (Thanks to Peter, Paul and Mary for that one.)

 It's hard to smile when you are squinting into the sun. Here we are in our Indian outfits. It is so nice to wear these to church where they have the AC blowing full blast. I just wrap my scarf around me and stay toasty warm.

 

This year Helen decided that she wanted to decorate her own cake. Who am I to stand in the way of independence and talent development? I did have to take all the other kids out of the room so she could finish it in peace. (Easiest cake I've ever not-decorated, well, since Jane's).

Helen did a great job and the cake turned out beautifully! I think Hunter just likes to be in on the action.

Happy Birthday Great-grandma!

In April we drove back home to Pennsylvania for my Grandma Rambo's 90th Birthday.  Getting this many great-grand-kids to stand still for a picture is a feat in itself.  But look at all those smiles! 

I think Grandma enjoyed having so much family all together at once.  We sure enjoyed being with her and seeing everyone.

The cousins played non-stop at each location through the day:  from hiking & cake decorating at Phil's house, to bingo at Grandma's party, and then pizza and playground fun in Beaver.

Life with kids

I am not sure if there is anything as satisfying as teaching kids to work and they think that it's just play time. We have a great system for fertilizing our plants (no, that is not product placement you see). Alice scoops and pours while Carl stirs with any of his favorite sticks. Then I walk all over the yard feeding our little plants. 

We had some warm weather that invites picnics on the back porch. I love my new table and chairs! How did they know my favorite color?

We did have other pictures of the kids and the tulips. Some where they were even looking at the camera. But never more than 50% of them at once, so I opted for this more thoughtful and peaceful rendition of our kids. Please disregard what looks like a tulip being torn to pieces by Carl, I'm sure that would never happen. It must be the lighting.

 We had to stop at our flooring place in town and they have this "vintage" carousel. The kids had a great time even without moving. I figured if I only rode on stationary carousels growing up, they could do the same.

The kids have been going through a train period. I've found them "chugging" all over my house, usually when we've forgotten to recycle our boxes that week.

Do you think Carl's outfit fashion suicide or homicide?

 There is a lot of spunk in this 5 year old.

To say nothing of this 8 year old.

A hiking we will go

I decided that we had better start trying out more trails before the Johnson Family Reunion next month (gasp). The challenge is finding fun trails that do no require harnesses for younger children, as that would require Craig to strap three to four kids to his person depending on the trail.

I was really excited for these fun train tunnels. Sadly this trail is likely to be unaccessible once church camps start in the summer. 

I really liked this trail because it was easy for the kids to that they needed to stay between the ties. Of course they needed to be reminded of this. But who can blame them with waterfalls trickling along the sides?

Everyone tried each family's trail mix. As a side note, you would not believe how many m&m's the grandparent's put in their mix now. Dad did mention something about never getting the m&m's after we had passed the bag around on hikes of years gone by.

Make sure you bring your hats.

This is from a little hike/walk near our local fort.

Last week we tried Blue Hole trail. We had a hard time finding the trail,

but that didn't stop us from fording streams,

or clambering over trees.

It was hard to get this picture without 20 of our closest friends. (We did go on the hottest Saturday afternoon of the year.)

It was lovely and cool down in the ravine.

Vacation or Bust

After two years of weak-sauce camping (read . . . kids and Ryan in the back yard and me warm in my bed) we decided it was time for a serious car camping vacation. First we stopped at the temple right next to the strawberry patch.

 This was my first trip to Florida and I was expecting exotic fauna and tropical weather. I was not expecting a giant sandbox, but that's what we got. The kids loved it. It did make getting ready for church on Sunday tricky: straight from the shower to the car seat.

A couple weeks before our trip we showed the kids the old seminary video "Spiritual Crocodiles." I didn't have to worry about anyone getting too close to the water after that, especially after we also saw this sign. We loved that video, and Helen astutely pointed out that the kids in the movie looked just like me in our old family pictures. I was so cool in the 90s.

Hitting the trail again. Note the sand and enthusiastic marching.

 Some people like to catch butterflies in their insect nets. Some people like to catch pinecones. Those in the second group seem to be a lot more successful.

Here are the kids wading. I was posted as lookout for alligators. I felt grossly inadequate for an alligator attack. Hence they did not wade very long.

We got to go canoeing! It's so fun to have big kids. The park ranger thought we were a little silly paddling in what appeared to be a water lily farm, but we had a great time. I felt like I was on the African Queen.

Party time at the picnic table.

New favorite dessert,:s'mores made out of striped cookies. Maybe mom forgot the graham crackers. Maybe. No one was too upset this time.

Laurel Falls Hike

The kids have been out of school a lot for teacher development days and flu epidemics. We were all getting tired of being at home together (read - lots of squabbles and fighting). I decided that I would take them on an exploratory hike, to test a trail we have slated for the upcoming Johnson Family Reunion.  It starts out tame enough, as you see here - a little shallow water to throw sticks into.

 Then it gets more exciting, with sheer rock walls to climb between.

 Then there are the rocks to climb on. These slowed us down significantly because Carl couldn't just walk over them, he had to count to three once he climbed on each one and then jump off.

 Things started getting a little hairy here with the bridge 30 feet over the river moving along quickly below. Sorry, no picture of the river, I was trying to keep everyone on the correct side of the bridge.

 Happily we all made it to the other side safely. This was when we were walking along a trail with a 100 foot drop off to the left. Maybe it's not so bad in the summer when all the leaves are covering the fall.

 Here we are at the falls (notice the poses again). Where do they learn this stuff?

 I did forget to mention the 100 foot climb down to the falls and back up again. Carl did much better on the way up since he's been climbing up things since birth really, or maybe even before.

Columbia, South Carolina

A couple weeks ago we took the kids down to Columbia, South Carolina. I took the kids to some of the area parks while Ryan was at the temple. I am not sure where the older girls learned these poses.

 It was so beautiful down there with all the bushes in bloom. I could live in the south forever.

 Please draw your attention to the dried cicada shell on Carl's shirt. It was the "band-aid" we used when he fell down at the park. Worked like a charm.