More Hawaii photos and no commentary

It's late and I promised to post some pictures from our trip.

The Johnsons Do The 50th State

Our visit to Hawaii started out with a bang. We drove to the north shore of Kauai which was enjoying 50-60 foot waves. I've heard this is unusual. It didn't stop us from enjoying the beach...for about 5 minutes before a rogue wave slapped us around our midsections and a concerned lifeguard cleared us off the beach. It provided the perfect backdrop for our first wet family picture.

I'm not saying he's not foxy...

Jay came home for lunch. This was not unusual. What he decided to do while I was working on the computer was. Please enjoy.

Disabled Lizards of the World Unite!

It has become obvious to me that I have fallen behind and it is time to introduce everyone to the newest members of our household. Please meet Curly and Fluffy. They are Leopard Geckos and yes, they live inside- come on. This is Alaska. They are also both special needs. Curly is our female (did I mention they are a breeding pair?) who is very sadly blind in the left eye. This messes with her depth perception and she occasionally needs a little extra help with hunting. Fluffy is our male (they were already named when we inherited them) and he had some horrific accident involving a heavy item falling on his tail. It fell off but didn't grow back correctly. Elizabeth loves her lizards just the way they are. And that's nice. Somebody needs to. (It should also be noted that the aerial view of both lizards where it looks like they are touching noses is actually the malformed tail of Fluffy and the nose of Curly.)

Meet John Mark's Ladybug...AKA Megan

We LOVE Megan!!! This is J.M's wife Megan and for anyone who has not met her yet, she is fantabulous! Here are a few snapshots from our family camping trip last weekend while they were visiting. (Quick background, we flew into SE Heckman Lake Cabin in a floatplane of death- it was bumpy- camped for 3 days and flew home in afore mentioned death contraption. The middle 3 days were good.) As I look at these pictures I realize that Megan even looks beautiful when we're camping! Seriously, that's just showing off. Am I right?

Apologies Around

This is a quick apology to those out there who may or may not have been offended by a brief reference made in a previous posting regarding "the beer fridge". Although it technically does exist and technically does hold the beer, when someone buys some, it will henceforth be referred to as "the second fridge". I hope that will soothe all worries.

company galore

We have had a super busy past month here. Jay's Mom and Tom came for a visit, school started (for both kids this year) and then Uncle John Mark and Aunt Megan came for a visit! Whew! Sadly, now our company has all gone and so has the sunshine. Thankfully it feels comfortable this year to have a little rain and gloom. As long as it is short lived. Since (I believe) there is some sort of restriction on how many pictures can be posted with each blog entry, we're going to have to break this up into many separate encounters... Honestly I'm not sure where to start... Perhaps with first day of school pictures for these fine pupils. Please also take note of the joy filled faces. That's the joy of learning right there!

Harvest Time

Thanks to the oodles of hot and sunny days we've had the past 3 weeks, some of the container garden produce has ripened. It is my dream to live out little house on the prairie. So far, the kids have cut rhubarb on the deck and collected eggs from the beer fridge. We're off to a good start.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Today 8 years ago Jay and I were blessed! And I mean majorly blessed! Today is Elizabeth's 8th birthday!!! We are in total disbelief that it has been 8 years! And we are in total disbelief at what a lovely, intelligent, hilarious and sparkling girl God has given us. So... what does such an amazing child request for her birthday? A trip to the candy store, an afternoon swimming at the beach and an Angus burger at McD's! Oy vey! Could a mother be any more proud? I think not! Happy birthday Boo! We love you!

Blueb Fest Madness

Katy and I had our first craft fair experience this weekend at the Blueberry Festival. We sold aprons, little T-shirts, onesies, and super cute magnets. It was such a fabulous day. We sold over 1/2 of what we came with- from what I understand that's pretty good. And if it's not, I don't really want to know. We visited with roughly one million people. Here are a few pictures from our booth. Our friend Sydney had the adjoining booth to sell her paintings. What a cool chica she is.

This summer ROCKS!

We have been blessed with the most gorgeous summer ever! If this is global warming, then sign me up! It has been between 75 and 94 degrees for 2 weeks now! 2 weeks people! Last week, Jay took a day off work and we hiked to one of our favorite beaches for the day. After scaring off a couple of little potheads, we had the whole beach to ourself. Not intentionally scaring. More like major buzz kill I would imagine. At any rate, try not to be blinded by the glare from the skin.

More boat pictures

Slave Katy working over the shrimp pots. Let me take this time to say that without Katy, we would have not survived the weekend. She is such a hard worker! Also she has a stellar (much like the sea lion) sense of humor. Har Har. Please also note we have the children working in both pictures. They are going to have such good stories to tell when they get older. I think of it as developing character...

Momentous Occasions

This is officially the first post for the Johnson family blog. Probably it will be a little lame until we get the hang of this thing. Please hang in there until our cool factor kicks in. Fair warning: It may be a long wait!

We spent the long weekend out on the boat with my Grandad and sister Katy. For those of you thinking it's all fun and games on the boat, I am here to correct you. Grandad denies it but he is a slave driver! Here is slave Elizabeth and some of her deep sea treasures.