Tablerock Lake Video

Here are a few snip-its from our weekend on the lake. Luke was beyond excited about riding on a boat and he was quite upset when we put him in the water to cool off after being on the boat for about 30 minutes as you'll see in the video. I'll post pictures soon. Enjoy!

PS- The comment that I am a world renowned swimmer is more than a little overstated but I do like the water and I would say I'm a very good swimmer.

FYI

Okay, not that I have any blog stalkers or anything but for those of you who may wonder in the next few days why there aren't any new posts there's a perfectly logical explanation. My sister is here visiting us for 10 days. So rather than having "free time" during Luke's nap I'm hangin' out with my sis. I promise there will be lots of pictures and a long update after she leaves and maybe if you're lucky a short post in between. We'll have plenty of pictures because I took about 20 yesterday and that was only after Luke got up from his nap. Anyway, patience is appreciated! Thanks!

PS-one side note: last night after dinner we all went for a walk. This includes Luke. He walked a loooooong way. There is a loop that we do that goes down our street and through our neighborhood; Sarah and I estimated it's probably 3/4 to 1 mile in length. Luke walked all but 100 yards of this! We asked repeatedly if he wanted to get in the stroller but he refused. His cheeks were bright red by the time we got home so he enjoyed a strawberry popsicle to cool off. What a way to burn off some energy!

Summer!

It's officially here and it's been here in Oklahoma for a while it seems. The temperatures are ridiculously hot and the heat indices are killer. It makes going outside rather miserable and anyone that knows a toddler knows that's where they want to be in the summer. My freckles are the most noticeable they have been in a few years :)

Summer time is always so crazy busy for us. This summer is definitely no exception. We had another very busy weekend. Of course we celebrated Father's Day yesterday. Luke and Dad had fun times playing together and Luke enjoying helping Dad open his gifts and cards.

One of the highlights of the day was Troy getting Luke's new sandbox (an early birthday gift from Grammy and PawPaw) filled with sand. Unfortunately for Luke he didn't get to play long because he chose not to listen when we told him not to throw the sand. In all fairness though, he had no toys to play with in the sand so I wasn't overly surprised.

The other two big events of the weekend:

Saturday we went to Tulsa to help Rosie Dolezal celebrate her first birthday. It is very hard to believe that this sweet little girl is already one! Luke refused to take a nap all day so that was a bit challenging but the party was great fun and Rosie loved eating her cupcake and opening her presents.

Sunday afternoon the Biery family stopped by again on their way back home to Houston. Since the boys have birthdays close together we had an early celebration for each of them and the guys enjoyed watching the US Open. The boys also surprised us a bit when they started playing together rather than next to each other after dinner. It was very cute to watch- they helped each other with the trains and with a few puzzles. We enjoyed a yummy dinner (if I do say so myself): grilled pork tenderloin, green beans, roasted potatoes, bread and tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and basil. And after the boys went to bed the adults enjoyed brownies and ice cream and some more time to catch up. Great to see you guys!

I would like to say that we are going to be low key for next weekend but that's not going to be the case for at least a month. Not that I'm complaining because we have some fun weekends planned it's just that we don't seem to have much time to catch our breaths during the summer. Such is life. Here's to a lake weekend, celebrating Luke's birthday two weekends in a row in two different cities (along with July 4th) and a golf weekend for Troy, his dad and brother.

Odds and Ends

There are a few recent pictures that I haven't blogged about but wanted to quickly share. Those are below (obviously). A couple other random thoughts of late:

*Luke was 23 months old last Thursday. My baby is almost 2! Time goes much too fast.

*Luke and I have season passes to the local pool. He absolutely loves it! I'll eventually get some pics while we're there but it's hard when it's only me and Luke.

*As a family, we are so happy to have the McBride's here in Edmond with us now. We love hangin' out together. Luke even knows where their house is and will repeatedly say Benjamin's name on the way there.

*Weekly ice cream dates with the McBride's are awesome!

*My sister is celebrating her 30th birthday tomorrow- Happy Birthday Sarah!

*My mom's chemo is almost a third of the way done (she gets the pump out tomorrow to make that an official measure). Overall things are going very well. Her sensitivity to cold is the biggest problem which she says isn't too bad compared to what she could be experiencing. I'm so happy that she's handling it fairly well.

*The rain in OKC yesterday was ridiculous! I'm sure you saw something on the news about it at some point. We had a lake in our backyard for a while and Troy was stuck in one spot on the highway for about 2 1/2 hours until a policeman told him to back up and go the wrong way because they were closing the highway. All is well now- only an absurd amount of humidity is left.

*Life is good and we're all enjoying the summer here at the Johnson household.

This is Luke's new booster chair. I decided to see if he would eat better in a chair, with a plate and more like Mom and Dad. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't (seems to be a theme with toddlers). Doesn't he look like such a big boy sitting there feeding himself.

This is a new fun routine with Dad; eating pudding after dinner. It's not every night so Luke gets very excited when Daddy asks if he wants to share some pudding. First they each get to lick the lid so they won't miss any of the yummy goodness. A funny side note: Luke has his tongue out waiting for this while Troy is still getting the pudding out of the frig.

Then they each take turns getting a spoonful of pudding. Luke sometimes gets monster bites and Dad has to slow him down a bit but Luke doesn't seem to mind. Daddy always lets Luke have the last bite! And finally Luke declares, "All gone," with a huge messy grin on his face.

Busy, Fun Weekend!

Wow! What a weekend! We were a very busy family this weekend. Saturday morning Troy went to play golf with a coworker and Luke and I went to pick blackberries with Ashley and Benjamin. The boys attempted to pick the berries although neither understood picking only the ripe ones and they both found squishing them to be more fun than putting them in the containers. Benjamin enjoyed eating them but Luke's palate isn't that sophisticated yet apparently. I'll give him credit for trying to eat a couple of them though. I did make muffins with some of the berries yesterday afternoon and Luke gobbled one of those up this morning so he did enjoy some of them in a round about sort of way.

Saturday evening some friends from Houston, the Biery's, stopped to spend the night on their way to Topeka. Nicholas is about a month younger than Luke so the boys had fun playing together. We all went out to dinner and then to the park to run off some extra energy before the boys went to bed. It was fun to catch up with Matt and Amanda.

Sunday afternoon the McBride's joined us to go to a baseball game. Troy had company tickets in the club seats which were great (especially since they were in the shade). We all enjoyed some yummy stadium goodies (Luke ate his 1st baseball stadium hot dog) and attempted to watch the game while entertaining two toddlers. Luke seemed to understand watching the pitcher but the ball was too fast to follow I think. After a few innings, a very nice guy invited us to use his suite. He told Troy that he had kids and understood that no air conditioning and confinement doesn't always work out well and since he was alone he wanted to help us out. We were very grateful and the boys definitely enjoyed running around the suite. After the game, the guys took the boys down on the field to run the bases. Luke did fairly well until he got to home plate. As Troy put it, "He (Luke) decided to bring some of the field home with him. We'll have part of the field with us for about 12 hours or so." Luke grabbed some dirt after tagging home and then decided he would eat it! That's my boy- eatin' dirt!

Ashley also posted a blog about our weekend. There is a great picture of all six of us at the baseball game. If you want to check it out, it's www.ashleymariem.blogspot.com.

A New Goal

As most of you know, I love to scrapbook! It is my favorite past time aside from reading a good book. I have a subscription to a scrapbook magazine called Creating Keepsakes which I received in the mail yesterday. Last night while reading my newest edition I decided that a goal for this summer is to submit some of my scrapbook pages in the hopes of having them published in this magazine. I have toyed with this idea numerous times and I've always chickened out. Not this summer! It won't hurt my feelings if I'm not selected but it would be beyond amazing to see one of my pages in print in a magazine! I'll definitely let you know if I'm successful!

100th Post

This is very exciting for me! It's hard to believe that I've written 100 posts here on The Johnson Journal. I love sharing special memories and the big and small events of our lives with those of you who stop by here. I think of my blog as my journal and it will be a great reminder of all the crazy, funny and sweet things Luke does when he is older. Thanks for reading! Here's to the next 100!

Fun Weekend!

We had a fun and partially relaxing weekend. Friday night was nothing exciting- just hanging out as a family which is always nice. Saturday my friend Erin came from Tulsa and we had a scrap weekend. It was awesome! We went out to lunch (with no kiddos); we went shopping for new scrapbooking goodies; and we stayed up until 2 am scraping. Then we scrapped some more on Sunday morning before she drove home. It was great to catch up on some older pictures of Luke. Thanks for coming Erin- it was great to see you!

Since I was occupied, Troy and Luke hung out. They played with Luke's train set which he has really been into the past few days; they played in the water caterpillar for the first time- it was a huge hit; and they went on a manly trip to Lowe's.

After Erin left on Sunday, we all relaxed and vegged out. Luke really took a nap, I finished the book I've been reading and Troy packed for his trip this week (he's gone until Wednesday night). When Luke woke up we all hung out in the family room and played with the trains together. Luke's coordination is so much better even within the last few weeks. It's amazing to see him learning new things everyday.

Tybee Island, Georgia

Our vacation last week was wonderful. It had just the right mix of activities and relaxation. We went with my mom, step-dad, sister and aunt. The house we stayed in was about a 3 minute walk to the beach on the northern end of the island. Everyone had their own bedroom which was super nice. The house also had a swimming pool which was awesome! Luke loved the pool as did the rest of us. It was a great place to cool off after riding our bikes (we all had one because we rented them for the week), hang out around while reading and just enjoy a lazy dip every now and then. The house was 4 stories tall so there were a bunch of stairs (good exercise) but there was also an elevator that Luke enjoyed pushing the buttons in. There was a large covered porch which was used multiple times daily whether eating a quick bite, relaxing or watching a few storms roll in over the water. It was great week spent with family.

The highlights:

*Obviously hanging out on the beach

*Relaxing by the pool

*A day trip to Savannah

*A round of golf for the guys

*A dolphin tour for the gals

*Super yummy seafood

*Lots and lots of ice cream

*Riding bikes to explore the island

*Being together as a family for a whole week

*Watching Luke play in the sand and waves

*Luke riding on an airplane for the 1st time

*A 178 stair climb to the top of the Tybee Lighthouse

*Celebrating with Mom how well her chemo treatments are going

This will be a long post because there are many pictures I want to share. So you are forewarned :)

Luke's 1st time on an airplane. He did great on the way there but coming home wasn't quite as easy.

First moments on the beach- all week Luke would pick up sand and then run to the water and throw it in.

Luke had no fear of the water; it made us a little nervous at first but he quickly learned he needed a hand when entering.

Sarah and I at the beach!

Mom and Aunt Barbara at lunch after a long, hot bike ride to the restaurant.

Swimming with Paw Paw- pure joy!

Love this pic!

Playing with Dad in the ocean.

Jumping in the waves with Mom.

Riding bikes on the beach- Luke is peeking out of his cart behind Troy. And yes, I took this pic while in motion.

On the trolley in Savannah. We all enjoyed our day trip.

An evening bike ride on the beach with Mom and Sarah.

Playing in the sand.

Family beach shot- Luke was not happy about holding still for this.

On the dolphin tour boat with Barbara, Mom and Sarah.

Relaxing on the sectional :)

Lunch out on our last full day.

Walking to the beach to say farewell.

One final family pic. This is the boardwalk down to the beach from our house.

Tybee Moments

These are just some moments caught on video from our vacation. It's a smidge long but I couldn't decide what to cut out so there you have it. Enjoy-we definitely enjoyed the time away!

Mom and Luke

It is pretty rare that someone behind the camera is willing to take a bunch of pictures of Luke and I. I'm usually the one responsible for capturing big and small moments on film. A few days before we left for our trip Luke and I went to the park with Ashley and Benjamin and Ashley had her camera with her. She took some awesome pictures of Luke and I (and Benjamin too). I was thrilled to have someone take so many pictures of Luke and I together. Below are some of my favorites. Thank you so much Ashley!