The "Lego" Museum

We were supposed to be in the Outer Banks today, and yesterday for that matter, but big fat Irene decided to ruin the front half of our vacation week. The kids were bummed. Jeremy and I were bummed so we needed something to do and get everyone's spirits up. We headed into DC to an exhibit I have wanted to take the boys to all summer at the National Building Museum. This guy replicated all of these historic buildings in legos. It was amazing! The buildings were huge and took hundreds of hours to create. Cameron in particular was in heaven. But the best part was the build it yourself area where they had limitless legos for you to play and build with. Cameron told me he could stay there forever. He built a jail, Gavin built a boat, and Mason built some kind of tower. They also had a little kids play area with every kind of block you can imagine and train tracks and trucks and dress up stuff that everyone but especially Mason loved. I know he loved it because from the moment we entered he began singing and didn't stop until he started screaming when we told him it was time to leave. This was a boys heaven! We peeked at the other exhibits they had and thought the art out of canned food was pretty neat. None of us had ever been into this museum before so it was fun to be able to check another one off of the list. Due to the hurricane most of the museums were closed for the day so we were lucky to be able to go. I think everyone had a great time and were able to forget- for a least a bit that we were not at the beach with our toes in the sand.

A week full of fun!

We Johnson's are living it up before school starts! This week was jam packed with fun activities. On Wednesday my mom and I took the boys to Busch Gardens for the day which is always a treat. Thursday Jeremy took the kids to the Demolition Derby at the Prince William County fair. The kids get free tickets there from the library and their nightly shows are a favorite of ours. Friday we had planned to go to the rodeo, but the weather forecast was looking grim. We decided to go for it, and about halfway through it POURED. We had brought a blanket with us just in case and all huddled underneath it for most of the barrel racing until it stopped. We were wet and cold, but we had to see the bull riding. All I have are some before pictures because we were afraid the camera would get wet and took it to the car. My favorite part of going to the fair is the people watching. Living here in the "south" the fair sure does bring out some real rednecks and it is quite the entertainment just to watch them! Saturday I had to work, but Jeremy took the kids to the Flying Circus and their annual balloon launch and I met them there. He is responsible for all of the pictures taken there (thanks, hon!) The planes do all sorts of cool tricks and then they set off about 20 balloons at sunset. I think it is so beautiful to see the sky littered with these vibrant colored balloons. The boys enjoy watching them get the balloons ready to take off and the fire they have to ignite to get them to fly. It's really interesting, actually, but I don't think we'll be taking a ride any time soon! This next week will be more low key as we gear up for our beach trip next week. We are all really looking forward to it! Cross your fingers for no hurricanes this year!

We all live in a yellow submarine

Well, it's actually brown, but they are pretty much living in it! Refrigerator box = fun!

Scenes from a Burke Lake Picnic

The list of things we wanted to do this summer seems to be multiplying every time I look at it. School looms so soon and I am feeling the pressure to pack in the fun whenever possible. Today we went to Burke Lake Park with Grandma. Can I just go off topic for a moment to say how awesome it is now that she is retired? Last night we went to see Wicked for both of our birthdays and we had such an amazing afternoon and evening, it really was the best. I wish I had remembered to bring my camera. Anyway, it has probably been three years since we have been to Burke Lake, so it was time to revisit the train and playgrounds there, and we had a picnic lunch and then went on a short hike to find some fowl to feed. We found some cute little adolescent ducklings that were a breed of duck I've never seen before. They made the cutest little quiet quacking sound and were so gentle with the kids, despite Gavin's jumping and yelling. Then the geese saw we had something to offer and high tailed it over to get a piece of the pie. These guys were big and aggressive and not afraid of us at all. As you can see from the pictures, they ate right from our hands. I think that was the highlight of our day. We truly love having so many great parks nearby to frequent with the kids. It was a great day!

New Pics

I've felt that I haven't been taking enough pictures recently, so I tried to remedy that today. It's amazing what a couple of Smarties can buy!

Little swimmers

The boys finished swim team this weekend. Their team has had an amazing season, they swam undefeated and won the title for the division. Yesterday they had their little awards ceremony and got their last ribbons and medals. It has been an exhausting two months, with practices both mornings and nights, and marathon meets starting early on Saturdays and not ending until past noon sometimes. But the kids have progressed so much! Gavin is a clumsy, uncoordinated swimmer at this point, but he is only five and one of the youngest swimmers on the team. He had a tendency to get distracted during practice, but when he focused, he really did well. This year he swam freestyle. They tried him in backstroke at the beginning of the season, but he always got DQ'ed for flipping over to see how much farther he had to go. His favorite thing were the meets because the kids swapped treats with a big brother or big sister and Gavin's big sister adored him and spoiled him with candy and toys every week. Cameron really loves swim team. His favorite stroke is breaststroke, but he is actually best at backstroke and butterfly. It's hard to believe that he went from only being able to swim free and back last year, to the other strokes and even relays this year. He placed at several of the meets and improved his personal best every time he swam. He is a very hard worker and tries his best to implement his coaches instructions. We are so proud of both of the boys for their perseverance through the season. Tsunamis rock!!

Sisters.

I bet it's funny reading a post on my blog entitled "Sisters." As a mother of three rambunctious boys, it may be hard to believe that I came from a family of 4 girls, and am the youngest by some seven years. Growing up, I never really realized the gigantic gap because I had a sister that would play with me and do kid things even though she was ten years my senior. I don't know what I would've done without Becky. In our family, my sister Lisa and Kristin were always pretty tight, and the same went for Becky and I. Becky always stood up for me, protected me, cared for me, and loved me far beyond what was required as a sister. When my family moved to Argentina when I was seven, I cried every. single. morning. going to school for six months. The compound where my school was had elementary, middle, and high school all on one campus, so Becky rode the bus with me. I clamped tight onto her leg when it was time to get off the bus and she would have to walk me to my room and coax me off of her. My teacher would come and get her out of class because some days I just wouldn't stop crying and she was the only one who could comfort me. I remember the night before her wedding, she chose to forgo a bachelorette party for a night with her 13 year old sister, and I remember sleeping in her room that night, imagining what it would be like without her. As we both got older, things changed, but I always knew I could still come to her to talk. I rejoiced with each child born into her family and welcomed an opportunity to be a short term nanny to her oldest when he was first born and I was home from college. When she was pregnant with twins and I found out I was due to have my first a short 4 months later, I was so excited, hoping that our kids would become great friends. They have. Becky's husband, Kenny works for the State Department and they travel all over the world. Their family has lived in Tel Aviv, Brazil, Colombia, and now Australia. I hate that she is so far away and that months and years go by without seeing her and her family. I just want them here. These past 5 weeks having "home" have been the best. We've seen each other almost every day and my kids have waken up each morning asking what they will be doing with their cousins. The summer has flown by because we've stayed so busy. I've loved every minute. They got on a plane yesterday and we won't see them for two years. It's almost too big to comprehend. Mason is asking where his favorite Uncle Kenny went. Gavin wants to play with Casey, no Megan, no Ryan, no Sean, and Cameron sobbed when he found out they were leaving and Dylan wouldn't be able to play with him anymore. Me? I want my sister back. The same sister that was always there when I needed her in second grade. I'll be counting the days, Becky.