Quick Post

We have a busy weekend coming up so I wanted to post before life gets hectic (I mean FUN).
Ryan made the newspaper again! Same event just different newspaper. This time he was in the Story City Herald. I am guessing Story County Conversation submitted the photo to the Herald.

A couple other things that have been going on....

We went to a storytime at Reiman Gardens. Ryan had a really good time. I was really surprised how well the storytime went. The instructors kept the kids attention very well along with great activities and crafts. I didn't take my camera because I thought we were just going to storytime but we walked around the gardens and visited the butterfly house. All of this photos were taken by Anna. I love this shot. Ryan and I holding a butterfly. It wasn't even a planned photo. Great job, Anna.

Treyton, Ryan and CainanTreyton, Cainan and Ryan playing soccer after Creative Movements class. By the way, these are my photos now.
Ames wading pool

We really do have other friends besides Treyton and Cainan. Have to see them as much as possible during the summer. When Anna goes back to school (teacher) we won't get to see them as much :(

We took the boat out last weekend. We bought two new inflatable. This one is the very stable kids inflatable. I rode in it by myself first, just to check it out. Ben tried to dump me off but this thing was NOT going to tip over.

Ryan is still a little scared about being pulled behind the boat. Okay, a lot scared. Poor little guy! He screamed most of the time but there were a couple seconds where I got him calmed down. I am hoping that if we keep exposing him to it without over doing it, he will begin to enjoy it. He is still little so we have many more years to try. The second inflatable is like a knee board but really bouncy. It was a lot of fun.

For playgroup this week we had a Kindermusik Demo class here is Story City. Ryan is in the green. He just isn't into music and art stuff. He participated but not really interested. We tried a music program last summer too, same results. Just not his thing. At least I found out before paying for the class.

After Kindermusik we all went to the Story City Park and Carousel. Ryan liked the carousel much better. It was a perfect day weatherwise.

Mason and Ryan waiting for their turn

Ryan and Aiden Cute picture...Mason, Ryan, Aiden and Natalie

Ryan's Newspaper Debut

I mentioned the Kids Fishing Derby in the previous post well Ryan got his picture in the Ames Tribune today. A lady with Story County Conversation was walking around talking to people at the derby and while she was talking to us Ryan caught a fish. So she snapped a photo and took his info. This is where the photo ended up. It is pretty neat for Ryan to see his picture in the paper. I have to admit it is pretty neat for mom too.

I have to thank Alyssa Loots for letting me know about his picture in the paper. I may have never known if it wasn't for her. So thanks, Alyssa. I appreciate it.

I looked for the picture on the Ames Tribune website but no luck. Grandpa Brad went into town on the search for a paper. I had to cut it out and scan it so it kind of hard to read. I wish I had a link for you but this is the best I could do.

Original Article

Ryan's Newspaper Photo

Caption for the photos - still hard to read so get your magnifying glasses out

Our week without Ben : (

Ben spent all last week in Northern Minnesota fishing on Lake Kabetogama near Voyageurs National Park with my dad, my brother and my uncle. Ben never offers an abundance of details but he said the fishing was pretty good. They had a couple fish fries and he brought home a few packages of walleye so they must not have done to bad. He must have had a good time though because he keeps trying to talk me into going there next year. I am resisting because it is not family friendly. No beach or playground for kids. There are plenty of other resorts to visit in MN.

Ben wouldn't have his picture taken so here is dad with a big catch

Ryan and I were left to fend for ourselves and we had our hands full. Not only was Ben gone but Brad and Donna were also gone. They went to visit Lynn, Michael and Colt in CO. Ryan and I had to chore our 400 chickens, 8 calves and Brad/Donna's 9 horses and 3 dogs. YIKES! We did just fine though. Just a little time consuming. I knew ahead of time that they would all be gone at the same time so I didn't plan much for Ryan and I during that week. We were available to keep an eye on everything. Plus my grandparents came to help us out from Sunday thur Wednesday. It was so nice to have them around. Never fails, they are always there to help anyone and everyone.

My grandparents were able to go watch Ryan swim at the pool and watch him at his creative movements class while they were here. Most of my family live 2.5 hours away so no one really attends Ryan's activities which is tough for me since I grew up with family attending all of my activities. I was overly excited for my grandparents to be there to support Ryan.

BIG SHOCKER COMING!!!! My project for the week was transforming the flower gardens! Donna had big beautiful flower garden while they lived here and I have done nothing with them for three years. I am not a gardener. It just isn't something that I enjoy. But I was taking care of Donna's flowers while they were gone and I guess it motivated me to work on the flower gardens at my own house. Plus my uncle tipped me off to some cheap mulch. I figured if I was going to do it now is the time. My grandparents helped me weed the jungle. After they left I used RoundUp for some of the little tiny annoy weeds, sprinkled Preen all over then put down 22 bags of mulch. It was a lot of work in the heat but now that the hard part is done I am hoping it will be easy to maintain.

Ryan caught a toad while working in the garden

Since Ben was on a fishing trip Ryan and I decided it was fitting to go to the Story County Conservation Fishing Derby at Hickory Grove with the Travis family. They had a nice little set up and Ryan had a great time. The first 144 kids got a free bag full of goodies and door prizes were given out. Ryan caught two fish ALL BY HIMSELF. He casted by himself and reeled the fish in by himself. I took the fish off the hook but Ryan threw the fish back in the water.

Cainan, Ryan and Treyton Beautiful photo taken by Anna

On Friday we went to a playdate at Jenn's house. The kids played outside in the water all morning. It was a perfectly hot day for playing outside. One of my favorite things to do is hang out with friends. I get as much out of the social interaction as Ryan does especially when Ben had been out of town.

Two of my favorite 1 year olds - Aubrey and Maddy

All in all it was a good week but we are happy daddy is home. We are also happy that grandma and grandpa are home too.

Our crazy busy summer!!

I can't believe it is July already. Why does the summer go by so quickly and the winter moves at a snails pace??? So I need to update you on the last 2 weeks in the Johnson's life.

First the best part of the last two weeks was the surprise visit from Lynn and Colt. It was not a surprise to me because I picked them up at the airport but Brad and Donna were VERY surprised when Lynn walked through the door carrying baby Colt. It was Colt's first Iowa visit and the first time to meet grandpa Brad. We enjoyed having them around for a few days.

Lynn and Colt

Our super cute nephew

The Johnson Family - Ben, Lynn, Brad, Ryan, Donna and Colt

Donna, Ryan, Lynn, Colt and Great Grandma VirginiaGreat Great Aunt Cina and the boys

We have had playdate after playdate after playdate plus some swimming. We have some wonderful friends that Ryan and I both love spending time with.

Treyton and Cainan House

AJ, Treyton, Ryan, Aiden, Cainan, Natalie and Jack

Aiden and Ryan

Katelyn and Ian's House

Katelyn, Natalie, Aiden, Ryan and Mason

Chance, Carson and Caden's House

How many kids can you fit into a baby pool??

Strawberry Picking at the Berry Patch

This is one our favorite things to do!!

Mason and Ryan

Aiden, Ryan and Natalie after strawberry pickin'

We took our strawberries to grandma's and made strawberry shortcake for everyone to enjoy

Splash Park

Cole, Treyton, Ryan and Cainan swinging

We have done a lot of swimming this summer. Ryan is a little fish. He is very good in the water. He hasn't worn floaties at all this summer and doesn't even like to be in the baby pools. He only wants to be in the deep water.

4th of July!! We had an awesome day. We went to a parade in Ames with the Travis'. Ryan had fun collecting lots of candy. He had to push his way through the older kids that were around us. They were candy hogs. Ryan still got his fair share of candy though. I think Ryan was most intrigued by the tractors and the drum corp.

Treyton, Cainan and Ryan Hi-Five Cy
A much needed cool down.
Drum Corp We went to see the big fireworks display in Ames when it got dark out. This is the first time that I have taken Ryan is see a fireworks display. He really enjoyed it. He did get a little antsy after about 20 minutes but then he was amazed by the grand finale. Ben left on his annual fishing trip so Brad and Donna went with us to see fireworks.

Grandpa started out helping Ryan with the sparklers. He caught on real quick
Watching fireworks

I have been able to do a few fun things by myself (without Ryan and Ben) during the last two weeks. Jenn and I went to the Home Show in Ankeny. We walked through 11 fancy houses ranging in price from $260k to $900k. The weird part was I wasn't even envious. All I kept thinking was, "I don't want a huge house like this because it is way to much to clean!" Jenn made the point that if I could afford a $900k house then I could afford to hire a cleaning lady. I guess she is right.

I also took a two day photography class through DMACC. I don't know if I really learned a lot about picture taking in general but I learned about several settings and functions that my camera is capable of. Now I just have to become faster at knowing when to use the different functions. Practice makes perfect, right. As if I didn't take a lot of photos before the SRL camera. I think I have 400+ photos in my June 2008 picture folder on the computer...YIKES! You might think I post a lot of photos on this blog but it could be much much worse.