I Love Vacation!

Pictures sometimes say so much more than words. Here are some of my favorite pictures that show you my vacation!

Wednesday Walk ~ Cruising to the Bahamas

My friend asked a question in her Wednesday Walk today. I got me thinking of the places tropical I have been, not many I am afraid to say. I have already written about Jamaica here and Mexico (does that count?) here.



I was thinking and remembered one of my other places I have been. I shutter to say it but 16 years ago (Yikes really 16) for my senior class trip we went on a cruise. Yep, I said it a cruise. Most people usually moan about there class trip when I talk about mine. I went to a Christian school so my class was pretty small and we raised a lot of money and we got a pretty great price on the trip.



So our cruise took us to two ports Key West and Nassau Bahamas.



There I am on that rock! You can not see it real well but there are waves crashing behind me.


I went snorkeling for the first time. It was not a great experience though. It started ok but a storm was coming in and the water got real choppy real fast. It was hard to see stuff and it was really hard to swim back to the boat and I am a good swimmer. I got a little scared. I will just have to try it again some other time. But I thought Jenilee would appreciate the picture. I told her recently her hubby, John and I would be good friends. : )

Charlotte, few other friends and I rented a limo for a day on Nassau. We toured the island and got to see some fun things. There is our driver in the picture below. He offered us Bahama Mama's a few times and took us to a casino. Don't worry I didn't drink any or gamble. : )

I loved being able to dress up every night for dinner. Oh, and dinner was always fantastic. I think I love food way tooo much hahaha. I tried lobster tail for the first time. It was so good but when I went to take the meat out of the tail the lobster meat slipped out unto my lap of the borrowed dress I was wearing. Butter was everywhere. I wasn't going to waste the lobster so I just put back on my plate and ate it. LOL

I think you could have eaten all day on that boat. The food was always so beautifully displayed, far tooooo tempting to stay on the boat. It was a good thing Charlotte and I went exploring a lot or I probably would have eaten myself into a coma. (Look at my braids...hahahaha)

With all this cool weather here in Michigan, this last picture is looking real good right now. They took us over to this island off of Nassau. I think they taped some of Gilligan's Island here or something. You could swim with dolphins here, lay in a hammock, explore the island or go swimming. It was a great time. I love this picture. I will dream of it today!

I really want to take my family on a cruise sometime, it was a great vacation. Remembering good times always helps me......





Jenilee at The Goodwin Family is hosting Wednesday's Walk.

Dinners Outside!

One of my favorite summer things to do is eat outside! We are couped up all winter long here in the north so it's nice to be able to be outdoors as much as we can. So while dad was playing tennis across the school yard from us...we ate our dinner. It was a little chilly tonight and we ended up getting our jackets....gotta love Michigan!

Like my swing? My neighbor was throwing it away...What?! I am gonna paint it and get some new cushions and it will be like new. I love getting stuff like that and the swing is awesome!

Everyone should have a glass pitcher! I got this one at an antique mall for like three bucks or something. I love it and drinks just taste better from glass things....why is that???? : )

He loves eating outside sometimes it is just hard to focus on eating and not the twenty million other things going on around us....tooo much fun!

I kept it simple hot dogs, green beans and french fries I already ate; but there is the leftover ketchup. : )

Guarantee that there are going to be some messy faces and some tears when I wipe off that mess.

My grandmother who has passed away loved geraniums. I try to get some in honor of her every summer. I love them with my flag, so patriotic!


Oh, I tried something new today. I made freezer jam. It wasn't all that hard at all. A friend at church gave me a huge bag of strawberries from her garden...this is what I decided to do with them.....

Oh my, this jam is sooooooo good and I think it is gonna last me the whole year.....all I can say is AWESOME!

Of Summer and Things

So here is what the my family's summer break is looking like so far.....

Hanging out with family!

Going to the movies....Toy Story 3 a must see this summer....bring the kleenex!

Visiting dear friends!


Making new friends!



Soaking in the sun!

Enjoying sweet new babies...love you Elijah Kol!

Eating the best cookies in the world....Thank you Tom's Mom!

Messy faces!

Monday night church softball games! Go daddy, GO!

And of course lots swimming!!!!

Ooooo, this summer is giving me such joy and it just started....

Ice Cream+Sticky+Dirty Kids= Summer

It is official, summer is in full swing at the Johnson's and the first week nearly killed me....just kidding. It is a definite change having the girls home all day and will take some getting use to; but I love having them here. If I could only keep them quite during my baby's nap time then we would be doing great! He loves having them here and there is a definite change in his attitude. I think he was bored with just me all day.

Our summer is going to be filled with ice cream, swimming, sunsets, church softball, picnics, dirty children, sand, riding bikes, long walks, going to the library, visiting friends & family, sun block, fireworks, sprinklers and did I say ice cream. Here are some of the things we are going to be doing over the next three months....My oldest is going to go to kids camp on her own for the first time ( I am gonna try to not freak out about it). We are going to our annual family vacation to Ludington. We will be working at Jr./Sr. High Camp at Lost Valley. Our 14th wedding anniversary will be in July( wow! ). My hubby will be taking a group of our youth to Detroit AIM which will be in conjunction with the National Fine Arts. I am going to be a judge at it (YEAH). My hubby will be officiating my cousins wedding in July. I hope to have a garage sale somewhere in all of this and squeeze in one more family vacation in August.

I love summer. So many fun events happen and we expeirence so many exciting things. I love spending time with my kids and maybe even a few date nights with my man. Oh, and don't forget....there will be lots of ice cream!

I think I need a vacation from my summer vacation

So, I have not written for some time now. To be honest we have just been far too busy. We have had one amazing summer. Our pastor went on a 2 month sabbatical this summer that started June 1st and with that came some extra responsibility with our regular busy summer activities. Here is a picture summary of why I have not had time to write....

Family vacation in Ludington, MI...

Following week, Junior/Senior High Camp at Lost Valley Bible Camp
After that we had 2 and 1/2 weeks before John went on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic and the kids and I went on a road trip to Delaware.

Then to finish off the summer my parents to my girls on a three night trip to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

Sprinkle in 3 graduation parties, one wedding, baby shower, church picnic, Mpact girl stuff, two weekends at the in-laws cabin, and our 13th anniversary and various other things and you have the makings of one very, very full summer. I think I am ready for "school" vacation for me now. LOL

What a great summer, we certainly did

GET JOY!

The Joy of Family Vacations

I just got back from our family vacation to Ludington, MI. We had such a wonderful time together with our extended family. My only wish is that it had lasted longer. I am so thankful for the time God allows us to have and enjoy these opportunities, because I know they will not be available forever. I hope everyone takes some time to relax and be with family this summer. Here are some of my sister, mom and my artsy photo's we took. All together we took nearly 650 photos for 7 days of vacation....sad I know!

GET JOY!