Year 4, August 30th-31st, 2019: Labor Day Weekend 2019 Part 1

Ok, I've postponed this enough.  I did leave my laptop home and wrote out the "blog" on paper so I'll type that up here. But it was a very long, painful weekend for me, so I didn't take nearly as many pictures and I didn't even get out the big DSLR camera I brought.  It was slow, quiet, and I did get some rest.  I am grateful to Nina and Jared who did all the cooking and cleaning up, and took care of the kids' needs. I slept a lot on the travel days and on Sunday when I got sick from medication interaction and didn't even make it to church.  But overall, I'm glad it was quiet and slow and that we could keep Ron and Nina company over the long weekend.  None of their kids or grandkids were available to hang out with them.  It was just Jared, I, Justin, Keturah, and Abishai because Gary had to preach somewhere else, Leah wanted too do her volunteer thing, and Benaiah needed to work.  Benaiah stayed at our house all by himself for the four days we were gone.  Actually, I'm not sure he was home except to let the dog out and sleep.  He did accomplish all the tasks I asked him to do, including a load of his uniforms, emptying the dishwasher, and making sure the dog was taken care of including locking the back door. I gave him some money for food and it did fine with that.  He kept things cleaned up, too.  He worked on Friday during the day, then hung out with Ava. On Saturday, he slept in and then worked his normal 3-12am shift.  On Sunday, he was on tech team, so he was there most of the day. There was no crave, so he was home Sunday night. And then on Monday he spent lunch with Ava and her family and then did another 3-9pm shift (they closed a little earlier than normal because of the holiday). He survived on his own just fine.  I'm very proud of him.

Ok, back to our travels.

Where's the pain killers?  Why didn't they give me any? And to be stuck in the car for 9 hrs because we made long stops? Ouch!  At least I slept through some of it.  And I didn't have to make dinner.

Not bad for 5 people for 4 days and 3 nights.  And that includes things like a PS4, all my meds and supplies for my arm, my special foods, swimming gear, board games, a few toys, and even our travel soccer net and ball.  Yes, we took Jared's car and managed just fine like we used to!

Squished, just like in the days before 2012.  Three kids in the backseat.  I was surprised that Justin didn't complain about his long legs being cramped.  We have some great travelers.  Video games do tend to help, as well as sleeping through part of the trip.  I still give all three of them travel medication which helps their tummies and helps them to take naps.

Abishai insisted on staying in his pjs.  We stopped two extra times on the way up and that's why it took so long.  This stop was because I had to use the restroom, although CFA was only 30 minutes away.  So everyone ate an apple so we weren't hangry went we got to the South Bend CFA, our normal stop.

Aww!!! A monarch butterfly on the milkweed at this first stop!  Gorgeous!

While we traveled, our great friend Brenton Dickieson was defending his PhD thesis in Chester, England.  He said there's a few things he needs to fix before he would publish it, but he did pass!  After 8 years of hard work, traveling, researching, earning a living for his family, watching his son become a teenager, preaching occasionally at church, teaching at several schools, including online, he did it!  He passed!  We all couldn't be more pleased!  His thesis was roughly 100,000 words and on how Christianity influenced C.S. Lewis' life and worldview.  And remember, the Chronicles of Narnia, especially "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," are not allegories.  They were heavily influenced by C.S. Lewis' Christian worldview, but he did not write them to be a strict allegory of the life and sacrifice of Christ.  Anyway, for a poor kid on a little island called Prince Edward Island, who saw his father and brother die in a house fire when he was a young teen to now become a PhD in one of the Inklings is incredible. Way to go Brenton!

While Benaiah was working at our CFA, we were enjoying the labor of other CFA employees.  We never tire of it.  Not cheap, but quick and easy and safe for me to eat.

Abishai asked why we didn't have a cow car in our CFA playground.  Well, our playground is a bit smaller than others and it has different elements.  He loves bouncing in the car though.

There's Keturah! Can you find her?

Now can you find her?  She's hiding because she knew I was taking her picture.

Oh my.  Yes. I remember being at the cottage last year and first of all, knowing that Bryce had run away that weekend, and second, knowing that our dear friends' son had committed suicide and 5 of his organs had been donated to 4 people that week.  They also shared earlier in the week, one of the donor families had reached out to them and wanted to meet them.  What great timing!  And Gary and Leah's small group sent them cards and I made sure to text them as well.  They wer definitely surrounded by love this week.

CFA makes you sleepy!

Third stop was Miss JoJo's house in Muskegon.  Since Willie, Donna and JoJo were going to Willie's family's cabin to prep for hunting season, we weren't going to see them at Uncle Ron's cottage.  So we stopped at their house for about 90 minutes since we pass right through Muskegon on our drive up.  JoJo had just gotten up from her nap and was a bit cranky.  But she warmed up to us quickly.

Thank goodness Josephine was a little out of it, otherwise, I don't think she would have let Abishai ride her favorite horse!  She's been riding this since she could walk and would watch this one kid's TV show about cowboys while rocking on it.  Oh yeah, she definitely has the Johnson rocking gene.  And I love how simple and humble Donna's house is. I don't think it has changed much over the years.  Always perfectly clean, too. Lol.  Oh, funny story, Willie had just gotten home and Donna was cutting his hair in the kitchen when we pulled up.  But he was in his boxers, so they had to finish quickly before we reached the door!  Lol. Fun times!

Donna said that they do have friends that come over sometimes, so JoJo does know how to share her toys and it seemed like she liked having Abishai to play with.  I think Abishai was underwhelmed by the small trampoline though.

But this water table was a big hit!  When you put water in the top, it rains down to the bottom. Love it!

Abishai loved this cardboard truck!  Donna said it was hard to put together, but the great thing is, when they are done with it, you can recycle it! I've seen multiple different versions of these cardboard toys, like a fruit and veggie stand, a gingerbread house, etc. and they are around $25 on Amazon.  Great concept!

A nice sharing moment between the preschoolers, although it took a little encouraging.  Donna and Willie's house is a little bungalow like ours in Beech Grove was, so part of their basement is finished making a nice playroom/tv room and half of it is storage and laundry.  Love it!

First thing when we got to the cottage, the kids claimed beds and lined up all their stuff.  Jared had grabbed these cars at the last minute, and didn't check inside them.  Well, a few marbles and Lego pieces came with us!  Whoops!  They weren't really played with much this weekend.

Looks like Keturah claimed this spot.  Actually she wanted the top bunk but Abishai had spoken first.  She has a top bunk at home so it's Abishai's turn anyways.

Abishai even organized all his stuff including his toys!

He had insisted on putting his toothpaste and toothbrush in his own toy/clothing bag, so I guess he knows that he should lay them out in the bathroom.  I don't think Keturah helped him.  I didn't know my kids were so well organized!

Keturah kept her things pretty neat in this one little area under the bed.  Justin, too, kept his stuff together or in his bag.  Kudos to very organized kids!  Justin slept below Abishai and Jared and I took the small room with the pillow top mattress.  We should have taken the bed Keturah was on because neither one of us like pillowtop mattresses.  And the second night, I ended up on the futon because my incision was hurting so badly.  It was awful.  And then as you will see, I spent most of Sunday on what was Justin's bed because I didn't feel well, so we just switched with Justin so I could prop up my arm better.

First night on the lake.  Only Jared and Abishai went with Ron and Nina out on the boat for a short cruise.  It was very, very windy and quite cold when we arrived at 7pm.  Nina had made sloppy joes for supper so it was awesome to have a warm meal.  But we closed all the windows and put on sweatshirts when we got there. I think the overnight low was 57 degrees.  They even put on their electric fireplace the next morning to warm things up a bit.

This is what a day of travel looks like two days post op with a bandage on all day.  Wow, as I write this, I'm 9 days pre op and I can tell a world of difference.  I still don't like the bandages, but my skin is a lot less red and definitely not as swollen.  Wowzers.

Different angle and lighting. My sister thinks the line looks pretty jagged, and I guess I can see why from this angle.  But when I look down from my perspective, it looks fairly straight.  The stitches are only painful when you move around.  But I was able to take a shower and the soap didn't sting or anything, so that's awesome.  I have to be careful not to reach too far with this arm when washing my hair so I don't pop my stitches.

Breakfast! I didn't get up until 9:30/10am which felt so good.  I just let Nina and Jared take care of the kids' physical needs.  Well, mostly Abishai's, but I didn't feel guilty sleeping in.  This was my only chance to really take it easy so I took advantage of it.  I thanked Nina later for doing most of the cooking and letting me have a break.  I'm sure she didn't mind staying busy with that.  She only really cooked dinner and it was simple meals each night, sloppy joes, hot dogs and beans, and hamburgers.  Pastries and eggs in the morning with toast, sausage or bacon. Deli sandwhiches or leftovers for lunch.  Just like we do at home. I got pretty spoiled over the weekend.

Justin was on the hunt for paddle boarders first thing.  He donned his swimtrunks eager to take on the lake.  We made him wait until the air temp was 65 degrees, (so maybe 11am?) before we let him loose.  He was out there for maybe an hour tops. But as long as he wasn't in the water he felt fine.  I think he was a little disappointed that Luke wasn't there, but he made the most of it. Luke was on a camping trip because we didn't know we were coming.  I hadn't confirmed our plans with Nina until that previous Monday.  I'm glad we were there so Ron and Nina weren't lonely.

See! 65 degrees and in the water!  He donned the life jacket all on his own and got out the kayak he flips over to use as a paddle boat and the paddle that we had replaced after we broke one during the Memorial Day weekend.

Keturah got brave and went into the water for a little bit too.  The water was the warmest it is, but the air temp made it seem cold.

Justin doing back flops off the kayak.

Off she goes!

This is the first time in a long time that these two laughed and played together.  Nina remarked how great it was to see siblings having fun together.  It was a great reminder for me, too, that they can get along because all they do at home is fight.

Abishai went with Jared and Ron to the dollar store to buy some groceries and things and I think they also went to the junkyard for something Ron needed and they came back with this $7 battle cruiser complete with sounds and airplanes and guns and a helicopter!  Oh, and all the pieces store in the ship's base! Jared said, "Well, he didn't bring many toys, so,..." And what will we do with it when we get home?  Oh well, it was lots of hrs of entertainment for wee one this weekend.  He was quite pleased with it and knew lots of terminology about it.

Do you see it?  Somewhere up there, there's a black squirrel!  They are pretty common up here, and we saw there of them on Sunday. They love all the beech nuts in the beech trees.  The nuts were falling like rain drops and you could literally hear them fall by the dozens all at once.

Abishai needed a turn out on the kayak.  He lasted about a minute, but doesn't he look so big and that he can do it?

Go get 'em!

Just a short little paddle out.

Abishai wasn't too sure about the cold water and no one to swim with.  I think he spent more time getting in and out than playing in it. 

Do I jump? Not sure.

Baby footprints.

Time for Minecraft!  Of course!

2nd night we all went for a cruise. Abishai just had to bring his boat along with him, but we left all the other pieces back at the cottage.  Abishai was all over the place during the ride.

Are you comfy Justin?  The temps were in the upper 60's/lower 70's so quite cool.  I'm glad we all brought long sleeves and/or hoodies.

Aw, the 5 of us.

The floor is water, Mom!

All bundled up and quiet.

First signs of fall.  I didn't take that many pictures of the kids playing or the views along the lake since they aren't much different than they were 3 months ago.

Something's funny.

Making farting noises by blowing raspberries on Daddy's arm is such a hoot!  The game lasted 10 minutes and brought tons of giggles!

Hold onto that kid so he doesn't fall overboard! Stir crazy kid needs to go to sleep!

Ron had started a fire before we left on the cruise and the smoke drifted down a few lots because of the slight breeze.  It's a great way to keep the mosquitoes at bay!

Time for smores!

Yummy!  Smores while we are in our pjs (note yes, they are the same pjs as the day before, and we barely got him to change for church on Sunday #cottagelife). I don't mind him wearing long sleeves because it saves me the hassle of putting on sunscreen and bugspray.

Redneck way of keeping a fire going? I thought Gary and Leah and Aaron and Shauna would get a kick out of it, but they didn't seem to care.  Oh well, nice fire!  And great thinking to use a leaf blower!

What happens when you are stir crazy and add more sugar to the mix, you run in circles!

Nice!  And nice chats with Nina, too. I did get to eat one marshmallow before they were all gone.

Picture perfect.  And the northern lights were visible if you were looking for them.

The middles got to stay up and watch "Bruce Almight" with Ron and Nina, who had never seen it.  They were all laughing and loving it.  I laughed, too.  It's a very fun classic Jim Carey movie.

The End