Back to Life, Back to Reality

Well, we just got back from our family vacation

to the Northwoods of Wisconsin

(for those of you who don't know, that is where the hodags live)

...Go Hodags!

The kids did really well on the way up despite the 11 hour drive

and Geoff NOT getting lost twice ;)

Micah really enjoyed fishing this year and talked non-stop,

asking plenty of questions.

Gabi loved fishing too, Lily not so much.

Besides fishing, the kids had lots of fun

with their grandparents and cousins.

We visited a local wildlife park, did some shopping,

and ate lots of ice cream.

We found it very difficult to take pictures of our adventures,

with four kiddos there is just never a free hand!

Maybe next year Lily can be our photographer.

Uncle Mikey took some pictures you can see on his blog

http://michaelabbeybrooks.blogspot.com/

The trip home went well too.

We decided not to drive straight through on the way home

So we stopped just north of Milwaukee in West Bend

at a Country Inn and Suites

It was nice, I love hotels that include breakfast.

After we went swimming in the pool

and were figuring out our dinner plans,

I noticed a suspicious pair of pants under the chair.

They were obviously stragglers from a previous guest, YUCK!

We mentioned it to the front desk

and they graciously let us switch rooms

to the king size suite (I mean SWEET!) next door with the jacuzzi tub.

Asa missed out on all the yummy vacation treats,

but, now that we are home, we have started Asa on cereal.

As you can see he did pretty well,

guess you don't have to teach a Johnson how to eat!

He was helping mommy by the third bite.

Never a dull moment

My mom watched the 3 older kids for us Saturday night

so that we could go out to dinner and to a friends birthday party.

It was a nice evening, we had a lot of fun with friends, but made sure

to still be in bed by 11:30 pm because we were supposed to serve in

the nursery at church the next morning. But I should have known with the way

things have been going around here that the peace and quiet would not

last long. I was jolted awake at 3:00 am to the sound of Geoff's

"Kung-fu"ring tone, I answer the phone only to here my mom say

"Micah's having a hard time breathing, I am taking him to the ER" click...

FYI, my mom lives an hour away.

Micah was diagnosed with asthma about a year ago,

but has never had an asthma attack.

He just has had a slight wheeze at times when he was sick

and occasionally has a cough at night.

So, of course, I had forgotten to pack his inhaler.

I had however remembered to pack it up with his stuff for soccer camp

that was starting on Monday though.

So at 3:10 am we were on our way to Kokomo.

We talked to my mom on the way to get more details,

and she assured us he was going go to be OK.

By the time we got there Micah's big concern was

whether or not he would have to go home with us or

get to go back to grandma's.

We are very thankful that he was alright. We let Micah go back to grandma's house and headed back to Lafayette and were back in bed by 5:30, and yes we did manage to make it to the nursery the next day. Barely. We were out of Coffee!

So here are some interesting facts for you:

Last time my kids spent the night at my parents house, it was my dad who ended up in the emergency room. He went to return a video and got t-boned on us 31 and ejected 20 ft from his vehicle. Thankfully he too was OK. No major injuries not even a broken bone. Not sure that my parents are going to want to watch my kids over night any more though.

Asa's name means "healer" or "physician" so when he was born we joked with the doctor and anesthesiologist that he would be a doctor when he grows up. He is already becoming quite familiar with the emergency rooms. He has made 4 trips to the ER in his 4 months outside the womb (thankfully he was not the patient on any of them).

We made 3 trips to Kokomo and back in a 24 hour period. So that means we spent around $60 just in gas. And I thought hiring a babysitter for 4 kids would be too expensive!

Pirate Party Polka

Just wanted to share some pictures from Micah's birthday party. Everyone was a good sport about playing dress-up and we had a blast! Thanks for humoring me!

Grandma Pirate

Birthday Boy

Action Shots




























Pretty


Pirates























Scary


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Grandpa


Pirate