Our Awesome Vacation

My hubby took a few days of leave so that we could take our time driving to our new assignment. What a great trip we had!

Our first stop was Isaiah's Place. We love you Diane! We had a nice lunch with friends we consider family.

Next stop was my sisters house. And Sprout got to play with her cousin. Aren't they a pair??

We had so much fun just hanging out.

Our last stop was Palo Duro Canyon. WOW! Here we hiked behind our tent spot. Beautiful place.

This is another shot behind our tent spot.

We enjoyed dad campfire cooking for us. Yummy!

I took this picture for Papa. This was a pretty nifty grill made out of an old wheel.

We then took horses down thru the canyon. Everyone really enjoyed this, including the baby. The guides said it was the first time they had a baby that small not go to sleep on the ride. I was very proud of my troop. Even little man did awesome and lead the group.

Sprout riding with dad.

And lastly doing some hot dog cookin' at the campsite. We had so much fun we can't wait to do it again!

We packed up camp and headed to Amarillo to enjoy one last day in Texas. We stopped at the FREE local zoo. Very impressed. Very clean and fun, even though small.

This was a tortoise we caught a glmpse of.

This guy was the girls' favorite, of course. He kept flashing his lips at us. Too funny.

They even had wild cats, including these lions.

And this lonely longhorn. I did not zoom this picture. I was that close. Beautiful animals!

Our last stop was the American Quarter Horse Association Museum. Cool place! My favorite part was the book shop of course! Sprout couldn't get enough of the horse ride. She actually rode this moving horse by herself . . . over and over again.








We finished the trip with one last night in a hotel. Then on to our new home. A very memorable trip!

Sea World Field Trip

The field trip Queen is at it again! Busch honors military with a free day at Sea World for the service member and three dependents, so off we went to take advantage. I just love a good field trip!





So enjoy thru pictures.

The sea lion show. This was the kids favorite show of all.

Sprout loved the lunch pails and decided to carry two all by herself.

And the kids enjoyed the dolphin pool.

And of course Shamu!

Army Life

Wow! It's been a long time since I posted. My apologies. Life has been all about staying distracted lately. So lets see if I can bring you up to date in the Johnson Adventures.

Since the last update I gave was leaving Alabama, what has happened since we got to back to Texas?

Since I had to make the drive home alone . . . well with four kids and one dog . . . I took three days and stopped frequently. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love field trips! We stopped at this cool park that was built for special kids in Alabama.

Next we stopped at the home of Helen Keller in Tuscumbia, AL. That was a really neat experience and sparked an interest in Short Stuff (my deaf child for those that don't know her.) This picture is my kids around the water well where Helen understood that everything had a name. This is a very real aspect of our lives as Short Stuff learns that words name things, people, feelings, and . . . well . . . everything.



Then we spent the night on an army base. I had rented a cabin and didn't expect anything fancy but we were pleasently surprised.


We moved into the 5th wheel again on my father-in-laws property. The 5th wheel may be small for a house, but its big for a 5th wheel! We call it home. Trying to make the most out of our time and stay busy, we filled our time with family, school, and field trips!

So making the most of being an Army family, we visited the Quandrangle on Fort Sam Houston. These tanks and helicopter was displayed outside and my homeschooled children got out their notebooks and took to drawing! How exciting!!

Of course, during this time Sprout is learning to walk and growing so fast. She loves baby dolls as any little girl would. She started walking at 10 months and is now running. She is such a ham!
I have actually been able to have a date . . . or two . . . with my hubby since we have been back to Texas. I still thinks he looks funny with the shaved face!

At the end of the school year, the kids participated in a homeschool end-of-year presentation. They were each given a certificate of completion and displayed what they did during the school year. Of course, my kids had mostly field trips displayed. That's what we love! Short Stuff also displayed the scarf she made and Little Man had a collection of novels we have read. And my favorite was their display of Bible Notebooks!


Then in June we were able to go to a week long deaf camp in Oklahoma. That was a blast.

And the most recent thing we have done is Ballet Camp for the girls. Sprout even joined in on the stretches! They all loved it.

US Army Graduation

We finally made it to the big day! We waited almost 12 weeks to see daddy again.

We made our way to Fort Benning, GA last Tuesday to watch daddy graduate from the 192nd Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry. What a cool experience! Other than we were so ready to see daddy, but meeting other soldiers and watching the ceremonies was really cool.

Wednesday was Family Day. They had a short presentation of awards and introductions and then released the soldiers to join their family for the day. We went to a local Space Science Museum, walked through a park, hung out at the hotel, and ate a lot of food. We rushed him back to base for their evening check-in.

Thursday was the official graduation ceremony. All the soldiers marched in with the Army marching band. They had several men dressed in historic war uniforms and gave a brief history on each one. Then the sky filled with green, purple, and white smoke and sounds of gunfire. 15-20 soldiers came out of the smoke ready to defend! Little Man really liked that part. It was a short demonstration of what our soldier was trained for.

After the ceremony we were able to spend the rest of the day with daddy. Another day of parks and lots of food! And finally had to take him back to base and say our good-bys. He flew to his next post and we are getting ready to hit the road and drive home.

Sorry about the poor collection of pictures. I will have more soon. These are Daddy in his Dress Greens on Wednesday. He wouldn't hardly put Sprout down. He was so happy to hold her.

Our Zoo Trip

We had fun at the zoo! We love buying the annual zoo pass because you can go for a couple of hours and not feel guilty!

This pelican was after something good! He had his entire head and neck stuck in the drain pipe.

Here was an awesome view of some large Hippos under the water. This was my favorite exhibit at the zoo!

Checking out the Lory's benefited us this cool view. They really liked this guy!

Training Children

As we are on this journey of parenthood, we have met many road blocks and have had many victories over the enemy!

Currently I am digging through Raising Godly Tomatoes. I would highly recommend her book and her website.

I have good kids with a sinful nature. Our goal as parents is to train them up in the Lord. It's an on-going journey, only to be completed as we enter the gates of heaven.

I'm pondering all this as my children sit on the floor over a Vision Forum catalog writing out their Christmas wish lists! They are clueless that they are actually practicing handwriting and reading skills!

We also got to run to the doctor's office this week as my son received his first stitches. That was fun! He told me later "I don't know what I was thinking climbing over that fence. All for a stick! There were plenty of sticks in the back yard. I don't know why I wanted the sticks on the other side of the fence!" Well . . . I think he learned his lesson.

Cheese Making

We have had the great privelage of helping around a nearby dairy goat farm. I so miss my goat in Alabama and this has been a great learning experience for me and the kids.

My kiddos have gotten to bottle feed the kid goats, collect and clean chicken eggs, watch the does being milked, and help clean up afterwards. Plus we have seen the makings of Kefir, yogurt, and soft cheese. The kiddos also sampled some feta cheese and loved it.

Here are some pictures of the kids making the soft cheese. They just love to go to the goat farm!

Ron Paul

We are joining the "Homeschoolers for Ron Paul" movement. Here is a quick video:

Short Stuff's First Horse Show!!!

We are so proud of our daughter! This weekend Short Stuff competed in her first horse show. We were there to see how the horses would do in an indoor arena and for the girls to experience a real show. We were shocked to learn that Short Stuff placed!

Here is a picture of all the girls in our group. Short Stuff is also a part of a newly formed Equestrian Drill Team and these girls are also on the team. We are looking forward to their first exhibition June 16.

Here is Short Stuff showing off all her ribbons. She recieved 6th place in Trail, 5th place in Walk and Trot and 4th place in Barrels. Then her and another little girl recieved the Sportsmanship Award! We were so excited for her! This is her favorite horse, Waco. He is 29 years old!

Little Man was also very proud of his sister!

Here is the only decent picture I could get of her on the arena floor. The lighting was terrible.

Rainy Days

What do you do when it is raining outside? I am so busy right now with college classes, that I just don't have time to post a lot of stuff . . . so I am asking you guys to help me! I am tagging Something About Arah, Gerlt House, Just Peachy, and My 3 Boys and I! Post what you do on rainy days and link back to my page.

FYI: Don'f forget I am hosting a Fall Y'all Blog Contest. I am really sad only two people have signed up! I will extend the deadline to Monday to give you guys more of a chance. And not only am I doing the book giveaway - I am giving away free season mixes on my cooking blog. I will extend that contest date until Monday too.

Here is Shelby climbing the door way - that is what she does when she is stuck inside. Literally climbing the walls!

This is how Katy, our pit bull, spends her time inside. Looks comfortable, doesn't she?

And this is what I do when it rains. This is my redneck-made indoor clothesline. It hangs in the school/craft room. Lovely, ain't it?

Amish Field Trip

One thing we always wanted to do when we moved here, was to visit the Amish Country. We finally got to go and here are some pictures of our adventures. We were not allowed to take pictures of the people, so these are what we could get.

Here is a picture of all the buggy's that traveled to town and back. They looked like silhouettes against the rainy sky.

Here is a picture of the buggy we rode. Not authentic, I know, but it was still fun.

Here is dad and Tobie riding on the buggy.

Here is a distant picture of one of the many Amish farms we saw.