Stonyford Motorcycle Trip

For those of you who don't know for the past couple of years the men in my family have been making an annual springtime trek down to Northern California to spend four days riding their dirt bikes through the coastal range mountians. According to them this is some of the best riding they do throughout the year & the definatly look forward to it. This year they had a little change of pace & invited the women in their lives along. That's what brought Mom, Andree, Christina & I along (with the kids). We had a blast!! The weather was georgous & Andree & I were able to sleep in the trailer at night (which was nice because it still gets VERY cold!!). Here are some snapshots of our trip.

Micah & I on the "cub" the dirt bike I rode throughout the weekend

The ladies (minus Andree who is pregnant) on their bikes before the "family ride"

(Left to Right) Mom, Christina & I

The whole crew before we head out for the "family ride"

(left to right) Dad, Jonathan, Ben, Mom, Christina & I

naptime in the trailer

the "beautiful princess" after she wakes up from her nap

Ella helps daddy work on his dirt bike

Isaiah spends most of the trip hunting for "creatures" - this year his prise catches included a scorpian & numerous lizzards

Like father - Like sons

The kids learn to ride early

I'm decked out & ready to ride on the second day "family ride" This one was CRAZY...you'll have to talk with me more...but let's just say our 20 mile leisurly ride ended up being a hair raising 50 mile hard ride. But I did it & didn't even dump my bike!!

What happens when your son tries to dress himself

Lately Micah has become obsessed with his clothes. He likes to try to put them on & take them off, although he's far from successful at either feet....as you can see below.

Winter Snows in Yosemite

Last week we finally got our first "real" snow of the season. It may have also been our last. But we took every opportunity to help Micah enjoy the snow (and Mommy a little, too). I am trying my best to raise Micah to be a "true" Johnson. I'm teaching him to identify falling snowflakes & get excited about the beautiful blanket of white outside.

So in true "Johnson Style" I loaded Micah up in the family car & took him up to the park to explore the snow (we only had 4" they had 18"). Micah had a blast learning the joys of snowballs & hiking around in the snow.

I really hope it snows again before the weather changes, although if todays temps are any indication (it was 75 degrees & supposed to be in the 80's this weekend) I have pretty low hopes.

Micah discovers what a snowball is

...and then tries to make one himself (he doesn't quite have the packing down yet)

the views from...

..where we played

Rocky Mountian High....

Well at the end of January Micah & I had the opportunity to join Ryan out in Denver for is annual PE Conference. This is always a highlight to our winter because it allows us to return to Denver to visit with our friends & Church to catch up. We were greeted but one of the whitest Denver's we have ever seen. It appeared that all of the blizzards that blew through during the holidays had not evaporated (which is EXTREAMLY abnormal) so there was 2 1/2 - 3 feet of snow EVERYWHERE!! It was crazy! Plus while we were there we received an additional 4" of snow. And it was COLD!!! one night it got down to 16 degrees below zero. It was crazy, but I didn't regret all of the clothes that I brought for Micah, 'cause I had him wearing it most of the time.

One of the days Ryan & I stopped by the local park after work & let Micah play. It was hard to drag him away (he definatly takes after the Johnson side of the family).

We stayed with our good family friends, Phil & Rebecca. They have two LARGE golden retreivers. Micah came up to just the back on their large retreiver. I had to post a couple pictures of Micah with these dogs, because it took him a couple days to get comfortable with them, but once he did he had a blast! They would knock him over as they ran in the door or hit him in the face as they wagged their tail, but he didn't seem to mind too much.

Oh Canada, eh?

The third conference that I attended was up in Vancouver, BC. So I decided to turn it into a road trip! Jonathan & his girlfriend Christina accompanied Micah & I up to the conference. I spent a majority of my time at the booth but while we weren't there we tried to explore as much as we could of the Vancouver Metro area.

The background in this picture is the Vancouver convention center where the missions conference was held.

We chose to spend one of our mornings at Gainsville Island. It had a lot of small botique shops & a indoor open-air market

This is a kids play area where Micah & Jonathan hung out & played for a while.

This is how Micah spent the 5 hr car ride both directions

Travelin'

As you can notice it's been quite a while since I last posted on here. I'd love to give the excuse that nothing too exciting has been going on...but it's been the complete opposite! I have been busy & Micah has been toting right along. In the middle of Januray I headed up to Portland to participate in three seperate missions conferences as a representative for Teen Missions. Ryan was unable to accompany me on these trips, so I was a one-man show.

When we showed up in Portland it had snowed earlier that week, so Micah was able to explore the snow & he enjoyed it.

ROAD TRIP!!

Now a vacation would not be a "Johnson Vacation" without a rediculously long road trip. And that's exactly what Ryan & I did after Urbana. After the conference was over Ryan & I decided to stay around another day to save $$ on our plane ticket. To fill this free day we decided to travel down to NW Arkansas to visit our friend Megan....

Not the best picture of us...but it's us with Megan this summer at TMI commissioning

I didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. We drove 5 hrs to Springdale, AR & had a delightful time visiting her family & enjoying some good home-cooking. If you've ever had the privilege of going on a team with Megan she is an AMAZING cook (I know my husband would defiantly agree...although he knows what happens if he criticizes me food ;-)

On our way back to St. Louis we took two seperate detours. The first was to visit the "Walmart Museum" in Bentonville, AR. You've got it right...this was the first store that Sam Walton opened that held his name & began his Walmart franchise. It was interesting to just explore these rural AR towns.


The second stop we took was at the George Washington Carver National Monument for those of you who know Ryan, this was a special stop for him. He has always held a special fondness for George Washington Carver after he studied him in school. Although our visit was quick we did have the opportunity to see the property where he grew up & watch a short video.

We enjoyed this little "jaunt" and our time with Megan and her family. Although we were anxious to get home to see Micah...who greeted us with a huge smile when we returned to Portland.