Fort Stevens 2009 - Top Ten List

Marin doesn’t know it, but I am guest-writing this blog entry. Why? Because I can. Being married for 8+ years has it’s privileges, one of which is knowing your spouses passwords.

We just got back from what was probably our best vacation as a family ever, so to recap for friends and family, I put together a Top 10 list.

Fort Stevens 2009 Vacation - Top 10 List

10. Sleeping in a hammock

Yeah. That’s me. Asleep in a hammock. Rad.

9. Everything tastes better when you’re camping

I don’t know why, but everything I ate on this trip tasted like the finest food I’d ever had. Jeremy’s tamales, fine meat products from Dave and Nicole, Deschutes Inversion IPA, Captain Crunch, s’mores -- Mmmm.

8. Traditions

This marks the 30^th year that Marin’s family and the Boster’s have made an annual trek to the coast. Some traditions must live on! My favorite was probably the late-night card games while sipping hot Tang through a Red Vine straw.

7. Gus and his ukulele

One night around the camp fire, Gus busted out his ukulele and proceeded to lead the whole camp in a few rounds of Jesus Loves Me. That’s right, Gus is two and half years old and leading worship.

6. Star gazing with Max

The weather was good enough for the stars to be out and Max soaked it all up while reclining in my lap one night. We talked about how God created the stars, how He promised Abraham that his children would number like the stars and a that it was a star that pointed to Jesus when he was born. I like to think that he was closely studying the stars that night as he excitedly pointed out satellites moving across the sky and asked to watch the stars again the next night.

5. Day Three

The third day was the best because everyone was settled in and the end of the trip wasn’t yet in sight. The weather was perfect for bike rides and playing baseball.

4. Jumping off sand dunes w/ Max

It was super fun, but mostly an excuse to share this picture.

3. Every kid has a DS

There were eight kids between our families and I think six or seven DS’s. Hey. I know it’s not exactly in the spirit of the outdoors, but video game addiction pays my bills.

2. Gus’s sense of humor

It really seems like Gus came into his own on this trip. His sense of humor charmed everyone. It’s hard to explain, but it felt like he grew quite a bit during that week.

1. Adopted Family

On this trip, I was blessed to see the roots of Marin’s strong sense of “family”. Not only is she truly devoted to her own blood family, but she forms bonds with her friends that are every bit as unconditional and loving.

The Johnson’s met the Boster’s at Fort Stevens 30 years ago through what seems like chance circumstances. That friendship has become an adopted family that defies reason.

Ephesians 1:4-5 “. . . In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

...

Do I really need to say anything about this photo?



I didn't think so.

Homemade Bat Cave

Max hasn't been super into arts & crafts lately, but he jumped at the chance to help me when I suggested we make our own Bat Cave today. He was so thrilled with it and kept saying, "I can't believe I have a real Bat Cave!" Funny how so many of his fancy, complicated toys sit untouched in his room, but you put a little paint on a box and -voila!- an afternoon of pure joy.

It all began with a "chicken booger"

So for years I have fretted over Max's pickiness. The kid doesn't eat anything, as many of you know. He's always told me that when he turned 5 years old he would eat more food, but I've dismissed it as him just reaching for some faraway number that gave him a chance to put off trying everything I set in front of him. In the past few weeks, however, he's been suddenly declaring his affection for foods that he earlier refused to even have on his plate. A few weeks ago, completely out of the blue, he told me that he wanted to try a "chicken booger" from Wendy's. I was skeptical, to say the least, but I gave it a shot and sure enough, he ate it and liked it. I realize that I shouldn't have been so excited about a kid liking a fast food menu item, but this is a huge deal! And it seems to have opened the floodgates. Last week he informed me that he now likes carrots and would like to start eating them. Imagine my surprise at this and my near heart attack when he actually followed through and ate a couple at dinner. Last night he tried pepperoni pizza at our Gospel Community group (for those who don't know, it was not too long ago that he would only eat cheese pizza AT COSTCO. Even if we brought Costco pizza home he would have nothing to do with it. That is how picky this kid is!) Then this morning he asked for milk on his cereal...MILK! This from a child who even as a baby never drank milk. And now he's said he loves spaghetti...something I'm hoping to put to the test shortly. I called Mark in disbelief to tell him about all of this and he said 'You know he told us that he'd eat more at 5' and here he is, a couple weeks from his 5th birthday, making good on his word. Some kid.

Goofing Around

Who needs toys when you've got a recycling box and a big bag of bags?

Zonked

Every angle of Max sleeping on the couch cracked me up. No matter which way I looked at him, I had to laugh. He slept like that for at least 20 minutes. That's one tired kid!