Beach

After returning from my European adventures, Lindsey and Benjamin returned home with me. Fifteen minutes after we arrived at home, Joshua, Erica, and Thalia drove in. I was thrilled to have 2/3's of my kids' families home with me.

Erica, Thalia, and I spent one day at the beach...but we all spent one day there together.Joshua is not usually one to smile in pictures...but he was only to happy too smile with Erica!
Mimi and Benjamin

We, of course, took photos of us all together... Lindsey and BenjaminJoshua, Erica, and ThaliaJoshua and Erica...hamming it up!

Thalia and BenjaminPapa, Benjamin, and Mimi

Lindsey and Benjamin with Mimi's keys!Thalia, Papa, Benjamin, and Mimi

Once the photos were finished, well, the posed photos, it was time to get down to some playtime...or climb-time. Thalia is a climber, and she wanted to climb the rocks. Luckily for her, her Papa and Dad were there and only too happy to climb with her.Mama Erica was watching her babies climb...Whew...we were happy they made it safely to the top! Now, of course, they needed to get safely down...which they did!Benjamin wanted to know why he couldn't go up on the rock too.

I told him he was still a baby...a toddler...too young for such shenanigans!

He was OK with that...but he still wanted to play at the beach.He loved the texture of the sand...running his hands through it...Well, maybe it felt a little strange....but it still made him happy... and how sweet is this?"What's that?" Benjamin asked about everything he saw.

Uh-oh...he saw what his Uncle Joshua, Papa, Thalia, and Erica were doing. He wanted to do it too.

"Benjamin, you can't do everything yet...you're only a little man," I tried to pacify him.He was happy once again...Thalia and Erica prepared for their big jump... Thalia had wanted to jump off the HUGE rock she had climbed with her Dad and Papa...but her sweet Mama told her NO, that she was just a little girl...well, that's not exactly what she said. Nevertheless, Erica wanted to let Thalia have her jump...so she told her she would jump with her...on a little smaller rock...

Thalia said, "OK..." (reluctantly)

Whoa! Be careful on that big rock! Papa joined in the fun...

Thalia had so much fun that she did it again!and there goes Joshua!Benjamin was happy...he gave them a hearty clap for all their jumping escapades! He told his cousin, Thalia, how brave she was...He gave his mama a big kiss for bringing him to the beach...and told her he was ready to go... His Uncle Joshua grabbed him and carried him a while...

It was a great day at the beach...

And I'm so happy I can blog again!

Finally!

I am happy...

happy because my laptop is now ...well, it seems to be fixed. I'm going to play around with it awhile...and wait until 7 p.m. when Pallab, from India, will call me to reset everything.

A little history...before I left for Europe, this DELL laptop started being a bit sluggish...didn't scroll correctly...running slower...

Ran the virus scan...nothing...seemed everything OK.

Back from Europe...it was worse. So I called DELL...they ran some diagnostic tests...told me it was running slow! (Yep, that's what I called for!) They said I needed a new motherboard, memory modules, and processor. Check. They came to the house and replaced them.

It was worse...

Back from Texas, called DELL again. Same scenario... today, I had a new hard drive put in...which means I lost everything...but I did back up all I knew how to do...namely, photos.

I'm not sure where my pictures will go when I load them, so I'm waiting for now...for Pallab to call me at 7 p.m. and lead me through setting up all that I haven't already done.

New posts should be coming soon...

So much to blog!

One more thing: for some odd reason, I keep seeing this little box saying photos or videos have been deleted or moved...from Photobucket (which I didn't even think I used!) Do you see that on your screen?

Driving Miss Thalia

It all started with the Texas golf cart....

Thalia became an expert golf cart driver...chauffeuring around anyone who wanted a lift...

but now that she's ten, that's 10 years old, she's graduated to the car...

yes, you read that correctly...the car...as in automobile...as in Toyota Camry...

I was a passenger for this maiden voyage...

this maiden journey down the roads at the farm...the Johnston Farm...

I must be honest and let the readers of the JohnstonChronicles know that I was a bit...a little bit more than a tiny bit...a medium bit nervous when I was the passenger in a moving automobile being driven by a 10 year old CHILD...

Her dad, my baby boy, Joshua, was 'riding shotgun'...he had his hand hovering over the emergency brake...just in case...just in case an armadillo ran across the street and this 10 year old driver didn't slam on the brakes fast enough...or even if something like another car met us head on...which actually happened. However, the emergency brake was never applied, because this very mature, 10 year old driver, who just happens to be my granddaughter, just casually pulled over to the side of the road and came to a stop until the car passed. Now, this is just what you do in the country because the road isn't always wide enough for two cars to pass on the pavement...

I told my now-very-competent-10-year-old granddaughter to turn around and look at her Mimi so I could document this momentous occasion...

she was only too happy to oblige...

Thalia has a proud Mimi...

Summertime

What a busy summer this has been so far! Six days after school was out, I took off for Europe. This year's itinerary (People to People) was England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland...which was my absolute favorite.

Scoul, Switzerland

Ftan, Switzerland

Ftan, Switzerland

Karen, me, and Gwen enjoying our Belgium waffles in Brugge, Belgium (I cannot...CAN NOT...get rid of this photo! I was moving it around to add at the bottom...but for some reason, it's being stubborn. This was not taken in Europe....nope...it's in Texas...so there MUST be some stubborn reason it's not budging???)

Standing in wooden shoes in Kinderdijk, Netherlands

Steve and I after our bike ride through Kinderdijk, Netherlands

This guy, can't remember his name, owns the wooden shoe factory and the shop were they make gouda cheese...

Gwen(Texas), Steve, Jeanette (our Austrian delegation manager), Karen, and me in Amsterdam

This year, I traveled with 42 high school students...30 that I met with during the year...and 12 we teamed with out of Texas. I love traveling with high school students...they're great!

We landed at SFO on July 7th... Lindsey, Donnie, and Benjamin picked me up and we went to Gabe, Emily, and Emerson's for the night...July 8th, Lindsey and Benjamin came home with me... 15 minutes after we got home, Joshua, Erica, and Thalia drove in from southern California. I was a bit sluggish at first from European travel...but I loved having everyone home with me. For the weekend, Gabe, Emily, and Emerson came up. All my kids at home...that makes me happy.

Wednesday morning, Joshua & family took off at 3 a.m. to head home...and in the afternoon,( after DELL computer sent someone out to replace my motherboard, processor, and memory modules on my DELL...which helped, but it's still too sluggish. I'm working on my netbook right now) Lindsey, Benjamin and I took off to take Linz home. I spent the night there, getting up and leaving at 6 a.m. to drive to Joshua's. Friday morning, Joshua, Erica, Thalia, and I took off and drove 18 hours to Amarillo Texas...and then today, drove on to my Mom's!

Whew...

We drove in...and started on projects...starting with removing her backyard pation cover...so we can replace it...it's in desperate need of a new top!

Joshua, THE project man!Joshua and UJ...after the demolitionJoshua is the mastermind behind this project...behind most projects. He orchestrated the demolition...with UJ and myself (a little) being his assistant.

Now, these photos are actually in the opposite order they should be in...but since I'm doing this on my netbook sitting in Saddie's living room, they'll just stay in reverse order. The netbook, as much as I love it, doesn't allow me to move the photos around like usual....UJ was a bit dirty after working...

At the end of the day, as I was taking photos of Joshua and John David, I was instructed to get in the photo since I had worked on the project too....they decided to take the picture like this!

My brother just told me that the JohnstonChronicles had been abandoned...so I'm remedying that situation right here!

I have lots to blog...

Pinch me...

These first two photos are the view out my hotel window...

The delegates are having their home stay in Germany right now...usually, the leaders have a home stay...but for some reason, this year, we don't. We're in hotels. Two of us are in this town: Bad Wildbad, Germany... and the other two are in a different town. The students are also divided between these two towns.

This place is heavenly...it's beautiful...known for it's luxurious baths (which we visited today for several hours)...

We rode this tram to the top of the mountain today...hiking through the Black Forest... getting lost, and hiking 15 miles...for 5 hours, ending up on the opposite side of town as the tram!

I set the timer at one point on our hike...here I am with Bjorn (our great bus driver), Steve, and Jeanette, our delegation manager. She's from Austria and Bjorn is from Holland.

Before we got completely lost...we found this little cabin where you could enjoy a German beverage...or some food...

Pinch me, as I said...I love this place!