Johnson Family Funormous Vacation 2014

Curtis has always wanted to drive across the country in an RV, and always wanted to take me back to where he served his mission in Florida and Alabama.   I always wanted to see the United States, especially the south, but I don't know how I ever anticipated doing it.  A state at a time, or all at once? I don't really know,    I think I was always ok with the RV idea, but I never wanted to own an RV.  I don't want to be a slave to one.  This is one dream we both had- to see the country.  We talked about it often but didn't know how we would ever be able to do it with jobs, kids in school, and life in general.

At the end of February Dax started having some issues with some teachers at school.  It is a small school and not many options for making changes etc.  We had already had to deal with the principal last year.  We decided it would be best for Dax to do online school for the last quarter of the school year.  It only took a few days of Dax being home, Trey being home most of the time (pre-school in the mornings), and Derek being at school full time that I realized this was not going to work.

 I felt like I couldn't do anything fun during the day with Dax and Trey because Derek was left out.  It was like he was being punished for being at school. I think I had a moment of insanity when I thought why don't I just pull Derek out of school and enroll both kids in online school and we take the RV trip we had always talked about.  I think I thought about it for a day before I said anything to Curtis.  I had to make sure I was thinking clearly.  Those few days were stressful anyway trying to figure out where to send Dax, and dealing with his issues.  He is in 8th grade but doing advanced work, so I couldn't just send him anywhere, especially 3/4 way through the school year.  I had never been one who wanted to "Home School" or has my kids do anything but "traditional" school. This was all so crazy to me.

When I finally brought up the idea to Curtis he was immediately on board and started planning out places he wanted to see.  I was shocked that he accepted it so fast.  I would have had to think about it for 2 months, then our window of opportunity would have passed.  This was finally our time.  Curtis' business' was in a place where he could do most of the work remotely, with the cell phone, and internet there wasn't much that we couldn't do.  This was the perfect time of year.  The weather would be nice, and the lines at the tourist places would be light.

We started moving forward with our plan and found the kids an online program that met their needs.  Discovered what places we were going to travel to, and figure out if we were going to drive our car, stay in hotels, or Rent an RV,  so many things to decide.

The RV option seemed way too expensive.  Renting one plus the miles and amount of time was adding up fast, renting a car and staying in hotels wasn't any cheaper. We couldn't decide what route to take to get to see the parts of the country that we wanted to see most.  It was seeming unrealistic, but we really wanted to make this happen.   I finally called the RV rental place to see if they had any deals.  They said they had brand new RVs being released for the summer and they needed to get from Chicago to NYC by a certain date.  We were given a reduced rate (1/3 of the nightly price) plus 250 free miles per day.  The rep told me we could take the RV anywhere we wanted in those 30 days just as long as we got it to New York City by May 24th.  We looked at the map and found a route that we hadn't thought about, but still were able to hit all our must-see spots.  This very well could be doable. 

 We would fly to Chicago, pick up the RV drive south down to Florida, see Curtis' old mission, see Disney World then back up to New York and see the Church History sights and end in NYC.  All the places that were "maybe someday" were ending up on our route.  We put down our deposit and prepared to leave for a month.  Some people thought we were crazy, and some people were jealous.  We felt that it was really a bit of a miracle.  Something that started out as a negative situation, was turning into something amazing.

Terrified Tooth

The other day Trey started eating an apple.  He took about four bites and said he was done and didn't want to eat anymore.  I was pretty bugged that he did that.  He started asking for more (different) food.  I told him he had to finish his apple first.  Trey said it hurt his teeth.  I thought maybe he would have a loose tooth, but then I thought he was probably too young still.  A few minutes later he came up to me and his bottom teeth looked funny.  I looked in and asked if he had a loose tooth.  He said he did.  I started asking when this happened and why he didn't tell us.  He said about a month ago, when he went to the Spring Training Baseball game with Dad he bit into a Rice Krispie treat and his tooth got loose.  He was scared that he was going to get in trouble so he didn't tell us, although the tooth kept getting looser and looser.  We told him it was supposed to happen, it was going to fall out and then he would get a "Big" permanent tooth.  Then we told him about the tooth fairy and he got very excited. He couldn't wait to tell all his friends that he had a loose tooth.

The next night, Friday, we went to the Muppet movie.  We were munching on popcorn, Jr Mints, and other theater snacks.  Then Trey started to cry because his tooth was hurting him.  His tooth had gotten all twisted in his mouth.  Curtis took him out of the movie, straightened out the tooth, and told Trey he could just pull it out and be done.  Trey wanted him to pull it out, it was hurting and bothering him.  So Curtis yanked it out.  Trey stopped crying, no more pain.  He was so proud to lose his tooth,  he came back into the movie telling me he loosed his tooth.  He was so excited.

We put it out for the Tooth Fairy, and she brought him $2.  It was a nice shiny white one.  Trey was thrilled.

Trey's smile with a missing tooh

Trey Holding his tooth

Another toothless smile.

Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration

Back in April 2008, a new temple was announced for Gilbert, AZ.  Wow, that would be for our area.  It turns out the location is close to Curtis' office.  The time is finally here and the temple is ready.

A  picture we took as the temple was under construction March 2012

A few months back, the open house dates were finally announced and then there was talk of the "Cultural Celebration"  I had never heard of this before but all the youth ages 12-18 in the temple district get to participate in a big production where the sing and do dances representing the geographic area of the temple.  I didn't think much of it until I realized Dax was going to be in it with 13,500 other kids from the area.

 

I really had no idea what a big deal a new temple is.  In December they had a fireside for our Stake explaining to the kids what they would be doing for the next few months.  In January the practices started.  They started at the ward level, moved up to the Stake, then Region, then a Super (long) Saturday with everyone.  There were a few hurdles for Dax.  He had a terrible time with his allergies and all the dust they kicked up with their dancing.  On Super Saturday, the dust got so bad they had to call the practice early.  Several kids were getting sick from all the dust, 4 ambulances were called and I heard several ended up in the hospital.  So how do you deal with this much dust in an arid climate?  I guess you pray for rain because they got it.

Pleasant 3rd Ward leaving for the Celebration.  They are Flashing the Mormon Gang Sign, Live True Theme

Region 1 (yellow) gathering with the Temple behind them.

Dress Rehearsal of Tomo Mi Amo

All 13000+ kids waiving the Title of Liberty to the Armies of Helaman/Sisters in Zion

 I snuck into the dress rehearsal and got a few pics. Although I couldn't get that close, It really was more amazing to see it live.
It was cloudy and breezy most of the day, then when it was show time, the rain really started.  The kids were fantastic.  They were soaked and danced and sang through the entire show.

I know Dax really had a though time through all his allergy issues, but it was still a great experience for him.  The rain only makes it more memorable.  He looked like a drowned rat when I picked him up.

After the show, the rain calmed the dust.

Today Dax, Derek, Curtis, and I went to the temple dedication.  We went to the first session while they laid the cornerstone.  These last few months have been exciting. It was a good experience