Grandparents Day

Grandpa "Papa" Lund with Dax and Derek, September 9, 2010

Today is Grandparents Day. This week the kid's school had a day to invite Grandparents into the school. When they first brought home the flyer, I didn't think anything of it because my Dad is the closest Grandparent in Flagstaff and he is usually busy during the week doing his work at NAU. Dax said he still wanted to invite Papa so he called him up and invited him. Surprisingly Papa made arrangements to come down for this. 

 He went to Dax's class first, which was during his reading class, He came home very impressed. They just showed them the work that they were doing. Dax wrote a story about a Pirate ship turning to legos. (Maybe our recent trip inspired him) Papa thought it was a great story. Then he showed him a power point presentation he had done on Rabies. They had just read the story "Old Yeller" and then learned about rabies. This could not have been more appropriate since my dad loves dogs so he thought it was a great thing for them to learn about. Then he went back after lunch to check out Derek's class. He was very impressed with what the first graders were doing on the computer. They are both good students and doing well in school, so it was nice for them to have a chance to show off Hancock Elementary, an A+ school, and the work they do. I think Papa was pleasantly surprised. We were glad he made the effort to come down.

San Diego

After a year of planning, preparing, passing tests, and multiple trips to San Diego. Curtis officially has a Real Estate office and apartment established in San Diego, CA as of August 1. Jumping through California's hoops to get licensed ended up being more difficult than originally anticipated but he and James Wilson played their games and both are finally licensed there. 

 We are excited to see the opportunity there. At this stage in the game, things are going well. Curtis had been spending a lot of time out in San Diego and wanted the family to join him and see the work that had progressed there. Labor Day weekend was coming up and James Wilson would be going back to AZ so we would have the apartment to ourselves. The timing was good so we headed out

Derek being King for a day with Dad

Curtis and my favorite part of Legoland are the cities they have created from Legos. They are amazing, and they have such detail. All from Legos. Washington DC even had a black president and family in the motorcade

Derek in front of Mini Las Vegas

Trey couldn't stand not playing in the water. When he saw his brothers playing in it he went in fully clothed. We didn't try too hard to stop him since we had a change of clothes. Then he had to warm up, the water and outside temp was a lot cooler than Phoenix.

Dax looking a Sea Life they loved the aquarium. Dax is such a scientist and loved looking at all the sea life in the aquarium. I don't know where the brainiac gets all his knowledge. He was looking at an exhibit of some fish and it was saying that it was the largest fish. Dax said "no it's not, the Megaladon (whatever that is) is the largest fish", then he went on explaining to us what the Megaladon was. We went around the corner and there was a display talking about the Megaladon saying almost exactly what Dax had said. Too smart for me.

The beach as the sun was setting. Too much fun, and too much sun that day.

Dax and Derek with Lego people, giving them "knuckles"

The first few days were a quick little trip with Derek and Curtis alone. Curtis would soon be taking Dax on a trip to Florida by himself, so to be fair Derek went a few days ahead (missed school) and got to be King for the day with dad (Because Dad spoils them way more on vacation than I ever would). 

 We spent a few days at Legoland. First Curtis and Derek went a day ahead and checked it out. We had gone to Legoland a few years ago with Dax and Derek when Derek was about 2. We were not impressed, and I didn't think we would ever go back. Dax and Derek both love legos, but at the time there was very little for a 2-year-old to do there. I thought it felt very sterile with everything being made out of legos, especially things that should be living and breathing like wildlife and nature. Swans, fish, and corn made out of legos seemed so lifeless, and cold It did not have the magical feel of Disneyland.

 We thought it seemed disorganized and was not run well. Our kids would have had just as much fun in the lego store, we didn't even last the entire day we were so frustrated. Anyway, Curtis and Derek checked it out a day ahead. Legoland had added a few more things (like a water park, and aquarium) we knew what to expect and we had a great time. We had a great time at Legoland, the beach, and exploring the areas where Curtis is now working. It's nice to have a little apartment there. So much nicer for the family than a hotel room. We anticipate good things to come of it.

20 YEARS?????

Marilyn Lund- Flagstaff High School 1990 

 Curtis Johnson-Branham High School 1990 Curtis & Marilyn Johnson 2010 We both had our 20-year High School Reunions this year. I just had mine, I can not believe it has been 20 years. How can that be?? I wasn't really sure If I wanted to even go. There were several years when I had absolutely no contact with anyone from High School. Slowly through the internet, I have reconnected with several people. When talks of the reunion started happening I kept thinking of all the people that I really didn't know that well in High School, or didn't really like and there were really only a few that I would be happy to see and catch up with. I kept hearing stories of so many people having fun at their High Schools reunions. So I decided to go, not wanting to feel like I missed out if I didn't go. I registered but still had second thoughts. 

 As we were driving to the reunion I had a knot in my stomach. Really not sure that I wanted to be there. I hoped that people would think that I have changed. It turned out to be a good time. Kind of weird seeing all these people after so long. For some, I felt like I recognized their body/face, and I knew who I was talking to, but they had matured and changed so much that I felt like I was talking to a different person. Which was a good thing. I was thinking how High School reunions are kind of an odd thing. 

 There is a large group of people who by no choice of their own are essentially forced to be together for several years. Then one day everyone gets to leave and go out on their own. For some odd reason, years later this group that originally did not choose to be together, chooses to be together. I was surprised at how great everyone looked. Pretty much all the guys still had a full head of hair, there were a few gray hairs. All the kids that were blonds (really light blonds) all had dark hair now. I don't think it was hair dye because some had gray hairs in the dark. Most people were easily recognized. Standing- (I don't know only a few married names) Juniper Miles, Consuelo Fernandez, Alex Degher, Loma Wolf, Amanda Guay, Emily Johnson James, Duane Tewa, Becky Moore McKay, Lisa Sechrist, Marilyn Lund Johnson, JJ McMahon, sitting-Laura Wheeler, Mike Epperson, Lina Cabalnina, Sierra Rose, Sonora Rose 

 This is my favorite picture taken that night. After the big group picture was taken, they broke us down by our Elementary schools. These are the people I have known the longest. My family moved to Flagstaff from Mesa, just a few weeks before I started Kindergarten. Interesting to see how we all turned out from Mrs. Hains Kindergarten class. Laura Wheeler, JJ McMahon, and Sonora Rose were in that class with me. 

 Curtis had his reunion at the end of August. He was reluctant to go also but ended up going and having a great time too. Unfortunately, I couldn't go with him because of traveling with kids (mostly Trey) the older kids were in school also. Curtis needed to go to San Jose that weekend to help his Mom and sisters, so it worked out.

Treysonitis Virus

Our sweet baby Trey earned the title of "Treysonitis virus" by Dax. 

 One day we caught Trey climbing onto the desk and wreaking havoc on the computer. Dax said "that is the worst computer virus you could get" so true. The name evolved and has stuck because he is a huge stinker at this phase in his life. The horribleness all started once he could walk and of course climb soon after. The climbing got worse once he figured out (by watching his brothers) that if he removes the cushions from the couch, it gives him a lower base to climb onto. 

We used to have the family room as a designated safe area for him. We arranged the furniture to pen him in, and he couldn't climb out. It was awkward for anyone else to get in and out of (climbing over furniture) but we didn't care if it kept him contained. Once he figured out how to remove the cushions, climb onto the couch then over the arm, he was home free and it was just ugly for the rest of us. He gets into everything. He has also figured out that if he can't reach it he can just pull a chair, stool, big toy etc. to get into something else he shouldn't. He has been known to climb onto the top bunk and wake up whoever is sleeping up there. He has also gotten a bad rap sheet at the gym daycare. He is usually very good at the gym and I have no problems dropping him off. I often feel guilty when I pick him up and there are 5 screaming kids and the poor workers are trying to control mayhem when I come to pick up the happy one playing nicely. 

 The past few times I've picked him up they told me he was being mean and pushing other kids and stealing their toys. On a side note, I wasn't totally shocked by this because Dax went through this phase, and he was kicked out of every place we went. The gym, the nursery at church, the play area at the grocery store, preschool, etc. I really hated it when Dax went through that phase but he has turned out to be such a sweet, kind boy, it is not so scary to see Trey go through this. Back to Trey, the gym daycare worker told me that they tried to put him on time out but he thought it was funny, which annoyed them even more. Time out is funny for Trey. When we put the older boys on time out and he sees them standing and facing the wall he goes over and does it too. He thinks it is a game. So the workers were getting very frustrated with him and I don't blame them, they have their hands full there. I tried to lay low from the gym for the next few days, I thought maybe I had been going too often and he had had enough. I took him back after about a week off and I was paged to child care, never a good thing. He was getting kicked out. This time he was actually getting a written warning. OOHHH I know scary. Actually, for me, it is, because if the gets another one he gets kicked out for 2 weeks. Which means I can't go and get some time to myself. So I'm not liking it, but I understand.

 I had to laugh at the write-up. Where they wrote the reason for the write up they wrote "beating up babies" hahaha beating up babies, he is a baby. If they are not walking they are kept in a separate area. So these "babies" are pretty much around his same size and age. So pretty much he was beating up his own kind. He is an extremely light sleeper, the other day Dax had a friend over playing and I wanted to wring his neck when he opened up Trey's door while he was sleeping and woke him up. I said what did you do that for, he said I wanted to check on him. We do not check on sleeping babies at this house, then they are no longer sleeping. When we went to Flagstaff a few weeks ago we put Trey in the same room as Curtis and I, even we would even roll over in bed he would hear it and stir. Sometimes he would go back to sleep, not always-very frustrating. This is one of the reasons he is very unfun to travel with. He does have an awful lot of cuteness in him as well. The all-time favorite of anyone he comes in contact with is his "knuckle bump." He was starting to give high 5's, but Derek taught him "knuckles" Everyone loves to see him do that one. Whenever the neighbor kids see me at school with him they have to come over and give him "knuckles". Strangers laugh when they see it. He is starting to say quite a few words. Hi was his first, then uh-oh was next (a favorite of all 3 at this age) here you go, but it sounds like herego, ball, yes, welcome, Mom, pretty cute when he walks in and says "Hi D" to Derek, I guess he picked up with me calling him D. The other day Curtis sneezed and he said "bless you" then I heard Trey sneeze and he said it to himself. pretty funny. He is starting to mimic whatever you say the other day I was talking about money, then he started saying money. I guess his snuggly and cuteness makes up for his stinkiness, so we are not ready to sell him yet.

The most wonderful time of the year

School is back in session, not a minute too soon. We actually had a good summer, the kids were busy with the classes put on by the city. Six weeks of break would be perfect, the last two weeks we are all bored and crazy. I have to write down this funny story about Dax. I was taking him to his summer science class where they made robots, and goo and stuff he loves. We passed this lady on the sidewalk who was smoking. Dax in his voice of disgust says "Did you see that lady smoking?? That is horrible. It is one thing for a man to smoke but for a lady, that is just a sexual offense" I started laughing out loud. He has no idea what a real sexual offense is.

Dax is in 5th grade, Miss Roe is his teacher. Although I really like their school, and it is an excellent school I kept hearing the 5th grade teachers are nothing to brag about. So I really didn't care who Dax got for a teacher. She seems ok although I was bugged when we got the e-mail for the supplies list of ordinary stuff like pencils, glue,kleenix, hand sanitizer, zip lock backs yada yada and gift cards to Office Max or Target would be appreciated. No I don't think so. I already spent a ton just on the basics for the classroom. I'm not about to send the teacher on her own shopping spree.
Derek is in 1st grade and Mrs. Dowdy is his teacher. I think she is good enough. I know she had previously taught Kindergarten. Derek gets kind of an attitude in school and if he doesn't want to do his work, he just tells his teacher "I don't feel like it" I had several conferences with his Kindergarten teacher being concerned about him going to first grade. We worked with him all summer and seems to be doing much better.

A Decade Gone By

Dax had birthday #10- on July 19th. We can't hardly believe it. He had a great day. He re-opened Lego Harry Potter (because Curtis bought it for him early, the day the game came out). Then he also got a Nintendo DSi. His old DS was well-loved and falling apart. Now he has the new and improved version. He loves it, it takes pictures and does cool stuff that the old one didn't do, besides it is shiny and new. Then we had a few of his friends over for swimming, pizza, and cake. I love summer birthdays. They are so easy.

Getting ready to blow the candles out.

L-Westin Thomas, Derek Johnson, Thomas Smith, Dax Johnson, Ethan Savoldi, Dallin Thomas, Tate Seeley. This swim party was thrown together at the last minute. We thought Curtis might be going to San Diego so he would take Dax and Derek and have some fun with them at the beach, Lego land, etc. Those plans fell through so we decided to do this at the last minute. Tate had been out of town with his family when his mom got the e-mail/ invite for the party. She told me that they would be flying in that morning, but Tate would be back in time for the party. When Tate showed up his mom apologized that they didn't have time to get a gift, which was totally acceptable and I told her a gift wasn't even necessary. The next day we found a gift by the front door from Tate. I had Dax write Thank you notes to his friends. This is what he wrote to Tate.

Thanks a lot for coming to the party, Tate. Also thanks for the late-but-still gift. It couldn't have been good without you. Your Friend, Daxton.

I told Becky, Tate's mom, I was embarrassed to send that Thank you note. I know Dax didn't intend to sound rude, but it still did. She laughed and said she still wanted to see the note. Dax's comments always keep us on our toes. So we mailed it anyway.

Hammer time

A few weeks back I was browsing the newspaper and I saw a small ad that said MC Hammer was coming on July 1st. I jokingly mentioned it to Curtis, not thinking he would have any interest in it. After all, it was 20 years ago that Hammer was in his prime, then we all know he went bankrupt, lost everything, and has not done anything musically in years. Besides the concert was at one of the casinos. Not exactly a nice venue. 

Curtis was excited and immediately wanted to go. I had no idea he was such a fan. We did watch his reality show on TV last year, but I have never witnessed Curtis listen to his music, or even see any evidence of owning any. I actually did have one of his albums back in 1990. 

 So we set out to Ft. McDowell casino, and they told us we could buy tickets when we get there. There were still plenty left. We get to the smoke-filled smelly Casino and are amongst the hopeless souls who find Casinos promising. We get our VIP tickets and go to check out where the concert is. Oh no!! It is outside in July in Phoenix on fold-up chairs. We were dressed for an indoor concert with AC. We have plenty of time so we go look for food. We end up in this huge buffet line. All the people in line around us are regulars and are complaining that they drove all the way up to the casino and they are not having the regular Friday night Crab legs, they continue to tell us about how they are going to enter the poker contests after the buffet. 

 These people were plenty nice to us telling us the ropes of the casino, but they also came across as someone you would find working the carnival in town. We're getting all this info as a drunk yells at the live band to turn the music down. We are starting to think this is a really bad idea. By the time the concert starts the sun has gone down and there is a decent breeze. They also passed out those frozen scarves you wear around your neck to keep you cool. The concert crowd came for the concert, not the casino. Much more pleasant to be around. . The first group that came out was SWV. We thought we had never heard of them, but we actually had heard some of their songs back in the 1990s. I thought they did a good job performing, but between songs, they would let us know how extremely hot they were. They said they were from Atlanta, and I don't think they expected this dry heat. They were actually pretty funny about it. They loved their white spandex pants. 

 Now MC Hammer comes out. He was great. He was wearing a tuxedo instead of his baggy, crotch to the knees hammer time pants. He was still a great performer and dancer. He brought about 12 dancers, who were amazing. One of them was his 15 yr old son, who we recognized from watching his reality show. They all came out in Tuxedos. I said they will lose those by the end of the night. I don't know how they were up there on that hot stage under the lights dancing around like that. 

 Gradually his dancers started losing the suits. First, the jackets were gone, then the shirt, then the tank top. Then the tank tops got thrown to the crowd. Hammer kept the full tuxedo on the entire night. I don't know how. Towards the end of the concert, someone came down to the audience and started asking people if they wanted to go up on stage. Curtis went up. When he started to do "U Can't touch this", they let all the people on stage to boggy with Hammer. 

Curtis on stage with MC Hammer

 I think the dancers were tired at this point and not putting on the show that they were earlier in the night. It ended up being a really fun night, worth putting up with the casino riff-raff.