All things Spring

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven -
All's right with the world!
~Robert Browning

Sunday, Joshua and I went strawberry picking at Buckwheat Farms. It was a lot of fun...but we didn't pick too many...The competitive side of Joshua was really coming out and he wanted to make sure he picked more than I did so he wasn't very careful about choosing good berries to pick. A lot of yucky ones were getting into his bucket and I hated to have to pay for yucky ones. I kept sneaking some good ones into his bucket so that he would be the winner and then I suggested we stop picking so that we could go home and eat them. We bought some pre-picked berries also. One strawberry pie and several servings of strawberry shortcake later, all our strawberries are gone. Looking forward to picking again soon!

Saturday was Spring Daze in Cary. Joshua and I drove past Bond Park, where Spring Daze is held, to park at the parking deck of the Town of Cary. If you parked in the parking deck, there was a free shuttle to the fair...Joshua loves riding busses so we went that route. Last year, we parked at the event but had to walk and walk and walk to get to the actual exhibits...the shuttle bus dropped us off right in the middle of things. There were a lot of arts and crafts but the only thing we felt the need to buy was a strawberry/banana smoothie, a sno cone, french fries, popcorn and a hamburger (the hamburger was for me, Joshua ate everything else). We watched a pirate swordfighting show which he absolutely loved...he is really into pirates, swords and bullwhips. And we caught Magician Michael Creech...He was very entertaining for the kids. He asked for volunteers from the audience several times, Joshua raised his hand each time but was not chosen...he seemed to choose older kids, around 6 or 7. I'm sure he didn't want to get someone too young who wouldn't participate once they were chosen. Anyway, his final trick is normally to saw a woman in half, but the woman was home sick, so he was going to cut himself in half with two handkerchiefs tied together. He tied the two handkerchiefs together, chose Joshua to come up and make sure the knot was tight, which Joshua did, he then told Joshua to turn around and show the audience his muscles, which Joshua did...yes! Joshua! The kid who sometimes hide his face in my side when a stranger speaks to him stood up in front of the entire audience and showed us his muscles! I was so proud! What a Kodak moment! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me...now, back to the show...The Magician pulled the handkerchiefs and, instead of cutting him in half, the handkerchiefs pulled off his underwear! After the show, Joshua told me he wanted to go up on stage and help but he wasn't chosen to do that, he was only chosen to see the knot was tight. I reminded him that he pulled the knot sooo tight that it pulled the guys underwear right off of him...that did the trick, he thought it was funny and forgot all about not going up on stage.

Friday, we went to the park for a little while. There were only two other little girls there. Joshua and the older girl started playing together. She was very cute, but a squealer. They were playing chase and she would squeal and laugh, they would slide and she would squeal and laugh, they played in the sandbox and she squealed and laughed...it reminded me of those movies where you would see the beautiful girl in the flowing white dress playfully giggling, running around and hiding from the admiring man and then she would disappear into the mist because she was a ghost and not really there at all...I think I watch too many movies...

Thursday, Joshua had some friends over to play, Ben, Jordan and Chase. They squirted each other, Buddy, a poor frog, my plants, me and Tracy with water guns, they romped through the woods, they played on the swings, they had sword fights, they played games, they had a wonderful time together. I was so proud of Joshua for sharing his toys without making a fuss. I know it is an age thing, but I just get so excited when I see him playing with others and not hiding behind me or hanging onto me or sitting on my lap or making me play too!

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.
~Bern Williams

The week in review

Not a lot has been happening in the Johnson household during the past week. I've been busier than I'd like to be with work...But, I shouldn't complain so I'll just call it "job security." The weather was great but each time I started to get up from my chair, a new fax or email would come in and I would have to do more work. Joshua and I didn't make it to the park or any place else, we barely made it outside!

What time we were outside, we spent planting some flowers, digging up earthworms and trying to figure out what kind of leaves tent caterpillars will eat other than the leaves on my rose bush. Joshua has a new butterfly net...we haven't seen any butterflies yet, but he has been busy trying to catch dragonflies.

Friday, we had two hummingbirds buzzing past our heads. I read where individual hummingbirds return to the same area year after year. Normally, it seems they come to the window of the house and look in to let me know they are here and want food. I guess since I was outside they decided to use the more direct approach. My old hummer feeder cracked so I went to the garden center and bought a new one...I hope they like it.

Lightening bugs are also out. They are still really high in the trees, but they are out! A sure sign that Spring/Summer is really here.

This weekend, we mulched, mowed and burned. We had huge piles of wood where we did some clearing and had a nice bonfire. Joshua was a big helper...he liked throwing limbs onto the fire and riding in the wheelbarrow. After all the work, my legs and back were sore...still are a little bit.

Now, it's Monday and a new week. Hopefully, this one will be a little more interesting.

Men and their Superheroes

For some reason, boys love Superheroes as much as girls love Princesses. As I have previously mentioned, Joshua is Superhero crazy. And I have recently come to realize that many boys never outgrow their Superhero fascination.

My first exposure to men and their Superheroes came by way of a former co-worker. Every Wednesday, he would stay late in the office so that he could go to the comic book store on his way home to buy the latest issue of whatever comic books he collected. He bought one to read, one to keep wrapped up untouched by mere mortal hands. I never thought too much about it, I just considered him a comic book nerd.

My next experience was Halloween...Joshua dressed up as Spiderman. The 2nd house we went to, the man answered the door and sang the entire Spiderman theme song. It really embarrassed Joshua and he wanted to take off his costume and go home. Luckily, I convinced him to just take off the mask, leave the rest of the costume on and continue with our Trick or Treating...It ended up being a terrific night.

My latest, and most prolific examples came from our travels through airports. Joshua was sporting his Batman backpack and, while de-boarding the plane and walking through the tunnel, Joshua and I heard a man sing the Batman song. A couple was standing behind us while in one of our many lines at the airport, the man turned to the woman and said aloud that he thought he saw Superman out the plane window while we were flying. Numerous men mentioned Batman by way of by saying they liked the Batman backpack, cool backpack, wow-you have a Batman backpack or by singing the Batman song. It happened time and time again.

I guess some boys never grow up...But what about girls? Are there women still obsessed with Princesses? For those of you with girls who dress as Princesses, carry Princess backpacks, wear Princess shirts, etc., do you get a lot of Princess comments from random women?

So, all together now...you all know it...the lyrics are simple...let's sing them together
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Batman!
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Batman!
Batman, Batman, Batman!

Dancing in the street

"If you dance in the street with children, no one looks at you like you're crazy." Mimi, April 6, 2008.

Hola y Hasta Luego

Oh boy! Where to start? What to say? There is just so much!

Joshua loved the airplane. He doesn't remember his first flight as he was just a little over a year old, but this flight was terrific. He was so excited! Every time the plane would move he would yell "We're going now!" only to have his excitement diminish when we didn't take off...this happened time and time again for the 40 minutes we waited because there was an air traffic jam over Charlotte. Once we were airborn, he looked out the window and talked the entire time. We arrived in Charlotte just in time to board our next plane. The flight to Cancun took 2 1/2 hours, Joshua slept a little over an hour. We arrived without incident.

There is just so much to tell about Cancun...I'm going to give you all the condensed version...

Joshua played in the sand building castles and digging holes. He played in the ocean and let the waves crash over his head without once crying. I get the tiniest drop of bath water on his nose and you would think it was burning him like acid, but let a wave crash over his head and he coughs and gags and spits and smiles and gets right back in every time. Not one time did I have to wipe his eyes with a towel!

The resort had an amazing childrens program. My Joshua, the boy who used to hold onto my legs and not play anywhere or anything or with anyone unless I played too, participated in a water balloon fight, painted a t-shirt, had a Batman face painting done, played freeze tag and musical chairs. He made a friend while there, another 4 year old boy named Jack. Jack had some great water toys so he and Joshua had shoot outs with water squirters and water guns and played with some other water toys. In just a few days, he was reaching down to the bottom of the kid pool, water covering his mouth, to pick up toys and he was floating unassisted with his ring floaty.

We rode on busses, saw iguanas, ate at McDonalds. Joshua had a daily drink during happy hour by the pool...a strawberry/banana/orange juice smoothie. Except for our McDonalds dinner, we ate our meals in. After a hard day of swimming, sunning and sanding, Joshua didn't want to shower, dress and go out.

The second portion of our trip took us from Cancun to Playa del Carmen.

We had more sunning, sanding, beaching and pooling. Joshua has now mastered his ring floaty and can kick to move through the water forwards and backwards.

Playa del Carmen is a great little town. 5th Avenue is open to pedestrian traffic only and is filled with bars, restaurants and junk stores. There are tons of cruise ship people shopping during the day and eating, drinking, music and dancing at night. We ate lunch on the beach, table and chairs in the sand; we ate dinner on the street, people walking by and a mariachi band behind us. We went into every other junk store and t-shirt store. I thought the junk stores were funny, half filled with souveniers, half filled with tequila...although I guess tequila could be considered a souvenier by some.

Our last day, we went to Xel-Ha, an all inclusive water park. What a fantastic way to spend the day! We floated down a lazy river, we swam in the water, we swam into a cave, we played on the playground, we watched others swim with dolphins, we lazed in hammocks, a lot of people snorkeled, we ate breakfast, we ate lunch, we ate ice cream (all food, drinks-including alcoholic beverages-were included with the price of admission).

The airplane rides home were uneventful, except for all the standing in line...baggage check-in, security, customs, in both Cancun and Charlotte. It's rather tiring standing in long lines with a tired, hungry 4 year old and carrying a backpack, a purse, Joshua's backpack, 2 pieces of luggage, airline tickets, passports and a bear...and then Joshua holds up his arms for me to hold him too...Uh, no!

We made it through an entire week without any serious incidents, only minor ones...Joshua didn't have his pillow and wanted to go home; McDonald's didn't have milk or apple juice or Pirates of the Carribean toys so he wanted to go home; Joshua got up from his hammock and someone else got into it he had a meltdown; I opened the locker and returned the key without Joshua so we had another meltdown; and finally, a wave carried his shovel away, he loved his shovel, he will never see his shovel again, the wave wasn't very nice to take his shovel away...2 days later, he still gets teary eyed thinking about his shovel....ask Joshua if he had a good time in Mexico, he tears up and the first thing he says is a wave took his shovel away...

I hope that he always has fond memories of this trip and not just sad memories of the lost shovel...