Backyard Campout and Enchanted Rock Hike

We went on a "mock" camping trip this last weekend. We had it all planned out to do another one-night camping trip at a place called Enchanted Rock on Friday night, but when I called to get a reservation they were all full. We already had all the stuff for tin foil dinners, dutch oven breakfast, etc., so we just decided to do our campout at home and then drive out to do the Enchanted Rock hike in the morning.

We cooked our tin foil dinners in the oven, played Risk, and then made tin foil banana desserts and ate those with all the lights turned off and some candles lit (I wanted it to feel like we were camping, plus, I think the only way I like those banana desserts is when it's dark and you can't really see what you're eating. They were really good).

Then we set up the tent in the backyard and let the boys sleep out there. Rachel begged to be included in the group, so we started out with her in the tent, too, but around 10:00 Oliver came inside and said that Rachel wouldn't stop talking so he couldn't fall asleep. It was funny, because I thought she'd probably have to come inside, but I thought it would be because she was too scared or she started crying or something. But no, she was just having too much fun. At one point before that, I had snuck outside to see what they were talking about. Tristan was asking Oliver to tell them a story that was a funny story, and not too scary. Rachel, on the other hand, kept trying to tell "nakey" jokes. I don't know where she got the idea that that was funny. I guess she thought that was the appropriate kind of talk for a campout.

Saturday morning we woke up early and drove about 1 hour and 45 minutes out to the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. It was a fun hike. There is just a huge rock/mountain in the middle of a bunch of trees and hills and there is a .6 mile hike up to the top of it. I carried Lizzy in a pack, Daniel carried Rachel, and the boys hiked it all by themselves. It was pretty steep and tiring, so I was proud of them for doing it. Oliver beat us all to the top. We played around and explored up at the top for awhile and then went back down. We got lunch in Fredericksburg and then drove back home.

Here are some pictures of our little "campout":



Daniel and the boys enjoying a friendly game of Risk



T, R, and O eating their banana desserts by candlelight



Tristan making a scary monster face


Oliver making a scary monster face


Rachel trying to make a scary monster face


Camping out in the backyard

Here are some pictures of the Enchanted Rock hike:

The Johnsons come to Texas!

My parents and 3 little brothers came to visit us in Texas - Hooray!
Here are some pictures of all the fun:




Rachel, David, Lizzy, Victor, Tristan, Alex, and Oliver




Victor, Oliver, Tristan, and David playing Battleship



Rachel doing Yoga with Grandma Orva


While they were here we took them to downtown Austin to see the bats fly out from Congress Bridge and then we went to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Austin, Maudie's Milagro:

We also went on a nature walk on the path near our house:

Easter 2007

We had a fun Easter, despite the freezing cold weather. Our ward had planned an outdoor egg hunt and BBQ for Saturday, but it was pouring rain and only 37 degrees outside, so there was a change of plans and we had the egg hunt indoors. They actually organized it really well. They had 2 rooms going at a time (Primary and R.S. rooms) and they kept re-setting them up with eggs and then coming into where we were all eating and calling out the kids according to age groups (okay, all the one-year olds go to the primary room, and all the 2-year olds come follow this person to the R.S. room). Then they each were allowed to find 15 eggs.

All the kids loved it. The only sad part of the evening was when we got home and Rachel realized she had left her Easter basket with all her "easters" still in it at the church (my kids think that because they're called Easter baskets, the things you put in them are called "easters". I haven't bothered to correct them). We didn't have time to go back and get it because we were supposed to go straight to a little get-together at our friends' house. She was pretty depressed. Luckily I had an extra easter basket at home and I put some plastic eggs in it. She complained that they were empty, but I reminded her that she had eaten most of the treats out of her eggs at the church anyway.

On Sunday I wanted the girls to be able to wear special Easter dresses so I ran out to the garage and looked through their summer boxes. I found a perfect Easter dress for Rachel (I think it's from Shayne?). It even had a little bunny on it. It was a little long, but all the better for twirling. Lizzy just wore a little outfit that Rachel got for her first birthday, but it seemed Eastery. She didn't really like wearing the hat. And she refused to pose happily for after-church-everyone is grumpy but hurry and take some pictures for the babybooks while you're still in your Sunday clothes-pictures.

Sunday night we watched "The Testaments". Anita gave it to us for Easter. I haven't seen it for awhile (it's the one they did in the Legacy theater). It was a really good one for the kids to make the stories from the Book of Mormon seem real. We watched part of it Sunday and finished the rest for FHE last night. Rachel cried when it was over and said she wanted to watch it again. The boys also loved it, but Oliver said he had bad dreams about Lamanites last night.

Females

Rachel just found a bunch of paperclips in the desk and she's passing them out to everyone, but she thinks they're called "females." I have no idea how she made that mix-up. She's walking around saying, "here's a female for you, and here's a female for you, and now I'll connect some females onto my shirt".

She's got Oliver really confused. He came in and said, "Mom, what IS a female? Rachel keeps giving them to me." He knew something was not right.

Sign Language

Saturday was a big day for Lizzy. She figured out how to do the signs for "eat" and "more" and she also started doing the "so big" game for anyone who wants to see (she started doing it with me a few weeks ago, but has refused to show anyone else up until now).

It was funny to me that she started doing this all at once. I guess she figured out that she can get lots of attention by doing tricks, so she decided it was in her best interest to stop pretending she didn't know anything.

I don't think she really knows what "more" means, because she signs it a lot when it doesn't make any sense, but she definitely knows what "eat" means. That was the first thing she asked me this morning when she was done nursing. Then just barely Oliver finally came down for breakfast (he's usually the first one down, but I haven't even seen him this morning because he's been very occupied upstairs building a duplo ship with a force field and a magic ladder) and Rachel decided to join him for what would be her third bowl of cereal, and Lizzy saw them going into the kitchen and she signed to me that she wants to eat again.

The funny thing is, I think she maybe started trying to sign "eat" a few weeks ago, but I didn't know that was what she was doing. I think I told a few of you that I was worried that something was wrong with Lizzy because she was doing some weird things, including hitting her cheek repeatedly with her hand. I have noticed now that when she's signing "eat", she gets really wild with it and sometimes misses and then just hits her cheek, and it looks just the same as what she started doing a few weeks ago. Whoops. I guess she was just hungry.

Hey, who ate all of my raisins?

Not only does Rachel tell me what I'm supposed to be saying in any given situation, but she also is giving me drama lessons. Yesterday we had this conversation:

Rachel: Mom, can I have some of your breakfast because I'm soooo hungry?
Me: Okay, here you go.
Rachel: No, I want a raisin bite. (I was eating Raisin Bran)
Me: Okay.

Rachel then takes several bites, eating all of the raisins. I don't really care because I think there are too many raisins in Raisin Bran anyway.

Rachel: Now say this, Mom, 'Hey, who ate all of my raisins?' and then I'll say 'But it's fair because I think the raisins are so yummy' and then you say 'Okay'.
Me (following instructions): Hey, who ate all of my raisins?
Rachel: But it's fair because I think the raisins are so yummy.
Me: Okay.
Rachel: NO, Mom - when you say 'okay' you have to dump your head down on the table like this and then say it in a really sad voice.

She showed me how it was supposed to look when I "dumped" my head down on the table. It was funny because when she dumped her head down on the table it looked very familiar, and I realized more than ever that when she has her little dramatic moments they might all be carefully planned acts.