Johnson Fest...

My Aunt Colleen and Uncle Richard make it a point to open their home to all of their posterity every year during the week of the 4th of July.  They also invite my Dad and all of his posterity to attend the gathering and call it Johnson Fest.  It is a week (or two or three) of food, fun, family,  the pool, the beach, and for some, amusement parks.  We usually make the trek down towards the end of the multi-week gathering and see who we can.

This year we made the pilgrimage during the first week for a few reasons.  First: my Dad was going to be there from Hawaii too.  Second: we found out my Dad and Aunt Colleen have three half-siblings from their biological father's second relationship.  Their "new" half-sister, Debbie, was going to make the trip out to meet as many of us as possible.  It seemed like a good reason to head south.

We filled our days with a high-quality beach trip:

At one point, I looked out into the water to see both lifeguards hauling butt into the surf and swimming out to my whole family (minus me and Colter) to rescue them.  From my view no one was in actual distress but what did I know?  I watched as the first lifeguard reached Adell, tossed her the red floaty and started hauling her back to shore.  The second lifeguard approached Will and the big kids for a conversation.  They all swam back to the shore.  Adell reported: the lifeguards had watched Adell get pulled to the side in a riptide.  They know the water and the currents.  They felt the family was getting too far away and they knew the family could be overwhelmed quickly by the riptide.  The lifeguards thought it was in everyone's best interest to come closer to shore.  Everything was fine but I am SO thankful for lifeguards!  I am thankful they know their stuff and thankful they are willing to plow into the water to tell a family they are being unsafe.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The pool was a hit every. single. day (and night):

One night was Hawaii night, we ate loads of food and dressed in our Hawaiian finest.  Will and I didn't actually have any Hawaiian finest, so Uncle Richard gave us two shirts to put on so we wouldn't embarrass the family or ourselves. 

Adell made friends with another new family member, Melody, who is the stepdaughter of one of my cousin's children.  I know, it's complicated but the exact relationship doesn't matter.  What matters is how well they hit it off and how much fun they had together.  Just like the times they get to play with Rusty and Nicky, my kids know how to play with everyone and have a great time!

Another Johnson Fest fun was going through my Grandparent's slides.  My Dad went on a wild goose chase to track down a light table and projector that would load the slides.  It was so fun to see old pictures of my Dad and Aunt Colleen and their children. 

Debbie didn't arrive until the day our family had to leave.  We spent the morning with her chit-chatting and getting to know her a bit.  I was nice to meet her! 

It was a good trip!  We loved all the time we got with family.  We also loved the air b n b we stayed at a few blocks away from Aunt Colleen's house.  We had our own space, each kid got their own bed, and we all slept better knowing we weren't disturbing ALL of the relatives with our night time antics.  5 out of 5 stars, will book again!