Hooray Hooray....

   It was an Okoboji day.... You guessed it! That is were our little pack spent our Fourth of July! We got to spend an entire week in lake bliss with most of our Johnson clan. It was awesome! So relaxing, refreshing, nerve racking... Have you ever considered taking a 2 year old on a boat? Well we did, and if I can offer you a bit of advice, if your Little has ear tubes, do not leave the cabin without ear plugs in. Also, don't ever let your kids leave dry land without their life jackets on. Especially if they don't know how to swim (and maybe not even then)!!

Sunset on Lake Okoboji

  We had a whole week in lake bliss. We got to see the awesome fireworks show, or "fire pops" as my Little calls them. The whole family got out on the boat, swimming, cruising... my father in law even dropped a pair of his glasses into the lake! I tried to get them for him, but a very nice young man was more successful with his scuba goggles. Big went fishing and caught 13 fishes! He threw every single one back because they have to be with their mommy and daddy fishes. Daddy only caught 4 and Papa caught 5. It was an amazing first trip out fishing for him!

The best time making smores!

 The whole Johnson clan had a great system, perfected by the end of the trip of course, where the hubs and I would could the dinner, Mom would clean and Papa provided the food. It was great, we had a week of really great food! The one major setback to that was now, they know that I can cook, which means that now, I will be cooking more for family occasions. This will come in handy for our Sunday cleaning day!

  After 5 whole days up at the lake, it was so sad to pack up and move on to the next stop on our vacation trip. We headed over to Oregon, Il to visit my Dad's maternal cousins. I forgot how much I loved the scenery in Oregon. So peaceful and calm, I love that about smaller towns. If you ever go, and you love flea markets/antiques/ Junkstock (it's an awesome event here in Omaha) you HAVE to go to Conover Square! It used to be a piano factory, so they have pianos lining the halls which is so neat to see them all. BUT, most importantly, every floor is filled with little shops. That is where I find all the coolest items that I naturally have to buy. For instance, I got a "Mrs. Pot's" cookie jar, and end table that matches my coffee bar perfectly, several new coffee themed signs that match the theme of my life, and the best find, in my opinion, is my new wine bottle holder. It has to be one of the ugliest faces on a piece of "art" or whatever you want to call it that I have ever seen, but it is a Butler that holds your wine bottle. I have named him "Jeeves" and he is my favorite.

All in all, we had a great time away, relaxing and sad coming back.

Hang in there :)
~Catie