Rainrock remembered

Three of my favorite people:

Devonna (aka "The Officer"), Nikki (aka "Rainrock's Alarm Clock"), and Polly (aka "My Chollo")

Last weekend was the Rainrock retreat, and I got to hang out with these 3 awesome girls for 3 days (along with about 8 other very awesome girls, as well).

Unfortunately...I didn't take any pictures at the actual retreat. I brought my camera, but I totally forgot to use it! Ooops. So, I found some old Rainrock pictures and thought I'd post them here for fun. Hope you don't mind, girls... :)

POLLY & DEVONNA with contraband

POLLY & ME making the crappiest gingerbread house ever created...

NIKKI & POLLY with even more contraband

POLLY & NIKKI the sports freaks

NIKKI & DEVONNA

NIKKI eating RICE, yes RICE!!!

NIKKI & ME hanging out in her room at Rainrock

ME, NIKKI & POLLY on the way back from snow-shoeing on Christmas Day

Love ya, Nikki.

Nikki brought Charlie this totally cool glow-in-the-dark shirt from Minnesota.

Nikki, Devonna and I went out to Edgefield when we got back to Portland

I love you guys. I miss you so much. I don't know what else to say, there's so much to say, but not here. I just miss you girls.

PS: POLLY, TAKE YOUR PILLS!!!

Gardening boys

Wanna know something I love about Shawn? He's a gardener.
For several months, he had been tending this beautiful plant that was growing up our back fence. I had noticed long ago that this plant was really just a weed, but I didn't have the heart to tell Shawn. Well, eventually the truth came out and the weed had to go. So we took a trip to Lowe's and got some real, live flowers to plant. Shawn had lots of help from Charlie planting his new garden. Charlie likes to say, "Let's go look at the flowers, dad," in a very serious voice. Then they both go out back and admire their hard work. They are both pretty proud of their little garden project.

Digging out some "new dirt" to plant the flowers in.

Watering the flowers is Charlie's daily chore.

Trying to escape the heat, in the pool.

Charlie's pretty chicken, but he's getting a little better.

Charlie took all 83 magnetic pieces of this little "castle set" and stuck them to the heater.

This kept him entertained for a very long time!


4th of July at the Wilsons! There must have been about 20 kids there, all under 4 years old...!!!

Sparklers

Charlie liked the "smokey" fireworks.

But once the noisy ones came out, he wasn't so sure.

After that, he pretty much hung out inside and watched movies and ate chips. :)

The bigger kids enjoyed the noisy ones!

The Burger King crown is this season's fashion must-have. And by all means, don't bother to take it off before going to sleep!

Being 2 is SO exhausting!

Things that happen at 2:00 am

Is it ever good news when your phone rings at 2:00 am?

Thursday night, at 2:00 am, my phone rang. It was my mom telling us they had just gotten "the call" from the hospital saying my Grandma Johnson was dying. Right now. What? Grandma had just gone to a routine doctor's appointment on Monday, and they had admitted her to the hospital that same day and diagnosed her with lung cancer. But, so quickly? This just couldn't be happening.

So, off we drove into the night. I kept thinking, as we were driving, that I didn't get to say goodbye. I had been trying to get to the hospital to see her, to give her a hug, to tell her I love her, but it never seemed to be a good time for me to go. So, I hadn't made it yet. My mom and I had been planning on going in the morning. But now, it was going to be too late. This was a woman, who, for the past 32 years of my life, has not forgotten one birthday - not one. Grandma Johnson was interested in every little detail of my life, wanted to hear it all, loved to get pictures and letters in the mail, cared so much about me. She had lived in Yuma, Arizona, until my parents moved her up here about a month ago so she could be closer to family. Grandma was smart, quick, finicky, fiesty, spunky, and man, don't you mess with her unless you want an earful! Was this really happening?

I got into the car with my parents to make the drive to the hospital. I just wanted to see her one last time, and I knew this was it. When we walked into the hospital room, I didn't recognize her. I thought we had walked into the wrong room. There was this old, frail woman laying in the bed. Her eyes were closed and she was trying so hard to breathe that her whole body was rising and falling with each breath. Her mouth was open and you could hear the fluid filling her lungs as she struggled to take each breath in and out.

My mom went around to one side of her bed and my dad and I stayed on the other. We took her hands. We told her it was okay to let go, hoping that she could hear us. I just sat and watched her face, thinking, "Is this how it ends?" So unreal. We were just sitting there, watching her die. It felt so wrong. I wanted to stop it. I wanted to call a doctor in to try to save her. But this is what she wanted. Her silver hair was thin and wispy, her hands spotted with age, a big, ugly bruise around her IV line. We all prayed, and for one of the very few times in my life, I watched my dad cry. This was his mom, the one who gave him life, and she was dying before his eyes.

I think it was too much for my dad - he wanted to go downstairs and get some coffee. So I went with him to the little cafe and we got coffee and sat at a table. I couldn't help but keep thinking about the old, old woman just upstairs whom we were so intimately connected to, breathing her last few breaths while we sat drinking our coffee. When we came back to the room, her body was still there, but she was gone. She had passed at 4:45 am. My uncle and aunt were there, everyone was crying silently, standing over her bed. It didn't feel real. I kept looking down at her, waiting for her to wake up but then reminding myself again that she was not going to.

I guess it still hasn't really hit me. My birthday is in a few days, and I keep thinking I'm going to get a card from Grandma Johnson, because I ALWAYS get a card from Grandma Johnson. I've gotten 32 birthday cards from Grandma Johnson. I just wish I would have known that last year's would be the last.

Emily Ruth Johnson, 93, formerly of Yuma, passed away on June 27, 2008, in Portland, Oregon. She is preceded in death by her first husband, Edward Morris, of California, and her second husband, Harvey Johnson, of Somerton, Arizona. Emily Ruth is survived by her sons, Charles Morris, of Portland, Oregon, John Morris, of Bend, Oregon, and Allen Johnson, of Kent, Washington. Also surviving are 4 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Emily Ruth was a watercolor, pastel, ceramic, and leather craft artist. She was also keenly interested in gardening, politics, and archaeology.In the 1940's and 1950's, Emily Ruth and her first husband were avid hunters and fishermen, spending much of their time in the Yosemite and King's canyon areas in the High Sierra mountains of California. With her second husband, Emily Ruth traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia, and lived in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, and the Canary Islands, as well as Alaska, Arizona, California, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Louisiana.In her elder years, Emily Ruth was involved in the Arizona Historical Society in Yuma, Arizona, where she lived for many years. She had only lived in Portland for about a month preceding her death. Emily Ruth was a devoted mother and grandmother and was greatly loved by her family.

Conversations with a 2 year old

Christine: "Tell Blake you're sorry for stepping on his toy."
Charlie: "No, I not say sorry, Aunt Kisteen. I not sorry."

Me: "When I say it's time for bed, you need to say, 'Okay, mommy.' "
Me again: "It's time for bed, Charlie."
Charlie: "Okay NOT, mommy."

Charlie, his upper lip raw from a bad cold: "Take it away, mommy."
Me: "Take what away, Charlie?"
Charlie, crying pitifully: "Take da hurt away, mommy."

Charlie (naming only 3 of the 4 people in the room): "Mommy's a kitty, Oma's a kitty, and Charlie's a kitty."
Me, referring to my grandmother who had just scolded him harshly: "Well, what about grandma? Isn't she a kitty, too?"
Charlie: "No, she's a lion, ROAR!"

Blue Lake Splash Park

It was a BEAUTIFUL day today, so we decided to try out the Blue Lake Splash Park.

I'm being super lazy and just sending you over to Christine's blog to see pics from today:

Click Here!!!

Charlie actually got a little wet - normally he's a big chicken and won't play. It was a lot of fun to watch him running around with the other kids and just having fun in the water. :)

Christine, let's do it again soon!