The Johnsons Rule Jim Thorpe

On the occasion of my nephew Thomas' wedding, which was at a church 45 minutes away from the Johnson cousins, my sister-in-law Sarah paved the way for a few days spent visiting them.  They recently moved back to the mountains, and she generously gave us an airbnb all to ourselves for our stay. The whole thing! Sleeping, cooking and baking, taking baths, reading, playing board games-- it was just like home, only tinged with the thrill of the exotic because it wasn't home.

We had a wonderful visit catching up with Pete, Sarah, and their seven sons and re-acquainting ourselves with the town we'd last seen when they only had four sons. Here are children in their luxurious yard. I post this picture of green grass because seeding it and babying it to this state was Pete's labor of love, and it's impressive.

Oh, babies. You are so good at being babies.

Aidan is FIVE now. I think we covered that in his birthday post, but here's more visual confirmation. As you can see, Ezra is older and won the showdown.

I turned around when I heard a cackle of delight. It was Simeon, pleased as punch to be filling another cone with the very last of the melted ice cream drips. If you know Simeon, you can hear that cackle echoing...

SHARK ATTACK!  Oh, wait, that's just a musical shark playing Beatles music-- probably We All Live in a Yellow Submarine.

Hm. Looks a lot like August.

Zeke was swallowed by the shark, too.

Their yard borders a lovely, old church all covered in vines.

Our stay in the airbnb was magical. Millie's the only one who remembers our last stay in Jim Thorpe, and it was fun to see the younger ones experience the same awed pleasure at staying in a house all to ourselves. To make it even more exciting, it had three bedrooms, plus a bed in the living room, so they got to choose their own spaces for sleeping.  The younger ones got the living room, all alone in the downstairs, which was both exhilarating and spooky for them.

And in the morning, when the bigger girls took it over.

Board games with the best papa.

Walks into town.

The train station.

Aidan was absolutely transfixed by this giant hunk of anthracite. When I told him I could take his picture next to it, he soberly froze...

...and then flashed this fake grin when I told him it was okay to smile.

Jim Thorpe's library charmed us.

Accidentally leaving Ezekiel there when we left and mildly traumatizing him was not the library's fault.

Sarah knows a thing or two about children. One of the tricks in her pocket is the knowledge that ice cream makes everything better, which is why when we met up at the park to play, she brought a cooler full of ice cream. This made her the best friend of every child there (because she is also kind enough to share).

Because she knows a thing or two about children, she also stocked the airbnb with sugar cereal. The Crispy Oats I had packed for one of our breakfasts remained untouched.

The little sugarhounds tore right into Aunt Sarah's boxes, though.