About a year ago Braydon and I started purposely blocking off a whole Saturday or Sunday on our calendars, every 6 weeks or so, to do absolutely nothing but chill out at home with our little family foursome. This summer we made a decision to expand on this by blocking off a whole weekend about every six weeks. We call these “Family Weekends.” For us it is a way to re-charge, re-group, re-bond, rejuvenate. For us — all four of us — it really seems to work. We have found that it works best if we actually go away (preferably overnight). But we can make do at home too. Requirements of our Family Weekends are as follows:

• No real cooking. We go out to eat, order take-out, or eat simple/easy-to-prepare foods… all weekend long.
• No real chores. No housework or yard work. No “projects.” No To-Do lists.
• No work. Period.
• No childcare (no babysitter).
• No social engagements whatsoever. I.e., no plans with friends, no play-dates, no get-togethers, no birthday parties, no social events. Just the four of us.

This past weekend was a Family Weekend. We decided to stay put at home. It was good. Highlights were

1. The boys got new bikes! Their first real bikes (with training wheels)! This had been long-anticipated. We had told them we’d get them bicycles when the swimming pool closed. Braydon did tons of research and got his boys the best dang bikes around. ;0 He had brought the boys to the bike store twice to look at their new bikes, get sized for helmets, etc. K & O were very excited. Saturday morning, after we went out for breakfast (Owen had a Belgian waffle; Kyle had a corn muffin; Braydon and I had omelettes), we went straight to the bike store. Kyle’s bike is red. Owen’s is blue. Happy Happy Boys Boys. FOR PHOTOS CLICK HERE
2. It was hot and humid here this weekend. Saturday afternoon involved ice cream (Kyle still continues to almost exclusively choose milkshakes?!!?!; Owen is finally experimenting with fun-and-exciting [and drippy] ice cream cones… preferably with jimmies!), and then… FOUNTAINS. for photos click here
3. Sunday was our Third Annual Fall Traugers Farm Trip. Traugers Farm sells their produce, etc. year-round, and we regularly frequent this farm store. But Traugers Farm in October is a whole other thing. They have horse-drawn hay-rides, their own farm-pressed cider and farm-grown popcorn, tons of pumpkins, and little corn maze made just for little-little kids (they plant the corn very late in the season so the stalks are only about 4-5 feet high). As I’m sure you can imagine, K & O love the whole entire experience. FOR PHOTOS CLICK HERE.

We never left a 10-mile radius of our house, but it was a great Family Weekend nonetheless. See photos below (as always, you can click on any photo to expand).

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The highlight of the weekend, for Braydon and I, was toward the end of our Traugers Farm visit. The boys were calming down a bit from all the excitement and were drinking lemonades. Kyle was wandering around checking out the mums and gourdes. Owen spotted The Farmer (like the head honcho, owner/manager/boss man of this very large operating farm) sitting alone at a large picnic table taking a break and quietly watching the locals and tourists alike swarming his farm. The boys and I had met this man once before — this summer. It was a hot summer day and we had stopped at Traugers to buy corn. We were the only ones there. The Farmer was teaching a young man how to use the pea-shucking machine. He was clearly busy, but he invited Kyle and Owen to come over and watch. And as they watched he took handfuls of freshly shucked peas and gave them to K & O to eat. The boys loved the peas, of course, and the boys were enamored with The Farmer, of course. The Farmer seems subtly taken with K & O— a quiet, reserved man of few words… but he ended up giving me my dozen ears of corn for free and telling me to “bring the boys back to see him soon.” We’ve been back before but haven’t seen The Farmer again, until Sunday. So… toward the end our Traugers Trip Owen spots him at a large picnic table. Owen proceeded to quietly and calmly make his way to the table, and sit down with The Farmer. The two of them sat there together, taking it all in, just a few quiet words exchanged between them every now and then, for a good 10-15 minutes (a very long time for Owen to sit so still). Eventually Owen was off and running again. The Farmer asked us about the boys — where they were from, etc. We chatted for a bit. Then it was time to go. Completely unprompted, Kyle ran to The Farmer, climbed up in his lap, and gave him a huge hug and kiss. The Farmer took it in stride, hugging Kyle back. Then he gave Owen a big high five and an even bigger smile. As we were about to leave, The Farmer told Braydon and I that when the boys are old enough he’d like for them to come work on his farm with him. He was entirely serious. He was smitten with them. And the boys with him. It was one of the sweet, sweet moments of this Family Weekend.

For those of you who are new to our blog… My family of origin is very Swedish (almost 100% Swedish on both of my parents’ sides):
MorMor = “Mother’s Mother” in Swedish
MorFar = “Mother’s Father” in Swedish

A couple of weeks ago my mother called from her cell phone. They were at an antique auction with some friends they were visiting in Vermont. There was a “real trombone” at the auction, they thought they could bid and get it for $40. They wanted to know if they should go for it. I practically screamed into the phone: “OH MY GOD! YES! BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!” They did. My parents then spent approximately 20 hours (yes, TWENTY hours!) polishing the thing. Surely it had been stuck in the corner of someones attic for a very long, long time. My parents said it was very grubby. We said, “don’t worry about it! he won’t care if it is shiny!” But MorMor and MorFar insisted. Only the best and brightest trombone for their boy. By the time MorMor and MorFar carefully packaged this instrument and shipped it off to Pennsylvania, the thing was as beautiful and shiny as you could possibly imagine. Every single time a box has arrived through the mail at our house for the past six months Kyle has said, excitedly, hopefully, optimistically: “Maybe it is a trombone!” For six long months he’s endured disappointment—- “no, it is some books for Mama’s work”; “no, it is a computer part for Papi’s office”; “no, it is a new water filter”; “no, it is new shoes”; “no, it is _________” [fill in the blank, never a trombone]. The poor child. But he’s handled it exceptionally well, all things considered. Never has he expressed anger or upset or frustration. Only just genuine hope that “Maybe the next time it will be a trombone.” For lack of anything better to say, we’ve said, “Yes, maybe.” (not wanting to burst his bubble, but at the same time not very optimistic ourselves at the prospects of him receiving — from us, or anyone else — a “real trombone”… Braydon had done the research on eBay… these instruments, even old and used and beat up, were pricing out in the thousands.) Fast forward to Saturday evening. Unbenounced to the boys, a box had arrived in the mail earlier that day. After dinner, the box was brought out. As always: “Maybe it is a trombone!” Kyle said. “Maybe!” we said. My heart was racing. We were very anxious about how he’d react. The boys got their scissors and we opened up the box. The look on Kyle’s face was priceless. Indescribable. I put my hand over his little chest. His heart was beating so hard and so fast it was practically jumping out of his chest. Yes, it was a real trombone. The 45 minutes that followed were greater than any Christmas morning or Birthday party that Braydon and I have ever witnessed, anywhere, ever, in our lives. This child was beyond cloud 9. “I really love trombones” he kept repeating over and over and over and over. We had wondered if he’d even be strong enough to hold the thing. Yes, he could hold it. We had wondered, even if he could hold it, could he make any sound come out of it. Yes, yes, yes, he could. At the first attempt he could play it, loudly. He could slide the slide in and out and play various ‘notes’ (not pretty sounds, mind you, but sounds, loud sounds). And he could play it and march with it at the same time. It was hard for him to fall asleep Saturday night, just knowing that trombone was in the house. Sunday morning he woke up at 6:45 am and literally ran to our bed– “Papi, please I play my real trombone Papi pllllease?” He was in the basement with his Papi playing the trombone at 6:46 am on Sunday. He had a hard time parting with it at any point yesterday. This morning, same thing– ran to our bed (this time 6:40am), “Please can I play the trombone? Right now? Please?” We told him he had to wait until Owen woke up. They were both downstairs, Kyle playing trombone, Owen playing sand-slide cymbals, at 7:00 am sharp. We had a two-man marching band around and around our bed from about 7:02-7:30am. By 8:30 this morning, less than 48 hours after its arrival, with all four of us in the playroom, Kyle was playing a very short and basic trombone version of Mozart’s Eine Kline Nachtmusic. No joke folks, no joke. You sorta have to see it to believe it. These photos don’t nearly do it justice.

Well, folks, there is a lot we don’t blog about. This (see press release below) has been one of those many, many, many things that have been off-the-blog-radar all along. In addition to everything else, for the past 3+ years, Braydon has been working his bum-bum off, round the clock, 24 x 7, to create, start, build, and launch his own business. It is an internet start-up ~~ a social networking music download service. This is a big deal for us. We’ve been investing heavily in this since January 2004. Investing our money, our brain-power, our energy, and most of all… our time… into this. We are hoping it pays off. But either way, Braydon is just incredible for getting it as far as he has. Unless you have ever started your own business from scratch (or supported your life-partner doing it), then trust me, you really can’t even imagine how intense the whole thing is. Believe me. It is a tough row to hoe (especially when you are also in the process of adopting, bringing home, and raising twin Haitian-American boys AND you have a wife with a full-blown career herself). “Tough” is the understatement of the year. Anyway, today the rVibe beta is launching. Big day for the Johnson-McCormick household. Big, big day. I’m so incredibly proud of my brilliant, determined, brilliant, persistent, and BRILLIANT husband and soul-mate. YOU GO BOYFRIEND!!!

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Glory be – a dream come true! I took the boys to the Collegiate Marching Band Festival today. Now just to be clear, this would be Kyle’s dream if he had known such a thing existed. This is not my, Heather’s and not Owen’s dream, but it is most definitely Kyle’s dream. And it was a dream come true – a was a gorgeous day, perfect weather and it was very exciting. Kyle and Owen brought their trumpets (toys) with them and carried them for the entire afternoon.

We arrived and got a chance to see a few bands warming up including the Morgan State Marching Band. I think it was the only all black band there (not entirely sure), so I was thrilled that we happened upon their practice. And they rocked. Really – a good marching band is really something to see.

Once we got to the stadium it was pure Marching Band Action – and both boys were enthralled. We got to see three different Marching Bands perform (there were 17 that day) and for us Morgan State was the best. Kyle Grooved to it, “playing” his trumpet and moving it up and down like the bands were doing. Owen lost interest after a while, but found interest in jumping from bleacher to bleacher and acting as traffic cop/toll gate to people down the stairs.

When it was time to leave we got to walk through where all the buses were and Marching Bands were lined up to go into the stadium and others were doing final touch ups on their performances. Both boys managed to touch pretty much every single instrument and performer they saw on the street.

A marching great day all around!