RJ science lab

RJ made the school newsletter.

RJ thinks to himself, "c'mon ... big explosion."

Recessed Lighting

After living in the dark for several years we decided to install recessed lighting in the living room.

Since the area above the living room was loosely-finished attic the project was not too difficult ... in theory. What we learned:

• Although there was a straight run from the existing single-gong box to the attic (only a single 2' x 4' to drill through), the process still took 3-4 hours.
• 14/2 wire is almost $1/foot.
• Working in the attic when it is 77 degrees out is still sweaty work
• Breathing without a mask while moving dusty insulation was a bad idea
• Wearing a short sleeve shirt resulted in two-days of itchy skin

RJ ran the wire around the attic and helped with the wiring

Turns out that wearing a long sleeve shirt would have saved a lot of itchy skin

Julia took a break from reading to get tools, clean up, and test the new switch (Sara still has to mud)

Kids night at Speedway

Hagerstown Speedway had kids night ... so Julia got in free (teenagers pay the student price) and each got a free snow cone and a ride around the track in a race car.

Warm in the sun ... things got chilly when the sun went down

 

Kids rode around track hanging out the window of the #32 car

We routed for the 32-car during the final race but the car didn't drift like the top ones in the race.

Other items of note:

• The 25 car was there and added to what is probably a record breaking losing streak.
• The concession stand closed before kids got their pretzels. But we survived. Barely. 
• Sara was sick so she missed out on the fun. Bummer. 

First day of 8th and 5th grade

Kids got off to they usual start. RJ was annoyed. Julia was excited.

The difference this year was that school started after the first round of the US Open Tennis tournament. The ESPN highlights included Daniil Medvedev's meltdown that Dad tried to re-create.

Julia tries to be cool by looking annoyed

Daniil Medvedev's meltdown re-enactment

Julia not trying to be cool

Ravens win 30-3

Sara and RJ went to the Commanders versus the Ravens preseason game. Hillary and Logan provided the tickets. 

After a 2.5 hour commute, team Johnson got to watch the second quarter

After missing entire 3rd quarter waiting for food the Ravens won 30-3!

Cleveland Guardian's Game

Sara's family got together at a Cleveland Guardians game ... Aunt Donna organized a sweet box for 30-40 people.

Met Suzie, David (not pictured), Laura, Johnny the day before the game

Sara's wallet stayed at home, so she had to deal with us while shoe shopping (and Petco - looking at fish/birds)

The next day we made it to the game ... 

Pic at entrance. Only pic where Doug wasn't 'batting' or 'throwing'

Family pic after getting to the box

Box with entire Cleveland crowd

Watching game, each of us had 3-4 sodas!

After the game, kids got to 'run the bases'

Doug shows the 2nd basement how to throw out a runner at first, without throwing the ball away

Doug bet $1 on the Guardians. Braves won, Doug lost, Doug was mad.

The Guardians committed 3 errors (one was not officially an error because nobody touched the infield popup). The three errors and 2 mental lapses accounted for 3 runs ... Doug should have won the bet.

Even though the game took 3 hours, we had fun. If you want to watch the game in 13 minutes ... here you go ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtPONmgvL8o. 

Climbing Camp

Kids attended climbing camp during the week of Aug 11. Both had fun. Both complained daily about how sore they were and how much their muscles hurt. The best part was they won some crawling game that they suggested ... and as a result, both had band aids from rug burns on their knees (see Cleveland trip pictures).

Bradley, Milo, RJ (Julia and Ava not pictures)

RJ acts as the belayer for Bradley 

Dizzy in Clear Spring

The annual tradition of the Clear Spring Carnival provided plenty of fun and treats. Doug opted out of rides due to a sore hip ... but still loved the noise and seizure-inducing lights.

Crowd consisted of: Doug, RJ, Julia, Brad, Carter, Kaleb, LJ, Rocco, Nico, Ava, Gunner. Heather, Mark, Sophia, and Vivian showed up as well.

Ava and Julia on OMG, otherwise known as the 'hamster wheel'

Julia managed to win this game ... and got a stuffy

Above: Brad goes nuts with spinning on-top-of-spinning. Doug was sick just looking at it.

We ate dinner before the event, but we still had room for funnel cakes!

Poor RJ was super dizzy by this time so he only had a bite or two. We blamed his clogged ear.

Sara spent the night running errands and testing a paint color

Boys above the trees at the top of the rainbow

Gunner went through the Sponge Bob fun house about 60 times. The big boys joined in.

Julia wanted to ride all night. This was her 4th consecutive ride on the rainbow. She helped the girls next to her to not be scared 

Alas, the night had to end eventually. So around 9:50pm the crowd demanded that I get Julia so we could head home. We forgot to take a picture with an eye closed and our tongue out ... next year!

2025 Peach Harvest

The 2025 peach harvest was successful due to getting ahead of the squirrels. Timeline:

June 19 - 25: Squirrel relocation
The squirrels decided they would start early this year. There were a LOT. During this period Doug relocated 10 squirrels.
 
June 26 - July 31: Spoilage and birds
During this period the lack of an official June drop led to a prolonged period of on-the-ground peaches. A few of the peaches were clearly pecked by birds. Doug piled the fallen peaches around the base of the tree. Our guess is that the smell kept the squirrels from getting too excited about what was behind the fence. 

July 28: New trees contribute
One of the four new trees had a grand total of 4 peaches. But wow they were big and juicy! Maybe we will actually thin the harvest so we get 150 great peaches instead of 500 medium sized ones?

Aug 1 - 7: Harvest
The absence of squirrels allowed us to space out harvesting. Some of the peaches that we picked later grew a bit after we took the first 250 off the tree. On Aug 5 a final squirrel decided to join the relocation plan.

2025 Peach Bowl
Spoilage*	200	Final
Johnsons	380
Birds	20
Squirrels**	0

* Estimated.

** Each squirrel got to eat 2 rotten apples and peanut butter on their ride to the park

Squirrel 4 of 12. I should have given him some gasoline.

New tree peaches were NICE because the tree focused all efforts on 4 peaches

Julia was the official peach catcher (before we acquired a slick fruit picking pole). Julia caught 100% of the peaches that Doug dropped ... except for one fumble. Her final success percentage was 97%. 

Julia catches peaches with 97% accuracy

Aug 2: two baskets ... one for good peaches, one for cutting up today

Bus ride to McLean

Sara and the kids tested public transit as a way to give the kids some independence going to McLean to get to 7-eleven and groceries.

The perfect plan was spoiled by the first bus being out-of-service

 

Bus finally arrived going the other way ... so the gang jumped on for some free air conditioning

 

Another long wait for the trip back to our house

 

What we learned: stay in school, get a job, save your money for a car!

Johnson's Barber Shop

Over the past 12 years Sara probably saved $3,600 after an initial investment of about $50 for 2 hair clippers (one died).

For some reason we decided to take pictures of this haircut ... 

Julia is just doing the combing for now

 

Shop-vac cleans hair off the porch ... and Doug!

Beach with the Grays

We visited Sea Isle City, NJ to hang out with Bradley and family for a long weekend. We missed a hot steamy weekend in DC for pretty-good beach weather.

 

RJ and Bradley dig a sizable hole. Later on 5 kids from 2-3 families played in it.

 

Team Gray and Team Johnson spent virtually the entire day on the beach

 

Kaitlyn helping Julia with her friendship bracelet

 

Waves were pretty good. Boys got a good tandem ride above. Doug caught some waves far out (by a sand bar). RJ crashed into the shore body surfing - his elbow hit and nearly dislocated his shoulder. Doug stepped on a horseshoe crab and continued to push his hip farther than it should have been pushed.

 

Ginger was always front and center ... but she didn't get any ice cream

 

A night on the boardwalk at Ocean City, NJ

oardwB

 

Pizza-eating seagulls almost got RJ's pizza

 

Julia being a mermaid ... she learned to duck under the waves

 

Room Swap

Julia and RJ decided to swap rooms. Since RJ got the bigger room, Julia got to pick the paint color of her 'new' room.

Planning how to get a lot of stuff into a smaller space

 

Painting her room with white lavender paint

 

Old speaker system was converted into a cubby

 

Re-assembling bed in new room

 

 

Random Summer Pics

Summer activities ... 

Parkour at Building Museum (July 17)

Outside Building Museum with Henry (July 17)

Doug swims Lake Sammamish during business trip to Bellevue, WA (July 16)

Milo's birthday, girls ate pizza at our house (July 18)

Girls weekend with Kelly and Jen (July 12)

Julia at zoo with panda (July 16)

RJ with naked mole-rat

7-Eleven day - Slurpee 1 of 5, after track practice (July 11)