Start of a New Adventure

Hello Everyone,

You may have noticed a lack of posts here in recent months. Jumpin' J's little sister was born on December 4th and we have been very busy getting settled in as a family. Since our family has a new member we have started a new blog for you all to enjoy. We will be archiving Jumpin' J's Adventures but you can visit us at our new location: http://potsyvilledailytribune.blogspot.com

See you all at The Paper!

Grandpa Gary's Mini Vacation

Jumpin J is a very lucky boy because 3 of his 4 grandparents (not counting his greats) live about an hour or less from our house. The one exception to this is Grandpa Gary, Mommy's dad, who lives in Colorado. He usually only makes it out here to see us at Christmas time unless there is a family function so we were very excited when he announced that he was coming to visit for a few days.

He flew in on Saturday and spent the night with Uncle Andrew and Auntie Kim. And then Uncle Andrew brought him to our house on Sunday and he just left this morning. Jumpin' J and Grandpa had a great time reading, playing trains, playing animals, watching Peter Pan, and just hanging out. And Grandpa got to go with J and I to our WMM Halloween Party and Parade so J got all dressed up and off we went. A very entertaining time for all I think ;)

It was sad to see him have to leave again so soon but he'll be back in a couple months for Christmas and by then we'll know whether Jumpin' J has a baby brother or sister.... see you then Grandpa Gary!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Gary

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!! Have a super dooper day and we hope we get to see you soon!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Potter

Happy Birthday Grammy! We hope you have a fabulous day and we will see you this weekend for a fun time on Block Island!!!

Pickles and a Concert

Yesterday my brother and I took our mom, aka Grandma Laurie, to a Chicago concert for her birthday! Since J's dad is on a business trip J got to tag along, well for dinner anyway...


Then J stayed at Miss Laura's house (one of Grandma's friends) while we went to the concert! I hadn't realized that Grandma saw them in the 70's too so it was like a flashback for her. And since Uncle Andrew and I were almost the only people there under 50 it seemed like there might be some serious flashing back going on. But it was great! They played a little of their really early stuff for Uncle Andrew, some of their 80's stuff for me, and all of their great 70's stuff for all of us! Did you know that Chicago has the second highest number of albums after the Beach Boys, guess we were raised on the classics!!! Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Happy Birthday Auntie Donna

Happy Birthday to Daddy's sister, Auntie Donna!!! We miss you tons but hope your new job is going great!!! We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Packages for J

If anyone was wondering how to make J the happiest little boy in the world the answer is simple.... send him a package in the mail. It doesn't matter what's in it as long as his name is on the outside and it's for HIM!

For Valentine's Day Grandpa Gary and Donna sent him a package which he carefully carried back home from the mailbox in two hands as instructed and then proceeded to open. The clothes inside, which were cute, were really of no interest to him but he kept talking about his "package" for days!

Welcome to The Family Baby Brad

Jumpin' James has a new cousin, Baby Brad!!! He was born today at 12:36pm and weighed in at 8lbs and 9oz!

He joins J plus his other big cousins, Cailey, Harvey, Jackson, and Wyatt in joining the Johnson clan!!! Congratulations to Hannah and Deano!!! There's definitely a family resemblance, don't you think? Or maybe it's just their cone heads ;)

J is so excited to meet you Baby Brad!!!!

Double Greats

One of the best things, for me at least, of going to Florida with Jumpin' J and Sean was getting to see my family. I was very lucky to not only get to see all of my grandparents but also to see some of my great aunts and uncles, or Double Greats for J.

Grandma Johnson's sister, Norma, and her husband, Morris, live just a hop, skip, and a jump from Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got to go over to their house to visit and J was psyched to see Uncle Morris' train set!! He even borrowed their grandson, Vaughn's, engineer's cap for a few minutes while watching the electric trains. And Aunt Norma generously fed J all the grapes his little belly could hold.

And then when we were at Grandpa Kimball's his only sister, Corrine, and her husband, Harry, drove quite a ways to come have lunch with us and meet J. They live in Daytona Beach so it was a little bit of a haul for them but we really appreciated it. J was fascinated with Aunt Corrine's merry-go-round necklace! And he loved the dish set that they brought him!

Thanks to all of our relatives for taking the time to visit with us, we really had an awesome time! We hope to see all of you again soon!!!

Gampa Kimba and Arlene

Next on our tour of the middle of Florida was a trip to The Villages to see my Grandpa Kimball and his girlfriend, Arlene in their new house. While Grandma and Grandpa Johnson have been in FL for over a decade, Grandpa Kimball and Arlene are relatively new converts to the pleasures of the state. And they decided to buy a place in The Villages. The Villages is this amazingly huge planned community for 55+ residents with golf courses, shopping, country clubs, restaurants, and every club and activity you could possibly imagine.



Jumpin' J loved to ride in "Gampa Kimba"'s bright yellow golf cart and was thoroughly entertained by the ship playground they have in the closest community center to their house. We all got to eat honeybells which are soooo good that we actually had some shipped home!! Honeybells resembles a naval orange, but are actually a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit. They are only available during the month of January so we just caught them. They are super super juicy and sweet and they are sooo yummy!

We got to try out a bunch of their different restaurants, my favorite being this great Spanish style restaurant right on the golf course where we ate lunch one afternoon!

Memories Shared By Generations

As a kid I remember visiting my grandparents in South Carolina. I went several times with my parents and once with my cousin Hannah. And each time one of my clearest memories is of swinging in their wicker hanging chair. So it was with great pleasure that I saw that they still had it in their kitchen. While it's not the original it looks just like it! It was so great to see J swinging in it and know that another generation had now realized the fun of that chair.

And Grandma had to get a picture of J with the bell that my father had bought for my grandparents when I destroyed theirs when I was about J's age. I don't remember doing it but can imagine how it happened.

Thanks for all the great new memories Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Grrrrr Alligators

Grandma and Grandpa took us to one of their favorite and very yummy restaurants, Stumpknockers. Everyone but me had their world famous catfish and Sean by-passed my father's previous record on the all you can eat catfish!

Outside the restaurant is a super huge statue of an alligator. First Sean fed J to the alligator and as soon as we let J go he climbed right up to ride the thing. Look at the pure unadulterated joy on his face, grrrr!!!

Poo Poo Pee Doo

I'm not sure who exactly sang this song originally but as far as Jumpin' J is concerned it's the bear in Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's porch. He would listen, watch, and dance along with that bear 'til the cows come home!

It goes like:
I wanna be loved by you
I wanna be kissed by you
...
Poo Poo Pee Doo!



But really the only part that matters is that last line and J loved it so much that he is still running around shouting "Poopeedoo" at the top of his lungs! It's so hilarious that I can't even admonish him for being so loud!

Poo Pee Doo!!

So Many Roosters, So Little Time to Crow

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson both have many fun and entertaining collections but it was sooo funny to see Jumpin' J when he would see another rooster. Grandma has collected roosters for as long as I can remember so there are a lot of them all over the house. And J was just so excited every time he saw a new one. He would say "cocka" and point, so cute! He also discovered that the little Mickey and Minnie that Grandma gave him could ride the two cockas that were in the kitchen, pure enjoyment right there!

Fun at Grandma & Grandpa Johnson's

Our first stop on our Florida Grandparents Tour was my Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. They were superb hosts!!!

Grandpa very generously gave up his office so that Jumpin' J could sleep. And Grandpa's Porche and lighthouse collection were both sources of constant interest to J.

Grandma didn't cringe too much when J dropped the vase her mother had given her. We are soooooo sorry Grandma. And all the cockas (roosters) in Grandma's collection were great fun!

J quickly figured out how to open the door to their garage and had a great time sneaking out. J charmed both of them with his chatty ways and inability to sit still during meals even when completely hog-tied to the chair ;)

We loved visiting them and hope we can see them this summer if they can make it up to NH!

Squareheads Unite

No, not Spongebob Squarepants, SQUAREHEADS! That's what my Grandpa K, Pops to J, calls us Norwegians! J is lucky enough to be Norwegian on both of his paternal sides so he is a Super Duper Squarehead!



Jumpin' J and I leave for Florida tomorrow. Tonight we get to sleep over Uncle "Anru" and Auntie Kim's house since Anru is driving us to the airport in the morning! What a great brother I have!!!!!!

J's dad is going to meet us down there. While in Florida we're going to be staying with Grandpa and Grandpa J, some fellow Squareheads, as well as the above mentioned Pops and his girlfriend Arlene! It should be a blast and we are really excited. Hopefully it'll be warm enough for swimming outside because I bought J a cool Red Sox bathing suit!!!

Don't despair loyal readers I've set up some blogs to post while we're gone! Have a great week everyone and we'll have lots to write about when we get home!!!

Grandpa Gary Likes Thomas Too

Grandpa Gary and Donna came down the day after Christmas to visit with us and give Jumpin' J his presents! He was totally loving the Thomas set and trains that they got for him. And they also got him a wicked cool Thomas ornament that he kept taking off the tree to try to play with! He even got a train named Arthur which is Grandpa Gary's real first name, super neat!

Grandpa, Uncle "Anrew", and Daddy had a great time setting up the Thomas set that J had just gotten and connecting it to the set that Santa had brought. Meanwhile J just kept running around and around the table trying to get in to play! Big boys and little boys all love trains!!!

What are BIG cousins for?

To help you play with your toys of course! We had a great time in the evening on Christmas Day with the entire Potter family! From the great food and company to the always fantastic and fun Yankee Swap we all had a super time!

Rip, Thank You, Rip, Thank You

After breakfast on Christmas morning Grandma Laurie, Uncle "Anrew", and Auntie Kim came to open presents at our house! J opened up most of his presents before he went down for a nap! He was so cute opening presents, he would rip off a small piece of paper and hand it to who ever was "heping" and say "tank you" as he handed you each piece. He had us all cracking up!

I do want to give a big shout out to Uncle Andrew for his creativity in wrapping Sean's and my gift this year! He taped together a bunch of money and then used it as wrapping paper to wrap a box of truffles. He even made a bow! Very impressive indeed!!

Eve with the Kimballs

Jumpin' J, his dad, and I went up to my grandpa's house on Christmas Eve to visit with my mom's side of the family. J loved seeing his big cousin Margaret!!

He had a great time "watering" Pops' tree with his new turtle watering can.

And generally kept everyone laughing including himself!