I have great family. Â I can’t tell you how much I appreciate them. Â My brothers and my sister have been great to my kids and for me, that means so much. Â Growing up I didn’t know my aunts and uncles all the well outside of my Aunt Agnes that I’ve told you about. Â (read here if you missed it) My others either lived further away or we didn’t see them a lot.
My kids are on the younger end of the cousins. Â There are 22 in all.
The spread between my sister Judy and I is 16 years and there and three boys, Jule, Jay and Jim, are in between. Â My kids always enjoy seeing their aunts and uncles and all the cousins. Â I love that. Â For a long time I had felt a bit like I deprived my kids their cousin experience by moving to Iowa. Â Happily, as they’ve gotten older, the cousins have formed more of a bond than ever. Â Part of that is due to my brother Jule.
Jule and his wife Wendy are awesome. Â For years and years Jule had a band. Â My first memories of Jule have been of him playing guitar. Â As a kid him and friends would practice out on my mom and dad’s open front porch. Â It was so cool to have a big brother that could be in a band. Â I was little…Jule is 11 years older than me so when he was 17…I was six. Â He would let me play tambourine. Â I thought he was a coolest and honestly…still do.
This past weekend Kalissa, Craig, Carver and Karl made a trek to see Uncle Jule, Aunt Wendy and all the cousins. Â It’s more fun than ever for them now that they’ve gotten older and the five or more years of age difference between the cousins don’t make as much difference.
Jule is a magnet for anyone who loves music and has done a wonderful job with his tribe of children and grandchildren cultivating them into performers. Â He has built a music room in his basement and has tripped it out with all the neatest equipment. Â Wendy is regularly posting videos of songs the kids put together and music that they are working on. Â I love seeing it all and am so thankful that she posts it on Facebook so I can see it.
Here’s what they were working on over the weekend with some of my family included.
That’s Kalissa singing..Karl is playing bass…Craig on drums…Jule on guitar and Krysta playing guitar too. There are others doing vocals. See why they love going to Uncle Jule’s??
Carver got totally loved on too….See?
Here’s Aunt Wendy.
Here’s his cousin Avery….What a cutie!
Here is with his Daddy.
Kalissa and Carly even headed to the cities and caught a Miranda Lambert concert.
Here’s a great picture of a happy Karl.
No trip to visit Uncle Jule and Aunt Wendy is complete without a trip to THE BEST MEXICAN RESTAURANT EL MoLINOS in Waseca. Â You can see Craig is a happy boy!
I am so happy that I was blessed with good family. Â It’s great to see them hanging out together even if I couldn’t be there.
I think they’re making this a tradition and calling it Spring Break with the Johnson Family….Others might want to head to the beach for Spring Break. Â My youngest two will take a trip to Uncle Jule’s instead.
Family time is the best, thanks for sharing with all of us.
I love El Molenas! It is my favorite Mexican restaurant!
No moss will ever grow under Kalissa. She’s a little energizer bunny! Always busy and always on the go. And a talented one! And the boys are too. Thanks for sharing.
I am very fortunate that I spent my early years on the farm with my aunts and uncles. My one aunt is only four years older than me and more like a sister. My parents have an eighteen year span in ages of grandchildren. My one aunt has a place in northern WI that we all try to get together once a year and have fun and your brothers place sounds like that for your family. Memories are the best thing we can give to our families!
Sounds fantastic! yeah!
In the video, why do they all have headphones on?
Awesome family!
I absolutely loved the video!! Especially considering how quickly it was made! Melissa has a wonderful voice.
Dumb old spell check
Your family is multi talented!! Great job guys!!!!!
Super cool! So enjoyrd the song!
What lucky kids you have! My family moved to Florida when I was 3 and never got to know our other relatives. So happy for you!