Summer & Beyond - a Recap

Since we haven't posted updates in so long, prior to our recent trip, we thought it'd be good to give a brief recap of less than recent events.

In February, we moved from our on-campus apartment to the first floor of a house near our church. It's a cute place, bigger than we had, but much older and with a very different floor-plan. We have less rooms, but all the rooms are bigger. A big plus was the yard, in which our puppy Bode can run and play! And that's actually the only part that I have a picture of at this moment:


You know that Juan has been doing wedding photography, and the business has been going well! But did you know he also does occasional photography for events at Southern? Here's the President, Al Mohler:


In May we were privileged to do a wedding for our friend Bry's brother. Why we don't have a picture of some of our closest friends Matt & Bry, I don't know. I guess when we're together we just have such a great time we forget all about pictures. But it was a joy to do that wedding, and as a bonus, it was in Kirksville, Missouri! The Macleans had no idea that we would actually love a little farm town like Kirksville, but it felt like a great vacation away from busy-ness, like it was the Shire or something. And Bry's family is such a blessing to be with. We felt right at home. On our way back from Missouri we stopped in St Louis to see the arch, just to say we did. It was quite impressive! We did not go up in it.


Just after we got back, we picked up our new addition - Bode Thedog Maclean! You've seen the pictures, here's one more puppy one just because...


For some months now, we have been reading the Harry Potter series. We were never interested until so many friends kept talking about how great it is. We're just about to start book 6 - so don't snitch on the ending! That would be very rude. But some people are way too into the whole thing, like whatever stranger it was whose car we spotted at an ice cream shop:

Well, it is pretty funny...

Debbie's dear friend Hannah from Lynchburg came to visit in June! It was SO nice to see her and tour around Louisville stuff. I'm sure we took pictures, but I can't seem to find them at the moment. Hannah, have any pictures? On this long weekend we got to go to an art museum and just run around and catch up on life. Thanks for coming, Hannah! Everything is a party when you're here.

Debbie's parents came in for a long weekend just before Juan's birthday in July. We checked out Churchill Downs, and they took us to see the Lion King!

It just took a bit of time to get used to people dressed up as animals, but then it was REALLY good! I think even Dad enjoyed it. Thanks so much for such a great time!

And then it was Juan's birthday! 27 years old - officially "late 20's". We just had a small gathering at our place. Debbie printed out head-shots of Juan and put paper print-out party hats on them, and taped them up all over the house. Bry made this great cake:


Also this summer we went to a Nickel Creek concert.

with our friends Jack & Heather

Woo hoo! Great times

Our friends Tom & Nikki who have been home in Colorado all summer are back! Welcome back, we missed you cats!


And that brings us back to our early August adventure!

Helpful note:

For a chronological viewing of the Maclean Tale, go to the bottom and start at Part 1.

There & Back Again - a Maclean Tale - Final Farewells

Correction, Part 6 was on SATURDAY.


On Sunday we said farewell to our dear friends. Thanks to modern technologies like phone, e-mail, and the blogosphere, we can still keep in touch. But it was still sad to leave. I think most of us teared up. But it was all worth it to be together again.

Chad & Erika - we love you guys. Thanks for welcoming us into your spacious abode. Thanks for living in CA and not somewhere boring like a corn field or a swamp. Thanks for your continued friendship. So when's the next Johnston/Maclean Family Vacation?

There & Back Again - a Maclean Tale - Part 6

Friday already. After a bit more time at the shop (our last day there), the now 5 of us headed out to be tourists. We visited Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The best word I can think of for the whole thing was "strange", and Juan would add a little "sad". First off, Hollywood is pretty much a dump. Tourists gathered in mass outside the Chinese Theatre, where there were people dressed up in terrible character costumes. We saw a Darth Vader talking on his cell phone, and a Spider Man wearing a fanny pack. We didn't bother getting out of the car, but traffic was moving so slowly that we didn't feel like we missed anything. We moved on to Beverly Hills and stopped at a cute little park that literally had the softest grass we'd ever felt. It felt like memory foam was underneath it. Then we went to drive through neighborhoods of enormous and gorgeous homes and wondered what these people do for a living and imagined what on earth any of us would do with a place that big! Then off to the shops at Beverly Hills.

Unfortunately they were all closed for some reason, but we saw countless shiny pricey cars. All of us were stunned to see a car that literally costs 1 million dollars! This isn't one, but check out these cars!


At the end of the day, though, the place felt kind of empty and alone. We were thankful to have such great friends, and even far above that, the love of our Savior, giving us joy in all circumstances. Whether rich or poor in this life, we are only sojourners in this temporary home, and we look forward to dwelling with Jesus in the riches of heaven forever. What a great and undeserved blessing to share this life with such great friends who also share in the same future. Grace upon grace!

There & Back Again - a Maclean Tale - Part 5

On Friday we spent some time at the shop while Chad & Erika were working. Aren't they cute working together?


Seth Trittipoe came that day. He's a fun dude to hang around, and he joined us in the rest of our party festivities. Before heading out for the rest of our day's fun, Debbie made Juan take a prom picture.


Chad's dad has a great pool, hot tub, and a gymnastics gym he gave us access to after hours. That was a really fun random thing for us to do that, on the next day, made us all feel as old as we're getting - that wasn't much to speak of for Seth, but the rest of us old fogies ain't what we used to be. Before feeling the pain, we jumped around on the trampolines, swung out into a foam pit from a rope, and used some kind of pulley thing to do flips. It was crazy fun for all.


Chad is the most daring of the 4, and he seemed to spend much of his time this night upside-down.


The foam block pit was SO fun to dive into, but really hard to get out of. That's Chad, Erika & Juan struggling to stay above foam.

Every night at the Johnstons we went to bed exhausted. Thanks guys!

There & Back Again - a Maclean Tale - Part 4

On Thursday, Chad & Erika had to work all day. Hey, you gotta pay the bills! So the Macleans took the opportunity to do something they've dreamed of doing together for years - went to Disneyland!


Debbie in Tarzan's treehouse


Aaarrrggghhh!!!! Scallywag Pirate looks good on us I think


We took our picture with every character we found.


Pardon me, little lady

We couldn't resist some fun on the teacups...





Yeah, we felt slightly sick after that, but still worth it.

It's been fun! So long, Disney!


Side note of praise: apparently there was an earthquake in LA probably as we were driving back from Disney. We didn't feel it. Thank you Lord!

There & Back Again - a Maclean Tale - Part 3

After just a while at the shop on Tuesday, the 4 of us headed to Newport Beach! This was basically the best beach in the US we've ever been to - tons of soft sand, bigger waves, and somehow, fewer people! Chad & Juan braved what's known to locals as "The Wedge". It's an area of beach where the waves break right onto the sand, so if you get stuck in the wrong place, you get a giant wave slamming you into the sand with no cushion at all. The waves there can get enormous, but fortunately (in Erika & Debbie's mind fortunately) they were smaller those days. The guys still got pretty pounded, but they seemed to think that was part of the fun. The ladies were just happy they made it out with nothing broken. But it was great times with the Johnstons, just walking around, hanging out on the beach for 2 days, and chatting in our hotel for one night.


Juan & Chad, happy to be alive after their run-ins with the wedge


Oh look it's Brangelina! Wait no, it's Chadika! We love these rock stars.


Sometimes they ditched us for strangers with crazy facial hair. Who ARE these people?

We got to see the sun set over the ocean, only available on the West Coast.





Did we mention that we love these Johnstons?

There & Back Again - a Maclean Tale - Part 2

We landed in LA, picked up a car, stopped at the infamous In N Out for some excellent burgers and fries, and then on to the even more infamous Augie's Coffee Shop.



What happened next has already been chronicled in a previous post - and it was great! It was so good to see Chad & Erika I think we all teared up. And then it was kind of like that feeling you get at Christmas aftering opening all your present and eating all your food and then you don't know what to do. There was so much anticipation and then it had finally arrived, we didn't know what to do with ourselves or what to say. But that wore off in about 5 minutes and it was back to the old friends hanging out as always.

Here's Mike, currently their only employee, who helped us arrange our surprise and gave them some extra time off to hang with us:


What a guy!

Did we mention that Augie's is the best coffee shop around? Check out this attention to detail!


MMMMMMM........Upon request, Chad can create a mean skull and crossbones latte, too!

There & Back Again - a Maclean Story - Part 1

Tons of stories could be told and photos shared about our incredibly fast trip. That's to be expected when you get so much time with good friends. Here's a really brief album of our adventures....

Our first stop was to take our puppy to WV where he stayed with Debbie's grandparents. Grandma wrote a diary of Bode events so we could know what he'd been up to. It's really cute, written from his perspective, and includes things like chewing up a roll of TP, getting chased by an automatic vacuum, ignoring some deer, and helping plant turnips. We stayed over night, Debbie cried when she left Bode, and we were off to Lynchburg, VA!

Though we would love to visit ol Lynchburg anytime, our excuse was Angela's wedding. Look how gorgeous she is here at the rehearsal, and Jason, her new hubby looks in awe of her, as he should be! (photos of the wedding will be accessible through our photography preview website in just a couple weeks: www.macleanphotography.instaproofs.com)



We got to spend time with great friends in Lynchburg, enjoyed gathering together again at Grace, then hit the road back to KY. Debbie's parents took us to dinner on the way home, and we got back to L'ville really late. At 4:30am our friend Mad Eye Moody picked us up and took us to the airport. Here's us leaving on a jet plane:



To California!

The Adventure

We began our traveling adventure with a mini weekend trip to Lynchburg. We went to Angela's wedding and got to visit some Grace friends. It was great to see Ang home from Korea, and see her marry a great dude named Jason. Good times had by all! Thanks to the Pattersons for letting us crash at their place.

We went back to Louisville Sunday after church and got just a tiny bit of sleep. EARLY Monday morning our dear generous friend John Moody picked us up at 4:30am and took us to the airport, and we flew to CALIFORNIA! We rented a car and drove to Redlands, Augie's coffee shop - the best coffee in town, and the place of our dearest friends Chad & Erika. We put on some mustaches and stood outside their shop window. Erika spotted us and tried to tell Chad it was us, but both were in disbelief (they had no idea we were coming, we had worked it out with Erika's mom and their employee Mike). Erika finally kicked over the trash can, started crying, and the 2 came rushing us with a tackle hug. It was great! Since then we have been hanging out - going to the beach, bumming around, chilling at the shop and such. The Macleans even went to Disney one day that the Johnstons had to work. Hundreds of photos have been taken as you can imagine - and a sampling will be posted ASAP.

HUGE thanks to Debbie's grandma and grandpa for watching our adorable little terror Bode while we're gone. They say he's doing well. We're glad we don't have to worry about him being in good hands while we're away, though we know he can be quite a handful! He may have put on a good 5 pounds by the time we get back. EEEKK! our baby giant...

Photos to come!

check out my friend chad

hey mike and chad

hey mike and chad