The Joys of the Johnsons: First Family Day of 2015!

After Rochelle passed away, my mom came up with a wonderful idea that she would get a vehicle big enough to fit everyone in one car so that we could take monthly family trips together to honor our precious baby girl. When she was here, it felt like we were so constrained to just being at the house and just to take her to appointments. She had such a big personality and would love when we would go out in public, and just being around people.
With her condition, it was very important that she didn't get sick, or get exposed to much since her immune system was so weak. The day after she passed, my mom came to me with this idea of celebrating her every month by getting together, and I knew before she finished her sentence I said "she would love that!", because in my heart I felt like she wanted to be out and about all the time if she could have been, instead of being inside the house.
Coming up with where we were all going to be going, changed many times. We knew we wanted to make the most of the day, and since my brother has to meet halfway to pick up his kids on Sunday, we knew the kids wouldn't want to be in the car for that long. Brielle doesn't do too well in the car as well (even though she has gotten WAY better) so we knew it had to be close or at least in between my brother and my parents.
So the night before, after a lot of texting, my mom came up with the idea that we go to the Austin Aquarium. Let me tell you, Brielle is just like her daddy with her love for fish, so we knew she would love going. You are also able to buy tickets online (any discount is amazing) so we were able to save some money ahead of time. All we had to pay for when we got there, was food to feed the animals (fish, sharks, sting-rays).
The place itself is pretty small, but they definitely filled it with lots of things for kids and adults to be amazed by, and they have a sign that says "if you can reach it, you can feed it", which the kids loved being able to feed the animals. It was so amazing to see the three of them interact (Emma, Aiden, and Brielle) and just love on one another. I took pictures of the whole ordeal, and I am pretty sure they explain themselves. Even though Emma was a little under the weather, she definitely stuck in the whole time and was so involved and happy to be with everyone. The first trip was a success (even if Brielle did have a #2 explosion and it got all over me as well), and I can't wait to see what next month brings!
We hope we made Rochelle happy, seeing all of us together again! We love you baby girl!