Forth of July with the Jenkins

The past three or four years Yegi and I have spent the forth of July with my dad's side of our family camping on Watts Bar Lake.  We stay at a place called Camp John Knox.  It is owned by the Presbyterian church and they use it for outdoor ministries.  It is a beautiful place but as my wife would say it is a little "rustic".  Accommodations include tents or whatever you bring to sleep in and a bath house with running hot water (not too rustic when you can have a hot shower).

The first year was rough on Yegi, I think it might of been the first time she had slept outside with no access to an air conditioned area she could retreat too if need be.  It was hot and we shared my 2-man backpacking tent on a 85 degree humid July night.  She toughed it out though and ended up having a great time.  It doesn't hurt that my aunt and her daughters are all unbelievable cooks and we ate like kings every day.  It is awesome to watch my aunt Becky Jenkins cook.  She is like Maguiver of the cooking world.  Give her a mixing bowl, flour, something hot to cook on, a pig, and ...Boom, sausage gravy and biscuits, pancakes, bacon, fruit, etc.  All the while watching one of her 11 grand kids under age 6 (which includes two sets of rambunctious twin boys) and only two girls in the whole mix.

This year we debated on whether to take River or leave him with Yegi's parents for the weekend.  We really did not want to leave him for that long so Yegi made a list of things she needed if we were going to take him and I went out shopping.  On her list:

1)  Tent large enough for both of us and River in his pack and play.  Thank you Dick's Sporting Goods for the awesome deal on a 6-person Living Room Sized tent.
2)  Battery operated fan for River to keep cool with and to provide "white noise".  Yegs asked for this last year but I told her to buck up (I guess I'm getting soft).

We left the house around 11:00am and arrived around 2:30pm.  You might be thinking..."Don't you guys live in Knoxville and Watts Bar Lake is only about 30-45 minutes away?"  You would be correct until you take into account the stop we made to get boat fuel, then to buy a fan at Dick's, then at Walgreen's to get batteries for the fan (and Candy for Yegi, b/c she is 3 and needs a surprise whenever we stop), then to Yegi's parents house to get her swim suit that she forgot (concurrently, all I packed was a pair of swim trunks and my tooth brush...I love shirtless summers).  When we stopped at Yegi's parents it was time for River to eat so our trip was even further delayed for him to drink a bottle and do all the necessary burping, etc. that goes with it.  By the time we got back on the road River had decided this trip had taken entirely too long and he no longer wanted to be in his car seat.  Screaming and crying ensued and did not finish until we pulled into the camp entrance and I told Yegi it was safe to let him out onto her lap.

The first thing we did at camp was of course eat.  Lunch was out on the table and we dug into the sandwiches and home made desserts.  Soon after we were out on the lake looking for smooth water (a rarity on a 4th of July weekend).  I got a couple passes in before the water turned rough again and we headed back looking forward to an early morning set.  I left my boat anchored in the water overnight so I could get up early, wade out to it, and take off without waking everyone up.  Mother nature had other plans though Saturday night...

At approximately 1am I woke up from a surprisingly deep sleep where I had dreamed that someone had snuck into the cove and tried to steel my boats to someone shining a very bright flashlight on the boats in the cove.  I jumped up and whispered to Yegi I thought someone was trying to steel the boat.  As I exited the tent my uncle ran up and said the wind had picked up and was blowing all the boats on shore.  I ran down to the shore to see that my boat that had been anchored 50 ft off shore was now about 10 feet from the water's edge and getting closer.  I waded out into the water in my clothes only to realize I had taken the keys and put them in my truck by the tent (to deter those would be boat thieves).  As I ran back to the tent I could hear River crying (he had been awoken by the sound of people, trucks, and all the flashlights) and I knew the camping trip had taken a turn for the worse.  We got all the boats out of the water with no damage and everyone headed back to bed, except for River.  Four hours later he was still awake and so were we, taking turns trying to sleep for a few minutes between outbursts.  Around 3am Yegi turned to me (probably with tears in her eyes that I couldn't see through the darkness) and asked if we could just go home then and come back for all the stuff tomorrow.  Unfortunately we drove my loud A diesel truck and I did not want to wake everyone else and their kids just because ours was ready to party.  We toughed it out until about 6 am and then napped periodically during the day.

Even with all the trouble and no sleep we had a great day playing on the lake with our family and friends.  Yegi ACTUALLY GOT IN THE WATER despite her fear of "lake sharks".  I have proof (see below) of her trying to wake surf.  We ate dinner, packed up, and headed home instead of staying a second night like we had planned because as Yegi put it...I am not going to do this again until I can tell River to lay down and go to sleep.

 Yegi trying to work her way up on the wake surf board.

 A little Corn Hole.

 River also likes shirtless summertime.

 And pouncing on his cousin Wesley.

 Just making sure he doesn't go anywhere.

 The three amigos playing on the ground.  Wes and Cam acting as bookends as River rolls back and forth.

 All business.

 Working his charm and Asian punk rocker hair.

 Cole, Eli, Wesley, Chase, River, Austin --I'm guessing on who's who with the twins.  I still can't tell them apart.

 Getting ready to do some wake surfing.

 Emily & SB - I'm going to take the picture anyway, you might as well turn and smile.

 Nadar showing us how its done.

 Andy taking his turn.

 Giving it my best shot.

Until next year thanks again to the Jenkins clan for another fun 4th of July weekend.

Updatage:

We are finally starting to get a hang of the whole parenting thing. River is growing like crazy and seems to look different every day I come home from work. Yegi and Emily are having a blast together with the boys on their "days off". There are more and more babies in our group of friends that are being born and even more to come. We have got to spend a lot more time with friends (in and out of the houses) than I had originally anticipated which has been a blessing. Below is a photo blog of the latest events.



New Momma's. Can you tell whose baby is whose?

These two have been dreaming of this day for a very long time.



Ah, Retirement...

Yegi's work friends stopped by to see the River man.

I'm in charge of bath time.

This cold air is making my hair grow, look at my arms!

All wrapped up and no place to go. Might as well bug out.

Getting lotionized. Not sure if that's a word.

Matt & Sarah brought dinner and holding relief.

Nama & Newcastle, hard to beat.

Sarah Beth and the little man. As you can see, he is very snuggley.

Sarah Beth & Jen (Elle Boutique) has a fashion show twice a year. I have now had the pleasure (dragged kicking and screaming) of attending three times in a row. I am not the only one though...see below.

My counterparts for this enjoyable evening also very happy to be in attendance. Nice purse Matt (far left). Looks like Scott (far right) is drowning away his sorrows. Actually the two in the middle were very happy to be there. This is their third year together as "partners". Wishing them the best of luck in Massachusetts!

The real reason we went was to support Cousin Jewels. This is her first year of the model rounds. Look at all that sass.

Young Life wives.

Sorry Julie, this just made me laugh.

Cousins! and a neat looking picture.

They just found out she is pregnant. Can you imagine how big she will get? Just kidding. At the time this picture was taken Cameron was just a couple days from his due date. He hasn't made an appearance yet but I'm calling March 4, 2010, say 10:28 p.m.

Part of the girls after the show. Two more babies coming soon. Best part of this picture is in the background: Megan W. is posing for someone taking pictures. Every time I see her I think of a story she and her sister told: Each year their family dresses up for a live Nativity scene in their front yard because their neighborhood has a competition for "Best Christmas Decorations". The competition lasts for hours as people from their neighborhood and the surrounding community (Atlanta) drive by and watch them. Megan always plays Mary and her sister who is a little taller plays Joseph. This just really makes me laugh.

-- Having A Baby -- First Timers

I really don't know what to say about having a baby other than it scares the crap out of me 80% of the time. The other 20%... I'm asleep or thinking about cars. I'm just going to let you in on some of the thoughts and happenings since we saw two lines.


Day 1: I was working (see fiddle/farting) in the basement when Yegi came running down the stair with tears in her eyes screaming. My first thought was "dang it, I've only been down here an hour and I've got to get the boat running if we're going to the lake this weekend!". Then she started screaming for me to come upstairs and look at something in the bathroom...I've heard this before so I knew that no matter what she wanted to show me it wouldn't be something I wanted to see.


Sure enough, it was positive and I felt the blood fall from my head and I needed somewhere to sit...back to the basement. Gave Yegi a quick hug and a "congratulations/that's cool" type comment and went back to work wiring the ignition (which, by the way is not a good idea when your thoughts are preoccupied, I spent the next week trying to fix what I screwed up). Fortunately I'm pretty good about just not thinking about things that are scary/disturbing/unknown. So the week went by normally until I saw my sisters kids.


So my sisters oldest child J. is a holy terror. He runs around, screams, throws things, asks a million questions to which I have no answers (why?, I don't know J, it just does. Why? God made it that way. Why? He just did. Why?) and pretty much doesn't listen to anyone. Her little girl Addalee is perfect though, she just sits, smiles, looks pretty, eats when told, sleeps when told, and never complains. That's it we're having a girl, screw the namesake.


Its been about two weeks, we haven't seen a doctor yet and Yegi is dying to tell someone. We agreed we weren't going to tell until we see the doc and they say that everything looks good (however that can be since she has a freaking person GROWING inside her). Everyday Yegi tells me how I should be SO proud of her because she hasn't said a thing to her mother or sister, never mind that they all went to eat together at Nama (she knows she can't eat sushi) and Yegi pronounced that she cannot have anything raw even though she loves sushi. They didn't catch on here but certainly did when we sent out cards to our mother/sisters saying happy Grandmother/Aunt day and Yegi called her mom to tell her to make sure and be at home and to check the mail as soon as it came. Your a steel trap honey, a real bank vault, but I love you anyway.

More good news came when we found out that Emily Jenkins is pregnant and a couple weeks behind Yegs, then came Devan & Erin Accardi three weeks after them, and the most recent is Paige & Peter. So we're building up a good support group (I think we should all get leather vests with a club patch and tattoos - Babies O-10! - or at least an airbrushed T-shirt)! Matt is really trying to get he and SB on the train, so far his bribes are not working but I've been coaching him in the art of persistence (also, try the vest thing, Sara is into fashion after all?).

Fast forward a couple months and Yegi is officially in her second Trimester and now looks like she is having a baby (or twins). This baby is going to be huge! I was 9lb 7oz and Yegi was 7lbs something so i can only figure this baby is going to be around 16lbs (9+7=16).

Just before Yegi crossed the second trimester mark it occurred to me that I'm excited about this new addition. I'm not scared (in the meantime) anymore. It just hit me while I was driving back from the gym one night that I can't control this and that's okay. God is in control and he usually(always) has a better plan than I. I'm not saying that I will stop wishing Yegi would live in a big impervious bubble for the next 5.5 months or that I will unload/disarm all my weapons and countermeasures (Chaco is becoming more protective), but I am learning to let some things ride.

We find out what its going to be in a couple weeks and its a split decision...Yegi says boy, I say girl. As long as its a healthy one or the other I'll be happy.


...but its a girl.

Stay classy San Diego