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.

Long time no see

So its been a very busy couple months.  We have started a new project at work that is farther from home which means I leave 30 minutes earlier and get back over an hour later (because afternoon traffic).  Now everything that I would like to get done during the week after work gets pushed to the weekend and many times it does not get done on the weekends because that is about my only time with River where I am not bathing him or putting him to bed.  Many of our weekends as of late have been spent out of town at weddings, g-mom's house, or visiting friends.

River took his first "long" road trip to Birmingham, AL which we used as a test for our beach vacation this year.  He behaved very well and only got upset a couple times when we wouldn't let him out of the car seat to play.  Hopefully the slightly longer trip to SC will go as well.

We started solid foods (solid as in mushed up veggies) a couple weeks ago and have found that River's tastes are somewhat of a mix between mine and Yegi's.  He has eaten the baby food very well but peas are not his favorite (see below).

Yegi's little sister Laila and her boyfriend (now fiance) got engaged a few days ago.  We are very excited about this because Will is by far the better half of that duo (I kid Laila...kind of).  They are going to get married at the beach next year sometime.

All these events and more are photo blogged below.

 Four months!

 

 Eating my first bite of solid food - rice cereal.

First taste of Peas.  Not a huge fan but he ate them like a champ.

Rehersal Dinner at Shoal Creek CC.  Beautiful place, very cool traditional wedding, and River did great at the hotel by himself.  (j/k, thanks to Laila for being our weekend Nanny in Bham)

 Enjoying the pool at the hotel.

 

On our way back from Birmingham we stopped at the Meehan's to see Camellia, her family, and her boyfriend Will.  Me with the Wills.

 The men minus Kavon - Camellia's brother.

 My lovely wife doing what she likes on the lake...reading.  Soon after this was taken we kicked her out to go sking.

 Cool shot of the boat with a fisheye lens.

Right after Will asked Laila to marry him he brought her over to our house to tell Yegi.  Little did Laila know everyone already knew about Will's plans and had met at our house to surprise them.

 Laila getting a hug from Kristen.

Showing off her ring.  Sorry Will, River was not impressed.

But Yegi was.

Will telling the story of how when he asked he couldn't get the ring box out of his pocket.

Cheers to the newly engaged couple.

Very excited.

Also very excited.

 Yegi's book club has get togethers every once in a while where the families come as well.  On this occasion we all met at the Pattison's for a cookout.  These are the young kids that were there.  From Left:  W. Jenkins, Cameron Accardi, Anni Neeley, River, and little George Brown.

And here are all the kids.

 This starts a group of pictures that my very talented cousin Julie Connell took of River when he turned four months old.  I probably doubled up some of the pictures that she posted, sorry if that bothers you.

Almost always a happy boy.

These feet are growing at an extreme rate

Still loves having his tongue out.

Big smiles for cousin Jules.

and cute ones for Mom.

River's favorite thing to do now is attempt to walk.

and its rare that he sits still while being held.

Family photo

Loves getting kisses.

Excited because he thought this was the last picture.

Confused because she was still taking pictures.

I tried to take this picture of all the kids to give to my Mom (G-mother) on Mother's Day, but it just did not work out.  This was one of three of the 100 photos I took that Addalee was actually present (she loves to run around now).

It took so long to go through this post River aged another month.  I told you he was growing fast.

Check it

My cousin Jules (Julie Connell) has become quite the amateur photographer so we like to have her take pictures of River.  She does and good job and always stays within our budget of FREE.  I will post some of her work when I have time but until then CLICK HERE to see her blog of River pics.  Enjoy and let her know what you think of the pics.

He's Doomed

 Our beautiful baby boy is now four months old.  He is growing out of control and has become very aware of what is going on.  He has mastered the art of rolling over from back and front to the corresponding opposite face.  His motor skills have developed so that he now can grab just about anything within a 12-inch radius of his face including but not limited to:  hair, cheeks, ears, noses, eyelids, lips, sunglasses, earrings.  Say goodbye to the days of the easily broken infant grip and hello to the Chuck Norris/Stallone in cliffhanger death grip.  He prefers to stand when given the choice and will “walk” if you let him.  His personality is really starting to show through and he is a blast to hang out with…really.

Things are finally starting to get back to normal around the house too.  No, the bathroom is not finished, stop asking/wondering, I will let everyone know as soon as it’s completed, trust me.  Our house is  becoming ever so filled with Fisher Price merchandise to the dismay of our dwindling baby fund.  In our extremely small living room alone we have:  A Johnny Jump Up, Two types of stationary seats (one that looks like a bunny? that Yegi had to have because it was “cute” and matched everything else in his room and the other one that River likes), a “tummy time” station complete a hand quilted blanket from our lovely friend Michelle Huch and an assortment of toys/learning devices, and a barnyard play system that is pretty much the same size as one of those wooden garden sheds you can buy out on Ashville Highway but it takes many more batteries.  I knew this would happen so it is really not much of a surprise and hasn’t caused any sleepless nights. 

Something that has caused sleepless nights for Yegi in the beginning and myself as of late…the fear that River is not going to sleep well at night.  Kind of hard to understand?  Let me explain.  Yegi has one overwhelming fear about the raising of this young man, that he will not nap well enough during the day to sleep well at night.  You see, babies tend to sleep better/longer at night when they have napped for long periods during the day.  This makes absolutely no sense the us commoners who know that if we sleep during the day it will undoubtedly cause us to be up at night counting sheep, but babies are different.  For this reason my lovely wife who is normally laid back (somewhat…okay, not really, she is actually a raging ball of nervous nerves) has become affectionately known as the Nap Nazi and I am awoken to a crying wife many a night.

It happens pretty much the same every night.  River begins to hit that “fussy time” around 6:45/7:00pm which is my queue to start bath time.  Bath time is fun and he loves being naked (I foresee problems in 15 years) and splashing around in the water.  We are usually done with bath time by about 7:15/7:30pm and I hand him off to Yegi who rubs various paste’s, cream’s, and lotion’s on him before dressing him in his PJ’s.  This leads to his favorite time of the day…Dinner time (a man after my own heart) and then I put him to bed around 7:45/8:00pm.  After all this we finally get to sit down together and either hang out on the porch talking or watching one of the various shows we TiVo but never have enough time to watch.  I love this time of the night but it is always short lived because Yegi starts getting tired (aka – nervous he is not going to sleep well) around 9pm and heads off to bed.  We have talked and talked about getting her to relax and not worry because River is sleeping very well and is really not a hard baby to deal with. 

Me, on the other hand, am very laid back.  I keep telling Yegi, “Honey, its okay if he doesn’t nap exactly on schedule, don’t worry about it.” Of course I’m usually not getting up in the middle of the night to rock River back to sleep.  There is one thing that keeps me awake at night (not literally, I sleep like a rock no matter what is going on), I am always worried about River’s health & safety.  It makes me very uncomfortable to let River go somewhere he could contract an illness or could be injured on the way…which is pretty much everywhere.  It took me three months to break down and finally let Yegi take him to our Health Clubs’ nursery.  When I did tell her it was okay to go I asked that she meet anyone who would come into contact with him and memorize their names, experience, and to evaluate whether she thinks they are qualified/healthy enough to care for him.  I still don’t want him riding in a motor vehicle with anyone other than his mom or me.  Luckily none of his friends have got their licenses yet so we haven’t had any arguments.  If it were not for my job I probably wouldn’t even want him riding with Yegi.  I mean, she doesn’t have the best track record (see Magic Eraser). 

Since Yegi is so afraid of the naps she has decided she “has to be at home” for River to sleep.  This mixed with the fact that I am on edge every time they get in the car to go somewhere has led me to believe that River is doomed when it comes to having a relaxed outlook on life.  Hopefully one day he will understand where we are coming from just like I now understand how my mom was probably feeling when I was his age.  Who am I kidding, my mom let me stay at home alone at age four without a care in the world.  Maybe we will venture towards that mentality over the coming month, or maybe I will build that moat I’ve always wanted…  Until then here are a few pictures of our four month old.

 Waiting on Devon, Erin, and Cam for group dinner.

 Momma's/Movie Stars (see WBIR video)

 Hanging with G-mom in White Pine.

 River squashing Wesley.  Chubs.

 Momma love.