How much fun can one kid have?

And how many pictures can his mom post? Both are yet to be determined. Be prepared...I'm having a hard time deciding which ones to post.

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At WiNeMa, there is a little inlet that takes water from the ocean to the lake. It changes in size and shape, but there is usually a large pool of very shallow water, and it is a tad bit warmer than the ocean. It is the PERFECT place for a (n almost) 3 year old to play for hours. This is a pic from up on the dunes. You can see Carson down at the bottom.


Sydney and I enjoyed from the sidelines. It was a sunny day with some good wind, so I was comfy/warm in a vest, but Carson was fine in his swimtrunks too.

Syd slept through most of the beach fun.
We went to the waves for a while, but Carson soon noticed that we gave him a lot less freedom when there's an undertoe involved.
So he decided back at the inlet was a better deal. He sat forever digging in the sand, dripping it on his legs, making sand piles... ...and running, running, running through the water.
We were joined on the beach by Uncle Chad and some other friends too for some wiffle ball and football.

The next day, Aunt Michelle took Carson fishing.

Here they are sharing a worm. NOT the worm they used for bait.
If I had a nickel for every time I wanted to do this...Again, Sydney watched the fun and has to wait a couple more years to partake.

Trent calls this picture "before it all went horribly wrong." Trent even gave the BIG water slide a trial run before taking Carson in his lap, but evidently, they just went too fast and lost control a little when they went into the water. Carson ended up going under for a second and was a little traumatized. Yeah for lifejackets! (And plenty of adults around.)
This is the dry slide--also very big! When we went on it together, his leg got off of the burlap sack a little at the end and got burned just a bit. He says to me, very tactfully: "Mom, I'm just gonna go on this with Dad. He has more practice." I mean, he's the one that almost let you drown, but WHATEVER!

What is camp without some BUNKS?

Here's the whole clan, including (far left) Jeremy, Wendy and their little girl Miley. They are kind of adopted bro and sis into our fam. Then there is Chad (Trent's brother) and wife Jess, Gma, Michelle, Tara (above), the 4 of us and Gpa. It was a great weekend! Sorry for the boring commentary, but I thought the extended fam would get a kick out of the Carson pics.

A few pics for now...

As mentioned, we had a great time this weekend. Although we call it camping--because we are at a "camp," cook and eat outdoors and usually have to walk to get to a restroom--we were not roughing it too badly. Since we had such a young baby, the registration people took pity on us and gave us a room with our own bathroom, which was great. I was determined to play some games this year, and I succeeded in initiating a very competetive game of Pictionary. This is my father-in-law, Phil. This is about as uptight as he gets.Oh, the water slides! A wonderful addition to WiNeMa since I was a kid. This is Carson on the smaller of the 2 slides. It is a perfect size for him: big enough to be scary the first few times, but after successful completion, he went on it about 20 more times and we had to drag him away kicking and screaming.

This was his 2nd try. We had our little friend Della (behind him) giving him some help and encouragement.

I often realized my camera was back in our room when I wanted to take some pics, so I'm waiting to get some of the shots I took on my sis-in-law Michelle's camera. WHICH reminds me of my favorite Carson quotes for the weekend, which I heard one evening after I had been at a long rehearsal:

"Shell. Shell! Can you get your camera so I can show Mom a picture of my poop?" I'm not kidding. I had helped him "get started" on the pot, then had to go sing, so his aunties helped him, uh, wrap up, as it were. However, apparently he was so upset that I wasn't there to complete my assistance duties and to admire the size of his fecal matter that he asked his aunt to take a picture to show me later. And she did. And I saw it. It was then promptly deleted from the camera, so I'm afraid you will all be denied the honor of witnessing it yourselves. You lucky, lucky people.

This building made me cry.

When most of you readers see this picture, you see a big, ugly warehouse. But for a select few, you see what I see: memories. The name of this eyesore is The Missions Building. It was built in 1971 and is the main gathering place for Camp WiNeMa on the Oregon coast. When I was born at the end of July in 1977, I was very sick. (Mom & Dad, feel free to edit this story if I get any of the details wrong or exaggerate!) I was throwing up blood, and the doctors couldn't figure out why. I was rushed from Good Sam in Portland to OHSU, where they had a better Neonatal ICU. During that week, hundreds of people in this building were gathered for Week of Missions family camp and were praying for me by name. The doctors had to put a scope down my throat to find out where the blood was coming from. They told my parents that they had never performed this procedure on a baby so small, and it might damage my vocal cords. This last weekend I sang on the stage in this building for what will be the last worship service in the Missions Building before it is torn down to clear the area for a new meeting hall. The spiritual gift of nostalgia that I inherited from my family was in full force, to say the least.

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(Here's a pic of Camp WiNeMa that I took on Monday.)

I don't have time to go through year by year of all the memories at WiNeMa, but here's just a few: I seriously took my first steps in the old director's cabin on Labor Day weekend 30 years ago. (That's the same room we slept in this week. I kid you not.) I went to youth camp for the first time when I was going into 4th grade. I got to sleep on a triple bunk! It was crazy fun. I remember watching awesome talent shows at 2nd High Camp for 4 years. "Fishheads" lipsync is still ingrained in my memory. I decided at camp that I was really interested in going to this little school in California called Pacific Christian College. I had more crushes on boys that I can count. I went down the big slide more times than I can count. I went to Week of Missions with my family numerous times and heard amazing stories that planted in me a deep respect and honor for those who dedicate their lives to full-time international outreach. I came here and went crab hunting with my friends from school for FBCS retreats and listened to the guys perform on the BFB: the Bodily Functions Band. I went to Memorial Day camp with my new boyfriend, Trent, in 1996 and he got a speeding ticket on our way home. After Trent and I were dating, we realized that we had been at the same youth camps and Labor Day family camps for years and never met. This weekend I came to family camp with my TWO kids and watched my son go down the big slide and play on the beach in the same sand I've walked dozens of times.

There's something really special about this place, and we had such a fun weekend. (More pictures and stories on that later.) I felt so blessed to have a new annual tradition with our family here, and it's even more special that my husband and I both have long histories here. Oh, and the actual tears came at the end of the last session, when we all gathered in a large circle and thanked God for what he had done in that building and for what we know he'll do in the lives of many more people in the new building. Then we sang "How Great is Our God" a song which I have blogged about before (scroll down that page for the post about that song), and when we went into How Great Thou Art and I lost it. But they were happy tears!

Before I leave...

I knew I'd better put a quick post up before we leave for the weekend, because my last post has the word "boobs" in it, and no males will comment on that. We are off to WiNeMa this weekend: another camping trip! We're really looking forward to spending some time at the beach and with Trent's family. Here's some pics from the backyard today.

A Sign of the Times

A sense of urgency while stuck in traffic, circa 2000: I'm late for a movie and I do NOT like missing the previews!

A sense of urgency while stuck in traffic, August 26, 2008: An 85% potty trained child saying "Mommy, I have to go poop RIGHT NOW," a screaming, hungry infant and leaky boobs.

Oh, how the times have changed.

It's the little things

Sometimes, it's really funny what will really lift my spirits. Last weekend, it came in the form of a neighbor's garage sale. Some of you knew that I had come to despise my kitchen table. (Our kitchen table also doubles as our dining room table in this cozy house.) It was one of those ones with white tile top--you know, they were hugely popular in the early 90's. Well, when the tiles and grout were clean and the chairs weren't falling apart, it was just fine. However, it was wickedly difficult to clean--crumbs clung to that caulk like you wouldn't believe. Also, THREE of the FOUR chairs were broken and we had to warn all visitors not to sit down. How is that reasonable? We scoped adds for new tables, but everything was out of our price range, which was very low. So, I had pretty much given up.

Then last weekend I was driving away to a playdate with the kids and saw a dining room table at my neighbor's garage sale. I hopped out of the car and called out to her asking how much the table was. She said $50. I didn't even hesitate. I would use food money if I had to. I said "We'll take it! I'll be right back!" I put the car into reverse, ran back into the house, grabbed the checkbook and told Trent he needed to run next door and get our new table! He agreed and I'm so happy with our decision. It's bigger than our last table, has no grooves for food to get stuck in, has nice chairs (even though only 5 are working), and it feels like I finally have a table for grown-ups, not something that belongs in a recent college grad's apartment. It's not a big thing, but it made me smile.

Sydney talks.

Seriously. About second #42 I swear she says "Hi."

Funnies

Here are a few random things that have made me laugh out loud lately.

First, you may have seen this video, but it is worth watching again.



Second, my friend Mrs. Towne mentioned this blog in HER blog, and I was cracking up as I made my way through several of the posts. It's not just the cakes, but her comments that make this a winner.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

And lastly, a laugh-out-loud in my own bathroom. The conversation went like this the other day when Carson was on his toddler pot having the unusual problem of not being able to go #2:

Carson: Mom, go in the other room.
Me: OK. (hidden smile)
A few minutes lapse. I do hear some grunts.
Carson: Mom. Come back.
Me: What's wrong?
Carson: I don't know, it's just that my bottom's not working.
Me: (More hidden smiles) OK, well, why don't you keep trying.
Carson: OK. (grunt) You get out of here.
Me to myself: gladly.
About a minute later.
Carson: MOm! My bottom's working again!
Me: Good!
Carson, waving his arms and wrinkling up his nose: Oh! It stinks in here! It smells like...[and here is the funniest part. He truly, honestly, was trying to FIGURE OUT what was causing the sudden bad odor. He had a quizzical look on his face and was searching for the end of that sentence, when he says in TOTAL SURPRISE:] POOP!
Me: Fall off the toilet lid laughing.

I forgot

I forgot to post these cute pics that Mike took of Sydney last month for her birth announcement. It was the day she turned exactly one month, and she's now 7 weeks, so that quickly they are kind of out-dated. I was bummed because although she looks quite stoic in these shots, a few days later she started busting out the smiles. Oh well! He did a great job. It's nice what you can choose from in about 250 frames. ;)

You're yelling at me in my love language. And, also, you're just yelling.

Like many pre-marrieds, Trent and I read "The Five Love Languages" before we got married. You know, so we'd communicate our affection better, yada, yada, yada. ;) The languages are physical touch, acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation and giving/receiving gifts. It's not a bad read, but I think most people receive and give love in a number of ways. But we did notice that since I grew up in a household that expressed love through comforting touch, like hand-holding, back rubs, hugs, high-fives, hands on the knee, etc., that I expected more of that from him. So, when we were sitting in church or at the movies and my fiance-at-the-time kept his hands folded neatly in his lap, I would stew in frustration that he wouldn't put his arm around me. SO, reading this book helped us address this miscommunication. According to the book, physical touch would be one of my primary love languages. I recently read The Five Love Languages of Children, and have started noticing some of Carson's tendencies. He's still really young to tell, but I think his strongest ones so far are physical touch and gifts.
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On an unrelated story, but one which I will soon connect, in college, I had 2 friends with whom I would invent characters--the kind of characters we thought should be on Saturday Night Live. My favorite character Kellianne and I created in our dorm room was Coach Ed, The Harriest Swim Coach Alive. He was a coach who...actually, his title leaves little need for explanation. Curtis and I would create characters in the Ekklesia* van on long drives. One he created and would enact to annoy us was Personal Space Pete. "Pete" had no space boundaries and would violate acceptable social physical and verbal limits.

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Lately, I feel like I am living with Personal Space Pete--and I'm not talking about my husband. Yes, physical touch is one of my primary love languages, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and I'm experiencing it. Daily. I've been trying to make a point to spend some quality, one-on-one time with Little C each day. No sister, no dad, no TV--just him and mom. And yet, he feels the need to be connected to me, skin-to-skin, all the livelong day. He follows me from room to room, hanging on my clothes, clinging to my leg, asking for piggyback rides, etc. Bless his little heart, I do love snuggling with him, and try to do that as often as possible to try to fill his need. Even when I don't feel like it. But lately--I am ALL TOUCHED OUT! I am going to try to get a video of him while I'm feeding Sydney, because that is when he begins to yell at me in this love language. If it weren't so frustrating, it would be funny. I literally become his personal jungle gym. This is stress-inducing for me, because Little Miss is not a great eater. She's an on-and-off-and-on-and-off snacker, which takes some focus on my part to get the job done. Which, come to think of it, having another small human literally attached to me so much of the day is probably adding to the feeling of physical hollering. Mr. Potato Head, books, snacks and movies seem to hold his attention only until he realizes that there is a perfectly warm body nearby, ready to be scaled like a lumpy ladder. While yelling. And playing the recorder. Or shaking a rattle at Sydney's face. Or pretending he's a lion and ROARing and clawing us. Or trying to ride horsey on my leg. Pick your poison.

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I hesitated to even blog about this, because I feel like I'm complaining about my kiddo a lot during this transition to a new sibling, and I seriously love him so much that it hurts. AND, he's had many perfectly delightful moments in the last 6 weeks. But I find myself commenting on other mommy blogs for them to feel comfortable talking about the good and the bad, so I decided it was OK to vent to any of you who choose to read. I know that we will get through this, the weather will cool down (which will help me not feel so "gamey" as JJ would say), and I'll start getting more sleep which will all help. But for now, if I see you, don't feel the need to hug me. In fact, I'm temporarily switching my love language to "gifts," so feel free to love me in that way. ;)

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*One of my newer friends asked what Ekklesia is. It was a singing group I was in during college. We traveled around on the weekends and all summer singing and telling people at churches they should send their kids and money to our university. It was a huge part of my college experience--and helped pay for a lot of it!

We did it!

We went camping all weekend with a 6 week old! I was really not sure if it was a good idea. I really wanted to go, but it was supposed to be cold. And she doesn't sleep through the night. And all four of us sleep in a tent together. But we survived and it went pretty well, thanks to a very involved Daddy, a cooperative big brother, a borrowed snowsuit for warmth and lots of grandmas, grandpas, aunties and uncles who helped with both kids--especially with Carson when I had to disappear into the tent frequently to feed Little Miss who likes to take her sweet time.

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This was our 7th annual family campout to Still Creek, near Government Camp on Mt. Hood. check out Mike's blog for some great pics. We look forward to this trip and plan for it all year. The truth is, the trip is not as relaxing and laid-back as it used to be. We used to just spending time in nature--reading, talking, eating, hiking, boating, etc. The addition of SIX kids has changed that! Unlike at home, where there are some physical boundaries, like, you know, doors and walls, camping kind of requires a one-on-one offense for the three toddlers who move quickly in separate directions--especially considering the swiftly flowing, freezing cold river about 20 yards away. The campground is pretty rugged; there is one outhouse down the road and next to it is a faucet of ice-cold water. Other than that, you are on your own. Fortunately, the Jagger/Bunch families do not camp like most people: we camp in STYLE!

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For example: please notice a plethora of plastic toys, potties, tricycles, slides, swings, picnic tables, shovels, etc. We eat well and big at every meal--and usually in between as well. We had 7 large tents and 3 large canopies on--I kid you not--what has to be the world's LARGEST campsite. (Actually, 2 of the tents were on the adjacent site, but STILL!) We also have a campfire burning about 19 hours a day, which was really nice this year because it was extra cold.

Sometimes people ask me (and sometimes, when it starts to drizzle, I ask myself) why we choose to spend our vacation time like this, when we could go for something more along the lines of warm hotel beds, sandy beaches, etc. I heard a comedian once say he doesn't work all year to spend his vacation living like the homeless. :) But there's just nothing like it! For three days, I didn't hear a phone ring, hold a remote or look at any kind of TV or computer screen. Better yet--our boys didn't see one either. Instead they played in the dirt, hopped off of and climbed over logs, threw rocks in rivers and ran around ALL DAY. Yes, it was a lot of work. No, it was not relaxing. Yes, it was freezing cold a lot of the time. But this is TRADITION! I've always enjoyed it, but it's meaning even more as we introduce it to our kids.
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Grandmas and grandpas get to spend time with their grandbabies...

...and pass on some lifestyles and passions to a new generation.

Little boys get to live like little boys: be dirty and pee in the bushes...

...and young dads get to use an ax and a frisbee more than they use their laptops.

Here's a shot of all the Tompkins' stuff. I think we need a bigger car next year.

But for those of you who still have a hard time wrapping your brain around the camping experience, I filmed a little tour of our Mt. Hood digs. Just think of it as MTV Cribs with fabric walls. (And for those of you who DO camp...aren't you always a little curious what the inside of other people's tents looks like? Now you know about ours.)

Blasphemy!

Carson has two uncles (and 2 more "uncles") who work at Nike, so this contraband Adidas outfit--although pretty darn cute--is frowned upon. Blame his Aunt Tara, who can't turn down a good sale on good lookin' clothes for her nephew. Also, Carson got a haircut! Daddy did the deed this time, and yes, it was a dramatic scene again.

You take the good, you take the bad...

...you take 'em both and there you have the facts of life. Ah yes.

Today has been full of both good and bad. I won't get into all the details (for once) of the bad, but it has to do with frustrations with health insurance and their confusing ways, some of our own mistakes, a lot of money we don't have but now owe, and some tears on my part. Also, the bad has to do with my precious son who gives me a full-on battle at naptime EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. (And before you ask: yes, I'm sure he and I still need him to have it because once he falls asleep he stays asleep for 2 solid hours or until I have to wake him up and then he goes to bed at the normal time AND if he misses his nap he is extremely cranky and irritable for the rest of the day so saying goodbye to naptime is not an option for me right now thank you very much.) Also, he hit his sister in the head. With a boot. On purpose. I witnessed it.

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However, there has been some good today as well. We finally put together our new double stroller (thanks Ron and Leota!), which is a "sit 'n stand" kind. Sydney's car seat fits in the front, then there is a little jump seat and platform behind her for Carson, who can "sit or stand," thus the brand name. Yesterday we went for a walk as a family and today I took both kids on a walk to Wallgreens to buy stamps and stickers. Carson did a great job staying on the stroller (when he gets off it ceases to be a "walk" and becomes a "dawdle") and I got some exercise. It was a positive experience all around.

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Also, Sydney is starting to smile more, but we have to really work for them! But it is quite fun. The lighting and everything in these pictures is horrible, but it was one of those "quick--grab the camera!" diaper changes and I just wanted to try to catch the facial expression. Didn't have time to worry about photo quality! My caption for this first one is: "Rock on!" Carson told me she is saying, "To infinity...and beyond!"

Best Buds

The other day we heard someone reference their "best friend" and I asked Carson who his best friend was. I was curious, because we've never used that specific term before. Without hesitating, he said "Ethan and Henry and Nate." I thought it was really sweet. Those four boys are all within 10 months of each other and have been basically been forced together since birth. Since their parents get along so well (and some of us are pretty much related), we foster and nourish the friendship as much as possible.

These just happen to be some great pictures we have of Ethan and Carson in the hospital room after Sydney was born. As all toddlers are, some playdates can be more fighting than playing, but this particular day the boys were living up to their best friend status. I love the images of them together and the love they have for each other. We'll have to get the camera out more often to capture all the boys together, even their newest comrade Jack.