Camping with the family

Every year, my family has made it a tradition to go camping together on the first weekend of August. So far, we've gone a different place every year...Birch Bay, Oregon coast, Lake Wenatchee, Timothy Lake (Portlandish), Yakima, Hawaii (okay, that wasn't camping...we took a family vacation that year instead of camping), and this year, Dash Point State Park in Federal Way. We always have a ton of fun, and this year was no exception! Kyle, my youngest sister's husband, as well as my brother and his wife, were not able to come, but the rest of us were there.

When you look at a map, it looks like Dash Point is in the middle of the city, but it really doesn't feel that way. Though it was a bit strange to be camping 1/2 hour from home, we saved a lot on gas! And Steve and I thought this would be a good option for our own little family for future camping trips.

Anyway, I liked the fact that the campsites were very private, as opposed to some state parks where you might as well be sleeping in your neighbor's tent. We had some great weather, and the beach a lot of fun, too. It's not exactly a place to swim, but when the tides were low you could walk quite a ways out (on sand, not rocks), play with the sand, find sealife, etc.

I was a little nervous about how Travis and Jayna would do, especially in terms of napping, but they had a great weekend! I think Travis was in heaven, having so many "playmates" around and so many things to keep him busy. Jayna got incredibly dirty because she chose not to walk on all the uneven ground, but I didn't mind. That's what camping's for!

Some picture highlights...

Travis had his own little camping chair...notice him using Aunt Becky as a leg rest. What a life!

I was so proud of Travis....he got dirty!! But not too dirty...he would only hold the clam in the shovel, not with his hands.

All tuckered out. Sleep actually came quite easily for Travis. Jayna--not so much. It didn't help that I forgot to pack her beloved blankie. All is right in Jayna's world when she has her blankie.

It started out much smaller...cousin Ethan would push Jayna in this giant dumptruck we brought along. She loved it! But then the men (yes, including Steve....maybe even initiated by Steve?) decided to let her go for a bit of a longer ride. It was hard for me to watch the first few times, but after I saw that she was okay, and even enjoying it, it was pretty funny. I like how you can hear us all laughing, even though I sound like a total dork.

All in all, it was a great weekend!

Just call me Picasso

This weekend I finally finished painting/putting together Travis' room, and we love it! It is camping-themed, complete with a tent, camping chair, glow-in-the-dark stars, and trees on the wall. I think Steve was a little doubtful that the trees would turn out looking okay, but they're not bad!(?) Travis showed lots of excitement every time a new element was added to the room, especially when we added the final touch of the stars. He kept bringing me in the room with him, turning off the lights, closing the blinds, and laying on the bed to look at the stars. So sweet. Oh, and he's been sleeping in his tent for every nap and every night. I'm glad he likes it, because we plan on sticking with this decor for a while!

Adding several "small touches" really added to the overall theme...here is a set of 3 bear pictures I found at Ikea for $4 (on the closet wall, for those who know his room), and he also has two bear paw towel hooks, a bear (piggy) bank, and a lantern that Steve will hang from the ceiling.

The kids playing in the tent.

And she's off!

On Saturday, July 19th, Jayna started walking! She's been so close for so long, but this weekend she really took off! In many ways, Jayna is still very much a baby, but more and more all the time I am seeing her turn into a little girl. It's bittersweet for me, though more sweet than bitter. It's so much fun to watch your kids accomplish new things. Anyway, here she is! Oh, and for the record, as soon as I turned the camera off, she did in fact say "Hiiiii, mama". Stinker:)

P.S. I'm super annoyed that this video is sideways. I need to either figure out how to turn it or start remembering not to hold my camera vertically!

The end of my rope, poo, and laughter

It all started when I went in to retrieve a squealing but very stinky Jayna from her nap. Realizing that there were no wipes upstairs, I took her downstairs to get her changed (with, I might add, a very whiny, "I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and nothing can make me happy" Travis in tow). So I laid Jayna on the ground, stripped her clothing since some of it was wet, and proceeded to undo the thingies (I can't for the life of me think of the right word here) on her diaper. Here's where everything thing went quickly downhill on a very steep slope.

I swear, in the 1/2 second it took to reach over and open the wipes container, Jayna reached down, grabbed her diaper, and pulled it directly on to her face, poop side down. With a look of sheer disgust/horror/urgency, she then flung it face down again, this time on the carpet. I should explain here that we're not talking the nice, solid poop that is relatively easy to clean up. We're talking....okay, you probably don't want the details. But you get the idea.

This all happened so quickly that I sat dumbfounded for what seemed like a minute. Do you ever have one of those times where somehow a hundred thoughts flow through your mind in what turns out to be only a matter of seconds? I didn't know where to start with cleaning things up. It was everywhere....her whole forehead and right cheek, her eyebrows, some of her hair...then when she put her hands in it, she smeared it on her belly, arms, legs...everywhere. Then there was the carpet. Again...everywhere. I'm ashamed to say that one of my thoughts was to first clean up the carpet, but that thought was quickly smothered by the reality that while I cleaned it up she would just be smearing more. So, after wiping some of the larger globs off her body, I carried her a foot in front of me to the kids' bathroom upstairs to get her into the bathtub.

Meanwhile, the whole time that I'm dealing with cleaning Jayna while she is screaming (not crying, screaming...hey, you would be, too, if your face was covered in poo), Travis is in the background whining about whatever he can think of. "Mommy, don't want to come downstairs". "Mommy, me thirsty". "Mommy, need a cup". "Mommy...mommy...mommy.....". It was constant, and incredibly grating on the nerves when the Jayna situation was obviously a bit of a higher priority.

Okay, so I get the bath started, put her in, cover her in soap, and scrub. And she's still screaming, louder by the minute. We're still trying to figure out ways to make her enjoy bathtime again....this ordeal definitely did not help. I really had to scrub. I finally get her clean, wrap her in the towel, and take her to the changing table. She's still screaming, Travis is still whining despite my telling him to stop, and I'm doing some serious deep breathing. And while I'm trying to wrestle her into a new diaper, Travis decides to slam a toy airplane into my ankle.

And that was it. I didn't even get mad, I just started crying. Partly because he really hurt me, but partly because that was the last straw. This situation was certainly stressful, but I had had a somewhat frustrating day to begin with, and I felt defeated.

But now, when Travis sees me crying, he covers his face with his hands and starts crying, too, saying in a hysterical voice "I'm sorry, Mommy, I'm sorry!" Can you picture it? All three of us, crying our little eyes out. And at this, I admit, I had to let out a small giggle.

Thankfully, the story does end. Travis bent down to kiss my ankle, apologized again after I told him that he hurt me, and Jayna settled down. And though I still smelled a hint of poo in parts of her hair, I was not about to put her (or myself) through another bath. Oh, and I spent a fair amount of time cleaning the carpet. We were thinking about having some of our carpets cleaned sometime next month...this event solidifies that plan!

Steve got home shortly after I had cleaned everything up, and I was still a bit disheveled. I told him the story and could see the smile forming, but he was kind enough to stifle his laughter (or at least most of it).

In the midst of it, this was one of those moments that makes me wonder if I could actually handle any more kids. It seems like the crazy stuff always has to happen all at once. But looking back, even I can't help but laugh a little bit. I suppose sometimes it is the laughter that keeps you going!

Jayna's one year pictures

For each of our kids' one year pictures I've decided to go a little bit nicer than the usual JCPenney or Sears. I took Travis to Yuen Lui when he turned one and loved how they turned out, so I decided to take Jayna to the same place. The bottom picture got a little cut off when I scanned it into the computer. Anyway, I love the pictures! It's so fun to see how she changes as time goes by. I know, I'm completely biased, but she really is beautiful! I know you other parents know what I mean when I say I could eat her up!

Favorite verses

I recently adopted Romans 8:38-39 as my "life verse"--one that I want to embrace wholeheartedly and live by. It reads: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord". There is so much power in that verse...to know that there is absolutely nothing I could do that would make God love me any less. I am loved by the God of the universe, and His love for me is unshakable. Wow.

In trying to choose a verse, however, there were literally six or seven I was trying to choose between (and that was after narrowing down the list). And so, I am curious...what is one of your favorite verses? Please share!

Our new toy

A couple of months ago, we were SO excited to receive a bike trailer that was essentially brand new, as well as a new women's bike, from a man at church. (Long story short--the man just wanted to be rid of this and other stuff, and wanted it to go to a family who would use it...and we were the lucky ones who got the bike and trailer). This was really a huge blessing because we had our bikes stolen a couple of years ago and had been looking into buying new ones for awhile, along with a trailer...but it added up to more money than we felt we could spend. We were so grateful.
We've been taking the kids on occasional mini-rides around the neighborhood, but this past weekend was our first chance to go out for a "real" bike ride. So we packed a picnic lunch and headed on out to the Orting Trail. It was beautiful.