It's been a fun few days. Mike is out of town backpacking (we miss him) so Jack and I have been keeping busy. Wednesday night was the kickoff for choir at church, Thursday we spent some time shopping with my mom and I got to hang out with Henry that evening (what a cutie), and yesterday we got together with some friends to go swimming. It ended up being quite an adventure with a padlocked pool, 5 kids in swim diapers that only hold so much, and the hot sun beating down. Are you picturing the scene? There is just no turning back once you get kiddos pumped up for the pool so thankfully we found some fellow swim enthusiasts, made a phone call, and were able to get into the pool with it all to ourselves. It ended up being a great memory and a good lesson in determination. Today our adventure lies in berry picking. I've wanted to go all summer and today is the day. Since I didn't take any swim pictures for you...you can rest assured I will be taking berry pictures- you don't even have to tell me...I know you were hoping I would.

So with the hope of berry pictures to come, I leave you with some pictures taken last month of Jack enjoying the sand for the first time. They were from our annual beach trip with the Posenjak gang. We had a great time and miss them already.

Getting ready to dig into the sand...

Mom's best attempt at stopping the eating of sand...

that obviously failed....

Some very sandy feet....

So here it is...my first blog post. I have enjoyed the benefits of simply visiting my favorite blogs without having to do any of the work, but my time has come. I can't promise I will be a consistent blogger, so bumming off of my hubby's site seemed a good place to start- plus THE BUNCH BUNCH....I mean does it get any cuter than that. :)

Some might be asking themselves...what inspired this decision to blog??? I'm sure you've figured me out, but my big inspiration - my boy Jack. We get to hang out everyday and the idea of sharing more pictures and video of him (in addition to the ones my wonderful husband shares)...well a mom can never get enough. So if you were thinking you would be getting your knot-tying instructions here - you will be very disappointed (sorry Jen, but because I love ya...here is a website you can check out for all of your knot-tying needs http//www.realknots.com/knots/index.htm. You can tie your shoes extra fancy and people will be amazed!). So if you're into hearing more about the Bunch fam - this is the place for you. And now....

...onto the fun. Jack has been talking a lot lately. Here is some video of him talking with his cheerios. Sorry it's a little long..I'm working on my video editing skills.

Well...as you can see, there's been a coup! The title mmm...Peaby has been usurped! theBunchBunch has taken over this blogdom!

But don't worry, you'll still be exposed to the random thoughts and feelings of Peaby...but now you'll also be getting wonderful insights, knot-tying instruction, political exposition, box score analysis, and NASCAR highlights from Becky! Actually, she'll probably leave out the NASCAR stuff and instead post pictures and stories about JACK!

Stay tuned for her first post! (hint, hint, Becky)

Peaby

This is my photo-tribute to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. So many good times...today I ran across a few pictures from the old days, and could not miss the opportunity to share them.

...AND my personal favorite!

johnny loves his big beef and cheddar! and getting spikey hair-do's courtesy of daddy!

Probably the most random blog I've ever posted.

This is the moon over Beaverton from last night.

This is...I don't know...

Part two of my vacation was our annual trip to Still Creek Campground on Mt. Hood. We load up the whole gang for a weekend of fun in the sun (and sometimes rain). Normally around July 4th weekend, this year we postponed to welcome Sydney instead. And Jen was brave enough to pack her up and bring her along this year too...so we were complete! Unfortunately, I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I'll spend a few more minutes reveling in my time off with these pictures...also for your enjoyment.

Of course, I had to take a few "nature" shots in the midst of all of the beautiful people.

Jack and his beautiful mommy.

Me and my little camper!

Jim and Trent...taking a bath together after their jog in the woods. I don't write the jokes, people.

Bunch / Bunch

Jack's cousin's playing peek-a-boo with our little guy.

The girls!

The boys!

4 families that look a lot different than they did 3 years ago at this campout!

...and one more, just because I love this shot!

 

We've been at the beach for a week now, and it's awesome...It's been full of great things: walks on the beach, riding bikes with Becky and Jack, playing at the park with Ethan, cards with Abby, naps, a couple of long runs in the cool mist, family dinners, feeding the horses, a hike to a beautiful coastal waterfall with a 200 ft high suspension bridge, and much more! Here are a few pictures that represent our great week.

 

 

 

 

Eric wanted this hot dog so bad that he chomped down on it at light speed. I'm just lucky that my camera was fast enough to capture it.

 

My beautiful Becky and our chubber-dubber Jack with his multiple chins. The boy is loving his food. I love this picture.

hehe...

I'm in California for a couple days for work. I miss my family terribly! Jack is growing so fast and it seems like every day he's doing something new. Even though he's been able to sit up for quite a while now, he's never seemed too interested in sitting still. Just in the last few days, he's really started to find pleasure in sitting. I've even walked in to get him up from a nap a few times to find him sitting up straight in the middle of his crib. Anyway...because he's been holding his head up since he was 3 weeks old, and he's now sitting so well, I'm getting excited about the possibility of taking him in the bike trailer. I want to make sure he's safe, so we're not quite ready to pull the trigger, but we thought we'd get prepared. Becky sent this to my phone while I was in the middle of a meeting tonight. Just what I needed!

This last weekend, I ran in the 10 mile Cape Mountain Trail Run. Between the 4 of us (Trent, Jim, Eric, and myself) we've run the CMTR 11 times in the last 4 years. I didn't run it last year because I was having knee issues...and I really missed it! Since I started feeling good again, I've had my sights on this race. I don't so much "race" it as I "survive" it. But it's a great atmosphere (family supported fundraiser for Siuslaw HS runners), and now it's a tradition!

Jim and Steph were so kind to come and sit around for 2 hours while I was out on the trail...but I know Becky and Jack were glad for the company.

I finished within my goal (under 2 hours), and although I think I could have shaved a few more minutes off my time, I'm very happy that I did well and ran pain-free. Here I am just a hundred yards from the finish. Thanks Steph and Jim for the pics (I stole them from Steph's blog).

All sweaty and tired...my wife keeping her distance...

Jack got his first taste of peas at the coast, and although he looks completely shocked in this picture, I think he liked them. But he likes all food so far, so no surprise there.

Well...the Nike+ "last 5 runs" feature is not working properly for some reason, so instead I added a widget displaying the Nike+ challenge that I'm currently participating in. I and a few of my friends from work decided to race to 300 miles. The losing team has to buy lunch for the other team at Chang's Mongolian Grill! It's Jill Harris and Kristen Budz (hence the name Harry Budz) against me and Annalee Bird (hence the name Bunch o' Birdies). At the time of this posting, Anna and I are 1.51 miles behind. But I forsee a huge comback in the near future!

girls, girls, girls!

I guess that's probably a misleading title. But after all the boys in our circle, we've now had 2 beautiful baby girls join the crew. Today my sister gave birth to a darling Sydney Paige Tompkins. I don't know all the stats because I'm a guy, but she's healthy and beautiful. Here are a few pictures of Syd on her birthday.

In addition to Jack's new propensity for climbing things (see previous post), he's also decided to start making a funny spit/tongue-rolly/zerbert noise. I tried to capture in on camera and thought I'd show off some of the bloopers. For those of you who comment that Jack is smiling in every picture, these are the shots I don't usually put up :-)

Here's the winner! zerbert in action...

Well...it's been a bit, but as a followup to the post below, Jack is moving like crazy now. He crawls very efficiently now, and can pretty much get to anything he wants. Which leads to this. I was getting ready for a run this afternoon (see my Nike + widget to the right, by the way) and looked over to see this:

I couldn't believe it! He was pretty proud of himself and kept climbing back up as soon as we brough him down. The best part is how happy he gets when he's "standing up". He starts babbling and blowing spit bubbles...the kid wants to grow up. His parents would be okay if he slowed down just a bit...

Look out! Here I come! Jack crawled a couple days ago for the first time, and we just got it on video this afternoon. The kid is MOBILE and we have a lot of baby-proofing to do!

Update on the "food" front. Yesterday was Jack's 4th bowl of rice cereal and it's quite obvious that he knows EXACTLY what to do with it now. Becky, Jack, Lily and I went to the park last night and Jack had his dinner there. As soon as the spoon comes out, he opens up his mouth! At one point he even grabbed it out of Becky's hand and put it in his mouth by himself.

Jack got his first taste of "solid" food tonight. We gave him some rice cereal since he's been grabbing at everything he sees us put in our mouths. It took him a few tries to figure out what to do with it. But eventually he finished the whole bowl!

Such a fun little boy...I'm having way too much fun being a daddy!

I mean...come on! This smile is just not fair! Mommy and Daddy don't stand a chance.

Grabby Graberton...just one of our nicknames for Jack.