Jumper

Aussie Word of the Week

Jumper (n): Pronounced "Jompa"

Translation: a woolen or fleece sweater or jacket.

Used in a sentence: Sarah dearest, it's cold outside. You better wear your jumper.

Here's Sarah. Can't you tell her hands are cold. It was really cold - at least 60 degrees. She is sporting her Jumpa outside at pick up time - my least favorite time of the day, not because I don't want to pick up my kids but because it is such a hassle! All of the girls wear the same hat, which makes it difficult to tell which child wearing Madeline camoflage is mine. Remember that movie about the penguins in Antarctica? Remember the part where the penguins are changing places and trying to find their chick, though they all look alike? That's me, 5 times a week, squawking and hoping my chicks will hear me and reveal which one they are. And one other thing that I hate about pick up time: parallel parking. I'm still avoiding it like the plague. It causes me anxiety. (Please note that I received an A in parallel parking in driver's ed. Doing it on the other side of the road still feels very awkward.)

Hopefully, we won't need jumpers next week when we go to visit our family. That's right, we're changing hemispheres for a holiday. I love the fourth of July. I'm excited to spend it in the good ol' US of A.

Speaking of the fourth of July, did I ever tell you about our first fourth of July down south? We were living in New Orleans and decided to go camping in Mississippi for the holiday. Did I mention I was 6 months pregnant and it was July? Of course. Actually, I wasn't the only one who was pregnant - Natalie Summers was due a week before me. The Shanklins and Pickards came too. We decided to stay in the "primative area" which is code for "the jeff foxworthys camping next to you will be peeing in the bushes, so avert your eyes." I've never been so hot in my life. Sleeping was not easy. We had to open all of the windows to let some air in, otherwise, I would have slipped into something a little more comfortable, like my birthday suit. It was that hot. We found refuge from the heat by standing in the luke warm lake, dodging cigarette butts the entire day. Only problem was that the lake wasn't that clean, so I ended up with a brown line across my middle - the high water mark. The ladies in line to the outhouse were super nice and let me go first on account of my delicate condition (good thing - that line was long!) Thank y'all.

I do have to give credit to the city of Hattiesburg. They had an awesome fourth of July picnic. There were sack races (which Shon won with his mad skills. I'm sure the fact that he was the only one not drunk helped.) and an ice cream eating contest - won by the three time returning champ, Bubba, looking the part in his overalls without a shirt. I set my picnic basket beneath a tree and found it an hour later inhabited by an entire colony of ants - they ate through the plastic wrap and tunneled all around in the banana bread like an ant farm. My favorite part was just before the fireworks when Elvis came and sang the national anthem: "I wish I lived in a land of cotton . . ."

I sound like I'm being sarcastic and didn't have a good time, but it's actually one of my favorite memories of the Fourth of July. I would do it all again.