Vermont Part 2

- Sunday we slept in, miraculously. It was great. Nana made blueberry pancakes and they were fantastic. Jack could eat blueberries by the basket - did yesterday, in fact - but was lukewarm on having them in his pancakes. Kids.

- While Emmy and I went to Wal-mart, the kids played with Aunt Robin and their cousins. "Splat" was the most popular pursuit, plus they made stuffed animals with a kit. Jack naturally loved Kate's stuffed animals toy. I think whatever was chosen for Kate would have fascinated him more than his own. Just how things go.

- Jack played baseball with Mikey and Baba. I got the idea later that Jack didn't do as well as he'd have liked. We made up for that by playing more later, giving Jack another chance to really hit some. Hard to tell a kid, well, he's 3 years older than you....

- Jack and his cousins went swimming while Kate napped.

- We went up to the Queechee antique mall with a train and merry go round. First we rode the train, which I sometimes think the adults enjoy more than the kids. Although Kate at least wasn't afraid of it by the end and actually opened her eyes and started looking at things. "Bear!"

- After the train, the kids rode these goofy quarter horse rides. Kate liked sitting on them more than riding on them. Jack wanted to ride all of them even though they were all basically the same. Soon the quarters ran out.

- Dinner was fun. They stuck the 11 of us in our own room, wisely. Jack and Kate colored, while Jack gave his order to every employee who walked in our general area: "Pizza and a side of french fries!" He ate well, Kate ate well. One kid had to go to the bathroom, so did the rest. Niamh told a story that cracked up Mikey, and then his laughter cracked the other kids up, and suddenly everyone was losing it. Emily and I watched in mild bafflement as our kids peacefully ate their ice cream for dessert, occasionally laughing or smiling politely at the hilarity.

- At home, everyone was still wired and we hung out in the front yard, near a tree that I remember being planted as just a sapling -- that was now a giant monolith that everyone climbed into. We took picture after picture after picture. Happy kids.

- Played baseball in the yard on Monday. Everyone got a turn to bat. No fights, no bruised feelings. Just six kids and their parents and grandparents, playing baseball.