Vermont

- We picked blueberries in the morning. Kate ate essentially every one she picked. Jack ate most, until we impressed upon him the idea of it being a competition to pick the most blueberries. Then he stopped eating them and tried to find his way onto teams of the best pickers.

- There was a petting zoo. Everyone petted rabbits and cows and sheep. We threw too many quarters into the food dispenser, getting food which the animals would take from the kids' hands unless they nervously dropped it on the ground.

- We went swimming at the Grover's Pool. Jack was fine with the inner tube around his middle; he jumped off the edge of the pool a bit, and swam all around. He gets a little more relaxed every time. One day he's going to toss that inner tube aside. At one point I just picked him up off the edge of the pool and bounced him up in the air. He yelled in laughter and nervousness, kind of a mixed joy and alarm I think.

- Kate was pretty wary of the water, but with the inner tube, she too eventually went in a little, in my arms, bounced up and down in the air. And then she really got into it when we let her on the raft, which was so big that she could spread out on it and still not touch the water. She made herself as flat as possible, fingers and toes stretched toward the corner, chin on the raft. And a big, happy smile on her face.

- We cooked out, on a little Smoky Joe grill I picked up last week. Jack helped me put it together, which I think he was proud of. Kate kind of helped husk corn. Then fell asleep sitting up on the couch next to Abbey. We woke her up for dinner, which was a hit. Mikey said more than once that he "loved" it. Kind of nice. Jack ate every bite of his hotdog, even though like Kate he was kind of zonked out.

We went to bed relatively early.