Carter has always loved books--first they tasted great, and then they we so interestingly constructed, and now he loves to actually look at the contents. At least once a day, he can be found sitting on the bed, flipping through a favorite. If it is Goodnight Moon, he will say "hush" at the lady in the rocking chair, and if it is Snuggle Puppy, he will say "OOOOOOOOOOOO!" when the letters get really big. But it does not have to be a board book. Often the answer to "where's Carter?" is "In the bedroom reading a magazine." He does not discriminate really, and it does not even have to have pictures--I have come in and found him flipping through "Medical Statistics" -- completely absorbed. Recently, his new favorite is the phone book. Perhaps it is the texture of the paper--I don't know. One day he spent a half hour paging though my Russell Banks book of short stories (a Very Depressing book...), slowly turning the pages, one at a time, looking for all the world like he was truly reading it.

We have had a lot of adventures--Ava caught her first fish, she got a new bike, and the kids and I went camping. The fish was ENORMOUS--seventeen inches. She and Da were standing on the stairs leading to the pond at Corey's (Nana and Da's house), having gone down there to distract her from the fact that Carter was taking an extra long time in the swing, and with the first cast she managed to nail a giant fish. The problem is, seventeen inches is now her standard. I am not sure how a little ol' 10 inch trout is going to pass muster.

The bike is purple and has sparkly tassles on the handle bars, and it is a definite elbow cruncher. But she practices, and we are going to go to the local high school track to get some miles in. She is very proud of it.

Camping was outstanding. I had not set up my tent in over 5 years (the horror!), and it was as exciting for me as it was for the kids. We found a gorgeous site literally 1/2 a mile away from our house and were joined by 3 other moms and 5 more kids. Ava and Carter were amazed that they were allowed to live outside for almost 24 hours--not only that, but there was a beach to wade in and out of whenever the mood struck (often), even during dinner. The dirt was unbelievable. We went on a nature hike and found salamanders under logs, and now carter wants me to roll every downed tree he finds, no matter how big it is. Ava could not wait to roast marshmallows, and even though she did not like the taste of them cooked, she was happy to eat them raw by the fire. After finally convincing her that sleeping was worth it, she fell asleep looking at the stars through the skylight of the tent, wrapped up in her sleeping bag and then never moved until 6:30 the next morning. Carter and I did not sleep as well, since we had to share a bag, but no matter, it was still worth it to see the look on his face when he woke up and realized that he was outside already. No need to even ask. It will not be hard to convince them to go again.