Swim suit? I don't need no stinkin' swimsuit.

See? Works just fine in playclothes.

This week on "Child vs Wild," Child packs for a camping trip

(when said child should have been asleep for two hours).

Survival Tip #1: Do not get caught in the wilderness without your piggy bank.

We left the big city today in search of some rural adventure. We found...

an old train,

an old farm equipment playground,

and The Blackberry Jam...a wee festival, not to be confused with actual blackberry jam, which there was none of, much to our dismay. I like my butterfly, though.

Then on down the road to a farmers market on the lake. Here we found sausages and strawberries, which more than compensated for the lack of Blackberry Jam at the Blackberry Jam.

Fun! Tired.

Ok, Chuy, on the count of three, look sultry. One. Two...

I really really love the neighbor dog.
And he loves me back.

Sometimes, when dinner's late in comin', you just have to take matters into your own hands.

And sometimes, when the cat doesn't love you nearly as much as you love her, you have to force the issue a little bit.

Today, after a lazy lazy lazy morning and afternoon, we kicked it into high gear and took a Library/ Park Adventure. We have a gorgeous library, and since Jez was fascinated in the persistent way that only a One Year Old can be, we decided to change gears from "book hunting" to "Library Exploration."

J: Later! You guys can go if you want to; makes not a hill of beans difference to me.

I'm gonna go up these stairs. Again.

Then off the park for a snack, some sand play (which doubles as another snack for Jezzie), and some climbin' and swingin'.

Jezzie went down the slide three hundred (give or take) times and insisted it be by herself. Winona is uninterested in slides and hung where you see her here, saying "slides are scary." Yup, we've got two different kiddos here.

Again, you guys feel free to leave if you must. I've got more to do here at the park.

I win.

For your listening pleasure.

We went to a wedding up the river yesterday. It was beautiful. Can you find me in this picture? (I'm the one keeping my cream colored wedding dress immaculately clean).

And the s'mores at the end of the night were delicious.

But ah. Those su-ummer ni-iiiiiights!!!! Tell me more... Tell me MOOOOOOOORE!!!

Gotta love a day that ends with a bikeride down to the pool.

J: Winnie taught me how to stick my face in the water and blow bubbles. I'm demonstrating here. It loses some of the effect on dry ground, but take my word for it: this trick is a game-changer.

We ran into some friends, and in an attempt to buy some more time to sit and chat in the sunshine, our moms sent my buddy Cole and I off to the concession stand to buy a pretzel. This was a first: Mom gave me money and the chance to walk right up to the woman and order a pretzel. (This woman, I'll have you know, was surrounded by all sorts of tempting distractions from a pretzel, but I digress; and yes, I stuck with a pretzel-- but when she said, "Plain or with cinnamon and sugar?", I did my best to keep my composure -- my sugar intake fate in my own hands?!?!?!-- and non-chalantly chose cinnamon).

This will be a very satisfying treat.

Yup. That was fun. We see many more of these nights in our summer's future.

A little summer evening stroll...

and a little summer evening feast.

Here you can see a few of my best tricks: walking like a pro (even though my parents have a rather insulting habit of calling me "baby orangatun" or "monkey" when I walk around), picking up most things in my path and examining them intently (this includes a taste test. obviously.), the throw down upon the "Yuck!" command, a sign-language "please" (as in, "please can I eat it?") and a blown kiss to say goodbye....

Which, seems to me, covers just about all the skill sets one might need in life.

W: We went to a parade on the 4th. None in town here, but in a little, rural community just south of here they pull out all the stops; by which I mean: horses, old cars, boy scouts and Miss Something Or Others who throw candy. Can't beat it. Oh, and an air show, too--planes flew overhead and "waved"--pretty cool. All in all I liked the parade, but we left a little early because the sirens and the planes were too loud. So, too, were the fireworks later the same day. We are decidedly loud about our national independence. Good candy and brats, though.

J: I like summer. I like being naked. I like when mom and dad leave the back door open and I can just wander out and pick berries and stomp along after the dogs and eat stuff off the ground. I like laughing at my sister. That's what I'm doing here.

W: I like summer, too. Mostly because of the berries (have we already covered this?). But other stuff too: I like camp and later bedtimes. I like friends coming over more often and more parties. I like days like this, when we just lie around, playing harmonica, making Jez laugh, and checking out my toes.

And you thought I was kidding about the toes. Nope. Not kidding.