Bowman

Bowman Orchards has raspberries, blackberries and... piglets!

Ice Cream from Bumpy's!

That's all.

500

I reached the halfway point today in becoming a "Thousand Book Kid." Maybe I'll even reach that goal before I finish kindergarten. Next milestone is 750. If I was only reading the Book Club Books, I'd probably be there already, but we also get books from the library, and re-read stuff from my rack at home (right now, it's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.) I'm getting pretty good at sounding-out and spelling a lot of words. Mom and/or Dad (or grandparents) read to me every night at bedtime (and sometimes when I wake up). Plus, Ms. Becky and my other daycare teachers love to read with me, too.

July NYC Visit

Took a drive down to Dobbs Ferry to visit with Ken and Tom. (Tom brought us back some fun gifts from his trip to Europe!) We drove into the Bronx to the New York Botanical Garden. There are tons of different plants, flowers and trees there. I got to do a scavenger hunt in the children's adventure garden and saw a HUGE bullfrog up close. We saw these 15-foot-tall sculptures that looked like they were made out of giant fruits, vegetables and roots. After the garden, we took the train into Manhattan. I got a peach mango smoothie from Jamba Juice and then we went to the LEGO store at Rockefeller Center, where mom and dad let me fill a little bucket with LEGO pieces that I got to pick from a wall of containers. Mom even surprised me the next morning with a new LEGO 3-in-1 set. I built a robot.

Blueberries part deux.

Did some more blueberry picking. This time, 'Pa and Grandma helped. Then I said hi to Woody the goat, and had an ice cream cone.

Crazy about LEGOs

Who's got two thumbs and built this LEGO Construction Hauler all by himself?

"This guy"!

Camping

We spent a day and night with Uncle Spike, Aunt Stacey and Cousin Sophia at their campground at Glimmerglass State Park in Cooperstown. I played at the playground, splashed in the lake, walked over "the oldest existing covered bridge in the United States", played inside Dad's tent, ate trout that Spike caught in Queechy Lake, ate S'mores, then slept in the camper with Sophia. The next day we had fun around the campsite for a while before heading to Ommegang Brewery for lunch (and so Dad and Uncle Spike could sample beers). It was fun. I'm ready to go camping again real soon!

The campsite

Our tent

Built in 1825, the Hyde Hall Covered Bridge is the
oldest existing covered bridge in the United States.

H-2-Oh!

Played in the pool in the backyard and introduced 'Pa to my new water toy - and soaked him!

Blueberry picking time.

Did some blueberry picking (and got the last of the strawberries) over at Bowman Orchards. Uncle Ken was visiting and did an great job getting some of the biggest, best berries on the bush!

Howe was my Friday.

Mom and Dad took me to Howe Caverns today. We went underground into caves and saw lots of cool limestone formations, stalactites and stalagmites. We even went on a short little boat ride and after the tour, I picked out some cool polished stones to bring home as a souvenir.