Mama says I’m too young to understand that reference, but no matter. What matters is that I’m back, and I’m going to try to be more faithful about this blog. A lot has happened over the past couple months, which I’ll tell you all about in the coming weeks, from starting to talk, to going camping for the first time, from having a visit from my Grandma and Geegee, to going to Italy on a big airplane! And of course, I’ve been eating all kinds of things along the way.

In order for me to get back in the swing of things, I’m going to keep these first few posts short. I’ve been thinking about writing every day, so I just have to jump back in.

To start with, let me tell you about something called s’mores. As you might recall, I don’t eat a whole lot of sugar (though that’s really changed since I’ve been to Italy). Mama allows it some of the time now, especially since summer is ripe with all kinds of sweet fruits and cool popsicles. This past weekend, I went camping for the first time. Did you know that when you go camping, you get to be outside all the time, sleep in a tent, pee in the woods, and eat food cooked over a campfire? Well, I had the best little sandwich I’ve ever eaten. First, Papa and I scavenged some good sticks in the woods, which Papa then whittled to have finer points. Then Mama showed me how to skewer marshmallows on the ends. Since I was a little too excitable around the fire, Mama held my marshmallow stick for me. She and Papa explained that there are two schools of thought regarding marshmallows. Mama likes them to catch fire so they get all melty inside, and also so she can blow them out. Papa likes them to get toasty just by the fire’s heat.

Mama slid her marshmallow onto a graham cracker spread with Nutella, and topped it with another graham cracker for me. Papa poured Mama’s homemade chocolate sauce on the s’more he made for her, and Mama made a third s’more for Papa using a peppermint patty. Boy, were they good! They were supersweet, crunchy, yet soft. I didn’t even care that my face and hands were covered in sticky goo. Mama and Papa toasted more marshmallows for us to eat by the campfire (though they cut me off after one).

If this is what camping is all about, I can’t wait to go again.

Love, Jude