"I used to go camping at Three Lakes with my dad when I was a kid," he says. "What do you think?"
Jamie's always been her father's pal, the one who tags along to go hiking or hunt for bugs. She's the one who helps him tend the vegetable garden and the orchard. She loves nature, just like her dad, which is convenient since all of her brothers hate the outdoors.
Since it's just the two of them, they get to indulge what John calls their "crunchy, hippie side."
They spend their days exploring the Three Lakes area and trying out some of the mountain activities. They're both really good at axe throwing, but log rolling is a little more difficult.
Jamie finds some people to teach her the slap dance. She knows her brothers will tease her, but she doesn't care; it's a lot of fun!
Mostly, though, she just likes getting to spend time with her dad. Every night at their campground they eat hot dogs, sit around the campfire, and roast marshmellows.
Of course Jamie is a sixteen-year-old girl; what vacation would be complete without meeting a teenaged boy? Abijheet Turner and his father are staying one tent away, and one night she and her dad share a campfire with them. There aren't a lot of boys her age in Arcadia (at least, boys who aren't related to her), and Jamie feels her stomach flutter as she stares at him from across the campfire. But she and her father leave before she can work up the courage to kiss him, although they do exchange phone numbers. Perhaps this is something her older brothers can help her figure out.
Alex is also enjoying the perks of having fewer older siblings at home. Ever since he first brought Piper Cooper home from school, his brothers have been teasing him about his little girlfriend. He'd never known what they meant; she was just Piper, his best friend. But now when he looks at her, he sees something more.
He hasn't given much thought to falling in love. He's always compared himself to John, not Tom. John's the serious one, a studious kid and diligent student. Tom was the one who spent his time going on dates and making out with girls on the living room couch. Alex thought love wasn't for boys like him, boys who prefered chess over sports and computer games over TV. Maybe that's true in general, but he's found Piper, and with her being in love seems like the most natural thing in the world.
The boy Jamie meets is the same one Madison flirts with at Takezimo Village. He and his family really get around! I wasn't planning to send him to college after he met Madison, but after he met Jamie I decided I had to so I could see what happens next. Poor Jamie hasn't had her first kiss yet; that's what happens when three of the six boys in town are your brothers!
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