Field Trip

Found this in the drafts. More behind than I thought. This happened the week school got out.

Two days ago we headed out early in the morning to Amazin' Acres for one of the best field trips of the year. 

The strawberries are probably what had it ranking so high. =)

Caitlin can always charm someone into holding her.

 Picking strawberries!

 Dominic with his strawberries waiting to enjoy a hayride on the way back to the farm.

 Caitlin adores that big brother of hers.

 Enjoying the barrel ride.
The ride is pulled by a four-wheeler. And let me tell you, the driver was one crazy lady. But the kids loved it.

 The tire swing.

Aren't these two precious?!

 They were selling rabbits. Can you imagine the response when the kids heard that.
But I was able to resist that precious face, so we came home rabbit free.

 Enjoying the days "work".

A wonderful field trip that I hope we can repeat again next year.

Whirlwind Trip

My mom and I were talking last week and she was bemoaning the fact that she couldn't find strawberries.

I just had to brag that we had this amazing fruit stand with the BEST strawberries. Then I had a thought. So I offered to bring her some and help her cap them. We both thought it was a great idea and I headed out early Tuesday morning with a trunk completely full of strawberries.

We were both amazing =) and had most of them put up by the time I had to leave for home.

The kids LOVED the short visit and talked about it for days afterwards.

I had intended to get some pictures of the kids with their grandparents. But I was so busy capping strawberries that I completely forgot.

In fact, the only time the camera came out was when mom screamed and started beating the table with her bowl of strawberries. She lifted the bowl to reveal this -

He was dieing by this point, but still creepy looking.

Don't these strawberries look amazing?!

A stray green berry. Caitlin wanted to eat it.

We had such a fun visit. Next time I'll try it without the berries. My fingers are still red and brown. =)

Strawberries

My kids LOVE strawberries. And I found this wonderful fruit stand that sells them by the flat (12 pints?). So last week and again today I purchased a ton. My intention was to freeze them. The frozen ones that I've been buying in the store just don't taste. They aren't bad, they just don't have very much flavor. These from the fruit stand are the best. So I bought enough to fill an entire shelf in my freezer. But my kids ate most of a flat. By the time we all ate our fill and I made a couple of meals with them I had enough to make one gallon bag. So today I went and bought twice as much. And I waited until Dominic and Caitlin were in their bedrooms for quiet time. Guess what happened? Dominic decided he didn't want to watch tv because he wanted to play his PS3 (He can't do both in the same day.) And Caitlin decided she didn't need to nap for very long.

Sigh! At least it's something healthy. So I'll be going back again to buy more.

And it's worth it when you get to have this for supper.

Some random photos

Just a few random things from last week.

Caitlin has had a runny nose all week because she's STILL cutting those 2 yr. molars.

She doesn't let it stop her from doing what she wants. She just smears her hand up her face and goes on.

So consequently it was really gross by supper time. And even worse, I didn't notice right away and when I did I took pictures of it before I cleaned her up.

I saw the kids in the library reading again. It doesn't matter how many times I see this it warms my heart that my kids share my love of books.

I found some amazing strawberries at the local fruit stand and Caitlin couldn't stop eating them. Dominic was long done with lunch and she was still shoveling them in. So I had her pose for a few pictures. She loved it.

Strawberries

Strawberries have been in season for about a week now. But the thought of taking both kids and going by myself has seemed a bit daunting. So on Friday I invited a friend who had never picked strawberries before. We got there and it was pretty hot. Her daughter is Dominic's age and her son is about 18 months. I found out it's just as hard w/ a friend. In her words "this isn't how I romanticized it on the way over here."

Here is a small bit of why she was so disillusioned about strawberry picking -

Caitlin was hot and tired and so screamed the whole time. I had her in the car seat and the place has little wagons that you can use to carry the berries. So she was on the wagon w/ the buckets while my friend and I tried to keep the other kids from putting rotten and green berries in our buckets. Even worse was trying to keep them from eating these berries. Not much luck there. Then I heard a gasp and looked up to see Dominic's little friend w/ this very strange look on her face as she watched my son drop his pants and pee right there in front of her. Then we had to keep them from stomping in the "puddle". Needless to say we didn't get very many berries picked before the stress got to us and we both left. Something tells me I'll never be able to convince her to go again. Sigh!

On Sunday I left the kids w/ Jon and went and picked over 20 lbs of strawberries by myself. It's amazing what I can get done in a short time with no children. I'd almost forgotten what that was like. So now my freezer and frig are full of berries and we'll be having strawberry shortcake for supper tonight.