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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Picking Strawberries

Our winter has been very warm this year and the strawberry season has been in full swing for a few weeks already.  I nonchalantly suggested we go strawberry picking this weekend and I have not even finished my sentence yet, when they jumped to their feet asking insisting we go to the same farm we went to last year.  To be honest there was no room for negotiation.  "Please, please, please, please, please?  Can we pleeeeeeease go to the same farm?"


It made me realize that these random things we decide to do with our children in an effort to teach them more about the world around them, instantly becomes part of who they are.  And without even it being our intention it becomes part of the way we live our lives and the family traditions we relish year after year.


Once we got out of the car I felt a few droplets of soft rain fall on my skin.  "How funny, I thought to myself,  even the weather seems to be the same as last year!  Maybe just a tad more humid!"

We got three cardboard baskets, washed our hands and the girls gave hubby a quick rundown on the how-to's.  "Daddy, don't pick the ones with white or green at the ends!"  He smiled and nodded.  Then we were off to pick strawberries.


 Along the way the girls started talking with two first grade teachers.  They literally followed them around talking their ears off, but these poor ladies reassured us several times with lovely Southern drawls "We don't mind.  Your daughters are so precious!  We love talking to kids!"  And the conversation seemed to be quite entertaining, because I heard them laugh out loud several times!

We all got back to the car, hot and sweaty, but with three cardboard baskets filled to the top with sweet, delicious strawberries.  I was convinced we will never fill up the basket Fudge carried around, because she ate more than she ever placed inside it!   And no matter how many times we warned her she might get a stomach ache (wink, wink) she just gave us the "talk-to-the-hand-people" attitude!


You can really make a day of it visiting this farm as long as you bring a few sandwiches to enjoy at lunch time.  There are so much more to do.  We had some homemade ice cream;  the girls went for a spin around the farm in the cow train; we stopped over at the petting farm where they had the cutest little fuzzy ducklings and (I looked it up!) poults, commonly referred to as "baby turkeys" in our household, along with lots of rabbits, goats, ponies, donkeys and peacocks and finally the girls spent a good amount of time playing in Pappaw's playground.

Building these memories with our girls are now more important than ever to me.  They remember so much more than before and in my humble opinion THESE years are the most wonderful years we recall when reflecting on our own childhoods.  My wish is for them to think about these years with great fondness!