Strawberry Pickin'!

After a deluge of rainy weather for the past week or so, yesterday morning was sunny and dry and beautiful. To top it all off, I received an update from a local farm that their u-pick strawberry field was open for business this week. A trek down to this farm for strawberry picking has become an annual tradition in our household. Sure, the berries cost a little more than we would pay at the store, but we don't mind paying a little extra for the experience. Last year, we headed to the patch when Baby C was only three days old just to get some fresh air and walk around for a bit.

I slathered the kids in sunscreen and we headed off to the fields. G and S were so excited:

Baskets and kids are ready to go!

We strolled down into the fields and gave the kids a few basic instructions: 1) Don't step on the strawberries; 2) Don't pick green ones; 3) Don't eat them yet! They (mostly) followed these instructions pretty well.

Knee deep in the strawberry field

Looking for some good ones

Concentrating on the "Don't step on the strawberries" rule

S's Basket

When the boys got tired of the whole strawberry thing, they kept themselves preoccupied with the weeds:

I'm gonna get it!

Picking beautiful wild flowers...to throw!

Randy did encourage some tasting in the field:

Don't worry, we paid for the taste test :)

Then we headed back to the country store at the farm to pay and buy some of their delicious apple sauce and cider and also to let the kids play on the farm's "tractor:"

Practicing his driving

G's "pageant" wave

Of course, Baby C was more enamored with the trees than with anything else:

By the time we got home, we had three sticky kids in strawberry-colored clothes. It was a great way to spend the day.

Is there anything more handsome than a daddy spending time with his kids?

Excited about enjoying the fruits of their labor!