It's Strawberry Time

We went strawberry picking twice this week. Once with our cousins and once with our friends.
You might remember this place from last year. Remember this hysterical sign?

On Tuesday afternoon I took all five kids strawberry picking by myself. I usually don't do such adventurous things with all five of them and I actually tried to get out of it, but those Marshall girls are insistent. Last year when we picked strawberries my mom was with us and McKenna was a sleeping infant in her stroller. This year I was worried about the fact that she is on the move. But Tuesday afternoon is now my most FAVORITE memory with all five kids. (BTW I have no idea what was up with Abby's wild hair. I really had it looking cute earlier in the day but something crazy must have happened :)

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon.

Look at the view of the mountains from the strawberry patch. It was so gorgeous.

And the kids really knew what they were doing. I didn't have to remind anyone not to step on the strawberry plants. I didn't have to even give them any instructions on what kind of strawberry to pick. They were picking the red ones without any problems.

And they were busy the whole time. I just walked McKenna around and eventually Nathan joined us. Strawberry picking is apparently not his thing, but is was nice to just chat with him and enjoy the afternoon. He's a funny boy!

We ended up with almost three whole buckets filled with strawberries and I didn't pick any of them. It sort of felt like a Norman Rockwell moment for me. Happy kids having a great life experience all the while accomplishing something purposeful without any arguing. I stood there and watched them and enjoyed the moment. We've come a long way. Everyone is growing up. It's bittersweet, but I'm thrilled that we can do these things now without it putting me over the edge.

Look at my strawberry girl all dressed in red (on purpose of course). She loves to eat strawberries. Hence the binkie so she would not just pick and eat. She tried it and I put a stop to it because she was NOT picking red ones and think of the chemicals on those berries. Yuck!

Christian, McKenna and I headed back to the strawberry farm the next morning with some friends.

Once again I hardly picked any berries and Christian did a great job!
The weather was not as cooperative. It rained on and off and the gnats were driving me insane!!!!!!!!!!

McKenna sat in her stroller most of the time and played....

peek-a-boo.

Cademon was having a grand time snacking on strawberries and our friends Bryson, Tanyon and Addie were there too but I didn't end up with a good picture of them. You'll have to head on over to their blog to see some cute pictures.

What a fun time we've had!!! Next up...blueberry picking! Yummy!