Berry Good

I decided to take the girls to a local berry farm and pick raspberries this morning. In my mind I had built this up to be a very beautiful memory making experience--and then I reminded myself that they are little, would probably complain the whole time, and that I should lower my expectations. A lot. So, I cautiously presented the idea over breakfast and it was met with great enthusiasm. My berry pickers ate quickly and were quite motivated to get dressed and out the door. That was a nice change! We arrived at the farm a few minutes after their 8 a.m. open time, and the girls were eager to get started. I have to say that they blew my expectations out of the water. They were both interested, excited, and relatively helpful for the 45 minutes we picked. As we were pulling out of the farm, Jillian probably told me at least 3 times in the first mile that she had such a great time, and repeatedly thanked me for taking them. It made me feel a little guilty that I was so hesitant in the first place--often the thought of all the extra work it takes to do something out of the routine is enough to make me just skip it. I'm glad we didn't skip this little memory that did in fact turn out to be beautiful.

6 pints. Not bad for 45 minutes with 2 "helpers"! We are going to try making a small batch of jam, I think.

Enjoying a post-picking treat at Great Harvest.

I'm not sure why J has a sour face in this shot. She thoroughly enjoyed her muffin, and was such a sweet sister during the outing. The lady behind us (you can see her legs in the picture) actually commented that my girls were so good to each other. She also is the mom of girls and so therefore knows how delicate the sister relationship can be!