Strawberry Picking

We have a you pick farm fairly close to our house and tons of my friends kept posting pictures saying how great the strawberries were this year and how easy they were to pick.  I was definitely interested so I called my friend Jessica up and asked if she had any interest in going.  We loaded up our four kids a piece (eight kids totally people) and headed over.  It was hot and muggy but the strawberries were plentiful and the kids had a blast picking.  After about a half an hour of picking, mostly done by the kids she had four mostly full baskets and I had three.  We loaded the kids back up in the car, paid for our goods, bought them so honey sticks and headed home.  These strawberries were delicious and after Gigi washed all of ours, singing the entire time, we ate them all in two days.  Not a single desert was made, we enjoyed these babies just the way God intended, from plant, to hand, to mouth :)  My phone is lost probably forever and I thought I'd downloaded all my pictures from the summer before I left, but apparently I didn't, but luckily for me Jessica took some shots of the kids while we were out there so enjoy.

These two have a mostly love relationship.  Her little boy calls Cheetah "the baby" and likes to give her lots of kisses and hugs.  Usually she is receptive.  Occasionally she gets in a mood and isn't...just like her mama ;)

 I love this shot.  Look at her baby legs rolls.  Cheetah has never been a particularly big baby but she still has a bit of her baby chub and I love it!

Just hanging with my buddy.

By golly it is hot.  We need some sweet tea mom!

 These kids took their job super seriously.  Jessica and I basically just followed them around.  They were busy little bees!  I could actually see while they were hard at work why kids might actually be the preferable harvesters of food, hello Hunger Games.  Child labor laws be darned.

Gigi took off to check out the bushes a little further away...

 then returned with an almost full basket to join the rest of the group.

 No one ever said you couldn't eat while you were picking right?  Well I hope not, because my kids certainly ate more than a few berries.

 So how did strawberry picking stack up to our raspberry picking two years ago?  Very favorable.  Now keep in mind I prefer raspberries, but strawberries were about three miles from home, while raspberries were about twenty.  Raspberries were very picked over and the kids had a hard time filling their small baskets.  Strawberries were plentiful and they easily found enough to satisfy their picking desire.  Strawberries held up a little better to tiny fingers.  So overall it was a super fun experience that I'd love to do again!

Photos taken by Jessica Vaughn Photography