A Berry Good Day
My kiddos have been out of school for one week as of today. With my daughter’s graduation and all that entailed it seemed like summer had not really begun. Just when that began winding down my middle child started working out with his team at the high school three days a week and will soon start participating in weekend events in preparation for the Fall sports season. College freshman orientation will begin soon and then there’s all the college preparation that goes along with it. It seems that our summer is being eaten up before it even started. I am tapping on the brakes. I have decided that it doesn’t matter what is going on. I will stop everything one day a week and go somewhere with my kids. I know that might not sound like much but as they get older it’s harder due to different demands on each person’s time. Then, of course, there’s the whole money and gas issue. I’d love to go crazy and jet off to Europe but that’s just not in the cards. I’m just talking about a “mini- uno- day-cation” (a local vacation of the super short one day kind). Today was WEEK ONE and it was a hit!
We went to a U-Pick Farm and picked strawberries and blueberries!
I live in Georgia but I’m a city girl. I mean just look at me there in the fields. Am I going to play tennis? LOL! Also, I never wear a hat but I did today. I OWN hats, I just don’t wear them. I’m thinking of turning over a new leaf on that idea. It saved me today because THAT is yesterday’s makeup. FOR REAL. I fell asleep in my makeup last night and had to go out like that to take my son to the dentist first thing this morning. I didn’t wear the hat to the dentist. I just threw it on for the fields to keep down the glare and the heat. The cows were like, “Hay (cows always spell hey like the edible kind) did you know you were coming out? You could clean up!” Whatever. Everyone knows that cows are very judgmental. It’s udderly shameful…and so is wearing yesterday’s makeup.
Here’s one of the three reasons I took off wearing yesterday’s makeup. Sometimes you take the time to get ready and other times you go as you are before you miss it. I’m glad I didn’t waste a second today. Next time, I’ll get up earlier and make myself more presentable. This is what I would have missed if I’d waited. Actually, my sons didn’t even want to go until I said my daughter and I were going anyway. Next thing I know, they’re ready! I’m so glad we all went to the U-Pick fields together. With a child leaving for college, I don’t know how many more of these times we’ll have as a group. It’s so important to make the most of the time you’ve got right now. I’m trying to remember that. It doesn’t matter if you go to a special place or spend any money, what matters is having an experience together. I remember, as a kid, playing checkers with my Grandfather. I later won a checker championship. Those times playing checkers with him cost nothing but a couple of dollars for the board. The memory is priceless.
To find the U-pick place we went to, I just did a search online. I choose one that was a little more than an hour from our house. It was in an area none of us were familiar with. That was perfect. It gave us time to laugh and talk in the car and to see places we hadn’t seen before.
None of us had ever really picked strawberries or blueberries before. Last year, we tried to grow blueberries but they didn’t work out. We grew a few strawberries but they didn’t do too well either and those that did, a chipmunk ate. This year, we’re growing tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and two kinds of mint. We’re good at that! 😉
We picked a gallon of strawberries and a quart of blueberries. The cost of all that fruit was $17 and then there was the gas to get there, the food on the way, two Slushies at $2 each and a trip to the grocery store on the way home. You know a trip to the grocery store is cheaper when you go without the kids, right? Well, we won’t even get into that as part of the cost of today. LOL.
 If you’re in Georgia, check out the Southern Belle Farm. We give it a thumbs up!
It sounds like you and your kiddos had a good day. You’re right, you have to take the time with them while they’re still around. I need to do that more with my son, too. And going out with yesterday’s makeup on — at least you had some one. There are times when I just don’t have time to put any on and, boy, do I feel strange when I do that.
CathyinMN,
It was a lot of fun and those strawberries? SUPER YUM! 😉
Hugs,
~Joy~
Oh my gosh! This brought back so many memories. We still laugh about the time we took our 6 kids and our elderly cousin and his wife and went cherry picking. The kids had so much fun and when we finally weighed all the cherries our little kiddos had picked 99 lbs. of cherries! At that time they were a d0llar a pound . Good thing the elderly cousins were along . After we all scraped every penny out of our wallets we had enough to pay for them. I never thought our kids would have so much fun and pick so many cherries but what a memory! Have a fun time on your next adventure. Regina
Regina,
That is hilarious!! That reminds me of when my friend came to visit and on the way out of town took her boys fishing at a stocked pond where you pay by the pound for what you catch. They couldn’t stop catching fish! It ended up being quite pricey but she still laughs about it. 😉
Thank you!
~Joy~
Love! I told my youngest (he’s 12, oldest daughter will be 25 and lives in GA) that this summer we would do mini trips around our area and find things to do. Him and I. I don’t know who’s more excited, him or I, lol. I love fresh strawberries warm from the field.
Went strawberry picking yesterday with my 5 y.o. granddaughter and her “boyfriend” – so MUCH fun! She had dressed herself, leopard print long pants and a pink and flowered tankdress. (My daughter-in-law kept saying people are going to think she is still in her pj’s, I said no, they will think she has a style of her own!) My sweet D-I-L kept thanking me for going with her, not realizing what a gift to me it was. We followed that up with a pizza picnic in the park. Since my son and D-I-L waited 14 years to give me this sweet child, I cherish each moment spent with her, even more so since it looks like my other two children don’t plan to reproduce any time soon! LOL! My husband and I have discussed it at length how special being a parent is but how remarkable it is that God saved the best for last, being someone’s grandparent.
Enjoy this time, it’s worth taking the effort to make these moments happen.
PS. They made strawberry sorbet and I made strawberry shortcake! YUMMY!