Year 2, Day 151: Strawberries!

It was an incredibly beautiful day for picking strawberries!  Even the biggest child who said he didn't want to go, enjoyed it and appreciated having freshly picked strawberries in the fridge!  Not only that,  but we played on the playground there and at the brand new one near our new neighborhood!  Meanwhile, someone wanted to see the condo, so we had to switch gears and ended up spending the rest of the day at the grandparents' house.  Daddy put Abishai down for a nap, while I quickly went back to the condo to clean it up.  I had a feeling that if I leave it in a mess, someone's going to want to show it.  So, we watched "Maleficent" this afternoon and the kids spent the rest of the time at the neighbors' houses.

Meanwhile, 36 more hours until we hopefully get into our new home....nervous, excited, fearful, anxious,...those are the feelings I have right now.  I'm sure I'll have many more feelings in the next few days as well.  This move does have a deeper meaning to me than others have, which I'm sure I've shared on the blog, on Facebook and in person.  It will be like going through burying a loved one: you have to focus on all the decisions that need to be made and people you need to see, and then there might be a few minutes here and there to actually grieve.  But when it's all over, and the flowers are starting to wilt, the waves of different feelings do hit.  I anticipate and welcome these waves.  We'll push through and do, do, do, and then when we fall into our bed exhausted in our new bedroom, I'll look back and wonder, what just happened and what does this mean to mean emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually?  I know some might think this is silly talk, but I'm a deep thinker.  I need to process these types of things.  Then I can and will and do move on.  And I wonder, if any of our kids are like that.  I know Justin is.  But I'm not sure if Keturah is.  Abishai is just loud, but adjust fairly easily.  Benaiah will be ok.  We'll have to see.  Here's to the last big push and day of preparations!

Little man is ready to work...or is he?  He didn't like the mud very well, but he did understand the concept of putting the berries in the box.

Everyone got to work right away, but some were done about 1/3 of the way through a box.

I see one!

Oh, I put it in here?  Why can't I eat it? Because we need to pay the nice ladies first.  $2 per lb.  Each bucket can weight up to 6 lbs!

Finding just the right ones.  There was plenty left but you had to move the leaves to find them.

Goofball face but he had the most fun of them all!  Big contrast to the last time we went strawberry picking at this very farm 6 or 7 years ago!

Justin was afraid his bright green sneaker would get muddy.  Well, they did, and that's ok, because you'll outgrow them soon enough.  He did pick some berries though and had wanted to come.

I love having independent kids.

Ripe berries under bright green leaves!

I saw a few of these fun shaped berries!

Waterman's had built this playground to replace their hay mound during pumpkin patch season, but we were able to play on it for free today, and any day we come to pick any other veggies.  I'm grateful we had a pretty loose schedule so we could just go with the flow.

He might be as big as a man, but he's still got a child's heart.

Keturah found this umbrella in the car and carried it around with her all day.  She also gained more clothing from a friend in the neighborhood, so she wore this new swimsuit cover up over her clothes like a jacket.

Boys will be boys.  And what a contrast - Justin's skinny legs, and Benaiah's not so skinny legs.  Cracks me up every time you put these two side by side.

Weeee!!!!  But Benaiah almost gets stuck on slides like this now.

Brave guy went down the curly slide and loved it!

Cracks me up, love it!

This one, too!

"Red trac-tor."  Driving the tractors like it's just a thing we do every day.

Pretty quiet at Waterman's Farm on Raymond St., right near 465.  We were on the other side of 465 soon after this as we stopped at McDonald's on Post Rd for a quick lunch and then headed to a new playground only 5 minutes from our new home.

Again, with the umbrella, she made it down the slide off of the tractor.

My kids don't like farming, but they like sitting on tractors.  Oh, and I did get them registered to go to the Touch a Truck event coming up the end of June!  I took the kids when they were really young, but now it's Abishai's turn. You get to go in all kinds of vehicles, not just fire trucks, vehicles like delivery vehicles, military vehicles and the like.

"Red vroom, vroom."  "Red bus." "Red trac-tor."

Wolf Run park is massive with tons of new equipment I've never seen before.  This one, however, was practically in our backyard in Charlottetown.

Newest type of swing is a version of the tire swing without the heat of the hot rubber or the hole where you could fall off into.

Again, big kid, right in the middle of things.

Always up to try new play equipment.

Abishai is a climbing machine!  I hope Jared is able to build another playground from scratch for the kids that includes a climbing wall!

Peek a boo!

This apparatus spins around and around and you do fall off easily.

Big brother helping little brother.

Again, this seat spins.

Coolest parent/child swing ever!  The swings are fixed to where when you swing, the child swings without you pushing them.  Abishai loved it!

Stiff cables, not a chain link chain attached to the seat.

Abishai likes the new tire swing, too.

Grandma has way too many good hiding spots.  Sorry, Grandma!  You're going to be finding cars and Legos in multiple locatiosn for the rest of your life!

"Abishai sit." "Bubee's game." Yup, he's got the gamer chair all ready!

Doesn't everybody have a toddler Thomas bed on their Dad's truck in the garage?

Again, with the big boy, getting in there and playing like a little kid.  It's so sweet how Benaiah will engage the younger ways in their play.

Perfection!

I think we picked for maybe 30 minutes and got 1 1/2 baskets this size full, mostly from Benaiah and I picking.

I love the smaller, freshly picked berries (strawberries, blueberries, any other berry).  The huge California ones are tasteless and need some sweetener.  These berries we picked are perfect as is.

Not sure if we'll have time to go for berries or other pick your own produce, but I'll try to keep the box anyway for storage.

Yum-O!

Abishai brought his dolly with him today and was repeating all of it's sounds as we were driving.  He loves people, even pretend one!

Justin and I were getting out of the car after we went to clean the condo and didn't have a clue that these two were up there until they said something.   Very funny, guys!

Justin with is tag along brother, Abishai, making friends in the neighborhood.

Keturah with some of the girls that live on the street, too.

Swing! Daddy! Swing!  Proud moment of swinging in a big swing all my himself.  I told him I was taking a video, so he started talking to Daddy during the video.