Saturday, June 20, 2009

Photos for a mother who is on the road for a week with the Vera Bradly RAAM team.

We went for strawberries but here Michelle and J get caught up in a swath of early raspberries.
Mike taking a free sample. What are the rules on this, I wonder. I made up a rule that most of the strawberries I ate had to be somewhat blemished or touching the dirt, and that seemed to work okay. I swear, when you kneel on the straw between the rows and throw that first strawberry in your mouth, no other food seems relevant or necessary to life on earth.
And then the second one is good, but not as good, and you end up trying to recapture that first berry, which doesn't ever quite happen but this is not really that serious of a problem in the big picture.
Mr. Mike is patient. B's latest catch phrase is "better luck next time, old boy!" He looks like he could be saying that here, but I don't know.
Two nights of camping practice in a row now. Instead of ghost stories, I read "gnome legends" out of that old book about gnomes--the one with the gnome skeleton and pictures of actual naked gnomes. I'm pretty sure it's a kids' book, at least. The legends have a lot of dying in them, though.
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9 comments:

sarahjane said...

We're going to go strawberry picking this week at Cedar Creek Produce. Is that where you went?

Camping practice sounds fun. We're going to be doing "real camping" in a couple of weeks. I can't wait!

Mr. Hill said...

Yes--Cedar Creek. Neat place. Things seemed ahead of schedule there, so you might try to get out there soon.

I'm impressed your little fella's so good at camping--I'm still wary of taking ours out. Maybe as long as I make sure there is a big fire.

sarahjane said...

Oh, man, I bet the kids would do great! Both times we camped last year Cash was so zonked by the end of the day that he slept well. One night he even slept through a thunderstorm! You just have to camp at Pokagon or some place that's close enough for you to abort mission, if necessary.

Michelle Briggs Wedaman said...

Enjoyed that - here are my rules:
Rule 1: While you pick, search for the most perfectly ripe, medium sized but plump, stately strawberry you can; admire for a moment, and pop it into your mouth whole, going back a moment later to eat the bits around the stem.
Rule number 2: repeat.
Rule 3: Forget about the blemished ones and leave those for the bunnies.
Rule 4: Don't waste any by taking half bites and tossing into the field.
Rule 5: Tell all your friends about it so they can go and support the farm and our hard working farmers.
Rule 6: (my new one)go back again soon for more, and maybe the raspberries will be fully ripe!

That was fun - let's go again soon.

Loved your "camping" picture. Besides our dash out trips, we're going later in the year with our bangoo-playing cousins with kids- good intro for your kids. Wanna go?

Mr. Hill said...

Sure, we'll go. bangoo=banjo?

Meanwhile, Cath just called to say she'll be with the RAAM team until Sunday now. Long trip.

Michelle Briggs Wedaman said...

Don't you have a bangoo?

Mr. Hill said...

I did bangoo my head cleaning out the garage yesterday.

Dawn Potter said...

Back to the camping-with-small-children theme: they'll probably be better about camping than you are. Children are (1) indifferent to rocks and roots under their sleeping bags and (2) fans of dirt. Your biggest problem will be (1) getting them to zip the tent, which will consequently be filled with mosquitoes, and (2) getting them to stop walking on your sleeping bag in their muddy shoes because you, alas, are no longer indifferent to dirt. Also, it's hard to make out with your wife under the stars when you have to share a tent with your kids. Maybe that's the root of your fears.

Mr. Hill said...

Good points. The two problems you point out also arise when trying to live with kids in a house.

So maybe things would not be that different in a tent.