summer

Last week was one of those weeks when the whole world seemed right and our place in it made beautiful and perfect sense.

I took full of advantage of the magical feeling and packed you kids into the car early in the morning. We had your ABSOULTE FAVORITE … breakfast in the car. For some reason every thing is so much better when eaten in the car. On this particular morning it was waffles, apples slices and carnation instant breakfast and according to you, it was totally awesome!

We headed North in search of a Pick Your Own Peach Orchard just outside of Fredersickburg, Texas. It was a rainy sort of day which made things even better since we didn’t have to worry about the heat and we were able to hang outdoors enjoying the sun when it peeked through the clouds and one another’s company. This was my favorite drive in Texas yet, the Hill Country is beautiful indeed. You didn’t know it but the hour and a half we were on the road I was daydreaming about a life raising you three in those glorious hills ~ growing grapes, lavender and peaches and who knows what else. Oh, the life we’re going to lead

This was our first trip to an Orchard and you were so excited to see where all the fruits and veggies grew. You just couldn’t wait to get out there and pick them all by yourselves. Happy kept telling me this was Fruit Pickers Day and that you need sunshine and rain in order to grow peaches. (Notice him inspecting the fruit that was “sick” on the ground and telling Sweet not to eat it our she might get ~~GERMS)

You were such sweethearts to the owners asking if it was OK to pick their fruit and if you could borrow a basket to put them in, the college girls were smitten with all of you before you even said a word. We wheeled our wheelbarrow passed the orchards and on to the vines of blackberry bushes. It was love at first bite for Sweet and it didn’t take long until you were stained pink from head to toe, literally. Somehow you managed to look even more beautiful covered in berry juice.

Happy was such a diligent worker, combing the vines for the biggest and bestest and ripest berries of the bunch. You are quite picky when it comes to what fruits you will eat (sadly we are down to only bananas, blueberries and apples) but you gave it a shot and tried TWO whole blackberries. You even told the lady at the register about the two you had eaten so she could charge us accordingly ,:) what good integrity.

Little, you had the TIME OF YOUR LIFE and could hardly be contained by any wheeled apparatus. You somehow manage to climb out of your harness whenever you find something interesting going on. (You’re 1 so everything is pretty interesting right now). I was worried you would get caught up in all the stickers but it only took one prick for you to learn not to mess with the vines and go straight for the good stuff.

You looked like a blackberry vampire with all that juice running down your chin, it was all I could do not to swoop you up and kiss you all over … Oh wait a minute, I did. You were just too much to resist.

When we had gathered our fill of berries (almost all of Sweet’s were gathered in her belly) we loaded the baskets in the wagon and headed back to the stands.

You helped yourself to Happy’s bounty … and didn’t even consider the idea of sharing. Just look at that scowl you gave your brother when he tried to stand next to you.

We weighed in around 4 pounds of berries (almost all from Happy’s basket) and apologized for the other pound we probably ate. Then we helped ourselves to some homemade Blackberry Peach Cobbler (YUM!!) with vanilla ice cream of course.

It was an absolutely perfect day, so glad you picked me to share it with. Love you guys

XOXO – Mom

Today’s fun was made possible by Vogel Orchards – Great people, tasty fruit

Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about what we did with the peck of Peaches we brought home