Strawberry Picking

Trying to fill our days as much as possible so that evenings will seem a little shorter with my husband on the other side of the big pond, we drove an hour northwest the other day up to a little town named Baker, Florida, and spent the morning picking ripe, red strawberries from the fields at Akers of Strawberries.

The kids each carried their own little white basket, and picked the perfect strawberries from the plants and dropped them inside. 

The fields were nearly empty, which I was very thankful for, because it gave me the chance to let them all have their space.  I made sure to enjoy just watching them, etching these memories into my mind, taking in their different personalities and they decided which strawberries were perfect for their basket.

Gabriel thought that the strawberries with the long stems were the ones that looked the best.  When he was able to pick one with a very long stem intact, he made a point to show everyone his find.  

Christopher knew the redness was what counted and made sure to get the deep red ones that looked so juicy it was hard not to pop them in your mouth right there.

Matthew, being the loving brother he is, wanted to help the girls pick out the right ones.  He would point out the good ones to Leah, and while sometimes she's more independent and likes to do things without help, she sweetly picked the ones that Matthew pointed out.

Anna was so fun to watch because she was so random in picking the strawberries.  She'd walk a bit, stop, pick a strawberry, walk some more, stop, pick another one.  I was just surprised she didn't come out with a face covered in sweet strawberry juice from not being able to patiently wait to eat them.  I didn't ever see her pop any in her mouth though.

Leah came out of the strawberry fields with the least strawberries of all of my children.  I think she might have been trying to find just the right one and so was very picky about which ones she chose.

And I'll also mention that she managed to dress herself with both her shirt on backwards and her shoes on the wrong feet.  The shoes on backwards is pretty much a sure thing every time, but I didn't even notice her backwards shirt until much later in the day.  It's even funnier to me because she has such perfectionist tendencies.

After we picked a half carton full, we stopped in the snack cafe for some strawberry shortcake and strawberry frozen yogurt.  It was enjoyed by all.

Now, home to enjoy all of our juicy strawberries!