Summer really just IS the best. There's no way around it. Kids have so many opportunities to get outside and get fresh air and have endless fun.
Yesterday, we went in the tiny backyard to play a bit, and lo and behold! Our plum tree has plums! Our apple tree has apples! We did a pre-fruit-picking session, realized the fruit isn't ready to be picked, and were totally fine with that because... on the agenda today was berry picking...
I woke and thought to myself, "we have no gingham! We have no cowboy boots!" and then I tried to be reasonable and say that going to the country does not equal a requirement to dress country. Maggie has overalls. Sophie got braids. Two thumbs up. We went country.
In Pescadero. Which I now know is nearly 1.5 hours of driving each way {depending on traffic}. So be it! Brian didn't need the car, so we piled in, and on our way.
Sophie got some quality independence and picked berries with her best little friend. It's such a sweet thing to see tiny babies get bigger and adore one another genuinely still. They're looking like such school-kids these days, and I kind of love it and hate it all at once. Nostalgia, cry me a river and all that sort of motherly sappiness. They stayed a couple rows away and giggled about who-knows-what while they filled their buckets. Brought me right back to my childhood, let me tell you. Childhood is a dream.
Maggie isn't a berry picker, per say. I have a lot of pictures of her in the fields, and in 3/4 of them, she's eating unripe berries, and the other 1/4 she looks pretty grouchy. You can take the kid out of the city, but apparently she doesn't have to like it. Thankfully, the tractor WAS a hit, and telling her little cousins what to do was another big hit. The youngest has to share her knowledge somewhere. I can totally relate. I was the youngest in my family too.
All said, it was a good day. It's been a good week. It's a great summer. I think maybe the best on the books, but that's probably too bold to say since we're in our first official week of summer. Maybe it's because my kiddos are at such good ages? They're still young enough to be in awe and sweet about all these activities, but not so young where they're 100% needy when we're out and about.
I heart summertime.
xo.