Strawberry Picking

A few weeks ago, we checked off one of our items on our summer fun list. Berry Picking! A friend told me about a farm that had delicious u-pick strawberries about 20 minutes from our house. I wanted to make sure we visited while they were still in season so off we went. It was a cool, gorgeous morning and we got there early so it wasn't crowded. As we pulled in, I realized that I had been there before. For some reason the name of the farm and the directions to get there didn't ring a bell ahead of time. But when we got there I immediately recognized it. I had even blogged about it back in the waiting stage of our adoption.

Berry picking ended up being one of those activities that miraculously went perfectly. LB had a blast and he seemed to get so much satisfaction out of it. There was something about picking it himself that made it really special in his mind. He loves the taste of strawberries and I often make him strawberry smoothies but given his food texture sensitivities he's always complained of the little seeds and wouldn't eat them as is. But there was something about picking his own that made him change his tune. One of the first things he asked me was if he could eat them. I told him "absolutely" and he was off. We each got a little bin and he picked a row. The farmer told him to pick the really red ones and to leave the white ones. He was very serious about this and kept reminding me, "No pick the white ones, Mommy."

I think the first bite was a little sweet but he didn't seem to mind. One of my favorite memories from the whole morning was when we got home. I put LB down for his nap and I got to work on rinsing off the strawberries and transferring them from the little wooden bins to a bowl. LB loves to "help" in the kitchen and I knew he would enjoy to help pick off the stems while I cut them up. So my plan was to rinse them and then let him help when he woke up. I got to the bottom of his bin and found a handful of berries with just one bite. I paused and thought about how he must have picked a berry, taken a bite and then put it in his bin so he could keep picking. Something about it struck me as incredibly precious and sweet. It was a reminder that they are only little once and is there anything better than finding his half eaten strawberries at the bottom of the bin? I think not. Sigh. I hope I never forget little memories like that.

Don't you love his little arm wrapped around his bin? He guarded them very carefully. LB really enjoyed the process of searching for "the best" strawberry and would often exclaim, "Look at this huge one." Or "Wow! This one is really red." He would even brag to the slightly older boys in the row next to us if he thought he found a really great one. They were kind and would always agree with him. We both filled our bins to the brim and then made our way over to a shaded area to eat a few more and swing before heading home.

I promise he was having fun. He was just over my Mommy paparazzi antics but I had to get a final photo with all our loot. I told him he didn't have to smile so he didn't. LB continued to chow down on the strawberries when we got home and he was very eager to tell D all about it. We'll be heading back to pick raspberries in a week or two. It will be interesting to see if the u-pick aspect encourages him to eat the raspberries. If you live near a fruit farm then I highly recommend this activity!

Rewind to May - St. Louis Trip

Please allow me to rewind for just a moment. In the middle of May, we made the 7 hour drive to see my sister officially receive her PhD. She successfully defended her dissertation much earlier in the academic year but the ceremony was in May. I was not about to miss it! I could never have done what she did so I am pretty sure I was the proudest big sister in the building.

Her ceremony was Friday morning and D couldn't take Thursday off work so we left as soon as he got home that afternoon. The plan was to keep LB entertained for several hours, make a stop and let him run around a bit and then get on the road again with the hopes that he would fall asleep for the final few hours of the drive. Well... he decided that was not a good plan and stayed awake the ENTIRE time. We didn't pull into the hotel until 10:30pm local time, which is actually 11:30pm Ohio time, and he was wide awake ready to see St. Louis and his grandparents, who were waiting for us at the hotel. I was bummed we didn't get a few hours of quiet but LB really did awesome. He didn't cry the whole drive. He kept himself happy. He did ask a million times, "Where is St. Louis?" But he was a trooper.

Yes, at one point he resorted to smelling his feet as an activity. Whatever works. And, here are some photos LB took of the road trip.

I have to say that I love finding his pictures on my phone. It's always good to get his perspective.

The next morning we headed to the Washington University campus and sort of watched the main graduation ceremony. The big part for my sister was the hooding ceremony, which would take place after graduation. Thankfully, LB liked all the clapping and cheering and there was plenty of space for him to run around. He kept calling the graduation ceremony "the show," which it kind of is. And he loved all the caps and gown. I think he was disappointed my sister didn't wear her's the whole weekend. "Why you not wearing the green, Bebe?"

It was great to see LB run to my sister once we spotted her after the graduation. We then headed over to the building for my sister's hooding ceremony. To hear them call my sister's name was a moment I won't forget. I got all teary beforehand but pulled it together for the actual moment. LB got impatient at times and D and I both had to take him out once to run around a bit but we were all there to see my sister walk across the stage. LB was happy for her, even though he looks less than enthused in the below photo.

LB took the photo of D and me. Not bad. I'm so glad we were there.

Sadly, we only stayed the rest of the day Friday, all day Saturday and then made the drive back to Ohio on Sunday. But we filled in a lot of family fun on those two days. We went to a great park, visited the St. Louis Zoo and ate some delicious meals at Schlafly Bottleworks and Pi Pizzeria.

It was too short but fun. LB did pretty well on the drive home too. He had one or two not so great moments but they were short lived and he napped the final two hours of the drive. Ahhhh. A napping kid in the car is such a treat. 

A few days after we got back we were reading a book called, Iggy Peck Architect. My sister got it for him a while ago and LB really likes it. At one point in the book Iggy Peck builds the St. Louis Arch. LB exclaimed "I go to St. Louis. My St. Louis had a bed." Ha! From his perspective, St. Louis was our hotel room. So funny how kids process and understand things. 

Congrats to Aunt Bebe!! We are all proud of you!!

Summer is Here

Towards the end of May, I started to get antsy. I was tired of the rainy weather and was ready to just spend our days outside already. So I started brainstorming and researching all the things I wanted to do over summer. Last summer, a few of my friends shared their Summer Fun lists and I thought it was a great idea so this year I made my own. I asked LB what he wanted to do and he said "go to the pool." This surprised me a bit because he is not an adventurous swimmer but either D or I must have said something to him about being able to play at a pool once it got warmer and that must have stuck. In fact, when I picked him up from the last day of school the first thing he said to me was, "let's go to the pool." Never mind he was wearing a long sleeve shirt that day and the pools weren't open yet. LB also asks to "go to the airport" every gosh darn morning so clearly that had to go on the list. The rest of the ideas were mine but were things I knew he would be excited about it (except maybe the summer reading club). 

Even thought I don't count Memorial weekend as summer, that's June 1st, we did check off several things from our list that weekend and it was summer-ish in many ways, despite some occasional rain. (Can you tell I am sick of tired of the rain? It's raining today too by the way.) The weekend started off with a much needed summer haircut for LB. His hair was getting thick and unruly. We headed out to the front porch armed with the clippers and a sucker. LB wasn't into it at first and shed some tears but then he got immersed in his sucker and toughed it out. D also won points by letting LB cut some of his hair so he could see that it's not scary and doesn't hurt. D was planning on shaving his own hair a little later so it worked out. LB's hair was so thick that D couldn't get the clippers through it with a guard so bald was the only option! He looks cute no matter what in my opinion. And since he's not a fan of getting his hair cut this buys us some time until the next one. It's already growing at record speed.

We also had a nice trip the conservatory that day and LB showed D the butterflies and his favorite spots to explore. He loves these fish and likes to decide what fish is the dad, mom and kid.

Sunday we got lucky and the weather was awesome. A little chilly in the morning but otherwise pretty great. LB "rode" his tricycle all the way to the park down the street and back that morning. That was a first! One of his trikes has a handle extended out the back for a grown-up to push and help steer. He did all the pedaling but definitely needed help in the steering department. Sadly, our street doesn't have a sidewalk so it makes it harder for him to understand that he has to stay towards the curb and not go out in the middle of the street. But I was proud of him for pedaling!

After an early lunch we loaded up the car and headed to Yellow Springs for the afternoon to spend some time with D's side of the family, which includes LB's cousins. We got there about 1pm and the kids stayed outside playing until we left around 6:30pm. They maybe came inside for about 20 minutes to eat and then were back out again. They had a great time together. It was nice because all the grown-ups took informal shifts keeping an eye on them so we all had time to sit and chat and drink a beer or two. During one of my shifts, I was determined to get a good shot of all three kids because D's mom tried to get them all to sit on the couch but it was nearly impossible to get smiles from all three of them at the same time. I had better luck taking shots while they were in the midst of their play. Since the odds of LB being an only child are incredibly high, I'm grateful that he has his cousins who are close in age. They sometimes fight and wrestle like siblings and it's good for him.

Monday morning was a banner day for LB. In the morning, we went to our local Memorial Day Parade for the third year in a row. We met our friends there, who also have a little one from Ethiopia, and had a ton of fun. LB has been talking about it non-stop. He is still obsessed with all instruments and he loves marching bands. It rained most of the morning but he didn't care. At one point he was shivering and I asked him if he wanted to go and he replied with a forceful "No!" So we stayed.

We spent most of the afternoon at the OSU airport. D has discovered an iphone app that shows flight schedules for the OSU airport so he checked it that morning and thanks to the Memorial Golf Tournament several private jets were scheduled to land. We picked up some lunch after the parade and went straight there. LB got his wish and we saw several "noisy jets" take off and land, including the plane for Bubba Watson and his family. Pretty cool.

That's Bubba getting out of the plane. I learned that day that he and his wife weren't able to conceive and their son is adopted. I think we spent close to 3 hours there. LB could spend all day every day there. That night he was asleep by 7:30pm and D and I collapsed on the couch. Yay for the start of summer! 

Moments Come. Moments Go.

Later in the summer we are headed to New Mexico for a week. I've started talking to LB about it. My parents have been going over the summer for several years and D and I joined them for the three summers prior to bringing LB home. We haven't been since the summer of 2009, which was the year we started the adoption process. We decided this was the year to head back and that LB would be old enough to enjoy it. In an effort to get LB pumped about going I've started talking up how fun it is to go on a hike. LB loves the outdoors so I think he'll love it but it doesn't hurt to prepare him for all the greatness awaiting him. Yesterday it was overcast and cool and I decided to take him to a park where we could walk on a trail and practice "hiking." He was excited and wanted to wear his boots so I didn't argue. I told him we could collect rocks and jump in rain puddles and look for bugs.

We got there and he ran straight to the ducks and started quacking at them. I love that he thinks they understand him. We chatted with the ducks for a while and then started walking the trail to find rocks.

We found rocks, sticks and pinecones and they all got tossed in the lake. He's got a strong arm and ever since he was teeny tiny has loved to throw things. He doesn't tire of it. It's nice when things get thrown in a lake instead of at my walls.

A lot of runners frequent this trail so every now and then we would step aside to let a runner pass and LB had to wave and say hi to all of them. One girl didn't wave back and LB determined "she was shy." He was truly being too cute for words. As he was walking ahead of me looking for more things to throw in the lake, I realized I was having a moment. Everything just felt peaceful and right. He would throw something and then stop and gaze out over the lake. I just wanted to soak it all in.

Then he squatted down to look at something and called me over. "Mommy, what's this?" I thought to myself, "He's so inquisitive and smart." I walked over to him and he had his hand in dog poop. DOG POOP!! And my moment was over.