Berry Days

We are berry picking experts. We feel the pressure come these hot days of summer to start gathering, and gather them good. We try to pick enough berries during the summer to last us the entire year and feed our love of smoothies, jam, pie, icecream toppings and a melty-healthy side or add-on to any meal. The kids have been little forced field workers since they were old enough to stand and since they love their year-round berries too, it takes no convincing. We have already gathered our strawberries, so we moved on to raspberries this week. On a side note, the strawberries in our yard are still going crazy and I think this is the longest season my kids have stuffed themselves with these red gems from our garden. They've been eating to their heart's content since June and they're still going strong!

 Ev did great this year. It's her first year of more picking, less eating. She kindly reminded us to stop a minute or two and savor a berry straight from the vine because this, of course, is what it's all about.

 The picker extraordinaire.

 Combine his competitiveness and his love of fruit and we've got a fabulous helper.

 

 The first weigh-in. Parker was absolutely sure it was "Ninety million pounds". Ever was sure it was "Three". Turns out they were both a little off.

 And one cannot leave Boxx Berry without an icecream cone after a few hours of berry picking. I'm pretty sure it's against the law to skip out on that.

That night Parks told me that when he was swinging he closed his eyes for a second and he was pretty sure he touched the sky in that moment, but he didn't see it. As I laid there in bed with him, thinking over the day we had, I was pretty sure I touched the sky too. Even though I didn't see it either.