Berry Picking at Bailey's

We had a most excellent day at Bailey's Vegetable Farm - 

Just me, the boys, and a big group from our Mom's group.

We planted a corn kernel in the fields to help celebrate the farm's centennial.

We took a tractor ride to the fields.

We picked lots of perfectly red and delicious strawberries.

Ephram even got good at figuring out which ones to get.

(Although he asked me to actually pick them off after the first few bugs he saw.)

Charlie was so dedicated to filling his pint up just right!

We went back to the barn and ate lunch,

Spaghetti-O's for the boys, 

And then played in the barn until everyone was tired.

And hot.

And happy.

Argh! Treasure on the Beach

We were invited to a Pirate Treasure Hunt on a local beach in early June.

It was so much fun!

All of the kids made pirate hats out of newspaper,

(Macie proudly took a sticker in lieu of a hat)

And headed to the beach where they shoveled found "treasure" into their pirate loot bags.

Afterward, the kids had fun investigating the wildlife on the shore.

And I had some time to admire my husband being a most excellent father.

The kids loved all of the driftwood, which provided balancing and hiding opportunities aplenty.

Soon we'd spent over two hours on the beach at Picnic Point,

And it was time to leave.

We headed off the beach,

Where a passing train actually came to a stop at Ephram's command.

(He was convinced he had the pirate magic pixie dust that made it happen.)

We all had big smiles,

Fun memories,

And two boys had bags full of gold doubloons, rings and pirate beads.

We gleefully counted all of the doubloons to Jake and the Neverland Pirate's soundtrack,

And modeled the jewelry around the house.

Both of my boys love pirates right now.

(And my little girl has since come to love them, too!)

Reptiles, Reptiles, Reptiles

In May I took Ephram and Macie to the Reptile Zoo with the Mom's group I joined.  We had so much fun!  Ephram enjoyed all of the exhibits, but the tortoises were definitely his favorite.  We easily spent a collective half an hour watching them roam, petting them and calling them.  They actually came to his call!  We also saw a two headed turtle that made my inquisitive guy say "why" a dozen times.  Ephram was brave enough to touch the snakes, but not quite ready to hold them.  Macie enjoyed everything from her stroller and smiled the whole time.  It wasn't until after we got out of the warm and stinky rooms that I found her epic blowout.  We fixed that up and enjoyed a lunch at McDonald's on our way home.  It was a great time!