Do you have a yearly summer activity that makes you want to go back and pull up the pictures from the previous year, just to see how your family has grown and changed?
That’s how I feel about berry picking with my young family. I can’t help but think back to the previous summers’ adventures while reaching into the prickly plants in search of the darkest fruit.
The first summer we went, Chase, only a few months old, stayed in the infant carrier most of the time, content to stare at the sky and feel the breeze on his little face. Trenton, on the other hand, must have eaten his weight in berries, judging by the empty pail and red lips.
The next summer, Chase was a contender, straddling raised strawberry rows with ease and staining his own lips red. Can you pick out both little blond heads in the picture above? Three, actually, if you count mine.
This year it occurred to me that this was our first berry-picking adventure in which both boys were essentially on the same level. Considering that they’re only 18 months apart, I think it is going to stay this way for a good long while. Even though I feel like we have earned every day of it, I can still barely believe my little family is starting to grow up. (Time to add another to the mix?)
What yearly summer activity makes you reflect on your family’s growth?
Those are gorgeous photos. What a lovely summer activity!
Gorgeous pictures! I’m not sure there are many places you can pick berries next to the water.
Berry picking is one of my all-time favorite activities – I am sad berries don’t grow well in our locale, or else it would definitely be a family tradition. Savor those berries for me!
Mine too! I think it is what I look forward to most about summer, and that’s saying a lot, because I am a summer girl through and through. You’ll just have to come stay with us and we can go u-pick farm hopping for a few days!
Beautiful! I love it!
Beautiful pictures! I think for us, it’s our vacation in September. We’ve been going to SoCal for three years in a row now, and I get to see how Paityn has changed each time. This time, we have Olivia with us, too!
Now you have me wanting to dig through old photos!
Wow, you sure live in a gorgeous place. I’m so happy you take advantage of those opportunities! Your boys are adorable!
I was just thinking about this very thing today. For us, it’s planting the garden. My older daughter used to call the tomatoes “panatoes.” When did she learn to say tomatoes? When did she grow up into a tall kindergartener? Summers fly by too fast. They are a great season for marking time, I agree.
So does your everyday scenery include those beautiful ocean backdrops? I’m jealous.
Gotta love “panatoes”!
I wish that coast was an everyday backdrop! We live about 25 minutes from the nearest beach, so I know we’re still pretty lucky.
We love berry picking every summer too – we’ve been going nearly every year since I was nine and that was a really long time ago 🙂 We even branched out into apple picking some years and when my son was 5 he lost his first tooth biting into an apple he’d just picked. I can’t pick apples without thinking of his surprised and happy face.
That is so cute, Marcella! I can imagine his expression just from you describing it!