Summer Berry Picking at Wellwood

My childhood is filled with fond memories of going to my grandmother's and picking fresh oranges, grapefruit, and avocados. This year when I found out that the orchard where we go apple picking in the fall has strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries I couldn't resist the fresh juicy goodness.

Strawberry Picking: July 11
Ryan gorged himself the whole time we were there pretty much and still had to have more on the ride home...

after Alicia picked half a container only to have Ryan decide it was easier to eat hers than pick his own she gave up and went to climb the rock for a better view

we went with some friends of ours... always better that way...

one of my favorite things about Wellwood - it has some of the nicest views around... it's even better come fall.

Raspberry Picking: July 25

We actually started our vacation early by picking a few pints of raspberries. The kids had a little too much fun trying to hide from us in the rows though.

Blueberry Picking: August 13

the main attraction at Wellwood is the apples and apple season is just around the corner so they're getting started with all their fun extras - like the size up chart and apple faces - the kids and I just couldn't resist.Alicia proved herself to be a fantastic blueberry picker and picked nearly as much as I did (at least if you count all that went in her mouth as well as her containers)

Ryan even decided to help pick for more than just his mouth this time - he had lots of fun looking for the "boo" berries

when the charm of the berries wore off the kids headed for the animals in their petting zoo - Alicia can't wait till we come back to do apples since I promised to take them in again (we went inside our first time to the orchard last fall but I had taken the kids by myself this time and I'm just a little chicken to have them around so many animals without even numbers).

The season's not done yet however, there's still a few more weeks of blueberries that we're going to take advantage of (since most of ours went to my first attempt at blueberry jam). Ryan loves apples almost as much as he loves strawberries so we'll be back a few times then as well... I'm seriously thinking I'm going to have to work on our own gardening so we can start with some of our own. Still a much better price and taste than the supermarket though.

Garden Progress

I thought I would give an update on how the garden at Stoneholm is doing - the one at the house is pretty meager although the kids have pulled off a few green peppers and the tomatoes are close to being ripe. All in all we're growing pumpkins, corn, green peppers, tomatoes, and possibly broccoli (it's not looking so good... grrr bugs...), zucchini, and Zach's convinced the pic below is a watermelon and not a pumpkin.... I'm still holding out for the final verdict but definitely hoping for the pumpkin.

July
August(yes, if you look closely you can see Alicia and Ryan getting into trouble)

Amazing the changes in just a month. I'm definitely excited for fall! Yay pumpkins and corn!!!

Vacation Part 5: The Last Day - Hill Cumorah and The Smith Farm/Sacred Grove

Our last day out we stopped in Palmyra and saw some of the sights there - the kids once again enjoyed the time to get their wiggles out climbing up Hill Cumorah and walking the trails between the Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove. It is such a beautiful area there and I wish we had a little bit longer to spend.

Climbing the Hill

At the Top

Around the Smith FarmRyan was frustrated through the whole way through the Sacred Grove because we crossed a bridge going in and he decided a little later that he did not want to leave it behind - resulting in an exclamation of delight when we came back out again - "Bwidge - dare you are!"

Vacation Part 4: Night at the Motel

Okay... the kids favorite night (excluding the spoiling at Grandmas and getting to see the dogs at my aunts - something I forgot to get pics of) was the hotel on the last night. We ordered pizza in, swam, ate pudding and watched television - all in all lots of fun.

The swimming was of course their favorite part... they're both water babies just like their momma and daddy. Ryan just had fun splashing (once he got over the shock of realizing wet=cold) and Alicia learned to "swim" by herself using her floaties.

Vacation Part 3: At Grandma and Grandpa B.'s

Late Wednesday night we reached TN, stumbled through the door - okay, Mark and I stumbled the kids were disgustingly wide awake and enthusiastic, probably because they had napped along the way. We had a great time relaxing and trying to catch up on sleep. Alicia probably got the best end of the deal because she got a shopping trip with Grandma and Grandpa, sewing lessons from Grandma and conned Grandma out of an old camera that she has been using since to take pictures of pretty much everything - actually she was the main photographer while we were there and I still have to upload her pictures). Ryan didn't have it too bad though, trying to chase the cats and in general discover all sorts of ways to cause trouble. He also probably thinks that he came out ahead from the shopping trip because when sissy returned home it was with cars and trucks for him as well as her stuff. His favorite part of the trip was while we were at the playground and he got to see a real choo choo up close. He was pretty upset though when we turned the other way to go back to the van. Oh... I almost forgot my major accomplishment - finishing the Twilight series! (yes... pathetic I know... but I enjoyed them)

Vacation Part 2: Kirtland Temple

So we traveled down the highway Tuesday morning after the concert. That night we stayed about 20 minutes (if that) East of Kirtland so we thought we'd stop by and check it out before we continued.
The kids had a great time running around outside- we didn't dare try an actual tour to go inside. They also had fun trying to destroy the museum at the visitor's center though, which thankfully is fairly kid friendly.

Beginning of Vacation - Coldplay at SPAC

Our family vacation started off with a bang... Mark and I finally got our anniversary gift and got to see Coldplay at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. It was a really wonderful evening together (thanks again Matt for watching the kids). I was very impressed by the band and just in general enjoyed the time out.

Mark and I walking around before the concert

VIVA!

The stage during Elbow, the group that opened for Coldplay - it was too dark for our camera when Coldplay came on.

Thanks to modern technology - here are two of my favorites from the performance that night.

VIVA

Yellow

Weekend with the Cousins

Okay, so this summer has been a wee bit on the crazy side so I'm behind on all my wonderful fun summer posts.... a few weekends ago we went over to NY to see Mark's brother John, and three of his children Johnathan, David, and Julia. Julia's husband Craig and their son Joshua were also there and it was our first time meeting them so it was a lot of fun. Joshua is just over a year so he and Ryan had fun playing together (sometimes resorting to the typical version of guy playing where they wrestled each other for their favorite toy of the moment or just because they seemed to think it was a good idea). Anyways, the crew minus Joshua, Johnathan, Grandma and Grandpa got to go to Harry Potter the first night. (I'm sure it was excellent although Ryan decided that a movie night was not what he had in mind for he and I... much more interesting to roam the halls and check out the movie posters... we won't even discuss the attitude when he remembered where the escalator was). Saturday was mostly just relaxing and taking it easy around Windan.

Alicia playing with Obie

Joshua

In the "jungle"

The crew except Matt and Grandpa

Anyways, it was a lot of fun - one of the funniest moments was about two weeks later when we were back and Ryan bursts through the door looking for his baby Joshua. Guess we'll have to think about a trip out west in a year or so.