Raspberries

We made it to the raspberry fields this week! What a beautiful sight they were with the rows of green bushes and the bright pink-red of the berries peaking out from behind the leaves.

It is always a treat to get out into the countryside and surround oneself in creation.

The children all enjoyed the outing and, according to their abilities, helped to pick. Here is our Cool Dude berry picker:

Rachel is old enough to do quite a bit of picking!
David is at the stage where he is happy to pick the berries and eat every one. "Berry in there," he says, pointing to his bucket and expecting one of us to give him a berry to eat.

David took turns standing beside each of the aunts or Mommy, patiently waiting for the berries to fall in his bucket and often just picking them himself, seemingly never bothered by the thorns.
The children were fascinated by the yellow raspberries and had to pick some for their buckets:

We stopped for lunch under the shade of some trees that bordered a pond. With apple trees a stone's throw away, who could resist the taste of an apple for dessert?

Here are all the little berry pickers:

After lunch it was time to walk back up the hill and finish the picking:

Seven buckets worth of picking (35 pounds)!

An apple cider slushie was a must for the ride home:

We also came home with a bunch of produce from the orchard stand:

Most of the berries headed straight for the freezer to be made into pies, desserts, and jams at a later time. But, we had to leave some berries out to enjoy fresh in such things as this giant scone filled with sour-cream/whipped cream:

Our busy week is nearly at an end. We had a delightful time with our company and especially enjoyed the ordination service of our friend last night. Imagine singing the psalms, a capella, in the midst of 220 people all singing in 4-part harmony. That, combined with the sermons, and the fellowship with people (some whom we haven't seen in 7 years!) made for a very special time.

Next week we are taking our family vacation. We'll be here at home, but Michael will be off work and we will focus on doing fun things with the children. I'm going to try to stay off Google Reader and my blog for a week. :) I'll be back with PLENTY of pictures of what we did!