The day started out great. I told Ali that we were going
to go Strawberry picking today; so, she got ready at super speed and was
shoving ME out the door. It was kind of a nice change from our normal routine
of me constantly pushing her to even get dressed.
Erin wasn’t quite aware of what was going on and tended
to prefer to stay naked while she watched her morning cartoons and ate waffles.
To get her to join in with the excitement took a little more coaxing.
It wasn’t long before we finally were all piled into the
car. Since the drive was only 40 minutes, I thought that a movie would be
enough to entertain my children. I was wrong.
“MOOOOOOOMMMMM…I’m bored! My seat belt is tugging on me.
Where are my crayons?”
“Waaaaaawaaaawaaaa….(an assortment of babbles that I
didn’t understand)”
“Ali, watch the movie. If you are calm, Erin will stay
calm.”
“I love to sing. I love to sing. It is pretty
outside…lallalalalalala,” sings Ali at the top of her lungs.
I rolled my eyes and kept driving. Only 32 more minutes,
and we would be there. With 20 minutes left to the ride, I got desperate and bribed
the kids with a box of fruit snacks if they were good for the rest of the trip.
That at least kept Ali quiet.
When we arrived to the pick farm, there were already
plenty of people picking berries. I got the kids out of the car and handed them
each a bucket.
“Moooooommmm, it’s cold!”
“Ali, its 70 degrees outside. What you are feeling is the
wind, and you are going to appreciate it once we get into the hot Georgia sun.”
She didn’t believe me, but at least I convinced her to leave her jacket in the
car - one less thing to carry.
When I started this adventure, I thought that my kids
would help me pick considering Erin proved herself to be an expert at it last
time, and Ali had been multiple times. I was wrong. Both kids handed me their
buckets and got mad at me if I didn’t put the strawberries in their bucket
verses their sisters. Needless to say, it was a long 40 minutes of picking
strawberries, and my back hurt by the end of it.
I paid for the strawberries and headed to the car. Ali,
with her excellent memory thought it pertinent to remind me 500 times that I
promised her fruit snacks. I gave her the box to share with Erin. The snack that
I thought would last the entire car ride home lasted about 6 minutes. Ali gave
Erin two packs and devoured the rest of the box. This is why I don’t buy fruit
snacks very often.
After that, Ali started singing and screaming at the top
of her lungs. I finally put her into time out because she was making it
difficult to concentrate on the road. Erin quietly sat and watched her
cartoon. Once home, I washed
strawberries so that the kids could get a taste of all of “their” hard
work. Then I went upstairs to unwind and
take my nap. I know. I am so spoiled that way.
The kids ate lunch, watched TV and ate snacks while I
took an hour nap.
When I got up, I played for a while with them until Matt
got home. Then I forced Ali to get off the computer and move for a while. With
Matt being home, the kids went into full play mode with wrestling and all sorts
of high energy games. I had to think fast.
“Ali, want to do something cool?”
She stopped instantly and stared. “What?”
“Get dressed. Go outside, and find me two of the most
beautiful pine cones that you can find.”
She followed my instructions quickly and found a pine
cone for her and Erin. I tied a string to the top and looped it. Then I had the
kids roll it in peanut butter and bird seed.
“I want pine cone. I WANT PINE CONE!” said Erin as she
messily rolled her pine cone in the peanut butter and bird seed.
At the end, the kids found a place outside to hang them
and were quite satisfied with their creations.
We ended the night with a short walk, hand in hand, while
the kids talked and pointed out the flowers in nature. All in all, it was a
good day.
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