Berries, Beaches and Boo-Boo's

We had a berry busy vacation day today...so much so that by the time the afternoon came, I was thinking everything we had done in the morning had actually happened the day before.

Strawberry face

Looking for the perfect berry

I have wanted to take my little berry fanatic berry picking for quite a while, but I am usually reluctant to drive so far with him.  Since we are about 15 minutes from a berry farm, I grabbed Sara, Jacob, Ruth and Mal and made the quick drive up highway 1 to Swanton Berry Farms.  Despite the relatively slim pickings in the strawberry fields (it appeared they had a very busy weekend), the kids seemed to have a great time picking and eating the few ripe berries they could find.  As I suspected, Mal ate more berries than he saved, but that is the fun of picking your own.  In addition to coming away with 6 baskets of strawberries, we also met a little gopher that lived near the farmstand and enjoyed some strawberry lemonade. When we got home, Mal actually declined lunch before his nap because he said his belly was too full of strawberries.  The berry picking must have worn him out too.  When we came back to the house, he promptly began getting ready for his nap on his own.

The first reaction to the sand

After a rest, We took the kids down to the beach.  The girls were having a bad nap day, so we decided to go with it and bring them to the beach while we had the opportunity.  When we put them in the sand, Tegan surprised us all by taking off and heading right for the water.  I really had expected Tegan to sit in one place and Lailah to take off, but Tegan was much more excited about being free on the beach...until we took them to the water.  

Beach beauty

Of course the fair skinned baby loves the sun!

Like everything else, the girls had completely different reactions to the water.  Our little fish Lailah loved the water and would get angry every time you took her out of it.  She loved when the waves came and had a blast kicking her feet and splashing.  Tegan was not so sure about the water part and would pull her legs up out of the water and try to climb up in your lap.  She was much happier in the sand or observing the water from the safety of someone's arms.  Despite their different reactions to the water, all the kids were happy to be outside in the nice sea air.

Dipping our toes in the water

A day full of activity had the kids thoroughly beat.  Some over tired cousin wrestling resulted in one of Malachy's more severe injuries (in addition to the good knee scrape he earned berry picking) and a very scared mom and dad.  Fortunately, grandma had a band-aid and we had lots of people to help.  We will call the goose egg and cut on Mal's head his souvenir from the trip.  I am sure it won't slow him down tomorrow.