The Tingle Family

Strawberry Patch

There is a local strawberry patch that opens up this time of year and stays open until May. Last year was our first experience. There is such a difference in the taste of strawberries that you pick verse the ones that you buy in the store. They are so sweet. These days I literally cannot keep enough fruit in the house. They are eating it like crazy. I have to keep a bowl in the frig full of an assortment of fruits that Tyrus can have access too at all times. I love seeing both of them getting their own fruit out of the fridge.
Anyways, my friend Maria from work went with us last year and she mentioned on Monday of this week that they were open again for the season. We decided that today would be a great time to go. The weather has been windy, not hot, and it was a beautiful day. We didn't decide to do this until I was at work so when I picked the kids up I had a riddle for them that went something like this:

Me: "Kids, I have a surprise for you. We aren't going home right now. We are going somewhere."
Ty: "Where Mommy?"
Me: "It's a surprise. Do you want a clue?"
Ty: "uh huh"
Me: "Well, you have been there once before."

About this time we were passing T's school

Ty: "Mommy, we are about to go past my school."
Me: "That's the surprise! We are going to your school!"

Ty didn't say anything for a second and then he said,

"Mama, I've been to my school more than once."
Me: "Okay, your second clue is that you will need these."

Then I handed Mary her sunglasses and T his hat

Ty: "Okay, so we will be outside"
Me: "Yep, any ideas yet or do you want your last clue?"
Ty: "Last clue please."
Me: "Ms. Maria will be there."
Ty: "THE STRAWBERRY PATCH!!"
Me: "Yep!"

Then I could hear cheers and "thank you Mommy" coming from the backseat.
When we arrived at the patch the kids were so excited. I tried to get a picture, but Mary was too excited to stand still...

I couldn't get over how pretty everything was. The combintion of the green with the blue sky was breathtaking...

Maria is here!!!!

"Mama, take my picture in this picture..."

I got each kid their own quart to pick their own strawberries. They were so excited the could hardly wait...

Tyrus was leading the way and Mary was not far behind her brother...

Finally Mary picked her first strawberry...

Tyrus hung real close to Maria. I spoke to Maria the next day and she said that he was talking a mile a minute about bugs and fruits and veggies. She also said that every now and then she would see a little hand reach in her bucket and grab a strawberry...

The #1 rule at the patch is that you can't jump the rows. If you want to go to another row you have to walk up and around. Well, Maria decided she didn't want to do that so she told Tyrus that it was okay to jump the rows. Maria did it and then Tyrus followed. Right about that time the ladies up at the front started yelling at T. He looked at Maria and said, "she did it first..."

I love this picture of Mary's hand reaching for a strawberry. Something about it is so sweet...

"Mary, show me your strawberry." The little turd wouldn't even look at me...

I think T saw a bug or something and wanted Maria to look at it too...

About 10 minutes in the kids quarts were full so i took both of them and Mary and I walked up to the front to get a bigger bucket. Maria had about 10 seconds of privacy, but T ran back to her after we got the bucket...

I lost count at how much he ate...

And then it happened. The drama queen showed up...

She was crying so hard she couldn't even talk...

What was this about?

She wanted to hold the bucket. The big bucket full of strawberries. The bucket that she would have dropped because it was too heavy. That is why she couldn't breath. And this is the picture you get of Mary after one of her fits...