Raspberry Fields

Saturday August 18th was the day we went out to pick raspberries as a family, knowing that this might be the only “picking” we do this year as a family.  For at least the past five years we’ve had a great deal of trouble finding farms that are open for “U-pick” anything and I’m finding that I should no longer take these experiences for granted.  Many of the farms that promised one kind of berry or another earlier in the summer ended up having the crops they did have eaten by birds even before the fruit was ripened; the birds were that desperate for hydration.  Finally we found a farm, kept track of their updates all week and the last Saturday of the summer we headed out to the Homestead Berry Farm as a family for some fun.

Ironically the owners had children named Nathan and Kaitlyn!  Nathan did a great job picking this year and as he felt tempted in that field to eat a raspberry he decided he LOVED them!  Yeah, he snuck a few.  Still warm with sun this IS the best way to eat them.

Rick and Haley worked hard with Rick finally wandering over to the couple of rows of blackberries they had.  Nathan ended up going to help Rick pick blackberries and they picked what few were remaining.  While this was a very nice day; rare having upper 70’s in August for sure, Tristan couldn’t believe we’d talked him into wearing jeans!  It did get warm out in the sun and I figured there had to be some humidity making the temperature seem a little warmer.  This was probably the coolest it’s ever been while we’ve been in a field picking anything around here.  It was very nice comparatively.

We picked as many of these beauties as we could.  Many were so over ripe that I knew I would have to do something with these berries quickly.

If we got down low and moved the leaves aside there were plenty.  Even though we left home before 9 a.m. we live so far from any farm that we were not the first people out picking that day and the berries had been heavily picked just the day before.

I love these sweet smiling faces.  We each picked a basket and we all helped with Nathan’s as well as a spare.

The chickens were running around the backyard right next to the field.  Tristan really wants a backyard full of chickens now and surprisingly chickens are allowed as backyard pets in our city.  While this is appealing to a degree I’m not positive I’m ready to make this commitment yet PLUS I’m not sure we would endear ourselves to the neighbors.  It’s one thing to have a few chickens out in the yard or five kids out in the yard but I’m not sure BOTH would be overlooked.  We live in pretty close quarters all around but I’m sure the cats would love it!!!

$20 bought us a flat of fresh berries.  We paid at the stand, loaded the van and went on our way for a picnic.  On the way to pick berries we’d seen a sign for a state park which sounded better than a nearby park that we’d picked out so that’s how we found John Bryan State Park. 

We found a beautiful little picnic area as we were driving through the park and so we decided to stop and enjoy this clearing; a great spot for eating with room for running around too.

Of course we had raspberries for lunch as well as carrot sticks, pretzels, pickles and a Pizza Salad.  For dessert we enjoyed a mix of chocolate and vanilla pudding with mini M&Ms added on top.

We also had LOTS of lemonade.

The meadow was beautiful and had several trail heads we decided to explore after lunch.  The children loved having space to run and play together as they giggled.

My five kiddos playing around together.  Then we got a call to look at the old man running around with a cane!  Glancing over as we were cleaning up we saw quite a sight; funny Tristan darting around through the grass with break neck speed while hunched over holding a stick.  He reminded me so much of my brother David acting goofy and making us all laugh when he was younger.

With full tummies and our thirsts quenched we walked along the edge of the meadow admiring the Queen Anne’s Lace until we found a trail head leading into the woods.  We weren’t sure exactly what we’d find or how long the trail was but we always enjoy a good hike.

Nathan is really going to miss his sister when she starts school I realized, not for the first time, as they walked along holding hands being “best buddies”. Later, when Haley asked Kaitlyn if she wanted to hold hands Kaitlyn responded “No Thank you! I have to learn how to hold my own hand now.” Pretty perceptive, I’d say.

Tristan and Lindsay are good friends.  They enjoy walking and talking together and goofing around.  My hope is that Kaitlyn and Nathan will also remain good friends.

Kaitlyn and Nathan rest on their “couch”.  Nathan must hurry to catch up after pausing to investigate all of the little pebbles.  And as I looked up some of the trees were showing the first signs of autumn in a beautiful way, though decidedly mid-August is a little early for this.

Next to our traveling path was a steep drop off.  This caught my children’s interest and made me a little nervous a couple of times.

This trail turned out to be fabulously interesting as it went along down to a gorge below.  This gorge is not nearly the size of any that I grew up near but it was impressive non the less.  I was very surprised that I’ve lived here for 18 years now and I’ve never heard of this gorge that is only a little over an hour away.  We had just seen a sign for this state park we’d never heard of as we drove on the expressway. 

Not was there just a gorge either.  There were caves!  One of the caves gave permission to go inside of it and investigate.  Tristan says we must come back and bring flash lights with us next time.  The last picture on the right is our rocky walking path.

The trails were fantastic and the scenery beautiful.  The kids took notice of a man hiking this barefoot and didn’t see how this would be possible with as rocky as this path was.

After a good hike down we reached the bottom.  There are signs posted preventing people from splashing in the water and everyone appeared to be obeying this.  The kids were a little bummed about this.

As we walked along the bottom of the gorge we got to pass next to these caves that run right to the water.  My thinking is that this area is normally supposed to be quite a bit wetter.  We are down 8 inches of rain for the year and it’s been over 300 days since we had one or more inches of rain fall at once.

More interesting landforms and boulders to see.  We crossed this bridge and found paths for “scientists only” which made a few of us think of the movie “2012”.  There was a campground path as well which we were prohibited from traveling on.  There seemed to be many more paths unlabeled that went all through this park.

The fallen tree was an interesting sight; its roots spreading out huge next to the height of my children.

We found the sign for the gorge trail as we were about to start heading back up to our picnic meadow quite a ways up.  And we also came across a sign pointing out an existing path that used to be the stage coach trail from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh in the 1800’s.  We thought that was pretty amazing and it got our imaginations churning.

After a couple of hours hiking down and back up the trails and a morning at the farm it was time to make our way back to the car for the drive home.  It was a fantastic day and a wonderful way to spend some family time as we said an unofficial goodbye to summer and turned our thoughts toward preparations for school.

Boy Celebrates One Decade!

We try to make our children’s birthdays special for them each year.  This year Tristan thought hard about whether he wanted to have a “Friends” party at home or if he wanted to go out to eat lunch at a restaurant of his choice with just his Mom & Dad.  After months of consideration (in the back of his mind, at least) he decided to go out to eat.  He would get to eat at his favorite restaurant AND he would get Mom and Dad ALL to himself.  That combination only happens for a  birthday.

The reason that Red Lobster is Tristan’s favorite restaurant is because he likes to get the Crab Legs.  On the Children’s Menu it’s the most expensive kids meal you’ll ever order but that is why Tristan comes.  Well, for the crab legs AND a lobster pizza appetizer.  And we were there for his birthday, after all.  Tristan does a good job getting the crab meat out all on his own, now.  And yes, the staff at the restaurant sang to him, making him turn bright red with a smile.

After lunch we stopped at the Scout shop and bought his new Webelos uniform items.  Tristan loves Cub Scouts and in fact, going to Cub Scout day camp this summer was an early birthday gift for him.

Back at home that evening we grilled out some cheeseburgers for a family celebration.  Our pickles were JUST old enough to open and enjoy plus there was lots of watermelon.  I think we had roasted steak fries for dinner that night as well.  They are a family favorite and the only way we eat french fries any more.  After dinner Tristan looked forward to opening his presents including a package that arrived from his Grammy and Pops.

But somewhere before presents Tristan got a phone call about the reading contest he entered at our favorite book store.  He WON for his age division with the MOST LOGGED MINUTES (which was some ridiculous number of minutes after reading almost 4 Harry Potter books!!!  Here he is pictured holding his $25 gift card to their store… more reading material and lots of congratulations!!!  I’m proud of him; especially since he was able to put his reading experiences with his third grade teacher behind him.  She was less than inspirational to him and he was completely turned off to reading last year.

Birthday greetings… And a new long sleeved shirt for church.  This boy has grown so much this past year.

Obviously Nathan was intent on the gifts and present in case his help was necessary.

Tristan was so happy to get his new pillowcase!  He loved his new shark sweatshirt and Star Wars shirt…new and improved sizes to help keep him warm this winter.

Then came the really fun stuff.  LEGOS are his favorite toy and he frequently asks me if I’m glad he likes Legos more than his friends do who all live on their electronics.  Most certainly I am glad of that.  

Do you think Tristan is excited enough here?  He built some of these things in no time at all and was ready to play out scenes with the characters.  The Harry Potter set in the middle is actually a game… a really fun game that you play after you build the set.  He got me to play it with him one day right after his birthday, his enthusiasm contagious, and I’m ready to play it with him again.

And Tristan’s birthday treat was a Sundae Pie.  I’ve had the recipe in the house for 11 years and just tried it in July for the first time.  Tristan loved it so much that right then and there he declared that this was now HIS official birthday cake.  It is SO good and quite simple to make.

Getting ready for the birthday wish…

Can he get all 10 candles?

Whatever he wished for I hope Tristan’s hopes and dreams for the year come true.

Pie and chocolate Oreo ice cream… so good… but a little rich in combination with each other.  Just my opinion.  Tristan had a great 10th birthday.  I can’t believe he is ten years old already.  We love having this cute boy in our family blessing us with his hilarious sense of humor, his intelligence and energy, his conversation, friendship and as a help and role model for his younger siblings.  How does 10 years pass by so quickly?  I’m not sure but I have a feeling that the next 10 will go by even faster.  HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, TRISTAN!

A Simple Birthday Wish

Tristan brought me his poor pillow case several months ago… maybe 8 months ago actually.  I do know he was waiting a while.  Sadly Tristan held his beloved pillow case up; the one he got on his very first birthday that matches his baby quilt from birth and asked “Mom, can you fix this for me?”  Sigh… I’d known this was coming.  In shredded form it wasn’t even “rag pile” worthy anymore, really and he was still trying to sleep with it.  “Well, not tonight; but leave it with me and I’ll see what I can do with it.”  I’ve fixed things like this before with patches but this beloved bedtime friend was pretty far gone.  “Maybe I’ll surprise him for Valentine’s Day” I remember thinking.  By now he’d waited long enough and enquired about it with concern often enough that I figured it would make a fantastic birthday surprise for him.  He was probably beginning to doubt me.

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Only a magician could have “fixed” this pillow but in an attempt to preserve what I could I got my seam ripper out and with as much care as I could muster I pulled the threads out to release the blue edge ruffle… but in the end I’d had to clip it with scissors and it turned out to be just a few inches too short to use again for this purpose. 
I dug through my small scraps bin for what I had left of the original fabric pieces from his quilty and pillow.  I make sure to buy extra so I have some to keep around for patches which helps keep the children happy through the years.  And after digging I found enough to do a whole new pillow which is really what was needed here.  I didn’t have enough to do the same pieces in the same fabric combination but enough is enough!  Then I went through my patterns and arrived at the labeled clear ziploc containing the sketched out shapes that created both the “Wild Goose Chase” pattern in the quilt and later the pillow cut from the brown grocery bag a decade ago now.  Ironing the scraps as I trimmed them with care I made the final cuts easily with the rotary cutter and after piecing and stitching for an hour I had a brand new pillow, minus the ruffle! 
Part of me is a little surprised that a 10 year old boy is still comforted by a pillow he’s had since he was toddling around.  But the other part of me is glad that this sweet aspect of his personality still exists for a few hours of the day. 
So how was this gift received?  He was quite happy.  He does miss the ruffle and commented after sleeping on it the first night that it wasn’t nearly as soft as the original.  I guess it needs to be washed a few more times and maybe I’ll surprise him by adding another ruffle one of these days.  My biggest surprise was having to answer the question “Where IS the other pillow?”  I didn’t lie when I told him that its pieces are down on my craft table still.  I didn’t dare throw them out because I had a feeling this very question was coming.  He wants to keep the first pillow pieces because that is actually from his babyhood.  Well, all the pieces were part of the same cuts of fabrics at one time but only the shreds have the experience I guess because I cannot seem to justify this idea well enough for Tristan.   Maybe the pillow needs a secret little pocket to hold its original fibers, huh?