Berry Booty

Berry Booty
(My Mom finds this title highly inappropriate, by the way)

I have memories of berry picking when I was a kid.  We would head on out to the local berry farm and pick a ton of strawberries.  There was a system to the picking, one in the bucket, one in your mouth, one in the bucket, one in your mouth...  We never left the strawberry fields hungry.

I wanted my kids to have this experience.  We arrived in Oregon July 6, a tad late for berries, but I wanted to try.  So I convinced my Mom and we loaded up and headed to Lone Pine Farms to pick us some berry goodness.

While there were not as many as there might had been at the peak of the season, nor were they very big,  there were plenty of berries for my kids.  They were ripe and sweet.  My kids enjoyed the hunt and their "lunch."

At Lone Pine Farms, they also have a beautiful farmers market, goats to feed, and a playground.  The kids really enjoyed the merry-go-round.  They do not have those in New Mexico and so it was another new experience. 

After all the play we finished the afternoon with a yummy bowl of Umpqua Ice Cream.  So yummy!

Photo Phrenzy

I think that my biggest problem with vacations is the picture taking.  Not that I don't want to take the pictures, 'cause I do, but it is the amount of pictures that I take.  For example, I was out of town for 3 week, exactly, and I took 488 pictures.  FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-EIGHT!!  The math on that is 23.238 pictures a day (488/21=23.238).  Does anyone else take 23 pictures a day?  I might have a problem.

But every shot was priceless.  Well, almost every shot because I am far from perfect and had to trash too many -- some while I was there and others after I dumped them from my camera.  But seriously, could you imagine if I hadn't deleted any pictures while I was there?!  Definitely over 500 shots in those three weeks, but I digress...

I have every intention of writing a post about the pictures and the accompanying activity, but I have barely started the editing process.  And editing is necessary because my sensor is d.i.r.t.y and I have not yet taken the time to figure out if it is self cleaning or if I have to deal with it ($100.00 to clean it is more that I am willing to pay, especially when photo shop does such a good job for me).  In case you were wondering, a dirty sensor leaves pretty black dots on your nicest pictures.

So, for dealing with my ramblings, I will treat you to one of my favorite pictures of the boys at the Oregon Coast.  This vacation offered their first experience with the ocean.

joy ~ lincoln city 2011

I will be back soon with more.