Strawberries!

You know, before having kids, I would have never thought to go and pick my own fruit. Go to the Farmer's Market, maybe, but actually to a field to bend down and pick them? It wouldn't have even crossed my mind. And yet it's now one of my favorite activities to do with them, especially now that they are both old enough to participate. And I SWEAR that everything tastes better (fresher? sweeter?) when you pick it yourself.

Anyway, today we drove to Carlsbad to pick strawberries. It had rained earlier this morning, forcing me to postpone a photo shoot I had scheduled. And while it was overcast and chilly in Carlsbad, it was not raining-- meaning it was perfect picking weather! There were TONS of strawberries, all ripe and juicy and waiting to be picked! Much like yesterday, Nikos was a methodical berry-picking machine. He only ate a few, choosing instead to focus on filling our big bucket. He did an awesome job!! Maya picked a ton of berries, too, but these all pretty much went straight into her mouth. The girl could NOT get enough, and was happy as can be to eat strawberries the entire time we were there. Thank goodness they had a cooler of water there for rinsing hands, because she was COVERED in strawberry goo!


After we had filled our bucket and rinsed off, we got back in the car and had planned to eat lunch at the nearby outlets-- and maybe sneak in a little shopping. But alas, it was not to be. The parking lot was insane, and we couldn't find a spot. And somewhere in there, Maya conked out in her carseat. So we decided to abandon that plan and dine at home, instead.

The new plan is to go out to dinner after my photo shoot this afternoon... It works out well, actually, because my photo shoot is right next door to where we want to go eat. So I'll just give them a call when I'm wrapping things up, and they can come meet me. Hooray!