Berry Pickers

We walked to the library today, just to get some fresh air and exercise, and to return a few books. Julia and Austin has swim lessons. During Austin and Lauren's naptime Julia has been reading. Today she read a book about a little girl who made up her own holiday. Julia said we were going to have a First Day of Summer party. I think the idea partly came from the book. Julia made two paper lanterns and hung those up in the family room. She, Austin and I played Memory together though, before Lauren woke up from her nap. Julia wanted us to play special games for the party, but it was too late. After supper they had ice cream; this fit right in with Julia's party ideas! ;) So, get ready for picture overload. More about the berry pickers down a little lower.

Ice Cream Chin--She had to have her own cone again tonight. First I served her ice cream in a dish for Brian to feed her. But Lauren took one look at Julia's cone, saw her own dish and burst into tears! So I transferred hers to a cone.




It was kind of chilly outside, so I told Julia to sit on the cement wall, which was warm. She wanted Lauren to sit there too. Julia was so nicely snuggling with Lauren. Lauren tried to escape every few minutes, but Julia would tell her, "Come back where it is nice and warm!", and I would put Lauren back up there!




On to the berry pickers. I was outside taking pictures of the girls with their cones, when Brian asked me to take a picture of our boysenberries. We have quite a few this year. I went over to the garden, only to see a lizard stuck in the net covering the berries! Eeek! Now, I know a little lizard like that is harmless, but I did not expect to see him in my berry patch! Julia and Lauren proceeded to shriek, and Lauren ran away from the garden back into the grass! Austin is looking at us all, like he is thinking, "What is the big deal?!" And he probably really was thinking that, as he enjoys lizards. He likes to pick them up and play with them. I told him to get this one out of the net, and he tried, but it was stuck. All this time I was convinced Brian told me to take a picture of the berries just so I would be freaked out by the lizard! Brian was gone to the neighbors', for a few minutes, but when he returned he said he had not known that lizard was there. Brian tried to get him untangled, but he really was stuck. In the process of trying to get him out, Brian pulled off his tail! The kids were kind of fascinated by that. I really should have gotten a picture of him before Brian got involved! The lizard also got kind of cut from the net, so Brian decided to put him out of his misery. We did feel bad having to do that. Brian ended up having to cut him out of our brand new net.


One picture of the berries


Finally! The berry pickers! Doesn't it look like they are in jail?!


And this little girl....she wanted to help pick berries so badly. She picked one that actually was ripe, and squished it. So I had her play nearby. She was SOOooo dirty--dirt sticking to her ice cream spills. Good thing it was bath night! She went straight into the tub!


We will be gone this weekend for a reunion for Brian's family, in San Diego. I'm sure we'll have lots to share when we get back!