Life is Good

Life is good, the grass is green,
The good Lord smilin' down on you and me.
Gonna knock on wood,
Sweet sunshine everywhere I look,
You love me like no one could,
Life is good.
                                    --KENNY CHESNEY

For Mother's Day, we decided to spend time as family, outside and enjoying the beautiful weather.  We took a trip over to Washington Farms in Lawrenceville, and although the trip there was quite long and twisted in traffic, the arrival there was fresh and exciting.  We loaded Chad up in the carrier and took off running up the muddied up parking lot to grab our one-gallon buckets to plunk our freshly picked strawberries into.  One for Cari, and one for the rest of us - we are good to go! 

We head off across the fields to find a row that was not so crowded with anxious pickers and made our way down one that was only knee high to us, but waist high to Cari

The ripe berries were right at eye level for her and she had the perfect line of sight to grab at them, placing her little fingers around each one, squeezing tight with flourescent red juice dribbling down her fingers and dripping to her little white sandals, until the berry came of and she was able to toss each one into her bucket.  She doesn't discriminate - big, little, red, white, brown, squishy, hard, round, warbled, they all went in.

Chad enjoyed being in the sunlight, and of course being carried around.  He is an observer and a snuggler.  He never made a peep, just rode on his Daddy's back and sucked on the straps.  He soaked through two layers of shirts with drool, but he was happy, peaceful and content to be in such a wonderful place. Life is good.

After we finished filling our buckets, we decided to settle down under a shady tree and enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch. The wind blew, the sun glistened, laughter abound and children played. 

After all of the hard work of picking the berries, Cari certainly could not contain herself any longer.  And she forgets that her Mommy can see her through the lens of the camera.  Caught, red handed, literally!

They were worth every moment spent in those fields of joy.  The sweetness, the coolness, the juiciness flowing everywhere.  Afterall, "strawbies" are Cari's favorite anyways.  Life is certainly good.

As Cari ate, Chad ate.  He loves being outside, in the open, the fresh air, the breeze whisping.  He and his Daddy had a special time together at the picnic.

Although most people left the farms with buckets full of large, succulent, beautiful and flawless berries, we took home a gallon of delicious, red, squishy and juicy berries. Nothing could taste better.

Thanks to the friendly staff at Washingon Farms, we were able to get a family picture in, which is quite rare!

A few more pictures to share.  This will probably be one of my favorite Mother's Day pictures.

Cari's expression says it all in this picture. We are heading to the picnic tables to eat our lunch, as Daddy and Chad are coming back toward the fields. She turns around when and sees him coming she quickly spins around on her heels to look at me in sheer excitement in the moment she realizes he is coming for her. She loves her Daddy. Her Daddy loves her.

My little snuggle bunny.

And after the big day in the fields, someone is quite tired.