Strawberry Fields Forever

Last week the kids and I went strawberry picking.  I'll admit, this is the first time I have actually taken my kids to a patch to pick.  In years past, I just bought the berries already picked.  In fact, I think last week was the first time since I was a kid that I've been out in the strawberry fields. 

Oh, what we've been missing!

What a glorious thing to sit in a strawberry field on a warm, sunny June morning.

What fun it is to search for the red, ripe, juicy (but not too ripe) berries.

Everyone should have red-berry-stained fingers at some time in their life.

And revel in the moment that you find the most gigantic strawberry of all time.

I really got a kick out of the kids that day.  They hopped from row to row looking for the "perfect" berries.  They covered a lot of ground in that field.  But I cringe as I admit that most of the berries picked by my children by-passed the boxes.

And went directly to their tummies.  It would be interesting to know how many POUNDS of strawberries my kids ate that day.  Maybe I should have weighed the kids before and after the adventure.  But then again, maybe I really don't want to know.  I'd be plagued by the guilt of how many strawberries we removed from that patch and didn't pay for!  Do you supposed they adjust the price they charge to account for the berries that never make it to the weighing cart? Surely they know of this phenomenon? Don't they? For the sake of fairness, I think they probably should have doubled the price they charged me.

Do you suppose they cringe when they see a mom get out of her van with 5 little berry pickers in tow?

But honestly, how can a mom keep her little ones from indulging in a field of delicious strawberries?

I couldn't even stop myself.

I mean, c'mon.  Just look at em.

I think Heaven will have strawberry fields - where we will eat our fill with no worries, no guilt.

Glorious.

Strawberry fields FOREVER!