The long-awaited raspberry post

Sorry to keep you hanging on the raspberry post I promised two weeks ago.  I wanted to wait to get JuliAnn's pictures because she got some terrific ones with her zoom lens.  And now I've had a terrible time narrowing them down.  :)

I forgot to get the CD when we saw JuliAnn and Madi last week, so I got it this morning when we met to pick blueberries.  Yes, we've been on quite a berry-picking streak lately.  I'm happy to report that we're done.  And just in time - Baby Emmitt is due on Friday!  (That's the Olson's baby.  Ours still has five and half weeks - and no name if it's a boy.  Yikes!)

Because we were nowhere near a road (You can see our cars in some pictures.  We nearly needed four-wheel drive to get out there.  The main road was VERY far away.), we let Judson and Madi wander for a few minutes before deciding to call them back toward us.   No big deal.  They'd set out across the lettuce rows.  As they headed back our direction, we watched (me in horror; JuliAnn in amusement) as they discovered a giant mud pit between the rows.  Judson immediately dove in; Madi was much more reserved.  Though I was NOT prepared to deal with that amount of mud, I decided to let him have his fun and figure it out when it was time to leave.  (Our usual car blanket had been removed two days before when we got home from camping.)

Thankfully, I did find a small hand towel and between that and baby wipes, he was acceptably clean when I finally put him in the car.  As soon as we got home, I bathed him, gave him probiotics, and started praying for "clean" mud!  :)

Warning:  These pictures may be horrifying to some of you.  They probably would have been to me at one time.  However, Judson had a blast, every last trace of mud came out of everything, he didn't get sick from the mud, and we have some terrific memories and pictures.  It was a pretty great day, after all.  :)

 

Look how clean she is!  Well, in comparison, anyway...

Actually, Judson still looks pretty clean here...  :)

 

Madi wanted to be involved, but it was just too much mud for her.  Smart girl!  :)

Really, Judson?!

And right after I noticed that there was still a strip of red shirt showing on his back, he did this.

I think I was trying to keep him from blowing bubbles in the water...

  

By the time it was time to go, his pants were at his knees, his cloth diaper had about ten pounds of mud in it, and he was exhausted.  What a day!

Family Camp

We attended our church's "Family Camp" for the first time this year (July 15-17).  It was at River Bend County Park, six miles east of Sweet Home (about an hour from here).  It was a really nice campground.  More "cushy" than we generally like, but perfect for something like Family Camp.  There was a great playground, a really nice swimming area in the river (even a good spot for little kids, as you can see), very clean bathrooms, and FREE showers.  We did not take advantage of the showers.  It started pouring on Friday night and pretty much continued until we left on Sunday.  I didn't feel the need to get any wetter than I already was.  Thankfully, it was still really warm, so I didn't have to worry about Judson being wet the whole time.  (It was basically impossible to keep him dry.)

These pictures are all from Friday afternoon.  It was a gorgeous day, and we had no idea at that point that the rest of the weekend was going to be SO. BLASTED. WET.  Saturday afternoon and evening were dry (for a few hours), which was a nice break.  Overall, we still had fun, and we got to know some people better.  A number of families went home early, however, and it would've been a lot more fun to be in dry, sunny weather!

Heading to the river as soon as we got there

32 weeks pregnant...

Helping Dada.  When did he get to be such a big boy?!

Dinner

Second S'more ever...neater than the first  :)

 We have one more camping trip tentatively planned for this summer.  I have already forewarned Nate that I will not be going if rain is forecast.  Once in a summer (or decade...or lifetime) is enough for me!

Picking Strawberries

Judson and I met JuliAnn and Madi to pick raspberries this morning (that post will be coming soon!), and Jules brought me a CD of her pictures from our strawberry-picking adventure.  Since it was a couple of weeks ago and I already mentioned it, I won't say much about it.  It was indeed an adventure, as we were 30 weeks and 35 weeks pregnant and we brought with us two plant-trampling toddlers who kept pulling up the marking flags every time we weren't looking.  (Though, honestly, the flag system didn't really make any sense anyway...)

Judson got dirtier than I had anticipated, which wouldn't have bugged me, except that he wasn't in old clothes.  I spent the afternoon stain-fighting, and I'm happy to report they look almost as good as new.

**Though Judson seemed so filthy to me that day, as I looked through these pictures, I realized he really wasn't that dirty, especially in light of today's adventure.  God is gently teaching me that he is ALL BOY and I'm just going to have to accept the mud that comes with the gift of this child.**

This is one of the few pictures I took before my camera stopped working.  It's JuliAnn's unattended bucket.  Can you tell which FIVE berries Judson added?!  :)

 

 

 

 

  

A bouquet of flags.  At first we wouldn't let them touch the flags at all, and then we decided we'd let them each carry one, and we'd just put them back when we were done.  Clearly that plan didn't work!

Stay tuned for our raspberry-picking adventure.  I promise it won't disappoint!