Just Because...

Just because school started doesn't mean we can't have fun on the weekends. We spontaneously decided to go to Oak Glen last Saturday to break up the weekend monotony. We headed up the mountain, stopping at the raspberry picking stand. Last year we got there too late and there were no more raspberries. This year, they were drying on the vine there were so many. Of course, the stand workers took one look at our feet and said, "sandals? you'll want to be careful of the burrs out there." I shrugged it off and thought, " Doesn't everyone in California wear flip flops? Please, how bad can they be?"Um, BAD! After one minute of walking, I had this irritating feeling on my toe. Looking down, I discovered an orb of needles clinging to my toe by just one spear. The spears were so sharp that when I pulled it off, I then had to unplug it from the fingers that pulled it off. Ouch!! I thought, "these would be very effective as implements of torture." The experience almost brought tears to my eyes. After my little encounter with the burr of pain, I was focusing the entire time on the little toes of my children and wanted to pick raspberries as fast as I could. We got a lot of juicy berries (and ate several) and the kids had a great time, despite mommy's worries.

Lynnea's face got so dirty! I think it came from picking up dirty rasperries that she had dropped on the ground. She's still with us so apparently a little dirt don't hurt, right?
The kids showing me their berries. Well, Tyler was just finding another one to eat.
Feeding the deer was the highlight for Lynnea. She would squeal with delight every time deer lips touched her hand.