"Strawberry Fields Forever"

Oh boy its that time of year again. Even though we still haven't felt summer yet here, the strawberries knew it was still time for them to come up and grace us with their tasty presence. I love it when its strawberry season! I got pretty excited as it was approaching and began checking the website where we like to pick strawberries to see if they were ready yet. When it said they were open for business, we headed out to the strawberry fields to pick us some strawberries! Admiring the countryside as we walk with excitement down to the patch where the Hood Strawberries await us, our favorites!

This is how Michael and Maia picked strawberries. I had Maia on my lap at one point and she was picking the leaves trying to imitate what I was doing. So close Maia!

We even got some family photos out there. Here we are amongst our 18lbs of Strawberries. Lets just say I got a little carried away. Oh but they were delicious!

Even though this was Maia's first time to be out among the strawberries, she did make an appearance last year. Michael and I reminisced about being out here last year and I mentioned that it was so much easier to be down on the ground picking those berries this year. What fun!

This year Maia gets to be among the fun. So you may think what did we do with all those strawberries. Well I made 10 pints of Jam, froze some, ate them by themselves and made milk shakes of course. Those of you who love strawberries, hope you are enjoying this season as much as I am!!!!!!

Celebrating a Friend!

Congratulations JULIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to go to Santa Cruz to celebrate our dear friend Julie as she graduated with her undergrad in History! Except for the fact that it was a quick and tiring trip, we were very glad to be there to watch her walk with pride and honor as she received her degree. What an accomplishment! Julie is always trying to make Maia into a princess. I think it worked, if only for a few seconds while she was distracted by something else.

Maia and her Auntie Julie!

I think one of Maia's favorite moments was when Julie opened her graduation gifts. She was enamored by the colorful ribbons that were on some of Julies gifts, and she lloved that she got to have some part in opening them as well.

I got to play in the kitchen while we were there. One of my favorite things to do is decorate cakes. Julie made all the deliciousness and I got to put it together. And it turned out fabulous. Well done Julie! She made a strawberry shortcake cake! What a great way to celebrate!

We are glad we made it out there. Julie, we are proud of you and how hard you have worked to earn this degree!

Beach cruising

When Grandma Jo was here visiting we went to the beach. I forgot to bring my camera so I just had my video camera and I was able to catch some fun videos of Maia crawling on the beach. Enough said, enjoy the videos!

Going to Grandma's house (and Grandpa's, Gigit and Frank's)

Not too long ago Maia and I took a trip to see Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Nick in a far away land called South Dakota. It was a long journey and we, I mean I, had to carry all our stuff as we got in and out of 3 different airplanes. We kept our smiles on because we were headed to see some very special people (and their 2 dogs). There was lots of fun to be had in the land of South Dakota. Grandma had fun with a giant sombrero and so Maia had to try it on for size as well.

Not to mention the many different smiles that were had playing with Grandpa.

Uncle Nick came by and stole Maia's heart. She loves her Uncle Nick. There was an abundance of laughter when he was around.

Maybe even more laughter when Gigit was around. Maia found that she loved little dogs more than cats, at least more than our scared-ey cat Meko. The dogs, Gigit (the pug) and Frank, did not run away from her when she was let loose on the floor. In fact, they just gave her kisses after kisses.

In South Dakota, Maia made some new friends. Grandma runs a daycare and so there were lots of little people running around. This made Maia so happy because she gets so excited when there are little kids in the area. Some of these kids entertained Maia with bubbles.

One friend in particular was closer in age to Maia and had just learned how to walk right before we arrived. So they got to play with each other when she (Ellie) was around.

More fun with Grandpa was had.

We got the chance to visit a park that I grew up going to as a kid. This park is called Storybook Land. There are lots of play structures that reflect different children's stories and so we played a little there.

As always, all good things must come to an end. We had so much fun visiting Grandma and Grandpa in South Dakota. It's a treat to be out there!!! Hopefully we will be back soon!!!