a berry good day

Last summer Dan and I had so much fun strawberry picking (and strawberry eating) that we decided to return to the same farm this year. So, we loaded up the car with an overwhelming amount of baby gear and met up with a few wonderful friends (6 adults, 3 kids under the age of 2) to make the beautiful & scenic drive up to Schuh Farms in Mt. Vernon, WA (home of the Tulip Festival and Glenn Beck).
Schuh Farms is a real farm with real cows and real berries so I feel like a real farm girl when we go there. I've always dreamed of having an uncle with a farm who we could visit for a week during the summer to help work the farm. In that dream, I picture us rising early to milk the cows and feed the chickens before indulging in a ridiculously huge breakfast of homemade biscuits, eggs, assorted breakfast meats, and bottomless cups of coffee. Too bad Farmer Schuh is NOT my uncle. It's still fun to visit his farm.
Equipped with big bowls (much bigger than last year's bowls), baby backpacks & strollers, and able hands, we assumed our picking stances and picked berries 'til we could pick no more! There were strawberries, raspberries, and tayberries aplenty!
What is a tayberry you ask? Well, I forgot so I had to Google it when we got home. Turns out it's a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry. It makes a delicious jam, in case you were wondering.
Nestled snugly in the ErgoBaby backpack with his much-too-big-for-his-tiny-head hat on, Jackson slept through the entire picking process.
This year the grass was much higher than I remember it being last year. Here's Dan in the field of unusually high strawberry grass.
Dan & Glory took turns carrying Owen on their backs so that his mommy Adelle, who's 9 months pregnant, wouldn't go into labor out there in the strawberry fields while trying to lug him around herself. He periodically chucked his pacifier into the surrounding bushes, forcing us to send out a pacifier search party. (Side note: Tayberry bushes have very sharp thorns.)
This is Owen's cousin, Jaxon. He's extra cool because he spells his name with an X and his mom spikes his hair into a baby mohawk.
It was kind of confusing having Jackson and Jaxon on our day trip so we referred to Jaxon as "X" and considered buying him a leather jacket and fake tattoos to further enhance his cool factor. We decided against it in the end.

Adelle & baby Grant amidst the berry bushes.
George & Susie & their buckets o' berries.
The Berry Pickin' Blankenships.
Once we'd picked all of our berries, we headed back home to Edmonds for an evening of berry-licious baking. At the Grant Home, a few more friends joined us as we assembled in the kitchen to make fresh strawberry shortcake, strawberry-tayberry pie, and Dan's special strawberry frozen custard.

Steve & Kaleb sample Adelle's delicious shortcake.
While the ladies baked, Jackson & his buddy Gabriel hung out together on their daddies' laps.
We had to separate them once Jackson threatened to punch Gabriel to get his share of the dessert.
Glory's strawberry-tayberry pie was the happiest looking pie I've ever seen.
Jackson was exhausted after a long day of sunshine, fresh air, and desserts. He conked out in my arms in a pose we like to call "Death by Dessert."
All in all, it was a berry good day.