Summer Traditions: Blackberry Picking (and a Charlie Visit) pt. 2

Every summer we head to Mr. Dennis' and Ms. Shirley's and pick blackberries!  This started when my mom and Papa were summering on their property in their RV.  Last year was a bit of a blur and we never made it, but this year we collected Nana and made a morning of it.  It was a gloriously cloudy and cool morning: perfect for picking. 

We heard Charlie Dog was staying with them while his owner was on a bike trip.  Clearly he remembered us and we had a great time reuniting with him for a couple of hours. 

Wrestling with Isaac. 

Hey, I know you! *Insert big, slobbery kiss*

Most handsome mutt ever! 

Waiting for auntie, perfecting her non-chalant pose: first time getting her hand in her pocket!

Shielding herself from too many doggy kisses. 

Let's do this, ladies!

Charlie has become the dog we always knew he'd be: such a LOVE!  He was enamored with Lucy right off and smothered her with kisses.  Once he settled down a bit, she really warmed up to him. 

The kids really took their jobs seriously this year and both came back with full buckets -- with no nudging or prompting!  

Meanwhile, Lucy ran around, chatted, and rode in the little coupe. 

We did our part between chatting and keeping track of Lucy. 

My kiddo... What can I say? She's just...THE. CUTEST. Oh my! I know, I know, I'm biased, but seriously. 

Beautiful.

Nature is crazy cool sometimes.
Also, apparently my phone can take an epic picture under the right lighting circumstances.

This is how Charlie lives life, and it makes my heart so happy!  We know we did the right thing adopting him out to Chad.  He's a happy dog with an amazing owner, and the best grandparents who love him and live in a veritable doggy paradise:

No time to talk, former mom, I've got KIDS to round up! 

So we learned an important lesson today...  Lucy loves blackberries.  She had unfettered access to them today... If you feed a toddler enough, they will have purple poop...watery, stain-the-diaper-lavendar-poop, watery, stain the diaper lavender, let's just chuck this insert it's so gross poop.... Followed by more poop....and then some more, which resemble the original source more and more closely.  Now, don't you want to go eat some delicious blackberry pie?

Lesson learned.  Limit the blackberry intake...  Unless you're trying to help a constipated child, in that case go for it -- but beware! they're fast-acting!

Hold on mom, I need one more drag of my paci first... 

Sneaking berries: such an opportunist! 

Summer Traditions: Blackberry Picking! Pt 1

Every summer a much-anticipated event occurs: the picking of the first sun-ripened, warm off the vine, oh-so-sweet blackberries!  This year Lucy was old enough to get in on the fun.  Daddy showed her how to find ripe ones one she was hooked.  Like daddy, like daughter.

 

Unlike her daddy, though, she does not like for her hands to be messy or sticky. Sadly we didn't have any wipes with us and she scowled at her hands most of the way home.

Camping the Key Peninsula 2015

We went camping!  It was great! Before you ask how Lucy did, let me assure you: she did great -- at home with Nana!  We wanted to get away together one more time this summer, and it turned out that Lucy was recovering from a pretty icky virus, so she and Nana stayed at the condo and snuggled and slept and swam, and generally had a great time.  

Isaac and I went to Penrose Point out on the Key Peninsula, south of Gig Harbor.  It was hot, but quiet and beautiful!  

Our accommodations

Our campground was filled with so many cool trees! 

We were able to talk, laugh, play lots of games, dream, and just generally enjoy one another without interruption.

Kicking my butt at Farkle! 

And losing spectacularly at Golf! 

We bought a crabbing license, borrowed some gear, and improvised the rest, and did some crabbing!  Sadly, we weren't able to toss the trap deep enough, so we didn't catch any legal crabs.  We did catch dozens of juveniles, though, about 4 inches side to side.  It was really fun and we really look forward to crabbing some more before our license runs out (especially now that we know what all we actually need).

He's a stud!  

Improvising a bait hook.

Almost big enough to eat!

I did the meal planning and Isaac did the cooking.  I got to sit back, relax, sip hot coffee or soda depending on the time of day, and watch this handsome guy cook up a storm! 

We did lots of walking along the beaches, some kayaking, and wading.  We found so many cool creatures: the most anemones ever, the most sand dollars ever, etc.  It was epic!  Seriously, it was like levels of a video game.  Isaac even named them all... I wish we'd gotten pictures of all of them. 

Hey mom, remember the time you made us all search for two identically sized sand dollars so you could make earrings? Well, I found you some!  Unfortunately, they didn't survive the trip home or you'd be getting some new jewelry soon! ;) 

Pretty sure we were the only ones to enjoy this log before the rangers came and stole it away. 

Poor little guy only had half his limbs. He's a fighter, though! 

Huge jellyfish