~diary of a birthday kid~

He woke to find his favorite color of the traditional birthday streamers hanging from his door.  Mom had to pull the door shut to get a picture because you wouldn't want to see inside.  If you did, you'd wonder why we even left the house this day at all instead of staying home and cleaning up his room.  

But it was his 8th birthday.  

And we had an adventure planned for the day.

Be advised: photo dump, junk food, sugar, sugar, and more sugar.  Did I mention junk food and sugar? 

Yep.  Looking back at these photos I'm asking myself what i was thinking.  But we had fun.  TONS of fun.  

Just Derek and me. 

 

I told him months ago when we ran into the local gas station that he could have some of these little gems, "maybe for your birthday."

Guess what?  He remembered.  So we ran up to the store and got these for breakfast.

Later in the afternoon, we headed for the "big city" about 40 miles away to visit a few places and take advantage of some coupons. Derek's request for lunch? 

I-Hop. 

This boy loves pancakes.  L.O.V.E.S. T.H.E.M. 

He was too full to finish his plate. 

Somehow he managed to find room for the ice cream the whole staff brought out to him while singing 'Happy Birthday'.  He got a kick out of that!  But he immediately told me to get the red cherries off the top.  He's not a fan of those maraschino ones!

What would you like to do now, Derek?? 

What's that? 

You want to go ride the escalator at the sporting goods store??  Um....OK! 

(It really is the simple things, isn't it??)

I don't typically take pictures including me,

or the inside of a bathroom,

or of me and my kid inside a bathroom,

a really yellow bathroom... 

BUT

today was an exception.

First off, I hope I'm not the only mama out there who still makes her kid go into the woman's restroom with them if need be.

If dad is along or big brother, by all means... head to the men's.

But there are some pretty weird people out there.

And you just never know who's inside!!

And I can't go in to peek.  

So guess what?

He got stuck with me. 

But we thoroughly enjoyed the huge mirror and took advantage of making funny faces and weird poses and I just had to get the camera out and take a few.

(Just glad nobody walked in on us being silly!)  

I'd like to know if there are any other kids out there able to walk by one of these without putting? Mine can't.

Off to Chuck-E-Cheese to use his 20 Free Birthday tokens.

Yep... I'm that kind of mama.

You send us a coupon for something free and I'm there.

Skee-ball never gets old... no matter how old you are!

Some of my favorite photos are the sketches from this place.

We have ones of both the kids through the years but this was the first time I jumped in with him. 

I'm glad I did. I mention on my ABOUT ME page trying to get more pictures including me since I'm always behind the camera.

Slowly but surely it's getting easier.

Off to the book store to pick out a new read.

 Mama got a Grande Carmel Frappaccino, but she shared.  

Derek got his free birthday treat for being part of the Kids Club at the store.  He picked the chocolate brownie with chunks. More than half came home with him for later!

(And yes.. if you are keeping track so far we have donuts, pancakes, ice cream, frap, and brownie. Oh my!!)

We're finally back home and he can try out his new mini basketball that he bought with birthday money from grandpa.

It "works" really good!

What would you like for your birthday dinner Derek?

Red Baron pizza (don't ask!!)

Red potatoes

Frozen Red Grapes

Red Cherry Dump Cake

 It was a RED dinner, indeed.

It is his favorite color after all!

I'll always remember this day with my boy!

It was sweet! 

*************************

Disclaimer:

Not a paid advertisement or endorsement for any product, service, company, or brand.

~pick your own strawberries~

The weather yesterday was too good not to go out for an adventure.  I decided we'd stay local since we had plans for the evening and didn't want to be gone all day.  Our town librarian told us about a field that was only 11 miles from our house that we could go pick our own strawberries.  We've always traveled farther to another place years prior.

Why had I not known about this place before now!?!

 We headed out on our big adventure and stopped along the way to look at the clouds and admire some of our favorite farms. I decided to surprise the boys and we stopped at an old gas station/pizza place/post office/ice cream parlor in a nearby town. Yep.... one of "those" places.  Where you can find just about anything and you can get your gas from a vintage pump where the numbers turn like an old clock and you have to go inside and pay.  Love these!!    

The boys thought it was pretty cool to be eating in the middle of a gas station, grabbing pizza right out of the box, picking out a pop from the cooler to drink with it, and admiring the racks of candy and chips surrounding them.  You would have thought they were in junk food city!! And no.... this mom didn't give in to any requests.

So, we were back in the car and on the road again. We traveled down one lane roads and took in all the sights, animals, landmarks, and talked about the history of the couple towns we drove through and the people who had farmed this land years ago. 

 The produce farm we arrived at was full of busy workers and friendly faces.  We were told we could pick right there or head down the road a bit to some more fields.  Back in the car and down a lane we continued on.

The boys had a fun time pulling the buckets apart.  We each got a bucket to carry and then we dumped them all together before we checked out.

Austin seemed to enjoy this adventure more than Derek, surprisingly.  He got right into the picking and found "the perfect spot".  Derek was more interested in walking up and down the rows, checking out the watering system, and playing with the Wiener dog another couple brought with them.

Derek did find what he called the "Big Daddy Strawberry" just laying on the ground that someone else had probably dropped from their bucket.  This was the first one we washed and ate when we arrived home.

A while later, we found our buckets were getting full and we needed to go back to the farm and pay for our sweet gems.  Austin questioned this system and how the owners kept track of the other fields and of who payed and who didn't.  It was a nice opportunity to talk about the 'Honor System' and how it's hard to find places around like this anymore.  
 

One of these beautiful hanging baskets came home with us.

And of course a little bear of local honey that Derek just loved. He asked if he could keep the bottle when it was gone to put our other honey in. It's the simple things in life, isn't it!?!

The ride home was just as nice and beautiful as the ride there.  The clouds looked like, "stairs to heaven."

One more stop at the Dairy Bar in our town for some ice cream and then we'd be home.

I tried out a Lemon Italian Ice and thought it was pretty tasty.

Back at home we poured the strawberries into the sink to give them a good wash and put them out to air dry on towels on the counter.  Needless to say, there were a few dozen missing from the group within a short period of time.  It was so nice to have freshly picked, warm, sun-kissed, delicious strawberries to enjoy!! We just might make some freezer jam today.  (If there are enough left by then. Otherwise, it's back to the fields tomorrow for some more!)

That evening we all loaded up into the car to meet some friends at a Minor League baseball game.  We had a fun time, even though our home team lost.  Austin was lucky enough to catch a ball that one of the outfielders threw into the crowd after a third out in the inning.  And guess where the camera was??
At home,
on the counter,
next to the strawberries. 

It was a beautiful day from start to finish!

~strawberries~

I'm already looking forward to strawberry picking season.  Although the soil is not ready for planting yet, it sure felt like it today with the weather at 67 degrees.  It is such a beautiful "winter" day, although I am so anxious for Spring. 

We usually only have a couple of plants growing at home in my favorite purple pot on our back patio.  We don't harvest too many at home, but the boys enjoy watching these as they change from their white flowers, to the "green small strawberries", to the light pink and then vibrant, red, plump, juicy fruit.

We make an annual trip, a.k.a."Adventure", to a local strawberry patch to pick most of our strawberries that I use for making freezer jam.  Last year we hit the patch late in the picking season and got the last crop.

Yesterday I was cleaning and washing a couple of quarts of strawberries in the sink.  I've done this for years, but I tried something new this time. It was an epiphany!!  And after I was done, I wondered why the heck had I not done this before!  Don't laugh.. I know you've been guilty of this, too. 

Are you ready to hear what amazing thing I learned??

It will forever change the way you wash, clean, and "de-stem" your fruit.  Here it goes:

I ran luke warm water in the sink, over my hands, while holding the berries instead of freezing, ice cold water.

Call me a slow learner, if you must.  Laugh... you might. But I felt like I had just passed a really hard exam with flying colors.

So, if you've been guilty of letting the cold water run wild
while cleaning your fruits and veggies
(like I have forever.. and why!?!) 
give it a try...

move the handle over...
your hands will thank you!

Life changing, I tell ya!

~adventure~

Tonight was a perfect opportunity for a Mommy Date...

a.k.a. "Adventure" in our family.

I think it is so important to have one-on-one time with your kids.  It doesn't have to be anything big or expensive... 

just togetherness and lots of fun! Something special that you don't do every day.  Something unexpected.

While Dad was with the big brother at baseball practice, Derek and I decided to hit Der Dutchman Bakery in the town we were in.  If you aren't familiar with this name, it is an Amish family restaurant that serves nothing but the best in homemade goodness.

And tonight, that came in the form of purchasing some doughnuts for tomorrow....  A dozen to be exact.

These are the BIGGEST DOUGHNUTS EVER!

      We did have to split one up when we got home just to, "make sure they tasted OK".  Trust me... they are just fine.  The teachers will be treated in the morning when the boys share some at school.

   

We had 2 hours to kill, so we walked around the Carlise gift shop (attached to the restaurant) and found some really cool replica vintage toys and games. 

I couldn't help but pick up two of these Mr. Mystery books for the boys.  Anyone else remember spending hours decoding these pages with the invisible pen? 

Then we came across some of these Bingo Games to play with in the car. I had some of these as a child and remember playing them, on long road trips, in the back seat of our station wagon.

In a generation full of electronics, it's nice to introduce our kids to a few good-ol'fashioned games.

Chargers, plugs and batteries... not included!!

Next stop on our "Adventure": McD's.

The little guy wanted Mini-Cinnamon Rolls for a snack.  

Coffee for Mom.

We worked on homework, started the Mr. Mystery book, and watched out the window as the rain turned to snow.  We had a ton of fun just talking, catching up, sharing the events of the day, and listening fully to each other.

I recommend an "Adventure", of any kind,

at your earliest convenience.