Memorial Day Weekend Part 1: Strawberry Picking!

For years I have wanted to go strawberry picking and finally this year, we went! The last time I went strawberry picking I was about 1 and a half years old. I don't actually remember it, but I have seen photos of me in a cute light blue outfit hanging on to my mother's back, as she picked strawberries in the late 70s, here in Maryland! (Vozinha, I would love to see those photos again and get a copy!)

We finally remembered this year that the best time to go is at the end of May and since Daniel is now 3, we thought it would be a perfect family activity. And it was! Not because Daniel enjoyed the picking (he wasn't really interested in it at all actually - he probably picked 2 strawberries in total after much encouragement) but because we gave it a try, Jonny really got in to it (I found it more laborious than I had expected and so preferred to enjoy the scenery and take photos instead), we went with our neighbors and had a great picnic afterwards together at the farm under a big tree!

The main pickers: Heather and Jonny

The boys look hard at work, don't they? They were admiring the picked strawberries in the basket....

The final result after about 45 minutes of picking...

Daniel enjoyed walking around and seeing the tractor in the distance.

He then enjoyed "driving" a tractor inside the barnhouse.

Daniel and Devesh...

Picnic time! Baby Maya is already 10 months old and ate some of the quesadillas I made too!

Fun dad = very happy baby!

Two friends together = very happy boys!

We then went home and quickly walloped all the strawberries. We made: strawberry smoothie, strawberry popsicles and just ate a bunch fresh!

I hope Daniel will look back at these photos one day, as I did with my own childhood ones, and look forward to taking his own family strawberry picking... Sweet times.

The Budding Photographer

So my mother asked me to share some of the photos Daniel took by himself in Williamsburg using our small camera -- here they are vozinha!  It's nice to see things from his perspective... Not bad for a 3 year old, right? :-)

2010-2011 Pre-School Photos

We just recieved Daniel's 2010-2011 pre-school photos, taken in April, just before he left his previous school. What a cute 3 year old he is; he looks so grown up! They were really able to get him to pose and smile!

They gave us a free print of his class photo and I took a photo of it for you to see (hence the poor quality). Daniel remembered all his teachers and most of his friends. Thank God it didn't make him feel sad seeing them again. Though he often still talks about "Owi","Julian" and other friends, he is very happy at his new pre-school (in fact, tomorrow he is going on his first field trip to the Zoo alone (sans Jonny and I) with his class -- yikes!)

Mini-Vacation Part II: Williamsburg

Williamsburg...What can I say? I want to go back! Not only to that special part of the country which we really like, but to the special time we had with our friends Chris, Corinne and their precious daughters Ella (age 5) and Sadie (9 months old). We really enjoyed every minute of our long weekend there. And one of the highlights was that Ella and Daniel "fell in love" with one another and really enjoyed each other's company. By the end of the trip, they wanted to be together all the time. It was so cute and wonderful! The photos below do a great job in telling the story of our vacation-weekend...

Going for walks...



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Watching golf...



Corinne adoring baby Sadie and enjoying every  moment of having a baby again...



My oldest friend since being in the U.S. -- soon to be 8 years!

When Sadie ate, she did the cutest thing with her mouth!

Daniel just had a blast!

We loved holding Sadie...

Daniel wanted to hold her too but she wasn't as thrilled...

Enjoying Colonial Williamsburg...

Daniel was allowed to use our smaller camera for the first time and just loved it!

Our family...



Parade...

They needed help with some of the walking...

First time in the pool this year!!!

A cook out by the master chef overlooking the beautiful scenery...

Beauty all around us...

Daniel loved playing with the bubbles in the nightly jacuzzi bath...

Since Corinne went to college at William and Mary, she gave us a tour of the campus and old buildings...

Baby Sadie looking very regal...

Perfect weather and lots of love...

Playing "catch" was/is a favorite!

Look at this!

Chris. What an awesome dad!

It was sad saying good-bye. Ella said to me: "I want to go wherever you go and be with you all the time." And I replied: "You are with me wherever I go. You know why? Because you are in my heart, right in here, and so you are always with me."



Can you see why I want to go back?

At least now, we have these beautiful memories...