Blueberry Picking and a Camp Fire

Summer has definitely hit the Northwest as it was over 90 degrees on Saturday with not a cloud in the sky.  While it's been nice, we've been trying to get outdoors as much as possible and find fun activities to do with the munchkin.  This was the first weekend within the past month that we didn't have any real plans, so we decided to visit a local farm to do some berry picking - blueberry picking that is.  It sure seems like we've been going to a lot of farms this summer, like the time we went here and then here.  




We got kind of a late start to the morning and didn't end up getting to the farm until about 10:30am, which by that time, it was already well into the 70's.  We grabbed our little bucket and headed to the fields.  It wasn't long before I could feel the sweat dripping down my back and my poor baby's head was starting to get drenched with sweat.  So, hubby and I did the picking while Chris sampled some of the harvest and ducked into the shade every now and then to cool off.  After about an hour, we called it good because I think we were all too hot and sweaty to stay out in the fields any longer.

This was after we finished picking all the berries and Chris was getting a ride back after all his "hard work"

The fruits of our labor - literally! 

If you would like to take your family on some berry picking fun but don't know where the nearest U-Pick farm is, you can go to this handy website to find farms in the US, Canada, Britain and other countries around the world.  It also has information on canning and freezing fruit, which I may try at some point.  Right now is the peak time for picking blueberries and once we move in to the fall, you can use the same website to find a pumpkin patch.  Great for photos and getting the kids excited for Halloween!

A few weeks back, we went to a campout which I posted about and we enjoyed roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire pits there so much that we decided to get one of our own fire pits.  It's really more of a fire bowl since it's not in the ground but it makes having a camp fire really easy and inexpensive.  We picked ours up at Home Depot for around $50. Saturday night was the first time we really used it and we decided to roast hot dogs and sausages in our backyard.  

It was a lot of fun, but I will say that standing next to the fire pit in 90 degree weather felt a bit like I was in an oven.  Luckily the sweat didn't really bother me since I had already gotten pretty sweaty in the morning while I was doing the berry picking.  I'm sure I smelled lovely by this time.

My husband is not only the king of the grill, he is the master of the fire pit.  He's roasting not one, not two, but three sausages while Christopher looks on in awe.  Actually, my son is probably staring off somewhere else thinking about trains, garbages trucks, or fire engines (his latest obsessions).  

If you decide to do some roasting over your own camp fire, I recommend doing hotdogs or other sausages that are pre-cooked so you don't have to worry about undercooked meat.  Nothing ruins a good backyard campout like some food poisoning!  The roasting sticks my husband is using were purchased from Dick's Sporting Goods for a few bucks.  They're great because they're telescoping so you can shorten them for easy traveling and they've got a comfortable wooden handle.

Anyways, that's some of the fun that my little family has been up to.  Hope you are enjoying your summer!  Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle