Nana brought the yard sign over on the day of the party but I wanted to get a picture with it on his birthday 'cause I'd like to do this every year.Will and Craig and I had lots of fun plans for Will's special day. I took the day off work again and Sophie went to the babysitters for most of the day. But before I dive into our day, I want to share some pictures from Monday and give a special shout out to Uncle Taylor and Uncle Zach. He LOVES the tools! Thank you! (And please excuse the laundry and chairs in the background. We were still cleaning from the party.)
He also ALWAYS wears and talks about the "safety goggles". Too funny.
Sophie was in the way here. He was trying to saw the window trim work. ;)
LOL - Craig loves these toys too. Quick funny story: at the party, this was one of the first things taken out of the packaging. So when Cora was trying to check out some other things that were still in their packaging, I overheard her dad (Brian) say "No, Cora. Just play with the chainsaw, okay?" It sounded so funny - advice you would never otherwise hear - and we all laughed about it. :)
The morning of Will's birthday kicked off with a present Craig picked out for Will. I also realized, after the fact, that the gift bag I wrapped it in was one my mom brought to the hospital on the day Will was born.
Two new flashlights that are all his own, including one bigger one just like daddy's, and 10 new matchbox trucks... always a favorite.
Okay onto the activities of the day:Will's favorite fruit (it's hard to narrow it down) is probably strawberries. So I thought it would be fun to take him to a U-Pick strawberry farm so he could see where/how they grow and pick his own. I checked out a cool website last fall to find MacQueens apple orchard, so I just checked back there to find a berry farm.
Just like MacQueens, Polters has an absolutely gorgeous property. The surrounding fields, farms and hilly roads are so peaceful and beautiful. And our morning weather was perfect!
If I knew more about gardening and farming, I could definitely see myself being perfectly happy making my livelihood on some sort of U-Pick farm where I organized fun, seasonal activities for families to come participate in. How quaint, huh? I'm sure it's not always as simple as I'm imagining, but it sounds so picturesque.
Here's the little store attached to the barn where you can purchase quart containers of ready-picked strawberries and pints of shelled peas right now. Towards the end of this month, there will be an almost three week window of red raspberries available, and then blueberries to follow in July and August. This is also where we checked in to get our boxes for U-Pick.
Following the farm worker out to our designated row. There are pink flags at the ends of available rows. Then after you've worked down your row as far as you want to, you move the pink flag to the spot that you stopped. It's an easy, functional system! My mom came along for strawberry picking too.
Will learned what color to look for and what to avoid as well as how to pull them off the vine. He also got to see what a "vine" looks like. "V is for vine" has been on his beloved alphabet puzzle... now he knows what a vine is!
Examining his pick.
Great Grandma Riedeman would be so proud! Craig's whole family has had strawberry patches for as long as Craig can remember. There is just nothing like that freshness of flavor! Will's first taste of strawberries at 12 months old were from Aunt Cathy's garden. Mmm!
Not the best picture of Will but I wanted one of him with my mom.
Here are our purchases. The U-Pick strawberries are charged by the pound. And the three of us tasted some of the peas raw when we got out to the car. My mom got all smiley and reminiscent of her childhood days with her grandparents. They really are good that way! We will definitely be going back for raspberries and blueberries this summer! What a fun trip.
Our next stop was the Veterans Park in Genoa where I ran that race last weekend. Here, mom and I parted ways and Craig met up with us for a picnic lunch and some ice cream.
At exactly 11:02 a.m. (the moment Will turned 3), we gave him lots of kisses and hugs and took some more silly pictures. Thank goodness for camera timers! :)
Just across the parking lot is our favorite, local ice cream spot: The Big Dipper. Will got his first CONE and chose the strawberry swirl.
What a mess! We decided Will needed to be shirtless for the remainder of this event - LOL - and the nice staff gave us a wet rag to clean him up. :)
Back at home, before laying down for nap, Will practiced balancing on his monkey balance board.
He's getting the hang of it.
In the afternoon, we picked Sophie up from the babysitters and headed out to meet our friends at the zoo. Despite the rain (which was just a light sprinkle) we had a fun time.
We spent a lot of time in the inside exhibits, i.e. the rainforest, aquarium and Nature's Neighborhood. Tim, Angie and Addyson joined us again and it was fun hanging out with them.
The cheetahs were out and about.
They came right up to the fense! I've never seen them that close before!
Will & Addy play outside Nature's Neighborhood.
Inside, Angie clued us into a "hidden tunnel" behind a sliding bookcase that leads to the other room!
Back at home, we had grilled chicken with peach salsa and steamed broccoli & cauliflower for dinner. Then for dessert, we enjoyed some strawberry shortcake using our fresh picked strawberries! And guess what! Sophie, who's previously turned her nose up to strawberries... slammed about 1/2-3/4 cup of them as though she was inhaling them! Maybe she can taste the difference?
Then after bath, Will opened two final presents from us. Connectagons! A super cool, building toy with painted wood pieces. Let the structural creations begin!
And here's that patterning game I ordered from Lakeshore way back when. I'd been saving it for his birthday and he seems to really like it.
Once again, he said "Look, mommy! I'm making a pattern!" before I ever said the word to him. :)
And after some more practice... he's got this thing down. He's pretty good at it! If he keeps working on that balance, maybe daddy will take him skiing in a year or two!
I'm grateful to have spent every one of Will's birthdays (all day) with him so far. How many more birthdays will he actually look forward to spending the whole day with his parents? Probably not enough for me. ;) He is so much fun to be with and I love spending time with him. The world is definitely a happier, funnier, more interesting place with Will in it. Happy 3rd Birthday, sweet boy!
Just like MacQueens, Polters has an absolutely gorgeous property. The surrounding fields, farms and hilly roads are so peaceful and beautiful. And our morning weather was perfect!
If I knew more about gardening and farming, I could definitely see myself being perfectly happy making my livelihood on some sort of U-Pick farm where I organized fun, seasonal activities for families to come participate in. How quaint, huh? I'm sure it's not always as simple as I'm imagining, but it sounds so picturesque.
Here's the little store attached to the barn where you can purchase quart containers of ready-picked strawberries and pints of shelled peas right now. Towards the end of this month, there will be an almost three week window of red raspberries available, and then blueberries to follow in July and August. This is also where we checked in to get our boxes for U-Pick.
Following the farm worker out to our designated row. There are pink flags at the ends of available rows. Then after you've worked down your row as far as you want to, you move the pink flag to the spot that you stopped. It's an easy, functional system! My mom came along for strawberry picking too.
Will learned what color to look for and what to avoid as well as how to pull them off the vine. He also got to see what a "vine" looks like. "V is for vine" has been on his beloved alphabet puzzle... now he knows what a vine is!
Examining his pick.
Great Grandma Riedeman would be so proud! Craig's whole family has had strawberry patches for as long as Craig can remember. There is just nothing like that freshness of flavor! Will's first taste of strawberries at 12 months old were from Aunt Cathy's garden. Mmm!
Not the best picture of Will but I wanted one of him with my mom.
Here are our purchases. The U-Pick strawberries are charged by the pound. And the three of us tasted some of the peas raw when we got out to the car. My mom got all smiley and reminiscent of her childhood days with her grandparents. They really are good that way! We will definitely be going back for raspberries and blueberries this summer! What a fun trip.
Our next stop was the Veterans Park in Genoa where I ran that race last weekend. Here, mom and I parted ways and Craig met up with us for a picnic lunch and some ice cream.
At exactly 11:02 a.m. (the moment Will turned 3), we gave him lots of kisses and hugs and took some more silly pictures. Thank goodness for camera timers! :)
Just across the parking lot is our favorite, local ice cream spot: The Big Dipper. Will got his first CONE and chose the strawberry swirl.
What a mess! We decided Will needed to be shirtless for the remainder of this event - LOL - and the nice staff gave us a wet rag to clean him up. :)
Back at home, before laying down for nap, Will practiced balancing on his monkey balance board.
He's getting the hang of it.
In the afternoon, we picked Sophie up from the babysitters and headed out to meet our friends at the zoo. Despite the rain (which was just a light sprinkle) we had a fun time.
We spent a lot of time in the inside exhibits, i.e. the rainforest, aquarium and Nature's Neighborhood. Tim, Angie and Addyson joined us again and it was fun hanging out with them.
The cheetahs were out and about.
They came right up to the fense! I've never seen them that close before!
Will & Addy play outside Nature's Neighborhood.
Inside, Angie clued us into a "hidden tunnel" behind a sliding bookcase that leads to the other room!
Back at home, we had grilled chicken with peach salsa and steamed broccoli & cauliflower for dinner. Then for dessert, we enjoyed some strawberry shortcake using our fresh picked strawberries! And guess what! Sophie, who's previously turned her nose up to strawberries... slammed about 1/2-3/4 cup of them as though she was inhaling them! Maybe she can taste the difference?
Then after bath, Will opened two final presents from us. Connectagons! A super cool, building toy with painted wood pieces. Let the structural creations begin!
And here's that patterning game I ordered from Lakeshore way back when. I'd been saving it for his birthday and he seems to really like it.
Once again, he said "Look, mommy! I'm making a pattern!" before I ever said the word to him. :)
And after some more practice... he's got this thing down. He's pretty good at it! If he keeps working on that balance, maybe daddy will take him skiing in a year or two!
I'm grateful to have spent every one of Will's birthdays (all day) with him so far. How many more birthdays will he actually look forward to spending the whole day with his parents? Probably not enough for me. ;) He is so much fun to be with and I love spending time with him. The world is definitely a happier, funnier, more interesting place with Will in it. Happy 3rd Birthday, sweet boy!
2 comments:
You are awesome Ashley, Will is so lucky to have you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!! :) :)
Mmm, now I'm hungry for strawberries!! Happy (late) birthday to Will!
Post a Comment