Will's 6th Birthday Morning

Will's 6th birthday fell on a Saturday this year.  We knew it was going to be a little bit of a harry day when we received a wedding save-the-date at the beginning of the year for a family friend on June 8th.  With plenty of advance warning, we made plans to have his party on Sunday instead and told Will we'd do something fun Friday night and Saturday morning to celebrate his special day.

For awhile, we'd had plans to go to a Mud Hens game Friday night (with scheduled fireworks after!) with some friends and their kids...  But when our friends had to cancel due to a death in their family, we asked Will if he still wanted to go and he decided that he didn't.  So then we asked if he'd like to go out to eat... Nope!  Ultimately, Will decided that what he really wanted to do was have hot dogs at home and make a "floor picnic" in the living room while our little family of four watched one of the Transformers movies.  That's it?  That's it.  And so we did.  And it was really nice, actually.  Very chill and low maintenance.

For his birthday morning, Will knew he wanted to pick strawberries, but we weren't sure if the season would open in time.  It was up in the air until just yesterday when I received an e-mail that our favorite berry farm (for strawberries) was announcing opening day TODAY - June 8th!  Hooray!  it worked out!  Will chose blueberry pancakes and sausage for his birthday morning breakfast and he and I ate together, just the two of us, while Craig and Sophie slept in.  Will and I had plans to head out early and make it to Whittaker's by 8:00 before the rush arrived but he woke up on his own with plenty of time.  I guess he was still a little sleepy though, because there's that head in the hand again.

I sang to him softly to avoid waking Sophie.

And we skipped the usual fruit at breakfast because we knew we'd be filling our bellies with strawberries shortly.

Whittaker's in Ida, MI seems to be getting more and more popular.  We were lucky that opening morning was simply perfect weather conditions with extremely abundant berries, so the picking was easy.  And surprisingly, it wasn't that crowded.  But I remember from last year that they get huge crowds as the season goes on.

Picking fruit at these beautiful farms (especially in the early morning hours or as the day is winding down) is so peaceful and relaxing.

I love that our kids look so forward to this activity.

And ahhhh... that first taste of those first sweet berries of summer.  We seriously dream about it and talk about all year round.  And right from the fields, warmed by the sun... it just doesn't get any better than that!

Will's picking is usually pretty selfish.  Most everything goes into his mouth.  :)  I think he contributed about four berries to our big tray.  But it's okay... it's his birthday!

Both kids just pull off the leaves and eat them, core and all.

This was definitely the easiest strawberry picking I've ever done.  It's pretty awesome how the berries seem to ripen in shifts so that the season can last a couple of weeks and the ready ones stagger themselves.  I would guess I picked about 30' into one row in just about 45 minutes (?) and got 12# no problem.

Will & Sophie are becoming quite the photographers.  Both ask often to take pictures for me and on occasion we allow it even though the camera itself weighs about a quarter of their body weight.  Haha!  They just keep that strap around their neck and their heads pretty much disappear behind the body of the camera when they hold it up to snap a pic.

I could have stayed there for hours and picked multiple trays of berries if my birthday boy hadn't been anxious to get home and open some presents.  :)  He sat and played with a toy at the end of our row while I finished up.

Happy Birthday, my love.  I had a wonderful morning with just you!

12#!!!

And here you can kind of see the length of the row I picked from.  It didn't take much to get what we got.  Such an awesome crop this year!

Back at home, our sleepy heads were up and ready to give Will the gifts from our family.  We sat outside at the new table Craig made for our deck because it was so nice out!

Present #1:  a new Razor bike helmet.

Present #2:  a new rain jacket.  All his jackets are getting small.

Present #3:  a Hurley shirt.  Our boy is already becoming a little preferential with the brands of his clothing.  :)

Present #4:  a couple of books he requested.

Present #5:  a pair of O'Neil shorts/swim trunks.

And finally, his most exciting gift:

Present #6:  Transformers Dark of the Moon Sentinel Prime voyager class.

We kind of stuck to the want/need/wear/read gift guideline again.  A couple of wears and a couple of needs.  But overall, very simple and appreciated.  I love how grateful he acted toward each and every gift and that made his one real TOY that much more special.

There was one other Transformer given to Will last night as well.  Remember how Craig always takes the birthday child to the store to pick out a special (small) gift?  Well now that Will is an expert Amazon browser, he and Craig found an inexpensive Transformer's Prime Optimus Prime "beast hunter" that Will decided would be what he'd like to select in place of a store trip.  So he got that during our movie picnic last night.  ;)

Our afternoon and evening were fairly consumed with the wedding of our friend.  Craig actually stayed home for the ceremony while I went with my family so that the kids could nap and we didn't have to find a second sitter.  And then in the evening, Will & Sophie stayed overnight with their Papa & Grandma Riedeman.  They had such a fun night!  Papa & Grandma set up the tent outside and got a campfire ready.  Steve, Kelly, Celia & Veronica came down and they all enjoyed campfire pizzas and s'mores for dinner.  Then after much outdoor play, Will & Soph slept outside in the tent with Papa & Grandma!  What a fun end to Will's birthday!  I'm so grateful that he was able to have such a special night since we were not spending it with him.