Blueberries for the boys

This week we're in Oregon! Technically, we weren't planning on coming up again until Christi's wedding, but when Jenn said she was headed up for a friend's wedding, we decided to stowaway and surprise my parents. It was well worth all the secret keeping; my parents were so so so excited to see the boys! Jenn's one request of my dad was that she would get to pick blueberries while she was up, and yesterday we did just that. We were joined by my dad's boss Scott, and Kell's friend Hannah. Everyone up here complained that it was "sooooo hot" while we were picking, but the barely 90 degree weather felt like heaven to us!

Anyway, for those of you that don't know, my dad works at the most amazing blueberry farm a little south of where they live in Eugene (seriously, go look it up, Fall Creek Nursery in Lowell, OR). They have fields where they grow trial berries and various new (and maybe some old?) breeds of blueberries for research, photos, etc. The fields are also used for selecting new introductions from over fifteen years of blueberry breeding work. Since my dad is super special (wink!), we are able to go out and pick berries every so often when we come up. We did this last September, but Drew was younger and Collin was teenie tiny. September was also the end of the growing season. At the time I thought the bushes looked pretty full, but those bushes looked bare compared to the amount of berries on them this time around! They were loaded! The boys and I had so much fun picking! Drew loved hanging out and helping pick, and Collin loved the freedom of being able to cruise around popping blueberries into his mouth. Heck, let's face it, we all loved that part!

Blueberries!

There are rows, upon rows of these bushes, all heavy with the weight of berries!

Once we were inside the gated field, Drew got to "drive" from the front of the field to the end rows where we would be picking. He loved this part!

Kell and Hannah

This is pretty much how Collin spent his afternoon. If he wasn't begging for berries from someone else....

...then he was helping himself to them,

and popping them in his own mouth!

Auntie Kell and Coll...notice what still has Collin's attention. The blueberries!

I wasn't kidding about Collin spending his afternoon eating blueberries! Almost every picture I have of him looks something like this. He LOVED them!

My dad's boss Scott showing Drew how the pros pick blueberries. He was so nice to Drew; seriously, such a nice guy! Drew loved him!

Poppi sharing blueberries with Drew

Look at his chipmunk cheeks! They are filled with blueberries!

Auntie Jenn Jenn

Me, Auntie Christi, and Coll-brother

Our berries! There were six of these filled to the brim! We have more berries than we know what to do with. Ok, well technically we know exactly what to do with them, as our picking had a purpose! Blueberry jam making here we come!

We did miss having Nathan here, but hope to be able to pick again in August when Nathan is here with us for Christi's wedding! In the meantime, we'll share our bounty with him when we come home with the bags upon bags of blueberries we brought back from the nursery!