Monday morning we went blueberry picking so we could enjoy the fruits of our labor all week long. With all sixteen of us working, we quickly collected over 18 pounds of blueberries - for $1.25/pound! At the time I thought that was plenty of blueberries, but when I only came home with a few cup fulls, I'm wishing we'd picked lots and lots more!
Sam and Alex cannot get enough blueberries and these were so sweet - nothing like the kind we buy in the stores here. Ahhh they were so good. We also picked up some delicious peaches which Mary Ann turned into two delicious peach pies ... yum
Sam and Grandpa Art picking a bush loaded with big ripe blueberries.
Rebecca showing off the blueberries.
Emily and Katy, doing the same.
All 18 pounds:
* * * * * * * * * *
One adventure Daddy wanted to go on, was a canoe float. Barbara made all the arrangements for us to "float" down the Kalamazoo River, about 30 minutes from the beach house. Since the two youngest kiddos couldn't go because of their age, she and Mary Ann stayed with the little ones while the rest of the adults took the four big kids canoing. This ratio worked out beautifully ... two adults per child, per canoe.
We left the canoe office at 1pm and got back around 4:30 ... we spent about four hours paddling a canoe (we took a couple little rests to let the kids explore wildlife tracks in the sandy mud along the banks.) We were all really surprised to find out the route was just over 8 miles ... it's a little hard to believe it took longer to paddle 8 miles than it would to hike it.
The river was beautiful and peaceful. We saw lots of fun wildlife and wildflowers. The most obvious wildlife were all the turtles sunning themselves on fallen logs along the banks. Early on in our trip the kids started to count all the turtles they saw ... 137 in all!
One of the more exciting portions of the trip was when GR and I got our canoe stuck on a log hidden well under the water. We tried for a few minutes, both of us baring down and paddling as hard as we could, to get dislodged, and it got us no where, we were going in circles. Joe and Katy and Matthew and Suz brought their canoes along side ours, I held on to both canoes while they added their paddling strength to GR's, then Daddy brought their canoe behind ours and bumped us off. Not 30 seconds later, Daddy's canoe got stuck in the exact same spot. Being a much more experienced at canoing than the rest of us, simply shifted his body weight from the back of the canoe to the front of the canoe and pop, off they went down the river.
The kids did amazingly on this trip! No one capsized, no one fell in, and they became pros at switching canoes, finding turtles, and helping row . And they want to do it again!
The adults also did very well. It had obviously been a long time since some of us had gone canoing, and next time, we'll think to pack water, sunscreen and snacks - minor details, right?
Tired, thirsty and some more sunkissed than others, we unanimously decided to go out to eat ... and called Barbara to choose the perfect spot ... and she did just that. Clementine's is downtown favorite for everyone in South Haven. Barb went to the restaurant early to wait for a table, while all the canoers got cleaned up, saving us a 50+ minute wait for a table. Oh wow was the food good!! They have fantastic salsa ... the waitress slipped us a huge to-go container of it for us on our way out!
* * * * * * * * * *
The last big, non-beach activity we planned was horseback riding on Friday. This was something the kids were very excited about, the girls because they've been wanting to get back on a horse ever since their lessons last summer, and Sam, because - well he's been wanting get on a real horse ever since the girls lessons last summer.
The tables were turned on this adventures. The kids knew more about horse back riding than the adults did ... GR, Barb and I had never been on a horse - ever. My dad's pretty sure he's been on some trail ride at some point in his life, but my mother, it turns out, took a horse back riding class in college, and even learned to gallop!
Here are the pictures. When the kids wake up hopefully they can help me remember the names of all the horses. Sam rode a pony at the front of the line and grinned from ear to ear the entire time. And the girls are talking once again about taking riding lessons again. Alex seemed to really enjoy the ride as long as we were moving - talking up a storm the entire time.
Next ... pictures from the beach.
1 comment:
Looks like you guys had a great, fun-packed, time. Those blueberries look so yummy! Wish we could get them around here this year.
Post a Comment