Strawberry pickin'

This was the first weekend we had available to go strawberry pickin' up north a little ways. It turned out to be pretty late in the season and we really had to hunt for some good strawberries.
I'm not sure that we got enough to make freezer jam, but definitely enough to freeze for smoothies for a month or so........ Here is our long-haired Ben scoring a strawberry (he got rid of this hair shortly thereafter - now he is clean cut and ready for summer - although he said he wanted a hair cut like Aniken Skywalker, whose hair is long in the back). Sam had a great attitude the whole time. He loved looking at the rotting strawberries that were full of bugs! Caught ya, Mara! Elyse started the strawberry pickin' out happy............... and ended it not so happy. She loves to throw a tantrum, and gets in a frozen state where she can't possibly get up to walk to you or do anything. She would stay in one spot, reaching her arms out to me for 30 minutes if I would let her. I let her cry for awhile, you know like a good parent would, trying not to reinforce the tantrum by picking her up. But after 10 minutes of this, someone's gotta give, and it's definitely not going to be her! So much for everything I read in those parenting books!