Strawberry Fields Forever

We picked strawberries last week for the first time this year. The strawberry field at Washington Farms is massive and abundant with ripe, red, juicy strawberries. Mae LOVES strawberries and I'm searching for plenty of recipes in order to use the bucket full of fruit we brought home. I've realized while loading up our pictures from the farm that I have similar pictures from last year.

Mae last year.............................and this year.

Nate last year..........................and this year!

Also, there are a few trips such as those to the strawberry field that repeat year after year. In a way, I guess we've started our little traditions...

pumpkin patch in the fall,

baking cookies and trimming the tree where each ornament has a story at Christmas,

planting flowers and puddle jumping in the spring,

picking strawberries and blueberries in the summer...

These aren't big, expensive affairs but they mean a lot. It doesn't take a vacation or a lot of money to make fun, memorable experiences for a family. In fact, in some cases it's just taking the ordinary, everyday moments and turning them into something bigger and better. By doing these things year after year, I can see a parallel comparison of how much Mae has grown and matured over the past year. Last year it was difficult to keep Mae from stomping through the strawberry patch. She wanted to eat the fruit that had fallen on the ground, and mush it all between her fingers. This year, she understood only to pick the red berries, not to step on them on the ground, stay on the path, and that we have to wash them before we eat them. We're making progress! Maybe next year she'll actually be able to understand that those strawberries come from the little white flowers and before that they are planted in the ground as seedlings.

I want to keep up these traditions to ingrain the good memories in our kids. I think by doing things over and over (and taking lots of pictures and looking at them often!) they will most likely have a memory that will stick forever.