It's That Time Of Year Again!

On April 23rd, it was time to return to the strawberry farm!  If you remember, we were there last year with Emily's Mommy and Me class (that I actually blogged about on April 23rd!).  This time, we went with a collection of kids in her preschool class.  When we arrived and waited for our tour, Emily enjoyed running around with her friends. 

Everett, who was technically on his second visit, was still just a "strawberry picker in training."

We were all ready...

when they came to tell us that our wagon was departing.

It was still cloudy and cool (even had a little mist) like the weekend.

Emily really wanted to eat everything like the other kids but just couldn't bring herself to do more than lick.  (Which I praised - baby steps!)

Everett on the other hand...

This was about the time that an earthquake hit, centered just a few miles away.

It was Emily, Everett, and Daddy's first one (Daddy was on the second floor at work, felt it very well, and didn't like it until it was over) but since we were on a wagon ride, we didn't feel it at all.  Soon enough, we were finished with our tour of the farm and stopped in our field of strawberries!

Again, Emily licked one (or maybe 2)...

while Everett, on the other hand...

really liked them!

When our tour was complete we snapped a quick picture,

bought some fresh produce, and took another picture...

before we headed to the Newport Pier!!  As we know, it is a favorite spot of mine and Aunt Allison is a smart gal too so it was a MUST.  Of course, when we arrived, Allison and I were making food selections...

while Emily went straight for the dessert freezer!

And then in a moment of not being ANYTHING like me as a kid, she asked a strange man walking by if he would stop and take our picture.

Her rush to have our picture taken was because then she knew she would be free.  And what she wanted to do the most was dance around...

and "listen to the music."

The man singing was very good and Emily couldn't get close enough.

(At one point a couple stopped to talk to the singer, he really was that good, and Emily stuck her head in between the husband and wife.  That way she could get REALLY close and not be seen.  WHAT?! It was crazy... I called her back to us and at the same time the man shifted his weight and accidentally kicked her.  I was just glad that he didn't trip over her!) 

Once we finished devouring our food from Jane's we walked out on the pier.

At the end of the pier we saw a pod of dolphins swimming pretty close by - but I didn't take a picture because I was sure they would be impossible to spot even if I did snap at the right time.  It did make it an extra special pier visit though!

Then, when we got back on solid ground, we bought Emily the ice cream she had selected earlier.

It was quite large,

hard to eat,

and messy.

Everett laughed, unprompted, at Emily's mess...

but she was not deterred!

What a fun day!