Strawberry Field of Dreams

Saturday we did two things I might not have considered to be the perfect combination, but I now know that i could never do one without the other. We picked strawberries and rode pedal go-karts.   Best thing EVER. 

I've been having the get-out-of-town itch so we looked online to find some berry farms and headed out to the little town--i'm sorry, hamlet--[note to self: live in a hamlet] of Wading River for some farm fresh goods, and then made our way over to Garden of Eve to pick some berries.  It was a little misty. It wasn't raining, it was spraying, and we were the only ones there. It was magical. The place is so cute.  They have so many fun kid things-- a castle, a big spider's web, things to jump and climb on, a sandpit, and a maze.  Julian loved it too! (hahaha.)   Anyway, here are some pictures. 

Garden of Eve.  I don't know if they're feminists or what. Maybe Adam was more into pesticides in his gardening, hahaha. Maybe this is the worst caption ever, I really can't say.  p.s. can a caption be above the picture? which is how i prefer to do it. 

Here are the fun toys from a distance. You can't really see much. There were many fun things, including a bunny and weird looking arctic chickens..?  They looked like they belonged in icy tundra farms.   They had fur feathers from their head down to their toes. Bummer, I just tried to find a pic on Google and no one took any. Dang, people. c'mon.

Here is Julian frolicking in the heather labyrinth.

False, that is a pic i borrowed from google because i didn't take one. It was cool. I read a sign that told me a labyrinth was not a maze. There was only one meandering path to the center and when one reaches it, they feel a sense of calm and serenity and I did. I did. 

Ohhh happiness. I want. I need.

They had one with two seats but it had a flat tire. :(  But here is Julian on a smaller one which was just adorable.

Now for the berries.  We were given instructions on how to find the ripest berry, which I'm pretty sure i could have figured out, but suddenly i felt this wave of profound responsibility to make sure I selected the very best berries.  It was very serious to me. Maybe it was because sean and i had but one small pint container each, but I found that i cared a lot about the selection process, probably too much, and it took me a looong time to fill my container. After a while Sean looked over and was like, "you've only picked four??" me: "I know! I don't know!! it's too hard!"  And then some taunting, "does this berry speak to you, Jen?"  Me, in my head:  yes, and it says shut your face.  I guess you could say i had become one with the berries. I loved it, i really did. 

And the moment at which I found the perfect strawberry:

Taunt if you will, but I know what true berry-picking satisfaction feels like.

Julian was pretty cute about it too.  He ran up and down the rows, not eating half as much as he should have. We had to prod him a little.  But he was pretty meticulous about it too, come to think of it.  Just like a chip off the right shoulder [burn!]

Picking:

Examining:

And the test.

I don't know what this is.

The place was idyllic, really. And I'm pretty sure Julian is doing some kind of strawberry dance in the background. 

So pretty. They tasted like heaven. Look at how pretty they are.

I wish i was a farmer. I would so live in a place like this. The thing is, I'm pretty sure i would suck at farming. Yeah, it's a conundrum. 

To close, here is a picture, worth mentioning only because it's the setting of yet another Sean quote. This was a seafood place we lunched at afterward.  

Annie Lennox's Walking on Broken Glass was playing in the background. Now, picture it: we're calmly quietly sitting, waiting for our food. No rapid intense conversation going on.  Pretty chill and lazy.  I casually make a comment and Sean bursts forth like a sudden and wild bubbling mountain spring. 

Jen: I used to love this song. 

SEAN: That's because it was the greatest song ever written 

JEN: surprised and amused 

And 3 seconds later... 

SEAN:  ...it took the place of You Can't Touch This. 

3 seconds later...

SEAN: ... but then was replaced, itself, by The Sign-- Ace of Base.

 The thing is, I was so confused.  On the one hand, what just happened here? And on the other, he's totally right. How did he do that??

T'was a very fine day indeed.