Blu-berry - Check!

 At the beginning of the summer, I always have the kids make a list of what they hope to do.  Sometimes they are outlandish ideas, but mostly they are doable in the 80 something days we have of summer vacation.  This year, Lanie wrote her own list instead of me note-taking for her.  She has 3 things on her list compared to 5 for Elijah and 11 for Lydia.  Here are her "wishes"

If you can't read it among the black blotches of ink, she wrote:
Piano
Blu-berry
Beach

Lydia got a guitar for her birthday so our household has been in deep talks about guitar and piano lessons, so that explains #1.  Her #3 is easy - of course we'll go to the beach.  Her #2 - blueberry picking was completely her idea.  The girl loves blueberries, be they room temp or frozen or even squished.

So, when we stopped in Nacogdoches, TX for the night before driving further to drop off my nephew in Karnack, TX, we surprised her by stopping at The Blueberry Place.  The drive through the Piney Woods was idyllic, the people were country kind, and the place was adorable.  But, I admit it, it was incredibly hot.

We learned quickly that our children will most likely never be summer laborers, at least not in Texas.  Twenty minutes walking the aisles of bushes, picking through vine after vine for ripe blueberries and they were done. If only blueberries grew in the Spring.  But we got our five pounds for a little more than 6 bucks which is a great bargain.  Of course Elijah had to remind me that when you buy them in the store you don't have to walk around in the heat.  Nice, right?  To their defense, we did choose straight up noon to make our trek which wasn't the smartest decision.  We then had to put 6 sweaty bodies in our already sandy van (from earlier beach trip) and drive 4 more hours. We were in a time crunch and had more places to go.

What's most important though is now Lanie can grab a black sharpie (because using a regular kid-proof washable Crayola marker is out of the question) and put a big 'ol check next to Blu-berry.  Yea, us.
I'm teaching her young, the wonderful feeling of checking off Summer To-Do lists.

Now, is there a kind soul who would like to teach her to play the piano? Anyone?  She really doesn't want to learn from me.  Anyone?  Is teaching her middle C enough?  I can do that much.
Must  check   off     list.