Maryland Vacation Part 10 Berry Picking and Going Home

Playground at the orchard:

The orchard has many different fruits growing on their lands. In order to get people from the various places, this is how they transported us.

Deanna said that she'll have to bring Burkley out here to pick Blueberries and take a picture of him. Burkley was named after Burkley Blueberries.

After picking blue berries, we went to the large playground area.

At first Gregory didn't want to go through the tunnel, until Mommy played peek a boo

He loved sitting in the train. There was a lovely breeze, he got up on the seat inside the train and stayed there for a while, just relaxing.

Don't worry, Deanna is on the other side, holding on to him.

From the playground area, we went in search of black berries. At first we thought they were all picked through, but we found some gems! The black berries we picked burst in our mouths with delicious flavor :) Gregory fell asleep; we put him in a stroller and covered his face so the sun wouldn't upset him.

Deanna and Gregory

Holly and Blackberries :)

We had a blast!

April and Peter

The apples weren't fully grown, thus the apple orchard section didn't permit for picking. But ummm... I did sneak over there and play Eve :)

Lunch Time

I was so happy in this next picture! We have been trying to get Gregory to drink from a straw, but he would just turn his head away. Earlier this day, April was giving Gregory some juice from a straw, but where she held the liquid at the top and she felt him suck from the bottom of the straw. I thought, "If he can suck down the drink from a straw, then he can suck up through a straw." I figured, "What the heck" and gave it a try and he took to the straw like a pro! Small thing to get happy about, I know, but I was so tickled :)

Holly and Deanna with their cool drinks

Holly's brother, Dashiel, came over for a visit. I haven't seen him in years! It was great to see him playing with Gregory :)

Me, Gregory, Dashiel

Ok, this next picture... Burkley and Michael went to Burkley's Dad's (Alan) house to pick up some furniture. Alan was moving into a smaller square footage home and didn't have room for some items, which could be useful at Holly's home. When Burkley and Michael returned, Burkley asked Deanna if he could bring something in... Deanna's response was, "Yes, but only if I get to name it and it wears a Santa hat for Christmas. Go ahead and bring up the wildebeest." Deanna rocks, how many fiancee do you think would be cool with this? The wildebeest was killed by Alan (see picture below). So, here is Philip, the wildebeest, and in a few months, picture him with a Santa hat!

It was such a great vacation week! Gregory had many new experiences, bonded with a lot of his cousins, learned new words and how to sip from a straw... Mommy even had new experiences and tried new things such as wild boar sausage that Holly brought back from Italy (tastes like boloney) and just all in all was so incredibly happy spending quality time with loved ones.

The next day, my parents picked us up and we loaded up the vehicle to go home. Holly and her family sent texts messages in the two days it took us to make it back to Louisiana.. that the house was so quiet without Gregory, how in the afternoon they felt like they should be turning on the TV to watch Mickey Mouse with him and during the day going out to do fun summer stuff. They made the vacation wonderful for us; they made us feel that they really wanted us there. I'm grateful for their joy and love. It was perfect timing too, especially with me starting a new job after I came home from Maryland. I wouldn't have been able to take this vacation if I started work earlier. God's perfect timing :)

Here are some pictures from our trip back home:

Gregory makes friends wherever he goes :) Meet Nora, a little girl waiting for her food at Cracker Barrell