Cherry picking

We have been fortunate to have the opportunity to pick (and eat and process) free cherries! We kept half in the giant refrigerator at my parent’s house and then Phil and I processed the rest last night. We filled the food dehydrator and froze the remaining fruit. I plan to make several big batches of jam, then dry and freeze the rest.

Now, onto our cherry picking experience…First, I have to say the area in which we live is absolutely GORGEOUS. I love the Willamette Valley. We picked from some trees near my parent’s home. On one side was a long narrow field of golden hay. You could see trees, foothills, and mountains beyond that. Next to the field is a tall line of trees that border my parent’s property. Directly behind and in front of where we picked are Filbert orchards.

Now, what can take away from the romance of cherry picking in such a setting? Glad you are wondering… First, if you have ever picked cherries you know how delicious and inviting they are to eat. You also may be familiar with the cherry effects. It didn’t take long before the effects began. Sawyer had to go “number 2” three times. Once, he didn’t make it and had an accident in his pants (first one since being potty trained back in January). We weren’t near any bathrooms so Phil (is he not the best Dad!!!!) took him far away, held him in a potty position and helped with walnut leaf wipings. Fortunately, Mommy always brings a spare set of clothes everywhere we go.

Jubilee, not wanting to be outdone, also had to go many times (number 1 only). This sweet little girl minus a nap leaves one wanting to change her name to something more fitting. She was covered from head to toe in cherry juice and kept taking her shoes off and complaining about her feet. She wanted to be held but no one wanted to touch her and become a sticky mess of cherry juice themselves.

We finally got ready to go (after S’s accident). He went running to the car wearing only a shirt. I cleaned him up and was helping him into clean clothes when Sis came running up wearing only her shirt (not sure why she was nearly naked). We did the best that we could with wipes and got children in their seats and headed off to my parents for dinner.

At Grammy and Grampy’s house, Sawyer had another accident. This time we are out of clothes so he wore as his undies, Evangeline’s little stretchy shorts – a lovely pastel green with a dragonfly on them. Sissy spent quite a bit of time on the toilet herself with diarrhea.

Evi (Phil likes this spelling better than Evie so I am going to try and remember to write it this way even though the spell check suggests the word evil to replace it) was in her second outfit of the outing as well. We went to the chiropractor before cherry picking and she threw up all over. I was impressed with our expert parenting experience as Phil caught the first heave of barf in one hand and I caught the overflow that happened in the second. There was vomit all over Phil, Evi, and in my hands but, we didn’t get a drop on the floor!

On the way home, the girls were asleep within minutes and Sawyer followed shortly thereafter. We put them all right to bed – sticky and dirty.