Strawberry Picking

Back in June my sister and the twins came up to visit and we took them strawberry picking. Strawberry picking is perfect for little kids - the plants are low to the ground so all they have to do is squat. Despite the labor laws that prohibit children from working, we set them to work in the fields. Strawberry picking is such a pain for adults - you have to bend down and hunt around in the leaves for ripe berries. Unlike apple picking, which is the opposite. You spend the whole time lifting the kids up into the trees so they can pick an apple. Or, if you're lazy but have enough attention to detail, you can pick up the ones on the ground as long as they're not mushy.

And that's my short dissertation for strawberry picking vs. apple picking in regards to child labor laws in upstate New York.

Another reason I love putting the kids to work at strawberry picking is that I really don't have to feed Jamison lunch that day:

Ruthie and Maddie refusing to look at the camera.

I took about 8 shots with the kids in the same pose. All I asked was that they all look up and smile....and this is the best one I got.

Kristen didn't want to carry Ruthie back to the car but it was either that or Ruthie would be picking strawberries until nighttime. And that is definitely against child labor laws. And probably some law about abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child.

If only the sign said "Pick Up Your Own", then it would be more appropriate. But this works, too.