It seemed like a good idea...

John worked this past weekend, so I decided to take both kids blueberry-picking on Saturday.  I asked John if he wanted me to wait and go on a day he could accompany us, but when he heard the trip would involve a 1.5 hour drive to rural central Florida, he said he would be perfectly content to miss the experience.  And about 30 minutes into the drive, I was wishing I had chosen to miss the experience, too.

We went to Blue Bayou Farms in Yalaha (south of Leesburg), which is the same farm we visited last year.  We had a lot of fun last year because the bushes were dripping with berries--Will and I picked  7 or 8 pounds of berries in about 30-45 minutes.

This year, the harvest came in early.  I called ahead and they said to come on over but that this would probably be the last weekend they would be open for picking.  Unfortunately, it looked like we missed the peak by about a week (judging by all the blueberries on the ground).  Will worked very hard but, due to the heat, was tired after about 45 minutes.  Anna contributed by throwing all kinds of things into my bucket (green blueberries, mulch, leaves, rocks, a stick or two), but she quickly tired of that, attempted to pour everything out of the bucket, and then pitched a major fit when I took the bucket away.

Did I mention it was really hot?  It was only 10:00 in the morning, but it felt like 90 degrees out there.

These pictures don't do justice to Anna's level of anger (do note the little clenched fist!)...but I do feel sorry for her looking at them now.  I don't think she looked that flushed in person, but now I'm wondering if the anger was an early sign of heat stroke:

She is covered in dirt because her tantrum involved rolling around on the ground between the bushes, and she looked so pitiful that another lady tried to wipe her down with some paper towels while I was paying for the blueberries.  Thanks to the paper towels, a few dozen baby wipes, a change of clothes, and a Capri Sun, Anna was back to looking normal in about 10 minutes.

We stopped at Friendly's for lunch and ice cream on the way home.  I would like to say that the drive back went well but it did not.  The kids did a lot of fighting in the back seat that led to me missing a key turn and getting lost, which then led to me doing a whole lot of yelling.  It was not my finest mothering moment.

We eventually made it home and ate most of the three pounds of blueberries that we had collected, and then everyone (Mama included) had a nice 2-hour nap.  Then John got home from work, gave me an "I told you so" speech about taking long drives with small children.  And then we went swimming.

I kept it simple on Sunday--we went to church while John went to work, and then we had a fun air-conditioned afternoon indoors.

Will and Anna's fort:

Will relaxing with a book:

Here's a happy girl:

And later, I swung by Publix and picked up several pints of blueberries on sale.  Easy peasy.