A Fun Filled Day

Some great friends from Phoenix have property in Sedona. Sedona is one of the most beautiful spots in Arizona. It's best known for it's red rock mountains. Literally, everything is red even the dirt. It's murder getting it out of clothes. Every summer our friends go blackberry picking around their property. Our schedule finally permitted and we were able to join them this year. These are wild blackberries that grow all over. We loaded up the kids on Saturday and headed to Sedona for our day of adventure. The blackberry picking was fantastic. The kids had a really good time. The bushes are covered in thorns, so Emily helped by holding the bag and Ben couldn't stop eating every berry within reach. He'd often get the red ones which weren't very ripe but he didn't seem to care. I realized that I had never picked anything growing in the wild and eaten it right off the bush. The berries are delicious and taste better than anything I've ever bought in the store. David and I imagined the first people that came across blackberry bushes. They must have been in heaven!

After picking berries, we enjoyed our picnic lunch. We all drove over to our friends property. Ben wanted to drive and since we were on an all dirt back road, we let both kids sit on our laps. We parked our cars and walked down to the creek. Of course, we stopped and snacked on more berries on our way down. The water was perfect to cool off after a hot afternoon.

We made our way home after a while and the day would not have been complete without a stop at Dairy Queen. It was a wonderful day. It was so nice to catch up with friends that we don't see very often and do something different. This will be a yearly trip that we will clear our schedule for next year. Here are some videos of berry picking and the creek.