Bluey Shooey (and Other Lake Adventures)

Last weekend we had the chance to hang out at Lake Conroe with our fabulous community group, minus the Penuel family (we missed you guys!). It was a wonderful time of relaxation and time with friends. We spent plenty of time in the sun, in the water (pool and lake) and chillin' on the screened porch.

The highlight of the trip was the BLUEBERRIES! It was opening weekend at a blueberry farm about half an hour from the house and we were all up, fed, and out the door, dressed in our berry pickin' best, by 8:30 Saturday morning.

At the farm we were handed buckets, directed to the prime real estate and told we were allowed to eat as much as we wanted right off the bushes. They don't use any pesticides or insecticides so all ripe fruit was fair game. Any extra berries that made their way into our buckets instead of our gullets were purchased at the bargain price of $1.50 per pound. What a deal!

It didn't take Bennett very long to remember that he really, REALLY likes blueberries. He was eating them about as fast as we could pull them off the branches. He quickly made friends with Charlotte, Lisa's three year old niece, as she fed him berries from her stash as well.

The boy was insatiable! He was downing berries by the fistful and there was no slowing him. He would toddle around until he found a bucketful to work on and then plop in the dirt to stuff his face. I wish we had weighed him on the way in and the way out to see how much he consumed.

We finally cut him off, thinking it might be possible to have too much of a good thing. The child even tried to pilfer some berries from the man in front of us in line to check out. As though he hasn't already consumed enough!

Poor kiddo was hot, tired and filthy dirty by the time we left. Jeff and I took home six pounds of the delicious fruit. All in I think our group of four couples picked over 30 pounds of blueberries!







Now, I'm sure that most of you moms that are ahead of me in your childrearing experience would not have been quite as surprised to find what I found that evening.

Yes, you guessed it.

Bennett had a HUGE, totally blue, berry-smelling blowout! It was the first of four major "Bluey Shooey" (credit to Russ Hulme for coining the phrase) diapers over the course of the next 24 hours. I could not believe how much blue poop came out of my darling child. It was absolutely amazing.

And, after the third or fourth diaper, his little bum was stained blue.

This picture doesn't quite do it justice, but you may notice the shadow of the stain creeping out between those sweet cheeks. For you to really get the full effect I would have had to take more graphic photos...so, you get the picture.


Lisa's mom made a couple of scrumptious blueberry pies AND homemade ice cream so we were all in blueberry heaven.

The rest of our time at the lake house was enjoyable and refreshing. Bennett loved the pool, he was pretty proud of himself to be walking around the wading pool like a big boy, but did not really enjoy swimming in the lake. I think he was freaked out by the sensation of floating with the life jacket on. We'll try again another time. The boat, on the other hand, was a hit. Especially since Mr. Clint let him "drive".





I know I only took pictures of my child (bad habit) but the weekend was really about getting away with some of our favorite people. The Lord has blessed us and our marriage so much through the encouragement, wisdom and friendship of these wonderful couples. We are all learning and growing together as we walk through life, striving to become better followers of Christ.

Thank you God for these wonderful people. They are all so precious to us!