Its it really July 4th weekend? Where did June go? Does anyone know? Anyway, we have been super busy. We have done two shows in June - the Ashland Strawberry Faire and Gwyn's Island Festival. Both were fun on different levels. Ashland was crazy busy. Great weather, great crowds, and the biggest strawberries from Ashland Berry Farm I have ever seen. These things were on steroids, I swear. I will have to see if my BIL got a photo of them.

Gwyn's Island was a small county fair. It was different in many ways. There was a good crowd (considering the small town) but everything was on a much slower pace. A bit hard to get use to at first. It was also HOT. But, we got to stay an extra night and really enjoyed the opportunity to rest for a day! The boys went crabbing - caught nothing, Fishing - again nothing and finally resorted to catching minnows for bait. That they did catch. And luckily they are young enough that they were OK with that!

Heading home, we made a delivery of fresh jam to Bena Country Store and after talking to the owner we were told there was a huge blackberry patch not far. So we scoped it out and it is huge. We made an attempt at picking but were ill-prepared in our shorts and flip-flops. We did manage to pick enough for a delish blackberry cobbler that night for dinner. But, we are making plan to go back. Hopefully the beginning of next week!

Our oldest son is on swim team this year and although he is not a strong swimmer yet, I am impressed with his dedication. He is having a good time and getting lots of activity in the water! He actually took 10 seconds off his 25m freestyle at thier meet on Wed. night. That tells you how slow he was at his first meet as its not typical for swimmers to shed 10 second off their time.

Wishing you all a Happy 4th of July! Go eat some watermelon and have a safe weekend!!