What you call blackberries

So, what you call blackberries we call weeds up here in the fertile northwest. Growing all over the place. There are frequent signs along the road advertising blackberry eradication since the vines can get so overgrown in a short amount of time. We kind of like it. For the most part you can always go out for a walk or whatever and stop for a little organic treat. We took the canoe up the Willamette a mile or so and got out at a park for a rest and just picked berries till we'd had enough. We didn't get much of that in Boise.

There's a rather large area close to our neighborhood that is vacant and is basically just used for dog walking that is perfect for berry pickin. Tiff took the boys out for a while and gave Braden and Chris clippers to cut paths through the shrubs so she could get to the berries. They loved it. Braden is so content with sharp objects... or fire... or anything he can identify as a weapon I guess. He's been begging everyday to go back and pick blackberries ever since.

So, we're set with berries for the winter probably. Good for Tiff's killer pies :)

Ellie (belly) is really trying to walk now. She's so proud of herself. A couple of wobbly staggers always get rewarded with squishes and kisses. She thinks she's pretty big. Tiff sure likes having another girl in the house. She finally gets some of her old identity back. Ellie is teething now, so she's had a pretty high fever and has been getting up for a few hours at least twice a night. Poor little girl seems to be having the hardest time of all the kids so far with teething. That didn't stop us from taking her out camping last week though. Prolly not the best thing for her - or us really. It was good to get out, but camping with a sick kid is more work than it's worth.