Great weather, great morning. We set out pretty early to get a jump on the berry picking season. Barefoot in the straw and dust we hit the field with empty buckets and high expectations. The kids pick berries at the speed we have come to expect from young Americans, but nevertheless, we eventually filled the three ice cream pails that we took with us. Sophia even found a large heart shaped berry and fortunately I found a similar one later to stave off the eventual fight. Cleaned and froze up about 9 bags worth, that taste even better on a snowy February afternoon. From the berry patch we headed straight to the Zoo. We were among the first dozen people into the zoo and the petting area of the zoo was alive with the bleats of hungry kids screaming for our food bags. Sophia and Merrick rustling the paper bag of food made the sheep and goats come running with Pavlovian expectations. We wandered around the zoo for a couple of hours even stopping at the new concession stand for a drink. Merrick was getting tired and wanted me to carry him. When I told him no he just smiled really large and asked me for a hug. Once he latched on it was tough to put him down. Plenty of otters, peacocks and even a baby red panda, but the bears were holed up somewhere awaiting their new exhibit. No bears but we did see an impressive display of a defecating tortoise--evolution should have given them a better solution. We headed home for lunch and some backyard pool and slip-n-slide action. Found some time to pick the rhubarb and make a rhubarb crisp. Not wanting to heat up the house, we baked the crisp on the outdoor grill and it turned out pretty good.
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