Berry-picking gone bad

I was inspired to go pick strawberries yesterday after seeing and hearing about several others who had gone or were planning to go this week.  The strawberries were supposed to be abundant at an orchard near Fredericksburg...just over an hour away. So I loaded the girls up in the car and we left around 9 am yesterday morning to go pick strawberries. I knew there was the possibility of some more thunderstorms during the day...but it was just cloudy and cool when we headed out. I stopped to fuel up the car on our way out of town and as I filled my gas tank I realized it was much cooler outside than I expected. I peeked in the car at what the girls were wearing and saw tank tops and shorts. Oops!  I mentioned that it was chilly out and we had better turn around and grab some warmer clothes at home.  But the girls protested and reassured me that they would not be  cold.  What was I thinking?!?  They are 3 and 5 years old! Why, oh why did I listen to them?!  But I really did think that the sun might come out and that it would warm up. AND we had several jackets and sweaters laying around in the car so, we continued on our journey.  We stopped at Target for a gift card quickly and then drove down the highway toward Fredericksburg. About 10 minutes down the road I began to see large lightning bolts and hear thunder. Before long it was POURING.  I thought to myself ..."I should probably just turn around and go home" but knew there was no possibility of us going again until Monday or Tuesday next week...and  I REALLY wanted to go....so we continued on. I told myself..."there is NO way it can keep raining like this."  After driving through rain for the next hour...we arrived at the lovely orchard where we were going to pick strawberries.  We got out of the car and received buckets and instructions on how to pick the best berries...and then one of the employees even gave us a ride on a golf cart down to the strawberry patches.  I think he felt sorry for my girls who were already shivering and complaining of cold. Hannah and Natalie were MISERABLE.  Even I was stinkin' cold. They each had two sweaters on over their tank tops but both had bare legs and bare feet in their Crocs.  We picked about 10 berries when I realized that we weren't going to make it with the cold.  So I told one of the orchard employees that we were going to leave but that we would be back. I was going to run to Walmart and buy them something warm to wear. He said the store was about 15 minutes away. So we got a ride in the golf cart back to the car and headed off to find the Walmart.  At the store we found some warm things....fleece pj pants for 3 dollars, socks, long sleeved t-shirts for 1 dollar, and even some thin gloves for 25 cents!  Score!  I even grabbed a pair of leggings for myself because I was cold too!  I thought to myself. Boy oh boy! these strawberries are getting EXPENSIVE!  But it's all about the experience, the adventure and having freshly picked strawberries from a local grower!  Right?! So we got back in the car and layered our new (crazy un-matching) clothes on and I realized that I can't find my wallet.  I searched frantically around the car, in the cart we used, all over the ground and in the car again.  No wallet. I  tried not to freak out.  I unbuckled the girls and we headed BACK into Walmart.  I asked our cashier if I left my wallet behind...and she said "no" but that I should check with Customer Service.  After waiting a while in line, the employee at customer service said that a wallet had been turned in.  Hooray!!!!  I  was SO THANKFUL to have it back.  I can't tell you how many times I've lost my wallet. It is NOT FUN.  Back to the car we went...and I thought to check my wallet to make sure my cards and cash were inside. I had just gone to the ATM the day before and knew I had cash to buy the strawberries we were going to pick. But guess what?!?  Cash is gone. Yup. So either the "honest" person who turned in my wallet...or a Walmart employee decided they needed a little reward. Boo. But I was  still thankful to have my wallet. I called the orchard quickly to see if they would accept credit card for payment. Nope. So I called Paul in tears and asked him if I should even try to pick berries.  Things seem to be going wrong left and right.  Am I crazy to keep trying?!  He said we should still go for it.  OK. So now we were in search of an ATM to get cash in town.  We drove around Fredericksburg as my phone led me to several wrong places before we found an ATM. Finally got cash from the ATM and headed back out of town towards the orchard.  As we drove it began to downpour and thunder like crazy again.  Natalie fell asleep in her car seat as we were driving all over town looking for an ATM and I told Hannah that I thought we should just head home. But Hannah burst into tears and said she REALLY wanted to go berry picking. So I determined that we would still try. Back to the orchard we go.  They were keeping it open just for us. (Seriously, the employees were BEYOND kind and gracious to us!) We grabbed two buckets and headed for the strawberry patches again. Natalie was still shivering with cold and refused to pick any berries.  Hannah was excited but only for about 5 minutes until it began raining again.  I picked as fast as I possibly could!  Crazy fast!  Thankfully the strawberries were beautiful and there were lots of them. I picked over 5 pounds in 15 minutes. The girls had had enough. They were wet, cold and probably hungry.  We went to pay for our berries and headed out. It rained for most of the drive home. 5 hours of time+ 150 miles on the car+ $40 in stolen cash+$25 for warm clothes at Walmart+ $17 for the berries = some VERY costly strawberries. I have to say it is a day I will not soon forget :-/  But the strawberries are DELICIOUS!

Wet and cold with our one box of strawberries