Sand and Cherries

Thursday we went to Cacapon State Park in West Virginia. We live close by and we have had picnics there when we go yard sale-ing or thrifting in the town of Berkley Springs, but we had not been to the lake there. We finally went and what a great place it is!! It's nestled right in the mountains and the lake is so clear, with little fishies swimming by your legs. There is a lovely little beach and there are picnic tables dotted here and there and on the other side of the lake you can rent paddle boats or kayaks.

It's perfect for small children since there are no strong waves to knock them down and we could relax without worrying about undertows or big waves. The entrance fee is small, only cost us $12 for all 6 of us and we are definitely going back. We'll go for a whole day next time-- the Husband had to work that evening, so we were only there for a few hours, much to the children's disappointment.

Baby had fun, too!



Just look at that smile!

Loving every minute of it!

My water girl!

*****

Friday, we went cherry picking again. I used up all the cherries from the last time we were there and I wanted to get more before they were gone. Cherries are only in season for about 2-3 weeks and when we were there, the orchard only had 2 trees left with sweet cherries. They still had plenty of sour cherries, so we got 3 buckets of sours and 2 buckets of sweets.

I canned 6 pints of maraschino cherries last night for a total of 9 pints so far. The juice for the maraschinos is so good, that I've been using it in the lemonade for a cherry-lemonade drink. Yum! I bet if I added a bit of rum to it for a grown-up drink, it would taste great on a hot day! I canned 3 pints of leftover maraschino juice for future drink mix-ins.

While at the cherry orchard, Middle found a 4-leaf clover!

Lucky girl!

The girls also used their very first genuine outhouse at the orchard! It was tucked in between these huge lilac bushes and when I saw it, my first thought was natural air freshener in the Spring! :o)