The weather forecast said scattered thunderstorms were on the agenda for the day and when I walked outside my house I felt like I needed to go back in and change my shirt since the one I was wearing got soaked in sweat so quickly. It wasn't particularly hot, just that weigh-you-down humidity that prevails in the Ohio Valley. But Piper was so very excited to go strawberry picking so we loaded up the car and headed out to Huber's Orchard & Winery.  

We arrived right at 11am, which is when we were meeting the rest of the Adventure crew. The moment we stepped out of the car, I breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how ick it feels in Louisville, it always feel so much better when you get outside the city. The wind was blowing and the sky was mostly overcast. We couldn't have ordered better weather.

Our friends were gathered in front of the talking tree outside the bakery. After a quick meet and greet, we hopped aboard the next tractor ride. 

Some young kids can be afraid of the loud engine and big wheels, but if you sit on the end away from the tractor they're usually not bothered. I think the drivers take you on a deliberately meandering route so you get a short tour of the farm and a peak of fruit that you might want to pick as it ripens. The peach trees were laden with small green orbs that will soon become succulent peaches. (Can you tell I love a fresh ripe peach?)

We piled off the tractor and started filling our boxes. Some of the youngest thought it was more fun to squish the strawberries than pick them, but we decided Huber's probably accounts for that in their prices, lol. (It was $1.25 a pound, so pretty inexpensive.) It was fun to show the children the life cycle of the strawberry, as Panaena said.  

The tractor arrived in short order to take us back to the farm market where we could pay for our strawberries. Ours were $22 for the two boxes you can see above and included two strawberry hullers that were "very child friendly", according to the cashier. We stashed our berries in the trunk and walked to the nearby pond where we set up camp on picnic tables for a nice lunch. This was the only time of the day that we got a few sprinkles, but no one seemed to mind.

Make sure you have plenty of quarters. The kids were fascinated by inserting quarters into the fish food dispensing machines and then scattering the food for the fish swarming below. If you look closely,  you can see the flashes of orange in the water. Some of the fish looked bigger than the kids.

After lunch, the group began dispersing. Several of us walked back to the bakery and the cheese & dairy shop. After making a few purchases we all headed for home. This Huber's has a nice petting zoo with some play equipment that I think the kids would have enjoyed if we hadn't all been so tired. We decided to save that for another day. :)