Beaumont - 1st Leg of the Trip Continued

My father was the 13th child in his family.  Imagine having 12 brothers and sisters.  My father was also born in 1931 on a farm in rural Brownwood, Texas.  One of my favorite things to do as a child was to hear stories that he would tell me.

With 13 children, I have lots of cousins... many I have never met.  The year before my father died, they had a big reunion - I was 13 years old.  I was able to meet some of my relatives and one of them was my cousin, Edith.  She has a daughter close to my age and I went to stay with them for a week one summer. 

I have kept up with her some of the years and when she found out about our trip, she invited us down to pick blueberries off her blueberry farm.

The boys love blueberries, so we added this leg of the race to include Beaumont.

Cousin Edith made the boys blueberry muffins and let them ice their own muffins.

Yep, I think they enjoyed it!

Here is Hagen telling Cousin Edith all about swimming.  (She has a pool and we just went for a swim.)  Okay, girls - my cousin Edith, hello, she is the American Super Nanny.  Seriously!  She used to own a daycare and her tips are limitless.  I have already diffused two of Hagen's temper tantrums before they became full blown!!  She should write a book.

I didn't get any pictures of them swimming in the pool, but we got these great floaties that I learned about through Suz over at Steece's Pieces.  They are called Puddle Jumpers and they are great.  The boys are able to hold themselves up in the water without us helping them.  The first night they were trying to get used to them, but by the second night they loved swimming in them! 

On the second day, we got to tour where they process all their blueberries.  They just shut down for the season, but it was still neat to see the process. 

Hagen and Mason didn't get much further than the four wheeler.

Funny enough, I have eaten my cousin's blueberries before and didn't know it!  Below is their brand (they, along with a few other growers in their area).  They ship to north Texas, so it is popular in our area.

Wayne, Edith's husband showed us the operations (we would love to come back next year and see it during the production).

While we learned about how the process worked, the boys were busy.

Look at all those blueberries still on the bushes!!

We didn't get any pictures of the boys picking blueberries (Jeremy took them out on the four wheeler and forgot the camera!)  But, you have never tasted a blueberry until you have taken one right off the bush.  I'm just sayin'!

More about Beaumont to come!  What?  More?  Yep, alligators and fire trucks... and don't forget the boots!!!