Hard to believe I grew up in Florida

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have issues with the heat. I hate being hot. I hate feeling sticky and sweating is something I do my best to avoid at all costs. Unless of course, I am at the gym where ironically, I crave working up a good sweat.

I despise weather above 75 degrees and desperately require a body of water nearby in order to tolerate being outdoors. Being outside longer than the couple of minutes it takes to walk from the air conditioned car to an air conditioned building is not for me. I am the first one to complain about how hot it is and my friends can count on me saying some of my more favorite, familiar sayings; "Air. Me. Now." when getting into a friend's hot car and I have no control on how fast they are turning it on. Or quoting one of my favorite all-time movie lines; "This is like Africa hot. Did you know it was going to be this hot?!!??!"

I love Winter and count down the dog days of summer for its glorious return. It can never get cold enough for me and wearing hats, gloves and scarves makes me a happy camper. You can always add layers to get warmer, but you can only take off so much clothing (without getting arrested) trying to get cooler.

Now that you have a sense of how much I hate the heat, you'll understand what a big deal it was to take the kids blueberry picking today. We've gone every year and it's become a bit of a tradition with me, the kids and our friends. Unfortunately I have no say on when the blueberries are ripe for the picking and the end of June is always the best time to go. We found an awesome farm where the blueberries are a beautiful shade of blue and as big as grapes ready to be picked from the bushes. Ian loves our annual trek to Amissivile, VA (about an hour a way) and we make a great day trip out of it, complete with a stop at Panera Bread for lunch on the way home. I love my kids too much not to give them this experience. We live in such a fabulous area and it would be a shame to not take advantage of what is just a short drive away to get to.

To my dismay, today was one of the hottest days we've had so far. The temp hit 92 degrees and by the time we were ready to get back in the car, we were drenched in sweat. Ugh! We filled up half a jug of beautiful blueberries to bring back. Fortunately they don't weigh the kids before we go picking and don't weigh them again when we are done. We only have to pay for what manages to go into the containers, not their tummies while picking.

I am now going into hibernation mode for the rest of the summer. I am done doing any activities outside unless I am in a bathing suit (and everyone else is too!). Crank up the air conditioning and let's all pay homage to Willis Carrier, who invented AC and is my personal hero.

The funny thing is, I don't even like blueberries!