Last week we ventured out with the neighborhood for a favorite fall activity . . . Apple Picking! Unfortunately, as I check out other blogs I find most people have already done this and perhaps this post is just another redundant child's activity for some of you but, for the sake of grandparents, I press on. We found a perfect farm not too far away that has not only apples, but also a kiddie play place complete with hay bale mazes (an open and closed dark one), pumpkins, piggies, and some miniature donkeys. This is wonderful since the children are rather unscrupulous about which apples they pick and their bags fill up within a matter of minutes leaving us with the choice of either going home almost as soon as we get there or spending my monthly allotment of grocery money on the 87 bags they will fill up if I let them pick any longer. Even though their picking went by in a flash they had a great time running under the branches, down the rows of trees, and taking small bites out of every apple they picked. William was very protective of his personal bag of apples and insisted on carrying it himself all the way back to the car. When he was sitting down resting I asked him to show me an apple so I could get a picture but he showed me the sign for apple, that's what he is doing in the photo. He likes watching a Signing Time video we borrowed from a friend and the other day whacked Matthew on the back and told me, "Mom, that's the sign for 'hit'." Yup, I guess that would be it buddy. All in all it was a great day for kids and especially for me. Why for me you ask? Well, here are my top ten reasons . . .
- I got to play outside with my kiddies
- I now have lots of delicious apples for apple crisp
- I left the farm with some very worn out children
- Nobody was caught running naked through the woods
- Nobody peed on anybody else (although Matthew did pee on a tree while I ran interference)
- Nobody got lost (for more than a few minutes anyway)
- Nobody left the activity sans underwear
- There was no vomit incident
- Everyone left with the same number of digits they came with
- Nobody held out a smelly hand to me commenting there was a chance his underwear might contain something extra besides a skinny bum.
Perfect. And now off to make some of that apple crisp! (Thank you Ina Garten)
4 comments:
I love your reasons list. That really should be the baseline assessment for whether a day is a success, no? We picked apples last week too and I was in heaven. Nothing like eating an apple the size of a bowling ball and having the juice running down your arms. Love it.
Well, picking apples hasn't happened around here, you see. Because I'm a bad mother who has a bad husband who spends his weekends watching BYU football. We'll get to do family things again eventually...after the Bowl game in January. Sigh.
And yes, always good when nobody pees on anybody else! Loved the list. Laughed so hard because it's sadly true. That IS a measure for a good outing.
What a great idea...where did you hear about those sign language videos...what a fun thing for the kids, entertaining, yet educational.
apple picking is never just another kids' activity, or just for the grandparents. It the best time of year, with the best fruits of the year that can be eaten right off the tree. It's the time to climb a tree, see some animals, get ready for apple crisps (if the temps would ever diminish), plan for hot cocoa, etc., etc., etc. And the memories last forever. I think I'll go borrow some kids.
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