The Roeders and The Starkeys have very definite needs during the fall and winter season. For the fall, we MUST:
Go
This is an absolute must. The scenery is beautiful, the apples are awesome and the experience is an amazing family memory maker. But frankly, it's also nice to see other parents with multiple children brought to their absolute wit's end because you know your in the club then. It's called the parent hazing process.
When children are babies, apple picking is simply a fantastic experience where you can get the cute little pictures of them holding an apple (and hopefully trying to shove it in their mouth). When the babies grow up, it turns into a full on Iron Man marathon. I almost expect to see tired parents lying in the ditches whimpering, "I can't go on, I...just....can't." Two year olds like to do whatever they like to do and believe me, we tried to strap him to a stroller. That worked for all of two seconds.
George LOVED LOVED LOVED picking apples. I think this was the first year he really enjoyed himself. We got to the Granny Smith's and he just went wild. Good thing 3/4 of this family love Granny Smith's. Mark would put George on his shoulders so that he could reach the really high apples and he absolutely loved that. Henry simply loved running around the trees, tripping over the fallen apples, and chasing Emmett around. The images of my children laughing and running through the orchard that day are scorched into my brain.
I hope my children remember these outings as fun family trips. I hope they remember the smell of the orchards and the image of the beautiful mountains. I hope they remember our wonderful friends (who are basically family) and the great time we had. I know I will.
"No no, Henry, don't get up. We will just move around you."
Laurel and I enjoyed watching the husbands wrangle the kids. There might have been laughing involved.
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